Tony65x55
Gretschified
It does look like a very useful amp. I hope to find out what it sounds like next week.
Small/Medium gigging amp, opinions/recommendations for those who use them
- Thread starter Stefan87
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It does look like a very useful amp. I hope to find out what it sounds like next week.
wizard_23
Gretschie
Hey Stefan,
My big fat disclaimer on this is that I gave up real cabs years ago for tube amps + Two Notes Torpedoes... And increasingly I'm using plugins.
But, for portability, tone and gigging, for the budget you've mentioned I'd get a 2nd hand Line 6 HX Stomp and a powered foldback wedge.
If it has to be tube though, hard to beat a Deluxe Reverb.
My big fat disclaimer on this is that I gave up real cabs years ago for tube amps + Two Notes Torpedoes... And increasingly I'm using plugins.
But, for portability, tone and gigging, for the budget you've mentioned I'd get a 2nd hand Line 6 HX Stomp and a powered foldback wedge.
If it has to be tube though, hard to beat a Deluxe Reverb.
Hoot
Electromatic
If you're even thinking about getting a Fender Deluxe Reverb, think no more. There's a very good reason this amp has stood the test of time and been the choice of top musicians across the globe. The spring reverb is an added plus. I don't think there's a better sounding reverb on the market.
I used to own a Roland JC-120 and it was also an amazing amp. To this day, I wish I would've held onto it. A good friend uses a small Roland Cube and these are also an excellent choice. It's personal preference between tubes and solid state, I suppose, but Roland has the solid state sound down pat. You might want to consider the Roland JC-77, another great choice.
Back in Black
Country Gent
Stefan,
Any of the above will get the job done.
My personal choice would be a VOX AC30.
As far as gigging, you are only limited by space to place your amp(s).
History has shown us everything from ''monster stacks'', AC/DC, Vanhalen...to a tiny vintage tweed Fender Deluxe being miked, Neil Young.
I have only ever owned VOX amps, and to this day, they continue to serve me well.
You may want to get connected with your band of choice, and purchase an amp later, don't forget, you will be the ''new guy'', and the band may have their own ideas about amp size/brand/necessary features.
As an example, If I was the leader of a 1965 era Beatles cover band, and looking for a guitarist, you wouldn't be using a Marshall amp.
BIB.
Stencil
Gretschie
Given that you're in Oz, I would encourage you to check out Ceriatone's offerings, which are extremely well designed tube amps hand-assembled in Malaysia. Ceriatone's owner, Nik, is a Cornell engineering grad.
Ceriatone specialise in making "better than the original" clones of Fender, Marshall, Vox...and Dumble amps. Originally Ceriatone just sold kits, now it appears that most of their production consists of assembled amps.
Though most customers order from the factory in Malaysia, they appear to have quite a few qualified repair shops in Australia. I also noticed that there were a few of their amps for sale on Gumtree. In other words, they're not an orphaned brand in Oz.
The Ceriatone amp I'd recommend is the OTS lunchbox, a 20 Watt Dumble clone, that Ceriatone claim is a blend of an OTS, old Tweed Deluxe, and a JTM50. That description is quite accurate.
I already owned quite a few amps ranging from 5W to 100W when I ordered the OTS. I was interested in an economical way to understand the Dumble hype. Initially I was just going to use it for recording. But its versatility and reliability have grown on me and so now I use it for gigs, including smallish outdoor concerts, where I hook it up to a vertical 2 X V30 Marshall cab, to ensure optimal sound dissemination.
Happy hunting !
Dominique.
Ceriatone specialise in making "better than the original" clones of Fender, Marshall, Vox...and Dumble amps. Originally Ceriatone just sold kits, now it appears that most of their production consists of assembled amps.
Though most customers order from the factory in Malaysia, they appear to have quite a few qualified repair shops in Australia. I also noticed that there were a few of their amps for sale on Gumtree. In other words, they're not an orphaned brand in Oz.
The Ceriatone amp I'd recommend is the OTS lunchbox, a 20 Watt Dumble clone, that Ceriatone claim is a blend of an OTS, old Tweed Deluxe, and a JTM50. That description is quite accurate.
I already owned quite a few amps ranging from 5W to 100W when I ordered the OTS. I was interested in an economical way to understand the Dumble hype. Initially I was just going to use it for recording. But its versatility and reliability have grown on me and so now I use it for gigs, including smallish outdoor concerts, where I hook it up to a vertical 2 X V30 Marshall cab, to ensure optimal sound dissemination.
Happy hunting !
Dominique.
dspellman
Gretschie
I've abandoned "guitar" amps (and particularly combos) for small cover band gigs altogether. I've got a bunch of tube amps staring me in the face in my den, but these days I carry a modeler, a 34 pound three-way cabinet with a 12"LF driver, a 5"mids and a 1" tweeter, and a 10 lb power amp that has WAY more than 30W.
An HD500X is running well under $300 on the local Craigslist. If I'm really particular about cabinet sounds, I take a Two Notes Torpedo C.A.B. along. With this setup, you have the opportunity to do a really wide range of amp and FX things -- a pedal board doesn't need to go along, and you can change what you're doing in the middle of a song with a single stomp. If there's a good mixer and PA system at the venue, you can simply run lines from the modeler to the mixer.
A good PA-style wide-range cabinet will reproduce everything you have in the HD500X, and if it's already powered, all the better. Most of these will one-hand into any gig.
An HD500X is running well under $300 on the local Craigslist. If I'm really particular about cabinet sounds, I take a Two Notes Torpedo C.A.B. along. With this setup, you have the opportunity to do a really wide range of amp and FX things -- a pedal board doesn't need to go along, and you can change what you're doing in the middle of a song with a single stomp. If there's a good mixer and PA system at the venue, you can simply run lines from the modeler to the mixer.
A good PA-style wide-range cabinet will reproduce everything you have in the HD500X, and if it's already powered, all the better. Most of these will one-hand into any gig.
Don’t know if you are still looking, but to all out there looking for a similar amp that does it all, I have to suggest the Line 6 Spider Valve MKIi 112. Yea, I know Line 6 amps are kind of panned by most, but this one model is the only one that truly marries a complete tube amp front end with a modeling section in the front of it. The actual amp is designed by Reinhold Bogner ( a true master of tube amplifier design). This particular amp has 6L6 power tubes and 12ax7 preamp tubes. It puts out 40 watts of pure tube enjoyment. It includes a master volume, a drive knob and a channel volume, which allows for infinite levels of crunch at any volume. It also includes reverb, 3 types of echo, chorus, flange, phase and tremolo. It also has noise gates, compressors and a built in tuner. I think it was made in 2008 and only for about 1 year. I guess the marriage of Bogner and Line 6 didn’t last long. This amp has a rotating knob that lets you dial in every conceivable amp tone you can think of and then some, but that’s due to the Line 6 front end. The real beauty is the full on tube amplifier that drives it all. I have been playing for over 60 years and I personally have never had the opportunity to play through a better sounding amplifier ever. I’ve had almost every amplifier brand out there and played through those I have not owned sometime along the way, and I have never heard sounds better than what comes from this amp. ( However I have never played through a Dumble, which is supposed to be out of this world). This is the only model that Line 6 ever made with a tube amplifier on the front end of their modeling technology. All those other amps you listed are great amps in their own right, but none of them can match the numbers of sounds you can get from this one amplifier. It can be a bit cumbersome to figure it all out, and you have to get the extra cost “Long Board” foot pedal to really use it to it’s full potential. Every guitarist that I have played with and/or given the chance to plat through this amp, poopoo it at first as “ yea, yea it’s a Line 6, but it’s all tranny, and can’t breath like a tube amp does”. Then they hear it, and their eyes light up and say tilt. This is the only, and I mean only model in the Line 6 arsenal that can really do it all. It’s also got a Celsestian Vintage 30 12” speaker ( not a bad speaker all by itself). You have to find it used, and most people really don’t know about it, so it is priced somewhat reasonably ($500 to $600 with the foot pedal). Just wanted to insert my 2 cents to this thread.
NiterideGuitarist
Electromatic
NiterideGuitarist
Electromatic
So curve ball,”low & outside”! Not sure of your direction still but.... I was gigging with a Traynor 20WVCR (all tube amp with reverb) that I bought used off of a band mate. He was clearly into pedal pushing! I know it’s not MIA (Canadian don’t you know). Kept that one and more recently bought a 40 watt Traynor for Snowbird residence. IMHO Clean amps on par with my all time favorite Fenders! I like them so much I finally sold my 1965 Fender Super Reverb. (Some remorse but too heavy to lug around). Feel like this is somewhere in the range of the DeVille, Blues Jr. I believe weight is 39 pounds for the 20W, and maybe 49 pounds for the 40 watt. I do have a pedalboard but mainly use tuner, compression, and some times delay. Amps have gain and reverb on board (no EQ). 20watt bought used for $400; 40 watt was just over $900 new. IMHO the 20W is all the push you need for small gigs. As usual, the 40 watt was just my usual “go big or stay home”. Happy hunting!
The Blues Jr hot rodded model with the Jensen in Tweed I will never sell either.
The 1975 Fender Princeton I had was just too muddy and broke up way too soon for me.
Sid Nitzerglobin
Country Gent
Out of curiosity, what's a Marshall SV20 or SC20 go for in Australia?
If it's not too outrageous of a markup & you can find them used, either would be great option IMO if you like early-ish Plexi or JCM800 sounds respectively. Either have really impressive output to luggability ratios & really nice dynamics & sound to me.
If it's not too outrageous of a markup & you can find them used, either would be great option IMO if you like early-ish Plexi or JCM800 sounds respectively. Either have really impressive output to luggability ratios & really nice dynamics & sound to me.
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Just looked on EBay for Aus. And someone was selling the Line 6 Bogner MKII for about $600 with the “Long Board” foot controller. This amp would give all the grind you could want. Just a follow up to my original post. I currently own a Fender DeVille Hotrod (4-10” speakers), a Fendef Champ Xd, a Vox Nighttrain legacy, a Marshall DSL 100 w/4-12 cab, an original Roland Cube 30x and the Line 6, so I know all the sounds you are thinking about. If you have the time, try out that Line 6 Bogner. Don’t know how far away it is from you, though.
None of the above.
Everything you've listed is pretty much low end junk that doesn't really sound that good.
For about $400 - $500 you can find yourself a USA made Gibson GA-15, which is an amazingly good amp at any price point.
Not only is it American made but it has quality components, like a UK made Celestion 12, and it also has the 1/2 power switch to knock it from a small gig with headroom to spare 15 watts to a 7.5 watt amp that you can drive a little bit. Add in the fact that it's got really high quality transformers and a real spring reverb and you'll wonder why these aren't more popular. Also, it's very light.
These were not cheap amps when they came out in the 90s. Look for a black one, as the brown ones can have transformer issues. The brown ones are great if the transformer has been upgraded to the black model's, which happened to many under warranty.
This amp is the Trace Elliot Velocette. Gibson purchased Trace and made these under their own name.
The only amp I can compare it to tonally would be a Matchless Spitfire. I don't know which came first but they're pretty darn close in terms of design. It sounds way better than any of those faux modern Vox amps out there.
https://reverb.com/ca/item/10998457-rare-gibson-goldtone-ga-15-rv
Everything you've listed is pretty much low end junk that doesn't really sound that good.
For about $400 - $500 you can find yourself a USA made Gibson GA-15, which is an amazingly good amp at any price point.
Not only is it American made but it has quality components, like a UK made Celestion 12, and it also has the 1/2 power switch to knock it from a small gig with headroom to spare 15 watts to a 7.5 watt amp that you can drive a little bit. Add in the fact that it's got really high quality transformers and a real spring reverb and you'll wonder why these aren't more popular. Also, it's very light.
These were not cheap amps when they came out in the 90s. Look for a black one, as the brown ones can have transformer issues. The brown ones are great if the transformer has been upgraded to the black model's, which happened to many under warranty.
This amp is the Trace Elliot Velocette. Gibson purchased Trace and made these under their own name.
The only amp I can compare it to tonally would be a Matchless Spitfire. I don't know which came first but they're pretty darn close in terms of design. It sounds way better than any of those faux modern Vox amps out there.
https://reverb.com/ca/item/10998457-rare-gibson-goldtone-ga-15-rv
Yeah, I can throw my hat into the Quilter ring as well. I keep one up in my jam studio at the church with a 1x12 cab. Great sounding rig for sure.
new6659
Friend of Fred
I used to take my Twin everywhere but I'm not sure I can get it up the basement stairs anymore
pmac11
Country Gent
Some of the forum members will tell you that you may only get the Peavey if you first use it to practice re-covering with tolex. ;-)
Dave Murray
Gretschie
I voted for the Marshall . . . . Why? Because I own one and am happy with it. I also own about six or seven other amps, but most are heavy. You want a lightweight amp? Be prepared to compromise. You can't have it all in one amp. But frankly, do the drunks in a bar really care about what amp you are using?
