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Bongoscot

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I know that any time amps come up, tubes rule. I would love to have a tube amp but I dont have tube money, so I am looking for suggestions for a good sounding, low dollar practice amp. I have been thinking about a mini amp, like maybe a pignose or a Orange 5W, maybe a roland cube. You get the picture. I want the best sound in a little practice amp for little money. Any suggestions would be appreciated [cool]

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maybe not what you're looking for but, for a parlor, or Bedroom practice amp, take a look at the Fender Mustangs. I should be able to tell you more about it in a few hours, I've heard so many good things about it, as well as sound bites, I picked up a Mustang III (it's "out for devlivery YAY NAD!) - maybe over kill for you @100 Watts 1 12" spkr the Mustang II is a @40 Watts 1 12" spkr, Mustang I is I think 20 Watts 1 8" spkr and a Mini.

 

http://www.fender.com/products/mustang

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Those look very interesting. I look forward to reading your thoughts on it once you have had a chance to play around with it.

 

maybe not what you're looking for but, for a parlor, or Bedroom practice amp, take a look at the Fender Mustangs. I should be able to tell you more about it in a few hours, I've heard so many good things about it, as well as sound bites, I picked up a Mustang III (it's "out for devlivery YAY NAD!) - maybe over kill for you @100 Watts 1 12" spkr the Mustang II is a @40 Watts 1 12" spkr, Mustang I is I think 20 Watts 1 8" spkr and a Mini.

 

http://www.fender.com/products/mustang

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I'm a big fan of the Roland Cube line.

 

I use a Cube 30 for my jazz Big Band gigs, and keep another one in our rehearsal room. I've even used one on a couple of Blues band gigs just for grins. It worked out very well. The first Cube 30 I bought new for $250, the second one I picked up used for about $125, and I've seen them for less since.

 

Roland packs a lot of nice features into these little amps. I've also heard good things about the Mini Cubes.

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Those look very interesting. I look forward to reading your thoughts on it once you have had a chance to play around with it.

 

 

Bongo,,

 

About the Mustang III, got to spend about an hour, just farting around with the basic settings, and presets, so far, I have to say, this is an ingenious little amp.

 

The controls are top loaded but, instead of being oriented toward the back of the am, (typical of Vox and Fender amps) these controls are located towards the front, which makes it visually much easier to operate the controls while playing. (Brilliant!)

 

The user interface LCD and LCD control panel is very intuitive, and you can immediately start editing presets and save them to create your own (Unlock memory first!) There's a DVD that allows you to hook the amp via USB up to your PC and allows some deeper editing capabilities as well as some other goodies for recording to your PC via the USB cable. (we'll be digging into that over the weekend.)

 

In terms of sounds/tones etc, there are 100 presets, many perfectly usable right out of the box. Some of the clean sounds that I could coax out of this amp with my Emperor Regent were just gorgeous. The only other axe I had a chance to try it out with was my SG Standard... awesome, nuff said. will be getting deeper into all that with the rest of the guitar collection this weekend)

 

Regarding touch dynamics, and that whole "tube amp vibe", it's all there, and from previous experiences with molders from Vox and Line 6, vastly improved on the Mustang III.

 

The effect section is pretty versatile with four effect slots and can add for example, compressor+chorus+delay+reverb, (Oh and amplitude also comes shipped with the amp, on the same DVD that has the editing software along with the full user manual.) This is a big plus over my previous small modeling combo, where the amp affects were rather limited.

 

Included with the Mustang III is a two button footswitch, USB cable, and of course the standard appliance power cable. (also available is a 4 button footswitch, I'll be ordering that...)

 

Comparing to my other modeler, (a VOX AD30VT 1x10 - a fine amp in it's own right) it can't really stand along side the Mustang. {Perhaps not a fair comparison to a the 6+ year old Vox amp.} The Fender is by far superior in features, editing capabilities, and sounds. (No idea about comparing to the newer valvetronix.)

 

I've just scratched the surface so far, but first impression: if you're looking for a amp for a bedroom, parlor or den, that you can also haul off to a gig or a jam, offers a ton of great sounds, effects and features, this is probably going to fit the bill. Add the 4 button footswitch, seems to me the only signal processor you'll need is a cable. Everything needed is in the amp. @ $299, it's a great buy. If you're budget can't support that, then go for the 40 watter @ $199

 

The newer small tube combos are looking pretty attractive, and I'm sure they sound great but for an all-in-one rig, that's light weight yet loaded with tons of goodies, the Fender Mustangs are the bomb. I could definitely see taking this to a jam or small venue.

 

[thumbup]

 

 

Hope this helps

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  • 2 weeks later...

If you are looking to practice at home and perhaps play with some friends with a drummer a Fender G Dec 30 kicks booty. Similar to the Fender Mustang series mentioned above.

I wont go into all the features but I own loads of tube amps but all I use at home is this full featured modelling amp. Comes with loads of great sounding backing tracks and preset amps You can also download a Blues, Country, Metal, or use the factory presets which has a lot of variety. Jazz to shread and just about everything in between.

 

Check it out online. I also own a bOSS mICRO cUBE AND A vOX da5. This thing is all I use and I have been playing for over 40 years.

 

The Deluxe Reverb, Marshall JMP and Fender Blues Deville are gathering dust. Best amp to practice with.

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  • 5 months later...

I have a Fender Super Champ XD that I love. It has that classic Fender clean tube tone and usable amp simulations and effects. At 15 watts with a 10" speaker it's perfect for practice and recording. Anything above 4 on the volume knob is too loud in a shall room. I use it as a stage monitor when playing in church with the line-out to the board. I bought mine new a couple of years ago for about $250.00. Great value. Highly recommended.

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...

The Marshall Class 5 can be a good amp if you put a good pedal in front of it. I use a Catalinbread Formula 5 and get some nice results. It may be above what you are looking at now but if you want "real" tone this can do it for you. By itself the amp needs a little help, but it can sing for you with some thought.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I own a Vintage , Mint condition, 1989 USA made , Peavey Bandit 112 which has the Scorpion Speaker in it. It's a 80 watt combo which can be used at low volumes but cal also easily overpower a drummer if needed . After 24 years, it still sounds like it just came off of the assembly line. I'll never part with it. You can get one on E-Bay or Guitar Center's website over on their used gear section.

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  • 2 months later...

maybe not what you're looking for but, for a parlor, or Bedroom practice amp, take a look at the Fender Mustangs. I should be able to tell you more about it in a few hours, I've heard so many good things about it, as well as sound bites, I picked up a Mustang III (it's "out for devlivery YAY NAD!) - maybe over kill for you @100 Watts 1 12" spkr the Mustang II is a @40 Watts 1 12" spkr, Mustang I is I think 20 Watts 1 8" spkr and a Mini.

 

http://www.fender.com/products/mustang

I use the Vox AC30VR, it is a combo amp with tube and solid state. The only thing I wish is, that it had a better reverb. For about $450.00 with a discount from MF. Good luck.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I've got a Laney Cub 12R that I'm very happy with. All Tube, built in reverb that sounds pretty good.

 

I bought mine new, but have seen them used for pretty short money...there was a 10" version that can be had very cheap these days.

 

101_0136_zps77e6bd96.jpg

 

NHTom

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Depending on the tone you're after, the Blackstar 5 watters are very nice sounding. For a different tone, my Bugera V22 works well. Both are good from low volumes through "Damnit that's loud!"

 

Even smaller and more portable are the THRs from Yamaha. You have to hear these to believe them.

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I bought a Peavey Mustang II for 119.00 and it does AWESOME with my Gibson SG!!!!! It's got everything I am going to need as a beginner for a long time to come. :)

 

Snoopy

 

Peavey or Fender?

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Hey cool, my old thread made a comeback. Ive bought 2 amps since starting this thread, the valve jr in the picture that I got used for 90 bones and a blackstar HT-5 head, one of the older ones with no reverb for a hundred bucks. I love that Blackstar. It is an amazing sounding amp. One of these days Im going to get an HT-40 club combo.

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Hey cool, my old thread made a comeback. Ive bought 2 amps since starting this thread, the valve jr in the picture that I got used for 90 bones and a blackstar HT-5 head, one of the older ones with no reverb for a hundred bucks. I love that Blackstar. It is an amazing sounding amp. One of these days Im going to get an HT-40 club combo.

 

those blackstars are impressive sounding, I agree. if I was in the market, that's probably the first place I'd look.

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