What is the Best Tube Amp under a Grand suitable for a Les Paul

[btoth76]

What do you guys think of the Engl German made Gigmaster, I saw some reviews on youtube and this one sound a monster. Anything German made is kick *** perfect, even their germanshephard dogs are the ultimate.

The V2 didn't work out very well, tough.

[Smartel]

After I got my LP Studio 50's tribute I was looking for a good tube amp myself. I finally bought the Egnater Tweaker. I have the 15 watts head and cab. Great amp !!!! Very versatile. If you play some Rush you will find this amp can give you the early Rush sound.

 

I paid $700CAD for it and it really is a perfect match for my LP.

[Blindado70]

I recommend Fender Blues Jr. and Peavey Classic 30

[Guest BentonC]

Note sure what the cost would be in the USA:

 

- Small and simple with fantastic tone - Orange Tiny or Dual Terror, Head & Speaker or Combo (new £470, used £300)

- Ultimate match for the Les Paul & classic rock - Marshall Vintage Modern 2266 Head & 425 Cab (new £1,300, used £500)

 

As the Marshall can be used at low volumes, if you have the space, this can work at home and on stage.

 

But as tone is so subjective, it may or not be right for you.

 

All the best

+1 on the Tiny Terror. Great amp! Very aggressive though...

[This_Dying_Soul]

I've heard nothing but terrific things about the Egnater amps, although I have no hands-on experience with them. The Rebel 20 head goes for about $550 US, and has a really cool feature that enables it to utilize its EL84 and 6V6 power tubes in an either/or or mixed mode, which would, I think, give it incredible flexibility. If I was in the market for a tube amp, it would be the first place I'd be looking.

 

I also believe the Rebel series Egnater amps also have a built in power soak that allows you to take them from 20 or 30 watts (depending on the exact model) all the way down to 1 watt.

[Versatile]

Laneys come in at all wattage levels and reasonable prices

 

I play Gibsons through them successfully

 

Also hybrids like Vox Valvetronics are great for home use and can sound really aggressive if need be....

 

V

 

[rainbowdemon427]

If it's secondhand, a Cornford Harlequin.

[cjmwrx]

A used Mesa. Anything, doesn't really matter. You can find many for under a grand.

[Duffy49]

Peavey 6505+ 112 high gain combo, 599US. 60 watts of pure beauty at any sound volume but super great loud.

[charlie brown]

As you can see, everyone has their favorites, opinions...but, You should go out,

with your favorite guitar, and try as many different amps, as possible. Our taste,

or opinion, is quite meaningless, except to express OUR own preferences. Only

You can determine what sounds best, to you. Besides, half (or more) of the fun,

in buying an amp...is to try out, as many as possible.

 

Cheers,

CB

[Yaff]

As you can see, everyone has their favorites, opinions...but, You should go out,

with your favorite guitar, and try as many different amps, as possible. Our taste,

or opinion, is quite meaningless, except to express OUR own preferences. Only

You can determine what sounds best, to you. Besides, half (or more) of the fun,

in buying an amp...is to try out, as many as possible.

 

Cheers,

CB

 

+ 1

 

Opinions are great to start you looking in the right direction, but what works for me could be bed for you.

 

All the best

[Josh James]

Maybe a early 80's Fender Super Champ? 22 watts...drive channel....sick!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

J

[Duffy49]

A couple other considerations could be a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe III or a Peavey Delta Blues fifteen inch speaker model or the four tens model or whatever it is - I have the fifteen inch speaker Delta Blues and it is really nice with a Les Paul and came stock with all JJ tubes when I bought it new about two years or so ago. That's a cool vintage sound type amp. My Peavey 6505+ 112 combo is a high gain more modern sounding amp with lots of tubes in it. Another one a lot of guys like is the Fender relatively low powered Deluxe Reverb Reissue - this you can crank up pretty good and get some great power tube overdriven sound, and this costs about nine hundred new. A place by me has a sixty watt blonde Fender Super Sonic with a Vintage 30 speaker that is a great amp with a Burn setting that sounds great with LP's and it is on sale for 800 - this is an incredible deal. Personally I like my high gain Peavey combo better, but I may be mistaken.

 

 

I think I would have appreciated a lot of suggestions on a tube amp when I first got one; but it wouldn't have done any good at the time because the only one my x wife would let me buy was the Crate Palomino V8 when it was on sale for 200. It was kind of a strange little amp but I still have it and I remember really wanting one of those two by twelve Palomino V32's with the beautiful cream tolex and gold trim. I now have one, a NOS one I got from Crate because my V50 blew up and was unrepairable at the time shortly after they came out on sale everywhere. I got that V32 free as an exchange, postage paid by them and didn't even have to send the old amp back - they didn't want it. Although probably hard to find that V32 Palomino listed at around 899 but sounds super great with its two stock Celestion Seventy/80 twelve inch speakers. All the jacks need to be sprayed with deoxit now and the pots too. I should get on that because that is a definitely a really cool amp. This brings me to thinking that a Blackheart 100 watt head and four by twelve cabinet would also make a really nice amp to use with a Les Paul.

 

 

There are so many nice amps under 1K right now. Going out and playing a bunch of them would definitely be a pleasure. I'd go to other places than GC as well. The Laney LC50 is also a nice amp with a Celestion Seventy/80 speaker.

 

 

I might suggest bringing your own guitar with you to test out as many amps as you can get your hands on that are in your criteria range. That way you will be dealing with the actual rig that you will wind up playing. And I would suggest that you not be afraid to crank up the amp a little, after all these are music stores - they know what loud amps sound like, but you might not know what it's going to sound like loud unless you try it.

[GuitarGodV]

A great combo for the Les Paul is the Marshall MA50 Combo. The smallest you can get for the model, but it kicks a**. I'm not joking. I have a Marshall MA 100H with a matching cabinet and it's amazing!

[MRBABAR]

I just bought my first Gibson product after playing guitar for 20 years...a Les Paul Traditional Plus. I love it and it sounds great through my Fender Blues Jr - 15 watt amp. The amp was modded by "Billm" so it isn't stock - but it is a great little blue box that pairs well with the LP.

[uyasgali]

You might check out a Fender Blues Deluxe ($749 - new).

[kaicho8888]

For $1K, that's quite a bit for a bedroom amp.

 

Fender DRRI...great for gigging too...and light enough to carry.

[Hall]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reinhardt 18

[93DMTX]

I'm in the DSL 100 camp. Add a TS9 or an SD1, an EQ in the loop and rock. Pick up a used half stack for under a grand easy.

[charlie brown]

Well, 100 watt Marshall's are not "low wattage," as the OP specified.

 

So, Marshall Haze, 15 or *40 watts (*still not low wattage, really)

Marshall Class 5 (5 watts)

 

Fender, Blues Jr. at 15 watts.

Fender, Deluxe Reverb Reissue, at 22 watts.

 

Epiphone, Blackstar, Egnator, Orange, and other's all make great amps, below $1000.00

 

Go out, and try as many as you can find, of each brand, and see which one(s) work,

the best, for your "style"/type of music/playing.

 

CB

[theForgottenCereal]

I got an Ampeg Reverberocket, made circa 2000-2004 i think, used for about $350. I doubt you could beat it for the money for a big ballsy rock'n'roll/alt-rock sound. I'm not sure of the wattage but I would guess 50-ish. 2X12 combo, all-tube, and I could swear that they specifically had the Les Paul in mind when they were tweaking the sound. Awesome gain channel when paired with a humbucker LP, clean channel isn't bad but could be better.

[gibsonjunkie]

I agree with the posters who suggest trying various amps out. That being said, I spend about half my time playing my Gibsons through a Deluxe reverb Reissue and half the time through a Hughes And Kettner 20th Anniversary amp. They both sound terrific and the DRRI is in that price range. The H&K is discontinued - got mine from MF on closeout for around $400.

[Namvet]

My 2 cents worth. I have the Marshall Haze 40 watt combo which I play my Les Paul 50s Tribute through. I can use it in the bedroom at low vol or I can crank it up if needed. A friend I played with who moved away visited last week and commented that the Les Paul and the Haze were made for each other. The amp has 3 preamp tubes,2 power tubes, clean, overdrive, reverb and a couple of effects. I can get a variation of tones without pedals. Price NIB is $700. I suggest you take your guitar to the local shop and plug into one. Sounds like this might be what ur looking for.

[guitarhead]

In fact, I am in between the Haze 15 1/2 stack and the new Egnater Rebel 30 combo, what I like about the Egnater is the option to play at 1 watt all the way to 30 watts, as I am mainly a bedroom player, and would like to play with gain at lower volume,

My 2 cents worth. I have the Marshall Haze 40 watt combo which I play my Les Paul 50s Tribute through. I can use it in the bedroom at low vol or I can crank it up if needed. A friend I played with who moved away visited last week and commented that the Les Paul and the Haze were made for each other. The amp has 3 preamp tubes,2 power tubes, clean, overdrive, reverb and a couple of effects. I can get a variation of tones without pedals. Price NIB is $700. I suggest you take your guitar to the local shop and plug into one. Sounds like this might be what ur looking for.

[Duffy49]

This may sound like overkill but I bought a Peavey 6505+ 112 combo and it is an unbelieveable sounding modern sounding all tube combo amp for 599US. It has essentially three channels, two physical channels - lead and rhythm with separate eq's for each channel and separate pre and post gain knobs for each channel, plus resonance and presence knobs for each channel; boost on the rhythm channel is like a third channel of hot overdriven tone similar to the lead channel. This is sixty tube watts with five pre amp tubes and two 6L6 power amp tubes. It gets window rattling loud and sounds really cool cranked, BUT you can turn it down real low to bedroom level and get great tone out of it - all without using any pedals, and it makes a Les Paul sound beautiful, like Leslie West or something. This is no wimpy thin sounding amp for sparkly clean country twang, it's a high gain amp with some awesome full tone. I have to say it is the best amp I have ever owned and if I want a super clean sound I'll use my Fender Super Champ XD wihich is another possible amp for you at 299US that has a full tube compliment including power tubes but has sixteen amp models from super clean to super high gain, plus about eight essential good built in effects - but it doesn't roar like the fully saturated Peavey, even at low volume, even though the SCXD is a super nice amp for what you are looking for, in my opinion, and it has a five year warranty.

 

I encourage you to check out one of those Peavey 6505+ 112 combo's for 599. Play with turning the pre and post gain knobs up and down, one up and one down, and visa versa and see what kind of comparison you can get at low volume to the other amps you are looking at. This amp has a lot of potential and can crank for when you want to have fun or drownd out a loud drummer that tells you to "get a real amp". Ha ha. That is always really rewarding to be able to see him frantically waving you down instead of insulting your underpowered amp. The day may come. My Super Champ XD on one of the louder voices has, with its fifteen tube watts, had some drummers sternly waving me down while I casually take my time to do so like I'm not sure what they mean. Very rewarding. But very embarassing when he yells at you to "get a real amp". So in the big picture getting a more powerful but versitile amp that you can turn down and still sound great, is a good idea in my opinion. Plus high gain amps just sound great, in my opinion, especially if you have a clean amp you can use when you want that sound.