Electric guitar amp suggestions

[joe white]

For a strictly rythm player, I am thinking a hot rod deluxe. I thought about the line 6 spider too. Any suggestions?

[Bob Womack]

Much of it depends on what kind of sound you want, but both are good choices. You'll want to get them into an iso room and use your ears.

If you want lots of flexibility to hop between various sounds, and want really high-gain, up to date sounds, but aren't worried as much about authenticity in each sound, go with the Spyder. Be sure to get a footswitch or floorboard so you can switch between sound. By the time you add the footswitch or floorboard, however, you are approaching the price of the next choice:

If you want a really flexible, authentic tube amp for a classic sound, get the Hot Rod Deluxe. It has a wonderful clean sound and also allows you to switch between three levels of gain.

If I were to be limited to one amp, and I was looking for a classic sound, my choice would be the HRD. I consider a tube amp to be foundational to an electric guitar sound. Buying the Spyder after than would allow you to add other sounds "a la carte."

Bob

[joe white]

Thanks Bob, I agree on the HRD. I had a blues deluxe and after several warranty trips it turned out to be a very cool amp. The 3 way switching with the hot rod makes it quite a versatile amp even through my lowly humbuckers.:)

[min7b5]

Originally posted by Bob Womack
.....I consider a tube amp to be foundational to an electric guitar sound. Buying the Spyder after than would allow you to add other sounds "a la carte."
Well Put.

[M_A_T_T]

I have a Pro Junior, WICKED little amp. I would also like to get a '59 Bassman RI. I would go tube.

[dryan]

Agree on the Fender Pro Jr., great amp but the reverb can be a little noisy. 15W tube amp, it gets loud!

[Pvee]

I have a Peavey Classic 30 and really like it.
You can find them used for around 300.00.

[M_A_T_T]

Originally posted by dryan
Agree on the Fender Pro Jr., great amp but the reverb can be a little noisy. 15W tube amp, it gets loud!

Pro Junior doesn't have reverb, that's the Blue's Junior, also a great amp if your looking for a master vol. and reverb in a small tube amp.

[joe white]

How about the Princeton? I know its not a tube amp but hey, it's a lot lighter!:roll:

[trpullen]

Before you buy, give the Vox Valvetronix a shot. They blow the Line6 stuff out of the water.....in fact, I am very close to selling off my POD2 and Floorboard, bag and all because of the last few weeks I spent with the little 60w Valvetronix. It is as close to a real tube experience I have had out of solid state. It is inspiring to play. Very reactive. Has lots of cool features. Sounds GREAT.

Check out http://www.valvetronix.com/ (http://www.valvetronix.com) to see the amp. Don't totally trust the clips....it sounds better in real life.

[jeffrey]

I like the Hot Rod Deville a lot. Very very cool amp. :)

[Red]

I can absolutely vouch for the Vox Valvetronix as well. It's the best sounding (tube sounding) non-tube amp I've ever played. If you just want one (or a few) tone than yeah, an all tube amp is the way to go but if you want an amp that can cover every cover you'd ever want to play, than the Valvetronix is your amp and it can hit many of amps it models really, really close. It's the ultimate amp for gigging if you play a variety of music. Puts the Cybertwin to shame as well as line 6.

That being said, I wouldn't mind a Bad Cat combo for those boutique cravings!

[jeffrey]

Tube-wise, I'm a big Rivera fan. I currently use a TBR1-SL. I really like EL34's. :)

[matt]

carvins vintage series is really good too...i have the vintage 50 head(all tube) and it is awesome...they dont make just the head anymore, but you can probably find one somewhere...the combo versions they make now are awesome too...i dont think you can mess up with carvin...good quality stuff....

[troubleman]

Originally posted by getgo
For a strictly rythm player, I am thinking a hot rod deluxe. I thought about the line 6 spider too. Any suggestions?

If you could cut the extra $$$:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2565207300&category=10171

Not necessarily *that* particular amp (I don't know the guy at all), but that brand/model. The amp, a patch cord, and maybe (don't actually need it) an analog delay - a bit of slap-back echo. Pretty much all you'd ever need...

[joe white]

Hmmmmmm, Anybody else try one of those Vox doo dads??

[Stixx]

One amp you will never outgrow and it is good for small to large venues once you learn to set it up is the Fender Vibralux . I have two I run in sterio from a sterio delay pedal and they ever more fill the room no matter what you throw at them .

[dryan]

Originally posted by Lex Luthier


Pro Junior doesn't have reverb, that's the Blue's Junior, also a great amp if your looking for a master vol. and reverb in a small tube amp.

My bad, you're absolutely right.

[mtnbrz]

Of all the modeling amps, and I've tried a few, the vox takes the cake. But IMHO, it still can't sound like a good tube amp live. My bandmate just bought one to use in his other rock and roll band, after taking a marshall head back because it lacked variety. We play blues mostly, and for that, my bandmate god rid of his hot rod deluxe, it was just too loud, even with an attenuator. He now uses a Mesa Maverick, which I think is a great sounding amp - much better than the HRD. As the others in this thread have mentioned, it really depends on what you're looking for, but more importanly, how much you wanna spend. The vox 212 can be had for around $400 now, which is mighty tempting, cause is sounds pretty good for solid state.

[aggie182]

hor rod is bluesy in my opinion. i like peavey amps a lot. specially for the price. my brother plays an all tube peavy head through a marshall 4x10 cabinet. it sounds amazing.

[joe white]

Boy the confusion,,,,what to do,,,,,,,what to do????

[Tahitijack]

Glad to see that I'm among Fender friends here. I have both Hot Rod Deluxe and Blues Jr. You can spend more(can you say Mesa Boogie Nomad and F-30?) but to my ears Fender makes a sweet sounding amp for your dollar invested. As for tube vs solid state. Stay with tubes, more costly, heavy and sometimes unreliable but tone is always better than solid state..

[joe white]

Looks like the tube amps are starting to nudge out the rest.:)

[M_A_T_T]

I'm thinking about building a tube amp. I have been looking at Fender Vibro Champ and '59 Bassman schematics. I figure the Vibro Champ will cost around $250CDN to build, and that's WITHOUT a speaker.

[Steve314]

This is what I'm using right now:


http://bigsteve.stringdancer.net/images/hrdbrown.jpg


It's a Hot Rod Deluxe, all tube, with a Jensen C12 speaker. The Jensen sounds a lot different (and better, in my always wildly humble opinion) than the stock Eminence speaker in the standard HRD.

I've been using this amp so much that I'm offing my Marshall Bluesbreaker, which is something I never thought I would do...

Steve

[M_A_T_T]

Originally posted by Steve314
It's a Hot Rod Deluxe, all tube, with a Jensen C12 speaker. The Jensen sounds a lot different (and better, in my always wildly humble opinion) than the stock Eminence speaker in the standard HRD.

I drive my Pro Junior through two Jensen C10R's, sounds SWEEEEEEEEEEET! :D It sounds ALOT smoother with more bass and seems to have more head room.

[MikesPC1]

I bought a spider 112 about a month ago,mainly because they had lots of gadgets and they were really heavily discounted over here;finally paid £190,they originally retailed in the UK For £359.For the money it's brilliant,the effects are useable the amp models may sound nothing like the real things but it does give you variety of tone that you don't get with a one trick pony valve amp(that is not a slur on valve amps,it just reads badly).As with everything musical,everybody is different and has differing ideas of what's good and what isn't depending on their own uses.I don't play rock anymore except for personal amusement at home,the Line 6 is perfect for my needs.

[Boogie]

Before you buy you should try out the Mesa Booie Maverick, Blue angel and the new F-30.

The F-30 is a simple and great sounding little amp. The blue angel is in the vain of all the fender amps that are mentioned here but with a little more punch and grunt available.

[ihs]

I've had a Hot Rod Deluxe for just over two years now, and really like it. It's got a good clean sound, which can be modified quite easily if you need to with some good pedals. My experience with tube amps is admittedly somewhat limited as the bulk of my playing is done on acoustic, but from what I've experienced the HRD works well and offers great value for the price.

[trpullen]

I have the Fender Custom Vibrolux Reverb and it is an outstanding amp....BUT....I play at church and need more amp tones than it can offer AND I cannot turn it up loud enough in church to get a really great tube amp tone. They really only start to get their voice when you get into driving the power tubes.

With that said, the Valvetronix really suits me well. It allows me to get really good amp tones, very clean or high gain at any volume. It is the only modeling amp that I have found that will "cut through" in a band situation like my tube amp. It is still a modeling amp so....it is not a perfect tube sound BUT it comes much closer than anything that has come before it.