Still Searching
 

Hey All,

Ok so I been searching out amps for a while.

Yesterday my son and I went to a local store to try a Katana 100. Disappointing to say the least. It kept dropping the low strings on full chords no matter how many dials you turn. Bouncing around the presets some would lose the upper strings. It sounded like a modeling amp. Maybe it's better if you can mess with it a lot but I was surprised. We played a bit at trying to get that clean sparkly fender chime which is the one sound I want for sure in any amp I buy with no luck. It seemed like it kept wanting to sound like a Marshall. This was only an hour or so of messing with it but it was a let down.

Then for fun we tried the fender gt40 about which.I heard a lot of bad. No question it had the fender sparkle an chime vibe but as the volume went up the more brittle and harsh it got like a modeling amp often does shedding the tubular warmth. It did not have any of the muffled boxy sound I've read about. We only spent about 10 mins on it so maybe it is better than the little we heard - it was way ahead of the Katana though in this to be honest very limited test.

To cleanse our ears we did spend a few mins on a Princeton and a reverb deluxe of course at triple even quadruple the price.

The more I play an listen to amps the more I know I'm a fender guy. There are a number of boutique amps that get there and offer more but I can't justify those. It doesn't mean I don't like vox or Marshall but they aren't my wheelhouse. My son is predominantly marshall.

So the search continues for an inexpensive low wattage practice amp that nails fender twin style tone.

-Ed-

I hear you.

I just ordered the PRRI with the wine colored sides and the 12" Jensen. Probably a little too loud for my use, but I also want those Fender clean tones, and this should deliver them.

OK - "big clean" tube tone at moderate volume levels, not too hard on the wallet...

One of these:

http://www.music-group.com/Categorie...FINIUM/p/P0B03

- equipped with one of these:

http://www.eminence.com/speakers/spe...el=Swamp_Thang

- and a set of these:

http://www.thetubestore.com/Shop-by-...remium-Package

- will give you all the big fat tube tone you can handle for under $600 if you take advantage of the Christmas specials/coupon days/deal-of-the-hour sales going on right now; I've got the above setup, and it's been my go-to since 2010 - fills a 600-700 seat house clean as you need or dirty as you want, and powers down nicely to bedroom practice levels without sacrificing tone. BTW, it's a fine amp right out of the box - way more tone than anything this inexpensive has a right to have (read some of the recent reviews here on the Electric Guitar subforum), with just enough British flavor in stock form to appeal to your son's taste - but invest in a couple easy DIY tweaks and it becomes a real tone monster; the upgrade tubes and "American" voiced Eminence Swamp Thang give it the feel of an old blackface Pro Reverb or blue-check Ampeg B-12XT - it actually sounds like a mid-powered 1960's American 2x12" in a small- to medium-size venue, with far more low-end heft, warmth, and dynamic range/headroom than you'd expect from a 22W 1x12" - and one knowledgeable player actually complemented me on the tone of my "V55" until I explained to him that this was the little-brother 22-watter. Tastes vary, everyone has their own idea of what constitutes "good" electric guitar tone, and sometimes for a large or outdoor gig there's simply no substitute for more watts/more speakers (got a '65 Super RI and late-model Frontman 212R for that) - but you'd be remiss if you didn't put this one on your "must-play" list...

What about something like this or the head + cab version

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Tweaker112

Seems to me that the best deal out there for a vintage amp that won't break your bank account has to a Silverface Princeton, in the original configuration without reverb... I've seen those as low as $500 for a reasonably clean one; I think we had one on our classified section earlier this year for $600 that looked VERY clean.

With all the outboard reverb choices these days, shouldn't be too hard to find a decent reverb to add to that amp...

Now, a SF Princeton Reverb? That would be twice the price, at minimum...

I agree with you; I am a "Fender amp" guy, even though I play a Gibson electric. Feel lucky to have a very clean '75 Deluxe Reverb that actually cost me LESS than the reissue version...

How about a second-hand Fender clone such as a champ, princeton or tweed deluxe built by a US amp builder? You could probably get something like that for around $500.

I was in a pinch for an amp several weeks ago and since I live in the boon docks with no plans of making it to the city to listen to amps for awhile I followed Steve’s recommendation as he described above and have never looked back. I was so happy with it, I finally made it to the city Friday and didn’t even bother listening to amps. The Buger serves my needs well, and I haven’t even made it to the mods he suggested although I want to order the speaker and tubes soon. That said, if they make the amp very much more than it is now I don’t think I can stand it. This is a great pice of equipment at any price, but a bargain for what it costs.

What caused me to need an amp and look to this forum for suggestions was that the German Schaller that I have had for 48 years needed to come apart for attention and I had to order parts. I got it back together yesterday and enjoyed playing it for awhile, but once done, I connected back to the Buger. I love it so much I had to say Aufweidersehn to my Old German friend for a while.

Another satisfied owner... :)

As I said above, tastes vary - and as the old proverb states one man's meat may be another man's poison. When I bought my V22 in 2010 it was with the express intention of creating a tone-clone of the circa-1966 Ampeg Gemini II/B-12XT NYC studio "Key Club" amps - so named because the on-off switch was replaced with a cylindrical key, copies of which were issued only to the A-list studio players through AFM Local 802 - and the components involved were thoroughly researched and assembled with that specific goal in mind. Whether or not this combination will work for you is something only you can decide: I'm primarily a "big-clean tone" player, use some bluesy crunch to goose a rhythm part or punch up a lead when necessary, but really don't venture into the more extreme side of tube OD - so if you're on a call list for headbanger gigs or like to get your Carlos on once in a while my setup may not be your cuppa tea; on the other hand, if you do jazz, country, blues, funk, '50s/60s R&R and R&B, British Invasion, early guitar instrumentals (Shadows/Ventures), etc. and you need something that'll cover all of those styles credibly with a minimum of dial-twisting (and no need for outboard stompboxes) this is your amp...

That said, you need to decide what you want out of your amp. If you're a fan of cleaner British-style tones (think Vox AC50/AC100, Hiwatt, 6550-tube Marshall, et al.) in a small package, and/or like to push your amp into power-stage OD without breaking your lease, I'd go with a tube swap and leave the OEM Turbosound speaker alone (BTW, a major improvement over the Celestion wannabe fitted to the first-run "blue-light" models); similarly, if you're after some '50s American-style raunch - where you really hear the tubes, as opposed to speaker breakup - want to venture into some heavier genres, and/or simply need more headroom and dynamic range, you might want to go with a speaker swap and leave the original tubes in place. Once again tastes and needs vary, and different guitars will produce different results - do your homework, assess your requirements (both short- and long-term), and feel free to PM me if you have any further questions...

Hope this helps... :guitar:

Hey All,

First thank you for the replies!

The first thing I thought of in reading the replies was tone - how do guitarists talk about tone? Like clean with headroom - what does that really mean? So I googled fender clean (6v6) vs vox (el84) clean vs Marshall (el34) clean. And the upshot that I got is not all cleans are equal - and they do not sound the same - some like fender more some vox and some Marshall cleans. I like fender and to be sure I listened to a lot of vox amp cleans and they are nice but not the tone I want day in an day out.

I read the recces on the v22 and listened to a lot of v22 utubes. I have a v5 blue light special with a dead reverb and a dark dark did I say dark sound. Weighing what I heard and what I know from experience I am not convinced about the v22. I've no doubt it is better than the v5 but is the tonal timbre (Ill try that word) fender or vox? I suspect vox based on my research. Nothing bad about that I just prefer fender tonality. And take note not all fenders are fenders tonally - el84 fenders to many simply do not sound like fenders.

I wish I could hear the v22 as modded above but I can't unless I spend the money.

So the search goes on... I suspect I just have to spend more than I want for that fender tone. Ill try the gt100 1x12 first though.

- Ed-

i'm not aware of a gt-100 amp but it sure sounds like it is 100 watts and that certainly is not a low wattage amp.

if you are looking for a fender amp, you'll probably want to keep your eyes open for holiday sales. check with several of the online, including AGF sponsors, for their prices. sign up for emails from them so that you are advised of the deals. but, first take your guitar and play all of the smaller wattage fender amps--the champs, the princetons and the various deluxe amps. that range of wattage would be about 6-22 watts. these amps have the 6V6 american sounding tubes in them.

otherwise, you could find the amp you want in a store and then look for and buy it used to save money and still have a fender amp. ebay, reverb and craigslist could provide some ideas of used prices.

good luck.

play music!

I sold my Blues Jr to get the Roland Blues Cube 30, and I am not sorry at all. All analogue, solid state, no modeling. It has a great clean sound and a tube-like grind when you really lean into it.
Just another option.
Good luck in your search.

It’s a Boss multi-effects pedal.

It most certainly is not all analogue.

Hey All,

I wrote gt100 1x12 that doesn't sound like a pedal to me. It's a fender modeling amp. I listened to a couple guys playing it an hour ago for a few minutes and it sounded surprisingly good. I need to find time with it. It is 100 watts but has both master and volume controls so you can tone down the volume. I think it is definitely better than the gt40 2x6.5. Another store might have some rolands we will see.

-Ed-

OK, I found it. It's a Mustang, a newer one that they refer to as GT-100. Confusing, because Boss has made a pedal called the GT-100 forever, so it's odd that they applied that label to a Mustang. Oh well.

The Mustangs get generally good reviews. The Blues Cube that was mentioned above has gotten very good reviews, and it sure sounds like it's close to what you're looking for. You may want to give it a serious look, especially given how important the cleans are to you.