Recommend me an amplifier

[guitarman001]

OK, I'm in Scotland. I just bought two very expensive PRS Custom 24s (see Electrics section).
I play 80s pop & rock. Need good cleans... but also creamy leads a la Guns N Roses.

I'll pay for a good amp (want to do justice to these guitars) but would rather not drop £1k+ if I can help it....!

Needs to be loud enough for normal pub gigs. Ideally small/easy to carry and not too heavy. Head + cab are lighter separately but they are big!? So likely a combo.
I do engineering at work all day and don't want to do anymore at night, so has to be ultra reliable. Valves meant to sound great but having to replace them? Ugh..
Ideally I could play it at home using power squeeze or with headphones (so solid state maybe better for that).
Any time I play with the band I only ever use the clean channel and then my pedals for all FX and distortion, so simplest is best - maybe a single channel amp.

PRS SE combos any good?
Blackstar are good value for money.
Vox AC30 seems popular.
Laney LC50 also popular.
I would LOVE the AFD100 head but it's a bit much.
Jet City & Orange also good value.
Mesa Boogies cost a fortune but do sound great - too many channels.
Marshall's not overly reliable?
Able to get decent leads out of a Fender using a distortion pedal?

If I'm only using the clean channel and pedals for distortion then does it even matter if I go solid state or valve?

Please help me!

 

[László]

I play 80s pop & rock. Need good cleans... but also creamy leads a la Guns N Roses.

Plenty of amps will meet these needs, and of course lots of pedals could help you accomplish the second part.

Needs to be loud enough for normal pub gigs. Ideally small/easy to carry and not too heavy. Head + cab are lighter separately but they are big!? So likely a combo.
I do engineering at work all day and don't want to do anymore at night, so has to be ultra reliable. Valves meant to sound great but having to replace them? Ugh..
Ideally I could play it at home using power squeeze or with headphones (so solid state maybe better for that).

Well...replacing valves is so simple that it isn't worth worrying about, and they rarely go bad during a gig. If you gig frequently you can change the power tubes semi-annually, that's really the preventive maintenance one needs. I've been playing tube amps since before solid state amps existed (1965), and have never had a tube go bad during a gig or session. Tube amps are a bit more dynamic than solid state amps, and have a different feel that works well at gigs. I think valve amps sound better, and I figure if I'm performing or recording a track for a client, my audience/client deserves my best sound. But everyone's got their own feelings about sound, feel, and the audience.

Any time I play with the band I only ever use the clean channel and then my pedals for all FX and distortion, so simplest is best - maybe a single channel amp.

Not sure if this is what you meant in the first paragraph, but of course you can do it that way.

PRS SE combos any good?
Blackstar are good value for money.
Vox AC30 seems popular.
Laney LC50 also popular.
I would LOVE the AFD100 head but it's a bit much.
Jet City & Orange also good value.
Mesa Boogies cost a fortune but do sound great - too many channels.
Marshall's not overly reliable?
Able to get decent leads out of a Fender using a distortion pedal?

I haven't heard the SE amps except in clips, but I think they sound good for the dough. PRS now has several really sweet low wattage amps on the market in their core line.

AC30s have been classics since the 60s. Hard to go wrong with one. Mesas are also a good gigging choice, very sturdy amps, and they have lots of models including a low power version of the Mark V that has a headphone jack and I believe it doesn't need to be hooked up to a speaker for practicing.

If I'm only using the clean channel and pedals for distortion then does it even matter if I go solid state or valve?

Yes. It matters!

A pedal pushes a valve front end into saturation and distortion with a different result than going into a solid state front end. I'm not going to suggest what you should, or shouldn't like, but it's certainly going to be a different tone. Go try your favorite dirt pedal into both and see what happens when you really push the front end of the amp.

You'll find everyone has different opinions on this stuff, and there are lots of amp brands out there. I'm partial to PRS amps, it's gotten to the point where that's all I play, however I like Mesas a lot, and as I said the AC30 is a great amp that lots of folks use for every imaginable type of rock music.

The others you mention are fine amps, but not to my taste.

If I played 80s rock, and given your stated preferences, I'd probably go with a PRS 30 Watt HXDA combo. Everything is controllable from the guitar. Turn the guitar volume down, and there are great cleans, turn the guitar volume up and you're in classic rock territory. Put a pedal in front, and you get some higher gain happening. The amp is well made, easy to fix if something goes wrong because it's hand wired, and is very versatile. There are clips of the amp on the PRS site.

Add a Mesa speaker emulation gizmo that lets you play silently, and you're in business with everything you need.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

Boogie S.O.B. or a .50 cal.

Spend the rest of the money you save on another PRS.

 

[pac90]

There's a guy on the other PRS forum recently got an Hughes & Kettner. Has the powersoak and 3 channels. The 18watt for best bang for buck? They are supposed to be german engineering finest and handles auto tube biasing and all that malarky of which I know nothing about. I was looking at getting the wee 5watt one recently as first tube amp for home, but went for the 4watt VoxAC4-12 instead.

They are a little cheaper from europe than UK suppliers.

http://www.thomann.de/gb/search.htm...64=&wgfid5=8965&wgf8965=&wgfid6=8966&wgf8966=

 

[guitarman001]

Will check these replies later (just going out) but for the meantime... Has anybody checked out the Matrix VB800 amp and NL12 cab? Very, very, very light and loud - no backbreaking!

 

[Tag]

If you do not mind using pedals, used fender Silver face amps are cheap, and IMO, sound as good or better than the WAY more expensive Blackface counterparts. I just picked up a beat up looking, but solid as a rock, original SF Twin reverb for $490, and am getting some of the best tones I have ever had with it. Using a Mad professor Sweet Honey overdrive, Little green wonder and Simble pedals for overdrive, and an old Boss DD3 for delay which sounds unreal. Cant beat the onboard SF reverbs. They sound as good as Tony Brunos! Another option...I think the new Vox C series AC 15s sound KILLER. The 30s are nice too, but I like the 15s more. Also the fender HR series have killer cleans, and work great with pedals. their on board drive channels I do not care for however. The PV Classic 30s and 50s also sound great, both clean and overdriven channels. VERY overlooked amps.

 

[DuncanCE22]

I would recommend a backstar ht venue, I played a few when I was looking for an amp. I ended up buying the HT-5R purely because it was much cheaper and i'm not gigging at the moment so don't need anything bigger. I would definitely give them a try I think you'll be surprised at how good they are.

 

[guitarman001]

What about Blackstar ID:TVP amps? Played one today and the valve emulation sounded as good as the HT Club amp I played!

 

[Texas_minor_blues]

I would say a PRS Sweet 16 could fit your needs nicely

 

[petpas]

I'm missing an Orange TH30 in your list. It has a very good clean channel and a wicked drive channel. I play 70s 80s rock with a PRS custom 24 through this amp and it sounds really great.

 

[CoreyT]

What about Blackstar ID:TVP amps? Played one today and the valve emulation sounded as good as the HT Club amp I played!

I own three of them.
A ID 15, a ID 30 (both combos) and a ID 60 head.
All three of them are great sounding amps with good cleans and outrageous high gain.

 

[GS1]

I own three of them.
A ID 15, a ID 30 (both combos) and a ID 60 head.
All three of them are great sounding amps with good cleans and outrageous high gain.

Have you played the ID 60 Combo? Just wondering if it is pretty much the same as the 30, but louder.

 

[Danerada]

How about a PRS 2-Channel H (or C if you can find one)? I don't know if the Sweet 16 will have enough headroom for what you are looking for. Also, the new Fender Deluxe Reverb re-issue is a ridiculously good amp.

 

[CoreyT]

Have you played the ID 60 Combo? Just wondering if it is pretty much the same as the 30, but louder.

Have not tried the 60 combo.
I run the head through an Avatar cab with 2x12 Celestion Vintage 30s.

Will run the PRS Archon 25/13 head through the same cab if they fix the noise issue with the Archon amps, and if they release a head in that wattage.

 

[mAd66]

I had only a G-Dec Junior for my SE One........ until this past saturday. I got a good deal on a second generation Epiphone Valve Junior and Holey Moley what a treat!
An SE One and the Valve Junior are a match made in my personal heaven :top:

SCORE!

 

[László]

I had only a G-Dec Junior for my SE One........ until this past saturday. I got a good deal on a second generation Epiphone Valve Junior and Holey Moley what a treat!
An SE One and the Valve Junior are a match made in my personal heaven :top:

SCORE!

Those little Valve Jr.s are cool little amps, aren't they?

 

[Drew]

For that era, get a Marshall. The JVM combos are great. My 2nd choice would be the Mesa Mark V 25. Less daunting than the bigger one but still enough juice to gig.

 

[mAd66]

Those little Valve Jr.s are cool little amps, aren't they?

Hi L, it gave me a half an hour of goosebumps all at once. Unreal. It is my first Tube Amp. I have plugged into a big tubed VOX SUMthinORotheR at a friends rehearsal digs in the past and it sounded ok for what it was but that what came out of my new VJ on Saturday afternoon....... I wasn't expecting that.
I stumbled upon it by chance and did alot of reading up on it. Everyone seems to be modding the bejesus out of it.
Best part of this rig is there are only two things to turn on: Amp on + Amp to full volume & one thing to adjust - Guitar volume.
Only thing I may do is gauge up on strings for more low end, sumthin' like GHS Boomer TNTs.

My pentatonic practice never sounded so luvlee :dancing:

m

 

[Tag]

I'm missing an Orange TH30 in your list. It has a very good clean channel and a wicked drive channel. I play 70s 80s rock with a PRS custom 24 through this amp and it sounds really great.

Agree with this too. The Rockerverb is another great one. Excellent cleans and overdrive. A Bogner Shiva is also another great amp. Used you can find them for pretty good prices.

 

[Jazzedout]

I have a Laney LC15R into a 2x12 cabinet. It runs (almost) clean, and I have a TC Nova System for all the effects in front of it.
So I m in the same camp as you regarding the clean amp and effects.
The Laney LC50 you mention would be more than enough. My small 15W can keep up with a band through the 2x12 cab.

Now if you want to go solidstate and sound decent, only one thing comes to mind. Amp modelers.
One thing you could do is get an amp modeler (I have an Avid Eleven Rack, mostly for recording) and a midi pedalboard.
You could run it directly to the P.A. at a gig with your band and play at home through headphones.
You could also get one solid state rack amp to power the amp modeler (which will simulate a tube amp) to a normal guitar cabinet.
My 2p, YMMV etc...