Jump to content

What is the BEST (and inexpensive) PRACTICE AMP out there?

aiiiiee

By aiiiiee
in Amps

Recommended Posts

  • Members
aiiiiee Newbie

aiiiiee

Posted
  • Members
Posted

I've been looking for the above that might be tube-driven as well, but suddenly "inexpensive" doesn't apply so much (In the UK, looking for

  • Members
newholland Newbie

newholland

Posted
  • Members
Posted

for the money- you'd be hard pressed to do better than a fender frontman 25r. the valvetronix sound pretty nice.. but for a simple, usable, good sounding combo with footswitching and reverb... the frontman. if you're using A LOT of gain.. meh.. it's pretty solid statey-- but if you don't use it for full onslaught metallzorz madness chuggz.. it's a great clean to midgain amp up to about halfway on the master- which is pretty doggone loud for an 'in the house' sorta amp.

  • Members
newholland Newbie

newholland

Posted
  • Members
Posted

 

Quote Originally Posted by Mogwix

View Post

peavey bandit

 

that's another good'n-- particularly if you're looking for better high gain sounds! had one for a few years, and recorded the crap out of it... 65 watts too-- so loud as hell. also great if you use fx in the loop.
  • Members
Pinkycramps Newbie

Pinkycramps

Posted
  • Members
Posted

Do you mean individual practice, like at home?

Hmmm. I dunno... for practice I've been using a LIne6 guitarport through my laptop with a nice set of cans for about 10 years now. I can play over backing tracks, my own tracks, or MP3's with a perfect mix, and the tones are plenty good enough for inspired practice in headphones. If I need to play it out loud, I have a pair of desktop reference monitors. It works great..... for me.
it was $99 10 years ago.

I had a small Marshall MG.... sold it to a 12 year old on my street. it was worthless to me.
tried using my MarkV combo, but even at 10W it's just too loud, and not easy to jam to tracks with. The headphone modeler can't be beat for simple practice.

  • Members
aiiiiee Newbie

aiiiiee

Posted
  • Author
  • Members
Posted

Good question, pinky! Practice at home, so headphone jacks are pretty much a must (Live in a council flat w/my wife!)! My PC isn't really good enough (nor do i have the programs/memory) for recording/listening/practicing on it. I agree with Marshalls (or at least the cheaper Valve-oriented ones) - have not had a good history w/Peaveys; I'm concerned that cheaper Vox's might be like cheaper Marshalls, but youtube demos make them look/sound more versatile. Have owned Fenders and only tube Fenders are worth it, IMHO, and they're too expensive. Curious about Orange amps, never played through one.

Please keep the suggestions/advice/experiences coming, people! Thanks!

  • Members
Pinkycramps Newbie

Pinkycramps

Posted
  • Members
Posted

I wonder about your PC thou... cuz really... the one I'm using is a 6 YO laptop... that is so jacked up at this point I can't even stream Pandora on it anymore. I wouldn't dream of using it to record with any longer... that is a different system now. Yet... Gearbox (the line 6 app), and itunes work fine. Gearbox is a free download, and it's been around for over 10 years, and is very light on system resource needs. The interface (guitarport) is (was?) $99 new. Not sure if they even still sell them, because they closed up the guitar port website last summer. They are $25 on Fleabuy thou..
The interface becomes the soundcard, so you can mix your guitar right over itunes or anything else.

That's worth a shot if you ask me. If you're useing headphopnes, there is no better tool that I have found, even after 10 years. It has a ton of built in amp models, tons of FX, a built in tuner, and a built in player that lets you slow stuff down to half speed (still in tune) for figuring out solo parts. for $25? It's a no brainer.. my 1.5cents worth.

  • Members
NinjaRaf Newbie

NinjaRaf

Posted
  • Members
Posted

I just got a peavy vypyr 15 for Xmas and it sounds {censored}ing great. The 5150 model, for example, sounds REALLY {censored}ing close to the 5150 it's sitting on top of.

  • Members
dparr Newbie

dparr

Posted
  • Members
Posted

For $200 you can get the Yamaha THR5.

Blows everything else out of the water.

The extra $100 spent on the THR10 however is money well spent.

  • Members
NinjaRaf Newbie

NinjaRaf

Posted
  • Members
Posted

Also, for just straight up headphone practicing, Ive got a vox lead amplug and akg k244 headphones...total 70 bucks new, and it sounds like Im playing through a 5150 half stack...no joke.

  • Members
Mesa/Kramer Newbie

Mesa/Kramer

Posted
  • Members
Posted

For home at practice, you won't even hear the differences between tube and SS with the New stuff that is out.
(Peavey Vyper, Fender Mustang, Line 6 etc all starting at around $100)

  • Members
newholland Newbie

newholland

Posted
  • Members
Posted
Quote Originally Posted by aiiiiee View Post
Good question, pinky! Practice at home, so headphone jacks are pretty much a must (Live in a council flat w/my wife!)! My PC isn't really good enough (nor do i have the programs/memory) for recording/listening/practicing on it. I agree with Marshalls (or at least the cheaper Valve-oriented ones) - have not had a good history w/Peaveys; I'm concerned that cheaper Vox's might be like cheaper Marshalls, but youtube demos make them look/sound more versatile. Have owned Fenders and only tube Fenders are worth it, IMHO, and they're too expensive. Curious about Orange amps, never played through one.

Please keep the suggestions/advice/experiences coming, people! Thanks!
so basically, you want an orange, having never played one. facepalm.gif

why ask, if you've got biases against pretty much everything but an amp you haven't played?
  • Members
aiiiiee Newbie

aiiiiee

Posted
  • Author
  • Members
Posted

uuuuuuhhhh, WHAT?
I'm researching amps and Orange amps have taken my interest along with others and I'm asking what everyone thinks. "Unbiased".
Any other questions that really don't need explaining?

  • Members
KCTigerChief Newbie

KCTigerChief

Posted
  • Members
Posted
Quote Originally Posted by aiiiiee View Post
uuuuuuhhhh, WHAT?
I'm researching amps and Orange amps have taken my interest along with others and I'm asking what everyone thinks. "Unbiased".
Any other questions that really don't need explaining?
Yeah...why are you being an asshole when people are trying to help? freak.gif

I've never understood this {censored}...


Anyway, the blackstar amps are great practice amps...I have an HT5 and I still play it a lot. The Peavey Vypyr line is pretty promising though I haven't played one. Even the Line 6 spyder stuff sounds decent for practice.

FWIW, I use a Roland Microcube that's about 10" wide and 8" tall as my practice amp and it's great for that. I don't need stellar tone when I'm working on chops or writing song idn_smilie.gif
  • Members
newholland Newbie

newholland

Posted
  • Members
Posted

Trying to avoid a real Solid State sound, it's gotta have a headphone jack, nice clean/true-as-possible distortion and preferably reverb (other effects would be fine, I suppose!).

sure maybe you could tether terms like 'Solid State sound', true as possible distortion, and nice clean.

really-- you're asking for a lot from an amp-- and people've thrown you some decent suggestions, but you seem to dislike peaveys, fenders, marshalls, and voxes. leaving orange. and some yamaha lunchboxes. icon_lol.gif

SO- for $200, gimme great distortion, great clean, great reverb, and it can't be by an amp company that makes anything available anywhere. unless it's an orange.

you sir, are confirmedly, a guitar player.

  • Members
Pine Apple Slim Newbie

Pine Apple Slim

Posted
  • Members
Posted

I liked the little Orange with the 8" in the store enough to buy it, if I didn't already own a Fender Mustang and a Crate VC2110.
Seemed to have its own sound, a little hair on the clean, sounded good with the 5120 Gretschbuckers.

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...