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Tagged: Advice on equipment
- This topic has 27 replies, 27 voices, and was last updated 3 years ago by Robert M.
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June 18, 2020 at 9:10 am #178395
This is probably covered a million times- wondering what a good home amp would be for “blues sound” preferably @ 4-500$. I have Gibson LP Classic, Fender Delux strat, and G&L ASAT blues boy (guitars are covered lol)
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June 18, 2020 at 11:34 am #178398
supro blues king
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June 18, 2020 at 5:11 pm #178404
Yep, you’re right. You will get dozens of different opinions. My number one recommendation is this: Make sure it’s a tube amp.
Sunjamr Steve
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June 18, 2020 at 6:33 pm #178410
Your price range puts you right into a Fender Blues Jr.
Mike
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July 2, 2020 at 1:45 am #181365
What Mike said.
BruceJust focus on the notes you DID get right . . . Frank Vignola
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June 19, 2020 at 7:01 am #178428
Hi Christian
Many of us here have the Yamaha THR10c and I think you will find most absolutely love them. There is much talk on this forum about them (lots from me but many who hae broguth them hardly if any bad words about them). Whilst Steve is thinking blues sound and the THR10C is not lacking that, any tube amp is going to need mains power and thus portability is not as good. I have that and a Mesa RectoVerb 25 watt which is of course a fine tube amp.Yamaha have just brought out a new THR Amp and it will mimic the 10c which was the blues version of the THR series. I would give it very serious consideration. They are highly Portable, they are very loud for their size (at 5 Watts, Brian did a cafe gig with one I beleive), they will run on batteries as well as mains, They are very configurable, they make a great sound system for a desktop when usb connected and more..
The new models the 2 sereis or THRII have even more features and mor power and with rechargeable batteries: –
All THR-II models feature Bluetooth connectivity for audio playback, the “THR Remote” mobile editor app, and third-party footswitch support.
THR10II Wireless and THR30II Wireless also feature a built-in rechargeable battery and Line 6 wireless receiver. Just grab your THR, your guitar, and a Line 6 Relay G10T transmitter (sold separately), and play anywhere your music takes you.They come in 20 and 30 watt models. Whilst I love my Mesa the THR is used most of the time for sheer convenience and great tones. Acceptance of the Relay Line6 Wireless adapter is icing on the cake in th new design. I use one on my Mesa and find it excellent. If it broke down I would definitely want another.
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June 19, 2020 at 7:01 pm #178449
This video compares the Boss Katana Mk11 to the Yamaha THR 30. I own the Katana and I’ve played thru a friend’s Yamaha. You can go from 50 watts to 25 and .5 on the Katana so they can both be played at low volume. The louder you play the Katana just just sounds so much better because it has a great quality 12″ speaker.
Mike
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October 24, 2020 at 12:30 pm #215802
Based on Brian’s Crate video and a response he made in the comments, I have just purchased the Katana Boss 50 MKII. Since you own it if there are any tips you can give I would appreciate it. I previously have been using my acoustic Fishman Loudbox mini with just a clean sound but I am ready to experiment, it will have a learning curve for me I am sure.
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June 21, 2020 at 9:54 am #178555
It is out of production but I have a Hughes & Kettner TubeMeister 5 that impresses me everytime I play it. They are available on used market. For home usage a 5W tube amp has plenty of output and you can easily get natural break up at reasonable volumes.
-Doug
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July 2, 2020 at 1:54 pm #181415
Not to be contrarian, but in keeping with the spirit of the blues, wouldn’t pretty much any amp do? Isn’t that what all the original blues players did, just use whatever they had available? This is what I’m trying to do in my own musical life, to keep it more about the music than the gear.
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November 17, 2020 at 9:18 pm #219838
I really like Caleb’s comment. I have a couple of amps, but I spent last weekend playing a 90’s Squire strat through a Crate GX20 solid state amp, and it sounded just right.
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July 18, 2020 at 3:12 pm #182875
An alternate thought, which is handy if you live in an apartment or have family members who would rather watch Game of Thrones than listen to you practice: I’ve been using a Vox headphone amp, and I really like it. They have several models for different tones, and they are really cheap – about $45, plus the cost of a decent set of earphones. They have effects – reverb, vibrato and distortion. I had the AC30 model, which I really liked, but I gave it to my son-in-law, so I bought the “clean” version, which I like too, and has those effects to “unclean” the sound. I think they have blues and metal versions as well.
Still learning after all these years
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July 19, 2020 at 3:23 pm #183009
The newer Blues Junior version IV, black with the Celestion A-Type speaker (comes with stock). I had a previous version of the BJ and this latest model blows it away. Fender improved on everything across the board on this one and the speaker is incredible. I compared it to a Princeton with a Canabis Rex speaker and the BJ was sweeter more defined with nice rounded low end and no ice picky highs that previous versions had. Also, the BJ has a Master control knob and a volume knob so you can get raunchy tube break-up at lower volumes (so you don’t bother your wife! ).
Test one and see for yourself. You won’t be disappointed.
Good luck
Greg
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July 27, 2020 at 9:56 am #183631
I have an inexpensive Bugera V5 tube amp and it sounds great for a bedroom amp.
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August 16, 2020 at 4:27 am #186941
The big problem that most guitarists have is “tone chasing”….have the sound one day… gone the next. In my case I just don’t want to play until I’ve got the right tone. I got over this by plugging directly into the amp, sans any stomp box / pedals. This approach works because you have to learn the simple and complex aspects of the amp…very quickly all will be revealed and no matter what your plugged into you can get close to the basis of the sound in your head, then just do the same with any effects that you may wish to add. (simply put, the permutations of an amp and six pedals is overwhelming).
Trust me… the “all tube” preference is to my mind a bit pretentious as well as being simply wrong. The best all round amp I’ve ever owned is a Peavey studio pro (red Stripe), I also own a bandit, same story! (both are solid state) and both are available for peanuts, they feature “Trans Tube Technology” that emulates the sound of “breakup” on a tube amp.
Give it a go!!! -
August 16, 2020 at 8:20 pm #186976
The big problem that most guitarists have is “tone chasing”….have the sound one day… gone the next. In my case I just don’t want to play until I’ve got the right tone. I got over this by plugging directly into the amp, sans any stomp box / pedals. This approach works because you have to learn the simple and complex aspects of the amp…very quickly all will be revealed and no matter what your plugged into you can get close to the basis of the sound in your head, then just do the same with any effects that you may wish to add. (simply put, the permutations of an amp and six pedals is overwhelming).
Trust me… the “all tube” preference is to my mind a bit pretentious as well as being simply wrong. The best all round amp I’ve ever owned is a Peavey studio pro (red Stripe), I also own a bandit, same story! (both are solid state) and both are available for peanuts, they feature “Trans Tube Technology” that emulates the sound of “breakup” on a tube amp.
Give it a go!!!Hey Rod
I like your approach of plugging directly into the amp without effects. So many times, effects mask sloppy playing and people begin to rely on them like a crutch. They would be much better player by using the direct method that you mentioned
So much great music in the past was recorded with what would be considered today as substandard equipment yet the playing was brilliant. My 2 favorite American player – Duane Allman and Dickey Betts – and my 2 favorite UK players – Alvin Lee and Kim Simmonds – all played straight into their amps recorded some ground breaking music. Kim Simmonds used a wah from time to time but no OD, distortion, etcYou couldn’t find better solid state amps than the Bandit and Studio Pro 112 – I think its safe to say that the Bandit is Peavey’s all time biggest seller because it is such a good sounding amp.
I’m a Peavey fan too except I love the Classic 50 tube amp, just something about the way that they engineered that amp with EL84 tubes. I have one with 2-12″ speakers and I recently picked up a Valveking ii 50 watt with 1-12″ speaker that I’m planning to evaluate this winter. -
August 17, 2020 at 8:18 pm #187028
I have three Fender amps , I highly recommend The Fender Mustang 1v2, you can pick it up used for about $100. 20 watt w custom 8 in speaker. You can use headphones. It has 10 presets that can be customized and reset twice. It’s so cheap bc Fender doesn’t support the Fuse software w thousands of presets but it is out there and available. For $400 to 500 you can pick up a used Fender Hotrod Deluxe. Amazing tube amp. That you could gig with or keep on 1 and practice at home. You can check both out on YouTube. Have fun.
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November 3, 2020 at 9:37 am #218820
I have the Spark Amp. Great little desktop thing like the Yamaha. It has a phone app with tons of modeled amps and pedals. Very good for low volume playing.
JeffW
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November 13, 2020 at 6:19 pm #219627
I have a Fender Blues Junior and am super pleased with the tone. I have a friend who is an awesome professional player who is coveting this amp, he absolutely loves it and can coax wonderful tones from it. I play mostly straight through it although I do have a Boss Me-70 pedal setup. I think that amps are much like guitars though, you should try them out at the store or maybe your friends and one is sure to speak to you.
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November 16, 2020 at 9:01 am #219771
If you’re looking for an amp to use at lower volume, check out the Roland Blues Cube.
You can attenuate the power down to .5 watt. I wanted a Fender tube amp but live in a townhouse. -
December 6, 2020 at 10:59 am #224209
I have a Katana MkII and I think it’s great. I got it because I found myself going down the rabbit hole of pedals and with the Katanas you are basically getting any Boss pedal as part of the package. It was really strictly a financial choice – looking for maximum flexibility & tweak-ability for the $ because I really only wanted to buy one amp.
The Katana sounds pretty good at the .5 watt setting but very good at neighbor-annoying volumes.
Some people complain about the more technical interface & the fact that to get the most out of it you need to connect it to a computer (which allows you to tweak settings like you wouldn’t believe). For me, as a technical person, this was a big selling point… the options are virtually limitless. -
December 7, 2020 at 11:50 am #224277
Hi Christian.
Home amp… well, I live in a flat with neighbours all around, and also, my wife doesn’t like too much my boring and repetitive exercises.
Keep in mind that a real tube amp needs a certain volume to produce their characteristic sound, I’ve tested the Fender Blues Junior in a store, and sounds incredible .. but .. no way to play with that in my home.So, I have a THR30 in my bedroom that sound pretty good at very low volumes, and also use a computer simulation amp (guitar Rig5) usually for recording or playing at the living room with headphones.
my suggestion …. go to the store and test by yourself.
If you already have an audio interface for computer you can download and test some of the computer simulation amps like Amplitube or guitarRig for free.
good luck. -
December 7, 2020 at 1:21 pm #224287
I will just comment on tube amps, since I have quite a few of them.
I have owned a Fender Tremolux for over 50 years. It is a 30 Watt tube amp that I didn’t think was very good until I realized it had to be turned up to at least 9, then it is a great sounding amp. Way too loud for home use. I also own a number of Marshall half stacks that sound great, but are so loud they cause hearing loss if not played through an attenuator. Definitely too loud for home use.
I don’t have the talent to gig, so those amps live in the basement and rarely get played.
I like the tube amp sound, so I bought a Blues Junior which is a 15 watt home practice amp for me. Guess what? Very loud.
If I had it to do over, I probably wouldn’t go for the tube amp as a home amp. I actually may not even buy an amp at all in this day and age! -
December 17, 2020 at 6:00 pm #224837
I cast my vote for the Spark or the new Mustang GTX. Both have great sounding models of horribly expensive tube amps and are smaller (at least the Spark is). I have the Spark and a Fender Mustang GT-40 (it’s the version before the GTX) and keep them in the TV room to noodle around while I half-watch TV. That has got me playing far more than I used to, by turning otherwise unproductive time into a creative experience. Anyway, you can spend for the tube sound, but I think you’ll really be disappointed by the sound at low volumes compared to a screaming, but low-volume modeling amp that gives the tons of sounds, or allows you to play dry, without the talent amplifiers cranked up! Either way, you’ve learned something about what it means to be a guitar player and musician; the relentless pursuit of tone!!!
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December 18, 2020 at 4:05 pm #224886
I personally had no luck with the Katana 50, always sounded very thin to me. Maybe the Katana 100 would’ve been better. 🤷🏽♂️ So I went with the Roland Blues Cube Hot 30 and couldn’t be happier!!! This amp is amazing, great for blues but good for any genre.
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February 9, 2021 at 4:40 pm #234441
I’m getting some nice tones which ( I think ) sound great from a Yamaha thr10ii combined with a joyo American sound pedal which cost £26 (inc delivery!!) YouTube reviews seemed good so decided to go for it.
I select the flat setting on the amp with the spring reverb effect on. The voice setting on the pedal simulates a really nice clean tone then breaks up nicely as you turn it to the right. Not sure which amps it’s supposed to simulate but sounds great to me.
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February 26, 2021 at 7:33 am #236282
I have a Marshall DSL 5C, I assuming its a tube amp. I purchased a Boss Blues Driver BD 2 pedal, Brian had mentioned it in one of his lessons. I’m not sure the sound is any different when my guitar was hooked up to the AMP. Can anyone advise me if I am doing something wrong. Brian doesn’t go crazy with pedals but he did recommend this one and I liked the sound or at least when he was playing the blues.
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March 26, 2021 at 1:10 am #242749
I have searched for the tone I liked for many years and tried all kinds of amps and overdrive pedals and finally broke down and spent a bit more on a Fender Tweed Deluxe and an attenuator and realize now that I really would have saved alot of time and money if I had bought one years ago. Although I never got to try one until the 57 was reissued. I had a wonderful opportunity one day to try the reissue beside an original 57 deluxe and I knew then my search had finally ended and I have since then become more convinced that this is the best blues amp I have ever heard or used. Its amazing with single coil or humbuckers. I can’t imagine anyone disagreeing that likes tube amp sounds. The price is hard to believe too but so is the price of a Les Paul. I might argue that the amp is as important as the guitar so it is relevant. I am a woodworker and I like to make the comparison that a having good saw is kind of defeated if you don’t spend the money on a a good blade. Anyway that is my take and I hope you find the sound you like because it is so worth it once you do. Its like one good amp is better than 2 cheap ones. All the best in your search.
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