Quote:
Originally Posted by Rescon
...My amp is a Mustang 3 but I see now that Fender is no longer supporting their Fuse software and honestly, this amp is too much for me. Too many options and I don’t know amps very well so all the choices and pedals are overwhelming...
My jamming buddy plays a Deluxe Reverb silverface and just plugs in and goes. Superior tone and simplicity...I just want something for the house and small parties/gigs that doesn’t get me frustrated every time I play...
...I’m no player with any kind of touch on electric. Half the time I’m playing sharp cause I can’t seem to get that light tough needed to not bend the strings.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by roylor4
If you are used to wattage ratings on SS amps you will be shocked at how much louder tube amps generally are. 10-15 watts is pretty darn loud and will suffice for (indoor) crowds of 150-200 people depending on venue size...
Reverb and/or tremolo are very nice to have as well.
It sounds like a great clean tone is important to you.
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Pretty much sums up why I always recommend a low-/mid-powered analog amp (tube
or solid-state - I strongly prefer the former but use both regularly) for a relative novice: WYSIWYG controls, a minimum of bells and whistles, and enough power for just about any situation you're likely to encounter at this stage; that said, there are several major differences...
As Roy states, for a number of technical reasons I'm not going to get into here in the interest of brevity/simplicity tube amps are, as a rule, substantially louder than solid-state-amps of comparable rating. Back in the early-50's when tubes were the only game in town a 15-20 watt combo was considered a high-power rig, and if you're familiar with the new Fender Tonemaster version of the Deluxe Reverb it takes a 100W solid-state power amp to match the dynamic range/tonal response of its 22W all-tube cousin (and a whopping 200W in the case of the Tonemaster Twin Reverb
); while there are many good reasons for choosing a solid-state rig (power/weight ratio, price per watt, minimal maintenance, pristine clean tone) - I use a vintage Randall RB-120 1x15" combo for jazz comping and "old-school" bass, and a blackface Twin-clone Fender Frontman 212R for bigger halls/outdoor gigs (my '65 Super Reverb RI is a bear to handle at my age) - when that sweet, creamy, touch-sensitive tone in the order of the night I'll reach for a tube amp every time...
FYI my preferences also run to "big-clean" electric guitar tones - I cut my musical teeth at a time when blonde/blackface Fenders and blue-check Ampegs ruled the Saturday night legion-hall/school-gym/church-basement dances, and I'm still a plug-&-play/guitar-cable-amp guy - and the key word here is
headroom, enough power reserve to cover the dynamic range you require without running out of gas (
PSA: big power in a guitar amp doesn't necessarily need to translate to ear-spitting volume - the late Les Paul used a silverface Twin to play intimate club gigs). Speaking as a former NHRA bracket racer it's like two engines, one small-block/one big-block: you'll need to buzz the small motor to nine grand to get the same grunt you'll get from the big one at 6500 - and in the latter case there's still more in there; BTW both Leo Fender and Everett Hull (Ampeg) understood this - in its original configuration the Twin was intended as a high-headroom combo for bigger halls (where it still excels IME), and until the late-60's Ampeg didn't even
offer a guitar amp rated over 60 watts. In that light, I'd sooner go with something with a little more power than I think I'm going to need - I can always dial it back at the guitar, use the low-gain input, or play with the channel gain/master volume (on a modern amp) to find what I'm looking for...
That said, if you're looking for something along the lines of your bud's Deluxe minus the four-figure pricetag of a vintage piece and with more user control, I've been using a Bugera V22 for the last ten years as my grab-&-go amp: two switchable channels, enough power to cover a 600-700 seat auditorium clean or dirty (what Roy said about tube amps being deceptively loud for their wattage rating), scales down to a bedroom-friendly 15W (which also opens up some nice pre-Top Boost Vox-type tones - think Cavern Club-era Beatles or early Stones), built like a tank (these guys use
machine screws to secure everything - something you don't even find on some boutique amps at four or five times the price), and with the current (no pun intended) Infinium circuitry power tube replacement is a DIY proposition rather than a $100 tab at your local tech (FYI power tube biasing - simply speaking, optimizing/matching to your individual amp - is a $100 job in my area, and a required part of routine tube amp maintenance) - a lot going on for ~$400, and as many other satisfied users here will attest you're not going to find this much tone for anything near the price. Should your needs be more modest there's the V5, their version of the single-ended Class-A 1x8" combos that have become the darling of the recording/studio set (FWIW if you're serious about the electric thing you
will need one of these sooner or later), and at ~$200 street you almost can't afford
not to own one; this one's as simple as they come: gain/tone/master (highly interactive - there's some great tones in there if you sit down and twist the dials to your taste) and a built-in digi-verb that keeps it from sounding too boxy. The only caveat is that some players find the tone a little dark-sounding (
as most amps of this type are), but having used mine with a P-90 LP you should have no trouble dialing in a sweet early-Tweed tone, with enough volume for cofffeehouse gigs or band rehearsal - which is where mine sees regular duty...
Finally, I don't know what type/gauge of strings you're using on your Tele but there's nothing in the U.S. Code that prevents you from moving up to a heavier gauge and/or a wound G - in fact, until you get your bearings on electric I'd recommend it (you'll need to adjust the intonation at the bridge -
make sure your saddles will allow you to properly intonate a wound G - and most likely the action and truss rod as well). If you're primarily a clean-tone player, I'd also suggest giving a set of flatwounds a try - with improved technology/manufacturing methods they're no longer the dead-sounding thud machines of 50-60 years ago and, as all the '50s jazzers and rockabilly cats knew, they'll allow you to drop the action significantly lower than with roundwounds (which will also facilitate going up a gauge or two - until very recently I never used anything lighter than 12's on any of my electrics)..
Good luck...
