Before a valve jr i would find a epi electar tube 10,it is amazing how big this amps sounds for only 2 tubes.It also has a full comliment for controls including master volume and gain.It has an ext speaker jack and can drive a 4x12 with amazing results,takes pedals great/They quit making them just so people would buy the valve jr and it is a shame,also it is a closed back combo with an 8 inch that isnt really all that hot but good enough for practicing.
I still cant say enough about the blues jr,for the money and with a vintage 30 or greenback in it(i use a vintage 30 in 1 and a greenback in the other in stereo)it is awesome.
In no way shape or form would i concider a valve king,i wont even take them in as trades anymore,you can buy them without hearing them just by the write up or the looks but on the floor they wont move when people can try different amps in comparison,other than the peavey deuce or mace the valveking is the worst sounding tube amp i have ever played or for that matter heard
also one thing to concider for anyone really looking to buy a good tube amp,tube amps sound the best when cranked,and try to avoid the i got to have a 100w tube head urge unless you are in a band now and need gigging power now.I find that for everyday playing even a 50 is too loud to get the best tones from.I practice more than i gig anymore and find myself using the electar or 1 blues jr more often than not,and if it is your only amp that is what a shure sm57 is made for

__________________
why need tv when i have t rex

Hey that's some great advice! I was recently looking at the Deville amps at a guitar store near my home.

I'm in a delema right now though. I've been playing electric guitar for about 3.5 years and I've just started a collection of guitar pedals. I've been looking at some amps, recently, that I can do some small performances with.

1. I play jazz, funk, blues, and classic rock ( I like to fool around with metal but I'm not seriously into it.)

2. I have a tight budget right now with about $800 to spend. That's it I won't go over!

3. I would have to buy a combo amp, because I can't afford a cabinet right now.

4. Possibly, a multi- channel amp would be preferable so that I can have a decent distortion built into the amp and I would be able to switch from clean to dirty.

I really like the Kustom combo amps right now, but I don't know if they are preferable for my playing style. I'm not looking for anything fancy right now like a Bogner or a Diezel. So if could post back and give me a recommendation that would be great.

Thanks.

HI,with 800 there are many to choose from,any of the fenders are great especially if you arnt planning to form a death metal band.With 8 bills to blow you cn get 1 large or 2 smaller combos,like i was saying before with the 2 blues jrs.I own 2 now and had 4 for a while,couldnt pass the deals on e bay if i saw one.I would much rather have 2 of them than 1 deville,2 together with more effecient speakers is around 60 watts,1 is everybit as loud as an ac30.Practicing at home i use 1,gigging i used 2 in stereo,even with a mic and panning 1 to each side rules.you dont even need a mic unless you are playing a real big place,with a stereo chourus the sound seems to come from everywhere,i have told people to cover their eyes and try to find the amp and no one to date has,the sound seems to come from everywhere,plus its cool to watch them walk right between them and hit the drums.
I as well as alot of others have gone through the big amp phase and i still own a few in case i got to rock the collesium but the draw backs as an everyday amp are great,you got to think it out first,like do you want to use it to record?If you get anything 50 or over it is real hard to isolate,shakes the hell out of everything
when you hit the sweet spot.A 5 or 8w amp you can do some serious home recording and get total tube saturation in your berdoom but for live you got to mic,and believe me a 5 watter on 10 with a sm 57 in front of it kicks ass,even the feedback of a tube amp is music to my ears,it feedsback in tune,not like a solidstae amp that just gives you that high ear splitting screech,ya we all know the sound.
For that price range a marshall is within reach also,nothing bad about marshalls because they are good amps but way over priced if you need some bang for your buck.The crate v series is a good value,some peaveys,such as the butcher or triumph,the triumph is a 3 channel tube amp with a clean crunch and ultra,can go from anything from surf to canibal corpse with a footswitch.
There are alot of good tube amps and the best way is to find one on e bay or local and ask some questions to people who have had one,like here.Brand new you get a little bit of a good feeling but used you get alot,but ask questions like when have the tubes been changed and make sure they all light up,some amps will run with 2 burned out.Look at the condition too,that says alot,if it looks like someone dumped a beer on it stay away.
About the last thing i got to say is with kustoms,make sure it is all tube,they got a few hybrids now that got a tube pre amp and a solid state power amp,do not believe the hype on the sticker,for years now different companies,even marshall have been trying to come up with a solid state power section and claim is sounds like tube,wrong,it dont,nor will it ever.A tube pre amp makes some sweet distortion and harmonics but it is only half of the tube sound,got to have the power tubes.Some of them claim this is done for relability when it reality it is done to cut corners.The only time a solidstate is more reliable is if you totally neglect the tubes.Tube ampps can take all night on 10 and rarley fail but man all the solidstate amps i have sent to a firey grave playing loud,they dont seem to reliable when they are on fire.

__________________
why need tv when i have t rex

yea I would definitely have to try different amps out for myself. I just have a couple more questions...

1. I've been looking for an amp with a quite a good amount of sustain. It's a mystery to me how Santana makes his notes ring for so long. I know he uses a Mesa Boogie Mark I and a couple of Dumble heads but my budget isn't up to that yet. What's a good amp under $1000 that can give me the long, creamy notes that Santana can nail?

2. This question is big to me because I DO NOT want to spend money on a distortion pedal when I can just get a decent distortion effect built into the amp. A multi-channel combo would be great so that I can easily switch from a clean rythem to a boost solo. My question is, what multi- channel combo amp comes with a decent distortion but can handle pedals well?

All of the fender amps that I've heard have a muddy distortion effect built in, but the Supersonic, which was built for heavier types of music, has a pretty good distortion effect. Also Fender amps (as I was told) take pedals really well.


Thanks for your help. I hope to make my purchase soon.

Hi again soup,any tube amp has good sustain,sustain usually comes with compression,not just a pedal but driving tubes hard causes natural compression,one of the reasons that tube amps sound so good.Modern day santanna i am sure uses a compressor,plus in the mix it also gets added to make the notes really scream.Older santanna,like woodstock soul sacrifice he probally was using a fuzzface or a trebble booster to load uo his input a bit,but just playing a tube amp pushed hard would have given him enough compression for that sound.It is like i was saying earlier about how powerful of an amp you really need,any sized tube amp will make that extra creamy sustain,especially with speakers like greenbacks or vintage 30s that break up and just sing forever.100 watt head you got to be able to crank it to get that flow going,and you really got to think if you can or even want to play that loud all the time,i like getting that screaming sustain whenever i want,back porch or bed room so i usually use the electar,an under 100 dollar tube amp and it will sustain for days turned up,and it has only 1 pre amp and 1 power tube,but the only thing that matters is it isnt solid state.With ss you really need a pedal or rack to get that kind of sustain and even then it just isnt the same.Like i was saying about the hybrid customs,they wont do that because of the ss power section,they mimic some of the characteristics of tubes but cant duplicate that,if it wasnt for tube amps i think i would buy a gibson acoustic or a banjo and play bluegrass,no lie.
the amount of loot that you are willing to comit is more than enough for a good amp,even a modded one if you havent thought about that,fender bassmans and bandmasters are wicked modded,google some of the amps you are looking at and check the mods,you can really claim a sound of your own and unlock tone and power trapped inside.I mod every amo i got,even a simple input cap chang can change an amp drastically,or even replacing cheap components with higher quality ones,you got to be able to solder decent but it is worth practicing a few times,you can always undo what you did if you dont like it.Any full tube amp i am sure you will be happy with,never really met one i didnt like except the valve king.That remings me of peaveys windsor series,the price is right and they are really sweet amps but the channel switching or lack of might turn you off.That is somethign else altogether,i like 1 or 2 channels and a pedal for solos,even a booster or an eq for the added gain.I really wish i could let you plug into my little electar and blues jrs,then into my ac30 and let you see if you can tell 1000 dollar difference,thee ac sounds better than the electar but different but not better than the blues jrs,with the speaker change and changing 20 bucks worth of electronics in the jrs,i can cover the voxes range and then some.
One more thought before i close,dont be afraid of pedals,every good tube amp loves pedals,ss amps are hit and miss but on a tube amp.even with no effects loop distortion pedals rock and even phasers sound so rich,it really makes you own sound.I dont always use them,sometimes i just like hearing the amp alone but it dont take anything away,or say anythign bad about the amp.for example tube amps love being hit hard in the input section hence the tube screamer,if you got one and played it through a clean amp or solid state you would say what the hell is all the fuss about theese things,not much gain at all,certainly not enough to support all the hype,but if you put that pedal on a good all tube amp with some of the amps own dirt on,and i think you will understand what they were made for,notes that no **** will sustain for hours.stevie ray used a tubescreamer on a dirty amp and just listen
let me know what you do choose,and my best advice is that there are alot of good amps in that price range,find a good deal and google it,people let you know what to expect and there is usually some truth to it,the majority anyways,spme people harp on anything but just weed them out.

__________________
why need tv when i have t rex

Anyone know anything about The Pignose G40V? It's all tube &
I've read somewhere they were designed by someone famous or something and they seem to be relatively inexpensive.

the pignoses are pretty cool little amps,true they are all tube,it has been awhile since i have worked on one of those but i do remember they are straight forward,like the ups truck of amps,the little older ones you just undid 2 latches to get to the electronics.the newer ones someone can fan the cover open and closed to give you a ghetto wah.the bigger ones are more solidly built and like the little guys,their tone stack isnt too fancy and by themselves they are like the movie crossroads kind of tone,real bluesy.People do love them for recording,you do have to slam the input with a screamer or some kind of booster/od to really open them up but you get the power tube distortion just like any other tube amp.If my memory serves me right i believe they run the power tube bais really hot like a blues jr to lend some bite.
I cant remember who came up with them but i think you are right that someone famous made them,i thought dunlop had something to do with them now but maybee not,i might just be trippin again.Never really tore apart a newer one so im not too sure if they are the same as the older ones

__________________
why need tv when i have t rex

Now, I'm not talking about the little pignoses... the bigger combos.. 40w, 60w etc.
The "famous designer" was bugging me- so here's what I found out. Pignose G40v designed by Dennis Kager:

Who is Dennis Kager?
Dennis is one of the top amplifier designer/consultants in the musical equipment industry. He worked at Ampeg from '64 to '68, involved in many of their "golden era" projects, working alongside such Ampeg luminaries as Everett Hull, Jess Oliver and Ken Fischer. Kager went on to start Sundown Amplifiers in the '80's, which featured his patented variable output wattage "RMS"switch. More recently, Dennis has consulted for Ampeg, Fender, Yamaha, Mesa Boogie, Soldano and many others. Kager currently owns Central Jersey Music Services, one of the country's largest service centers. For more on Dennis Kager, check out the book Ampeg: The Story Behind the Sound (Hal Leonard).

ya i know you were talkin about the 40w but the design is about just as straight forward,real simple and practical.They wouldnt compare to anything like an ampeg,fender or messa but the price reflects it.most of the guys i know that swear by the pignoses do use the smal ones to get the cranked tone,come to think of it they all use strats too for the bluesy tones they make.It would be cool to see what an invader would do to it though.
Before the week is done im sure i will be seeing at least 1 of the dudes i know that are into pignoses and i will get back at ya with anything they got to offer,i can even ask if any are up for sale as well.I buy,sell or trade on average about 20 tube amps a week but that is one that i havent seen in a long time and that right there might say something
peace

__________________
why need tv when i have t rex

Marshall TSL602 review:

+ Great distortion and can do indie to metal without much problems.
+Good reverb
+ 2x12
+ Pretty good clean if gain is not cranked up all the way

- Need to crank it up to at least 9:00 to get that great tone
- Need to take time to dial in or distortion sounds muddy
- Pricey
- Crunch is not really useful

Well, looking for a new small amp for messing about with and recording as I am (and not having lots of money to shell out on one), I'm buying a Roland Cube 40XL next week. Nice clean sounds, and the Rock / Metal tones are pretty good too. I like the idea of the "Power Squeeze" function that allows full gain at low volumes. Plenty of demo's / reviews on YouTube. Have a look.

Dave

I bought the Cube. Very pleased indeed. If you need a small amp for home / recording / small gigs, you can do much worse than these little beauties. If you're into Metal, this is for you, over and above the Mustang II, Peavey Vyper 30, Vox VT40 (or whatever). Check the review here by Rob Chappers (who also put his 80XL through a 4x12 in another vid:

The Ultimate Roland Cube XL Demo - YouTube

Dave

You can get a pretty good old school Marshall sound from the more gain channel. You have to use a fuzz or an overdrive (with the more gain channel) if you want more gain. That's all the distortion you really need for classic rock. I got mine for $500. It's clean, the pots aren't scratchy, sounds awesome. I have more faith in this amps reliability that anything you could buy for $500 new.

Hi all, this being my first post and all I just had to ask for your advice. I'm looking for practice/home combo amp for my 8 string (RG2228A) which I have been using with my POD studio UX2.

I've heard that I will need a 100W amp, was just wondering whether a 50W combo would be sufficient. Would there be sufficient head-room? if not how bad will it be? I want something that will support my low-end in addition to the high.

I have been looking at H&K, Blackstar, Orange and Vox, but for what I was looking for it is way out of my price range and would rather purchase a decent head and cab at that price.

1-What is the MOST you could spend?
below $1000

2-What type of music are you going to make?
My music ranges from stoner rock, metal, prog. rock and blues (I love fooling around with vintage tones on my POD).

3-Tubes? Yes please (However I heard there maybe abit of issues with blowing an amp)

4-Are you willing to buy 2nd hand/buy on ebay/craigslist etc.?
Sure, why not.

5-What volume space are you looking for? Bedroom playing? Small/large gigs? Miced/unmiced?
Bedroom playing

6-Multi-channels? Yes.
Hopefully someone can help me