Hi everybody! I'm new to these forums.
Anyway, I've been meaning to buy a practice amp for quite a while now (about 3 months). I want to just plop it in my room (or anywhere in the house) with my guitar and just rock out. I have a Yamaha Pacifica with a Seymour Duncan JB-4 in the bridge, and it's held out quite well. I've been playing for about 3 years now, and I've only played with my old Marshall Half Stack with a MG100HDFX (and a puny 10w Ibanez amp that is virtually useless to me) that my friend from college just handed over to me.
Right now I'm looking at the Crate FXT65/XT65R or the FXT120/XT120R, but since I have a bigger amp, I'm leaning towards the 65 watt. I've tried them all at Guitar Center, but I only played them in low volumes. I've also tried the Frontman 25R, the MG30DFX, and the Line 6 Spider II 112/212. The clean tones I can get from the Frontman are the only good things coming from it, the MG30DFX just disgusts me with its distortion, and the Spider II can potentially be an option for me. I play mostly rock, with some occasional Slipknot/Metallica solos, and the Crate and Spider can both be used for any tone. I tried the Crate's effects, and they were mediocre. Same with the Spider. The Crate's distortion is what attracts me, and the Spider 112's price makes me want to buy it.
Well, if those options aren't good, are there any other amps that you guys might recommend? They don't have to have built-in effects and they should be greater than 30 watts.
Hi, vers1on, welcome to GN.
Well, it's a fact of life that the difference in volume between two amps with similar specs (speakers, etc.), but one having 65 wats and the other having 100W will be negligible. To double the volume of a 65W amp, you'd need one with 650W - yes, 10 times the output!
My suggestion would be to get yourself a small tube amp. You say that it's for playing around the house, so I'd suggest that you get yourself a 5W head (the Epiphone gets very good reviews from users and at $99 you can't complain). You can attach it to the cab of your Marshall and blast the neighbours. If you want a combo, then there are a number of options in the 5-15w range and they'll all make more noise than the local police will allow. I use a Hughes & Kettner Cream Macine, which is attached to a 12" Fane speaker. This gives me a more than adequate room volume and has a measly 1W output (just remember a 100W amp will only be 4 times as loud).
A 15W tube amp will be adequate for small gigs (for bigger gigs, you can always mike it)
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I have a 120 watt Crate amp that looks similar to the FXT120s. Thing only seems to have two volume settings, off and eardrum damaging. Way too loud for what I want to hear when I'm just messing around alone.
First of all welcome to the forums. second of all I have a Spider II (mine has one 12" woofer) and i totaly sugest it. as for the distortion in the amp your going to want some humbuckers to truely unleash it. thats what i got. love it. I'm super cereal
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I have a Kustom Tube 12A. I love it, it has a very classic sound to it. I imagine it doesn't have the greatest sound when compared to more expensive amps but for a amp thats less the $100 its prefect.
Vox Valvetronix.
cheap, tube-hybrid, 11 amp models, and a built-in attenuator so you can turn up the volume and gain, and not blow out your ears. great amps.
Vox Valvetronix.
cheap, tube-hybrid, 11 amp models, and a built-in attenuator so you can turn up the volume and gain, and not blow out your ears. great amps.
If you opt for the Valvetronix skip the 15w model. The attenuator only comes in the 30w and up models.
Mike
Playing an instrument is good for your soul
for anything other than a serious musician, there is really no need for anything more than the 30W i would say. a 30 will do ya fine and set you back about $230
