Guitar Amp

Kesz

Kesz

Kesz

Associate
Joined
24 Feb 2009
Posts
527
I currently have a Rocktronic amp which came with my strat copy. I have since then bought a Ibanez RG321EX and I'm now after a new amp.

My teacher recommended any amps that are valve, but he didn't really say a particular brand.

I found this http://marshallamps.com/product.asp?productId=133

Does anyone have any opinions to offer?

Frankly anything will be better than my current amp. It doesn't even have a reverb setting!
 
What is your budget?

To be honest the difference between valve and transistor amps are neglible now and so much technology has gone in to making transistor amps sound like valves over the last couple of decades.
On Friday my lead guitarists Marshall TSL602 amp broke and the landlord lent him a Marshall Valvestate 150 and he was still able to get all his Ritchie Blackmore, Jimi Hendrix, Tony Iommi and Stevie Ray Vaughan tones.
The only difference was he had the master on 8 where his TSL is on 3.

He had to use it last night -

 
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Kesz said:
£150-£200.
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You will not get a valve amp for that price and you will struggle if you go second hand.

I'll recommend in that price range:

Marshall MG30FX Guitar Amp

Line 6 Spider IV 30 Watt Guitar Amp (this is a modelling amp where you will be able to emulate lots of sounds and effects)
 
Dimple said:
You will not get a valve amp for that price and you will struggle if you go second hand.

I'll recommend in that price range:

Marshall MG30FX Guitar Amp

Line 6 Spider IV 30 Watt Guitar Amp (this is a modelling amp where you will be able to emulate lots of sounds and effects)
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The MG and Line 6 entry range amps sound like death. Do not take dimple's advice here....I'll add my contribution in a bit.
 
Are you going to be gigging with the amp?

I used to use a Fender Frontman 15W when I first started playing and then got a Marshall AVT100 Vavlestate Amp which I still have but never use anymore. Instead, I use a Line6 Guitar Port when recording on the PC and use a POD 2.0 for when I play live through a PA system.

I think you should still get an amp and the MG series are very good and do sound good too, but don't expect it to sound like your heros, I played on one recently clean channel with a tiny bit of gain was fine but anything more and the sound got too harsh or muddy.

I suggest spend the least on the amp but get yourself one of these good multi amp/fx units for the sound. You will save money in the long run, get almost any sound you are after and most importantly have hours of fun playing and practising.
 
Gustov said:
The MG and Line 6 entry range amps sound like death. Do not take dimple's advice here....I'll add my contribution in a bit.
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And this will be from a person who has never ventured out of his bedroom with all the amazing talent he has.
I would bet a £1000 that I could put both amps on a stage and make them sound top class through a 3k rig.
 
I've not been playing for long. Around a year and half. I don't play in a band or live. I just enjoying playing the guitar and making music.

I'll look into the Marshall, it could be a possible Christmas present!

Thanks for the information.
 
Dimple said:
Debateable 20 years ago.
Anybody who knows how to setup their gear will get a great sound out of a decent transistor amp.
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Well sure, it's subjective. And solid state amps are definitely useful, and relatively cheap. But the only area they can actually be considered really "equal" to valve amps is in clean sounds. Hell, even a 1/2W pocket amp can sound passable clean.

There's a reason why all really high end sound systems still use valves. No matter how quickly you sample, or how much depth you have per sample you can never reconstruct the original analogue signal perfectly.
 
Kesz said:
I've not been playing for long. Around a year and half. I don't play in a band or live. I just enjoying playing the guitar and making music.

I'll look into the Marshall, it could be a possible Christmas present!

Thanks for the information.
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Ok that is excellent information to go on and basically you want to play in your bedroom and have the best sounds at your disposal.
Most amps/combo's will be a duo sound: overdrive & clean as in the case of the Marshall I linked to which doesn't give a lot of scope.
There are a lot of amps out there that are called modelling amps.
Imagine you want to learn loads of styles so you want an emulated Metallica sound, Guns N Roses sound, classic 70's sound, blues sound and so on, the modelling amp will get you close.
To actually have the right sound goes a long way to playing the guitar better.
In the house I use a Line 6 Toneport plugged into my PC which gives me an array of different amps, speakers and effects units and my guitar is also able to emulate 37 of the worlds greates guitars - I'm in heaven guitar & tone wise.
Line 6 do many modelling amps (and so do other companies) so I would look into these amps/combo's or you could get a Line 6 Toneport and save a few quid by plugging into your PC.
You could still use the Marshall (or similar) combo but for different sounds you could get a pedal that emulates these sounds and put the Marshall (or similar) on a clean channel.
This is exactly how I do it on stage: I put my Marshall TSL602 on a clean sound and let my Boss ME70 take care of all the sounds I need.
 
I'll have a look at the Line 6 Toneport it does look interesting. Although I might not always want to play near my PC. Generally when I play the guitar I remove all distractions so I can focus better. Which is where a amp would be better suited, but I won't rule out the Toneport completely. You mentioned a pedal--my knowledge isn't great on these things--what type of pedal would I need if I went that way? I use a Boss Turbo Dis 2 pedal at the moment.

Thanks for the information Dimple, much appreciated.
 
Kesz said:
You mentioned a pedal--my knowledge isn't great on these things--what type of pedal would I need if I went that way?
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Knowing that you are probably never going to leave your bedroom I would look at the world of modelling amps which are made by most of the big players.
Line 6 were the first and everybody realised they had to copy them.
I have no experience of other modellers except for Line 6 so if anybody has ever done any comparisons they might offer better advise.
A pedal like my Boss ME70 will cost you more than the budget of your amp.
 
I think digital modelling would be a good choice. I'm of the same mind-set as the op and I use Guitar Rig 4 with a Rig Kontrol 2 input (same type of thing as the Line 6 POD). I'd suggest the Native Instruments Guitar Rig over Line 6 Stuff as I think the Native Instruments stuff has more features.
 
Dimple said:
And this will be from a person who has never ventured out of his bedroom with all the amazing talent he has.
I would bet a £1000 that I could put both amps on a stage and make them sound top class through a 3k rig.
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I've played 2 live gigs actually :p AND one with a Line 6 Spider!
 
Honestly I would take Dimple's advice and go with the Marshall or Line 6, Marshall would probably get my vote though. You can get some great sounds out of the amp alone, and in fact you could get a used MG50DFX which is what I've had for god knows how many years.

It won't sound like death Gustov, and you know it.
 
Don't forget to conisder the Vox Valvtronix series. Not really a valve amp at all so try not to feel like you have been mis-sold, but they are good solid amps for that sort of price. I preferred them to the older MG series, but I'm not sure how much better the new MG series amps are.
 
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