Help finding THE amp

[horax]

Hey guys. I need some advice.
Right now I play a supro delta king 12. For it for Chicago blues sounding stuff and it excels at that.

However, anytime I start playing chiefs/rhythm it overdrives way too easily. So if I play Creed or anything a bit harder, it’s tough to control.

As such, I’d like to find an amp that gives good note separation without sounding flabby when playing harder. It also needs to get dirty when playing blues if needed.

Hardest thing is the budget. Has to be close to 500.00 used USD.

Any ideas?

 

[Deleted member 5962]

Head or combo?

 

[horax]

Combo

 

[Tone-y]

Just because I've bought one recently - line 6 Dt combo. Either DT25 or Dt50. They have a digital front end and valve power stage and with the updated firmware you can swap the digital models so you can easily have it configured as a deluxe reverb (normal and vib channels) one day and a SLO (crunch and overdrive channels) the next. Or a Vox and a dual rectifier.
Or with the configurable power section you can dial in a dual rectifier, but take away all the negative feedback to make it really open and dynamic, switch it to class A and triode output to give it some vintage voice and compression and you have a high gain vintage voiced amp.
It's not 100% as good as a full valve amp, but fairly close. But they're cheap and flexible.
Other options: line 6 Catalyst or boss katana for full digital equivalent

 

[Tony M.]

Used Peavey Classic 30 or 50?

 

[horax]

Used Peavey Classic 30 or 50?

I can’t bring myself to buy a peavey after what Hartley did to his employees. Sad too, because they’re fine amps.

 

[Tone-y]

Of course there is the other option of an overdrive/distortion pedal for your existing amp. There's many fancy ones out there these days that transform a clean channel into a fire breather. Friedman beod, revv G3, G4, Diezel VH4, bogner red/blue etc etc. Many many options

 

[andy474x]

Marshall DSL40, or Fender Bassbreaker 30r would be good ones. Buddy of mine gigs a DSL (the 100 head) and it works and sounds great for him.

 

[László]

Hardest thing is the budget. Has to be close to 500.00 used USD.

Any ideas?

That's a very tall order for that budget, so my idea would be to save up for one before diving in. There are plenty of amps that will do what you want, they just cost more.

Tone-y also has a good suggestion about getting a really good dirt pedal.

"Les, how often do you save up for things, you impulsive maniac? You just sell a bunch of stuff, only to re-buy the same stuff later."

"Um...uh...do as I say, not as I do?"

 

[Tone-y]

As Les alludes to, getting a pure valve amp that covers clean/blues and harder, tighter rock and beyond sounds in one package - that is also cheap, is a tall order. Valve amps tend to specialise and are optimised to a narrow area of performance. If you want to cover lots of stylistic areas and do it cheaply then it does drive you towards hybrid or digital amps that emulate other amps. Or pedals into your clean channel.

 

[RickP]

A Fender Hot Rod (Deville or Deluxe) would cover those bases, as would a BassBreaker 30 or 45. Depending on which one you picked, you'd gain from double to four times the wattage the Supro makes, which would give you the headroom you're looking for. I picked up a Marshall Haze 40 EL34 tube amp a few years back in this price area too, and it was a fun little box. The DSL40C is also in that group.

The $500 cap does truncate the option list significantly, but it doesn't mean you can't find a good option. As others have noted, saving even a few hundred more opens the list significantly, but sometimes what you've got is what you've got. Any of the above will get you louder with a clean tone, while maintaining a respectable grinding rock presence.

 

[László]

The $500 cap does truncate the option list significantly, but it doesn't mean you can't find a good option.

This is true.

And yet, I'd still save for a better option. Because I'm a maniac.