Members dimibetan Posted March 25, 2009 Author Members Share Posted March 25, 2009 I think there is a lot of love for the Cube. Will try that... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Florbastang Posted March 25, 2009 Members Share Posted March 25, 2009 The general consensus for best practice amps seem to be the Roland Cube series or the Peavey Vypers. Both are known for quality sound, reliability, and also will give your nephew a slew of sounds and effects to mess around with.You are a cool uncle The words "Peavey Vypyr" and "reliability" should NEVER be uttered in the same sentence (or even paragraph) unless it's followed by "problems" and preceded by "severe". These are reported to have the highest defect/failure rate of any amp ever. The Cubes are complete rocks though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Florbastang Posted March 25, 2009 Members Share Posted March 25, 2009 I think the 60 or the 30 is too loud. It will only be for home use.Maybe good for me:lol:, but not for my nephew.How about the Vox Pathfinder 15R (cheaper)?Since my brother (his father) will buy him an MFx, means no need of built-in fx. Pathfinders have awesome clean tones for a SS amp, but the overdrive tone blows chunks. It's bad. Real bad. He'd need a distortion pedal too. For a beginner, I'd go with a modeler that can play all styles, like one of the Cubes. Also, I'd be wary of getting a beginner a MFX unit to pair with an amp. The focus early on should be learning to play not messing around with patches and effects that really can't even be used without knowing how to play. My fear is that he'd spend way more time messing around than learning to play. I'd keep it simple. That's just my opinion, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Surfdude Posted March 25, 2009 Members Share Posted March 25, 2009 I have a Pathfinder 15R and get some good tones out of it. It does have a headphone jack, so that's a plus. It does not have a CD/line input jack though...and that might be useful for someone just learning, if their instructor is going to have them play along with practice tracks. CD/input jack and headphone jack are a must for practicing at home. I have the Tascam CD trainer that lets me play along with a CD. It lets me slow it down to almost half speed and I can even loop the sections I am having trouble learning. Add the headphone and I don't bother anyone. Surfy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Musicscotty Posted March 25, 2009 Members Share Posted March 25, 2009 Roland Cubes are reliable but the Vox ADxxVT amps sound better, although their reliability is questionable. My pick would be a used Fender Super Champ XD. It blows the competition away, and it's well worth the little bit extra cash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JoeFender Posted March 25, 2009 Members Share Posted March 25, 2009 Roland Cubes are reliable but the Vox ADxxVT amps sound better, although their reliability is questionable.My pick would be a used Fender Super Champ XD. It blows the competition away, and it's well worth the little bit extra cash. I would have agreed up until the Fender price hike. $399 is pretty steep for a practice amp. IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members stanfield Posted March 25, 2009 Members Share Posted March 25, 2009 I agree with the Super Champ recommendation. It will be a useable amp down the road. You may end up keeping it for yourself.Buy used? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JoeFender Posted March 25, 2009 Members Share Posted March 25, 2009 The Cubes are complete rocks though.I've never heard them, but the 8" speaker could be an issue for some? Certainly a lot of love in the reviews here. May have to try one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members steve_man Posted March 25, 2009 Members Share Posted March 25, 2009 Seriously, check out the Peavey Vypyr 15 or 30 watt model ($99 & $199). Amazing amps, and have some serious tonez that the Roland and Line6 models do not (I've owned them all). Tons of effects, and some killer high-gain amp models. At least go try one... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Florbastang Posted March 25, 2009 Members Share Posted March 25, 2009 I know they had some problems at first, but my understanding is that those were fixed with the latest firmware? There seems to be a lot of love for these here at HCEG, and otehr places as well. I'm not sure about that. I think they've work out some things like the startup issues, but all the Vypyrs I've tried still have that fizzy, digital trail sound on sustained notes. I recently tried one that the Best Buy in my area just got in, which I assume would have the newest firmware, and it had that problem still. This was the 15 watt model. Since it is digital amp, they can improve these issues over time by updating the firmware. But that's a huge bummer for the 15 watt amp owners, since there isn't any way to update the firmware on those. If they can fix that fizzy digital trail sound, I'll be all over the 15 watt model. They are great sounding amps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Florbastang Posted March 25, 2009 Members Share Posted March 25, 2009 Seriously, check out the Peavey Vypyr 15 or 30 watt model ($99 & $199). Amazing amps, and have some serious tonez that the Roland and Line6 models do not (I've owned them all). Tons of effects, and some killer high-gain amp models. At least go try one... Put the amp on a lower gain setting (just slightly over driven). Strum a chord. Do you hear any digital fizzy, fuzzy sound in the background that just trails behind the notes? I've noticed this on every Vypyr I've played (15 watt and 75 watt models). It apparently has something to do with the noise gate. Why they didn't make this adjustable (or be to able to disable it) is beyond me. Or, at the very least, put it on the high gain amps only. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 23miles Posted March 25, 2009 Members Share Posted March 25, 2009 Buy used and you can get a pretty nice amp. I have bought the following Fender Princeton Chorus - $125 Ampeg SS-70 - $110 Ampeg Reverberocket G-12 - $299 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members steve_man Posted March 25, 2009 Members Share Posted March 25, 2009 The words "Peavey Vypyr" and "reliability" should NEVER be uttered in the same sentence (or even paragraph) unless it's followed by "problems" and preceded by "severe". These are reported to have the highest defect/failure rate of any amp ever.The Cubes are complete rocks though. Link? Where are you getting this info? Or have you just heard that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members steve_man Posted March 25, 2009 Members Share Posted March 25, 2009 Put the amp on a lower gain setting (just slightly over driven). Strum a chord. Do you hear any digital fizzy, fuzzy sound in the background that just trails behind the notes? I've noticed this on every Vypyr I've played (15 watt and 75 watt models). It apparently has something to do with the noise gate. Why they didn't make this adjustable (or be to able to disable it) is beyond me. Or, at the very least, put it on the high gain amps only. Umm....no...mine's great... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dimibetan Posted March 25, 2009 Author Members Share Posted March 25, 2009 So, we got the Roland Cube series, the Peavey Vypyrs, the Line6 Spiders, and the Vox Pathfinder 15R. Probably, voting polls would be best to work this out. Anyway, I still have 2 weeks left before my nephew's birthday. So, I still have time to deside. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mdintx Posted March 25, 2009 Members Share Posted March 25, 2009 I'm a bit biased here. I think for pure tone, the Pathfinder is great. Spiders don't get really good feedback. The Vypyrs seem to have some early reliability issues. The Cube series gets some good marks. If you were going to go with a modeler, I'm partial to the Vox VT series. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mr. Eff Posted March 25, 2009 Members Share Posted March 25, 2009 I'd also throw the Fender G-dec series into the ring. It's a modeler, with okayish tones, but has some nifty features that are good for a beginner guitarist: 1) Headphone out.2) Extra line in3) Backing beats and tracks4) Can record your own loops5) Midi connections6) Built in tuner7) Built in metronome The menu system can be a little bit of a pain, because dialing in amp settings is all done through the lcd. I don't think anyone would really gig with one, but it's a good bedroom/screw around amp. I'm not sure it really trumps the Cubes (which are awesome), but I thought it should get a mention. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Florbastang Posted March 25, 2009 Members Share Posted March 25, 2009 Umm....no...mine's great... Got any recordings? Could you record doing something like I said above? I'd love to get one of these amps, but that problem was eminently apparent on every model I tried. It has something to do with the noise gate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dimibetan Posted March 25, 2009 Author Members Share Posted March 25, 2009 Price range: $100-$200 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Florbastang Posted March 25, 2009 Members Share Posted March 25, 2009 I'd also throw the Fender G-dec series into the ring. It's a modeler, with okayish tones, but has some nifty features that are good for a beginner guitarist:1) Headphone out.2) Extra line in3) Backing beats and tracks4) Can record your own loops5) Midi connections6) Built in tuner7) Built in metronomeThe menu system can be a little bit of a pain, because dialing in amp settings is all done through the lcd. I don't think anyone would really gig with one, but it's a good bedroom/screw around amp. I'm not sure it really trumps the Cubes (which are awesome), but I thought it should get a mention. Aren't they over his price range? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DonK Posted March 25, 2009 Members Share Posted March 25, 2009 Depends on what you mean by a practice amp...some people regard a 15-watt amp as a practice amp; others gig with one. The three amps I own that I regard as true practice amps are my Fender Champion 600, Fender VibroChamp XD, and Roland MicroCube. The Roland is the cheapest of the bunch at around $125 (IIRC), has a lot of features, but sounds a bit toy-like to my ears. The Champion 600 goes new for $200 (or at least it did; I haven't checked to see if Fender jacked up the price the way they did with many of their other amps). It's got a nice, warm Fender tube clean tone - though it doesn't have the shimmer of larger Fender's - and can get a bit dirty if you crank it, but you've really got to use a couple of pedals if want anything other than a very clean tone at low volume. No reverb, one knob - about as simple and featureless as it gets, but a nice amp nonetheless. Now to the VibroChamp XD. This would have been my vote for the best practice amp on the market, until Fender jacked up the price recently. Two months ago you could find them for $249 or less new (and even less if you went used); now most places are asking $300. If you can find one used within your budget, you can't go wrong. A quite loud 6 watts, 12AX7 and 6L6 tube tone, with 16 different voicings, and built-in effects. Separate gain and volume knobs, plus the voicing switch make it easy to get everything from Fender clean to credible high-gain amp sounds. It's truly a gem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Guitar Heel Posted March 25, 2009 Members Share Posted March 25, 2009 As I've never actually played any of these, I won't vote. But lots of folks here swear by the Roland Cube. If you want to spend just a little more, the Vox ATV4 (I think) is around 250. it's gotten great reviews. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sxyryan Posted March 25, 2009 Members Share Posted March 25, 2009 I like the micro cube.... I like the size, the sound ain't to shabby, battery operation is pretty sweet. But the thing that I like the best is the tuner. It forces you to tune by ear, which would help you in the long run. That is, I used one of these a few weeks ago, and it had that tuner. I don't know if that's how they currently come or if this was an old model or something like that. I think though, if I was in your spot, I would look at the smaller Vox Valvetronics. Sounds good, lots of models to play with, something to grow with. Then if he wants to play with other people, it's plenty loud enough. Still very portable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Misha Posted March 25, 2009 Members Share Posted March 25, 2009 As I've never actually played any of these, I won't vote. But lots of folks here swear by the Roland Cube. If you want to spend just a little more, the Vox ATV4 (I think) is around 250. it's gotten great reviews. I didn't know they were already available! Can't wait to try one! I love the new Vox VT Series! Even better than the AD series IMO! I like particularly the VT50 because it has a 12'' speaker and the built in attenuator! (1 @ 50 Watts.) They also put the Reverb separately from the other effects which was not the case with the AD series. The VT50 has a 12'' Vox speaker though and I don't know if it's has good has the Celestion on the AD50VT. The VT-15 should be ~ 200$. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members steve_man Posted March 25, 2009 Members Share Posted March 25, 2009 Got any recordings? Could you record doing something like I said above? I'd love to get one of these amps, but that problem was eminently apparent on every model I tried. It has something to do with the noise gate.I would love to, but at the moment...I'm not at a church, so my recording gear is nada...maybe in a few weeks... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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