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Which Amp for my new CS-336


King Freddie

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Now I need some help to choose my amp for my new baby ....As I am 68 and I have no car, when I play with a band, I used what is available where we play.

Bur most of the time, I practice and play at home. The first temptation was to use computer amp simulations available in Logic, Amplitube, ....

But some 5W to 10W little amps were designed for people to play at home, and several family of products like modelisation amps,

transistors and also valve amps ...and also the different brands ....

 

So to narrow the choice, I fixed the goal to to my preferred sound : BB King, Freddie King, Larry Carlton, ....

In resume more the "Fender" family than the Vox or Marshall . Here also Fender builds Mustang ( modelisation) , Champion Transistor and Blues Champ tubes.

In some shops some sellors spoke about Ibanez and Laney Cub 10 who offers a very nice twin reverb alternative. and the list goes on .....

 

I shall try before buying, but by advance many thanks for your advises .

Claude

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While transistor and modelling amps are very good indeed these days, the smooth sound of a guitar through a valve amplifier is still my own preference.

I have several valve amps (4 Fender combos) and recently bought a Roland micro-cube which is very impressive, far better than I thought it might be.

The Fender Mustang seems to be a good blend of both types. But of course it is the sound and not how it is produced that really matters.

 

Good luck!

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I'm very happy with my Mustang III. Lots of good Fender amp emulations and plenty of power for just about any live situation. Some people seem to be happy with the smaller versions but for me the open back 12" speaker makes a difference.

 

I've had a Roland Cube 30 for years and like it too but the closed back gives it a certain sound that doesn't work for me in a live situation. It's worked for me on occasion but really a little underpowered for live. I really like the simplicity of the effects. It's my bedroom amp.

 

Tubes are great but who wants to carry heavy things and worry about maintenance at our age (I'm 62).

 

Good luck!

 

Now I need some help to choose my amp for my new baby ....As I am 68 and I have no car, when I play with a band, I used what is available where we play.

Bur most of the time, I practice and play at home. The first temptation was to use computer amp simulations available in Logic, Amplitube, ....

But some 5W to 10W little amps were designed for people to play at home, and several family of products like modelisation amps,

transistors and also valve amps ...and also the different brands ....

 

So to narrow the choice, I fixed the goal to to my preferred sound : BB King, Freddie King, Larry Carlton, ....

In resume more the "Fender" family than the Vox or Marshall . Here also Fender builds Mustang ( modelisation) , Champion Transistor and Blues Champ tubes.

In some shops some sellors spoke about Ibanez and Laney Cub 10 who offers a very nice twin reverb alternative. and the list goes on .....

 

I shall try before buying, but by advance many thanks for your advises .

Claude

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You will have to judge the sound you want when you try different amps. But I have had a 336 since 2003 and prefer a tube amplifier. I played mine through a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe, a Fender Twin, and now play it through a Rivera Venus 6. All fairly expensive and heavy amps to carry around, but the sound is the thing. I have found that digital solid state amps, and amp simulators are trying to imitate the sound I can get with a tube amp, and while often they come close it is never exactly the same.

 

For pratice amp I got a Blackstar HT5 which is adequate, but it's forte is an extremely overdriven sound at low volume which is not how I normally perform. But it has a great headphone jack with a nice clean simulated sound. I like a high powered tube amp for more headroom with a clean sound in a live performance situation.

 

Good luck in your amp search - you have the right start with the 336.

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I will have to look into the Milkman. I have a Laney L5t112 Lionheart that is great sounding but very heavy for us older guys. My favorite is my mid 60's Gibson GA15RVT. It is not a heavy amp to carry. It has "the sound" but after spending a few hours changing tubes. Most do not take the time to fine tune an amp with different tubes. You can really change the sound with a tube change. For an all-around great amp, I prefer a Mesa Maverick. I do have one solid state amp that I really like and that is an old Kustom Dart 66 with the tuck 'n roll.

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Well, all good advice, but what are your actual needs, and what type music do you play most? Also, what kind of power/volume

considerations, or "headroom," do you require. LOTS of great amps, out there, these days! And, in all wattage's, speaker

configurations, physical sizes, and price ranges, too! Best thing to do, is go to a dealer, that has most of the one's you're

really interested in, and try them out. Hopefully, they have a "sound proof" room, you can test them, at all volume levels?!

I'm sure, that if you do that, you'll find THE ONE, that does it, for you...and, hopefully, in your price range, as well.

 

Good Luck, and good hunting...that's 1/2 the fun, anyway! [thumbup]

 

CB

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another shout out for a Mustang III

 

very versatile amp, lots of good sounds available.

 

easy to move, easy to setup, under $350. it's a killer deal I have two mustangs and 3 good tube combos (Marshall, Fender, Goldtone)

and while the tube amps will out tone these by some margins, honestly, the mustangs will hold their own against any of them in a live band situation. I've used em all in all different settings. lugging a 75lb amp with a 40lb pedal board gets a little tedious.

 

you will want to spend a little time getting "your" sounds setup, but, once you do this, they are pretty solid units.

 

At least you could give them a look..

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  • 2 weeks later...

Not sure what your weight limit is but the Princeton is a pretty versatile amp, they are less than 35 lbs, loud enough for small clubs, they have a good bluesy sound when pushed as well. The Vibrolux weighs in at about 42 pounds, but it is plenty loud for club gigs. For solid state the new blues cube 60W is about 30lbs, I have not played the new ones but the older ones were pretty decent amps, much better than the standard cube IMHO.

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Now I need some help to choose my amp for my new baby ....As I am 68 and I have no car, when I play with a band, I used what is available where we play.

Bur most of the time, I practice and play at home. The first temptation was to use computer amp simulations available in Logic, Amplitube, ....

But some 5W to 10W little amps were designed for people to play at home, and several family of products like modelisation amps,

transistors and also valve amps ...and also the different brands ....

 

So to narrow the choice, I fixed the goal to to my preferred sound : BB King, Freddie King, Larry Carlton, ....

In resume more the "Fender" family than the Vox or Marshall . Here also Fender builds Mustang ( modelisation) , Champion Transistor and Blues Champ tubes.

In some shops some sellors spoke about Ibanez and Laney Cub 10 who offers a very nice twin reverb alternative. and the list goes on .....

 

I shall try before buying, but by advance many thanks for your advises .

Claude

 

 

 

 

How much money you want to spring.

 

I'm gonna keep it light in weight for you and post some amps that I think are amazing, but they may not be inexpensive.

 

No particular order, but you do the research

 

 

 

Tone King Falcon or Falcon Grande

There's 3 different voicing on it and it's 12 watts

 

 

Swart atomic space tone

12 watts I believe

 

I pay a Dr Z maz 18 w/ reverb and the eq bypass mod. You can eq it to sound Vox like or Fender Deluxe.

This is not me, but you'll get the idea

 

The demo does a LP later in the Vid

 

Much of my home use is with a Fender Princeton Reissue.

They ain't bad either, but if you need more head room and a better all around amp the DRRI is way better for the coin.

 

Victoria makes killer old skool Fender amp they way the used to be made. Check em out

 

 

I think my next amp, might be the Falcon.

 

I believe you want something that has a touch f grit, but when you roll back on the volume control the amp will clean up nicely.

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I will have to look into the Milkman. I have a Laney L5t112 Lionheart that is great sounding but very heavy for us older guys. My favorite is my mid 60's Gibson GA15RVT. It is not a heavy amp to carry. It has "the sound" but after spending a few hours changing tubes. Most do not take the time to fine tune an amp with different tubes. You can really change the sound with a tube change. For an all-around great amp, I prefer a Mesa Maverick. I do have one solid state amp that I really like and that is an old Kustom Dart 66 with the tuck 'n roll.

 

 

 

 

I sold my Mesa Maverick 2x12. It was a decent amp. Even thought it had EL84's in the power section it sounded more Fender-ish at times. The 2x12 combo weighed just shy of 70's. I sold that and a 2x12 T verb Comb. The T Verb was the bomb and pawned the Fender Twin Reverb in spades. It was 2 lbs shy or 100lbs.

 

I wouldn't mind owning a Gibson GA15RVT Gold tone from the 90's.

 

The only solid state amp I have is a Vox Valvetronix VT30. Thy are handy, but don't have the touch of a full blow tube amp. I wouldn't rule it out. I have done a few gigs with that Vox modeler. I liked it well enough to spring for the Footswitch controller.

 

 

I sold all the Mesa amps I owned after screwing up my back about 4 years ago. I better now, but that ain't gonna happen again.

I actually didn't mess up my back lifting an amp, but the heavy weights really had to go. The only Mesa I kept is a 1x12 Nomad Combo.

 

Another Mesa to try is the new Mark 35 or Mark 25. I have not had the chance yet to see one in a shop.

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Fender Blues Junior.

 

Hands down.

Best all-around amp.

Not too heavy.

Loud as hell.

 

Tone for DAYS.

:)

 

It's not a bad amp at all.

 

You an mod em too and get them to sound better.

 

I have one of those BJ limited tweed ones with the Jensen speaker.

I have other amps I use more like the Fender PRRI, which is a totally different animal than the BJ.

 

I wouldn't mind another BJ, which I would atleast change the speaker on, for a different tone.

 

 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Fender Super Champ ? I've never played through one but it has all the right stuff going on, especially the tube lineup (12AX7's driving a pair of 6V6's - around 15 watts). This should sound similar to the old tweed Fender Princeton, which was one sweet amp !

 

[FWIW, because I tired of carrying around one of my big amplifiers, I replaced the tiny speaker in my early 'seventies Fender Champ with a ten inch Jensen (required a significant cabinet modification). I also added a line output following the pre-amplifier that could be routed through the PA system if the venue - or the drummer - was too noisy for a microphone in front of the speaker.]

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Almost forgot, another option that you might consider is two small amplifiers rather than one larger amp. This is a set-up that I used a few times back in the 'nineties. I ran the pre-amp line output from the little Fender Champ to the input of a small 40 watt solid state Peavey amplifier.

 

Here is the setup in my practice room. (Note the Sunn Beta Lead amplifier on casters between the two little guys. I gave up moving that 90 pound monster and my Fender Twin DECADES ago although I still own them along with a few more old amplifiers that I can't part with !

 

 

P1050296_zpsp6ljxuqx.jpg

 

 

The advantages of this rig are straightforward:

 


  •  
  • Has the tone of the little vacuum tube Fender Champ
  • Some “grunt” added by the higher-powered Peavey (tone controls adjusted for a neutral (flat) response)
  • Each amplifier weighs around twenty pounds
  • With one in each hand it’s easy carry both, even up a flight of stairs.
  • The Peavey adds reverb to the sound if desired (the old Champ has no reverb)

 

My back was very grateful when I started using this setup [biggrin]

 

P.S. In this photo, the cabinet modification to accommodate the larger speaker is obvious. The Fender logo, normally slanted on the cabinet face, had to be relocated near the bottom of the amplifier.

 

P.P.S. The normal second input jack of the Champ has been disconnected and re-wired and re-labeled as the line output from the pre-amp.

 

P.P.P.S. After installing the ten inch speaker I measured the frequency response. After some experimenting, I found that closing the (normally open) back of the Champ - but leaving a small port - enhanced the tone.

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Many 'fellow forum folks' extoll the virtues of Roland Cubes... [thumbup]

 

Punching well above their weight with a characterful tone pallet

 

Micro and Street Cubes for the home and occasional busking... :blink:

 

Cubes from 30w to 80w for band gigs

 

V

 

:-({|=

 

PS...Yes to running any size Cubes in stereo from a stomp box or fx pedal... [thumbup]

 

Huge fun can be had setting each amp differently(ie one clean/one overdriven)

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