I got a potential deal on the Blues Jr...about $250 with an upgraded speaker. I already have the cube, and I'm somewhat happy with it, but it buzzes if there's too much treble, and hums if there's too much bass. I'm still a beginner...but it's hard to resist the blues jr for that little amount of money. And at the same time, I could buy a new Orange amp 30W solid state for $200. But it might be worth spending the extra $50 to get the Blues Junior, since it's a fantastic tube amp and all. Plus Blues Jrs are updated new, and this one I'm looking at even has the upgraded speaker. And obviously sell off my 15W cube, if I got either of these two amps.
But at the same time, I could save some money, but the orange 30W/blues jr is just so appealing to me. Seems like a great practice amp, and something I could potentially gig with sometime down the road. In a nutshell, my main concern is that I'll upgrade to an orange amp or fender blues jr, but it won't really be thaaaaat much of an upgrade.
Please let me know if you really think it's worth shelling out that much money for a better amp at this stage in the game. Thanks.
-Kev
I would get the blues Jr, certainly at that price. I think, in a year's time, you'd regret passing it up, if you bought one of the others.
By the way, a 15W tube will give you every bit as much volume as a 30W SS amp.
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+1 - In those circumstances I'd go for the BJ all the way
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Whatever you do don't get rid of the little Roland Cube. It makes a decent backup if your other amp is down, or if a friend comes over, or you want to take an amp with you to guitar camp, or as an amp to run a drum machine/CD player/etc. through for practice, etc., etc., etc. Plus, you're not going to get a lot for it. I've got the bigger brother to your Cube - the Cube 30 - and it's a nice amp with decent tone so even when I do buy a tube amp (I'm looking) I'm going to keep the Cube.
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I would get the blues Jr, certainly at that price. I think, in a year's time, you'd regret passing it up, if you bought one of the others.
By the way, a 15W tube will give you every bit as much volume as a 30W SS amp.
Yea. That's what I'm thinking. I might not NEED it now. But in a year, it'll probably be impossible to find a deal like this.
+1 - In those circumstances I'd go for the BJ all the way
Thanks.
Whatever you do don't get rid of the little Roland Cube. It makes a decent backup if your other amp is down, or if a friend comes over, or you want to take an amp with you to guitar camp, or as an amp to run a drum machine/CD player/etc. through for practice, etc., etc., etc. Plus, you're not going to get a lot for it. I've got the bigger brother to your Cube - the Cube 30 - and it's a nice amp with decent tone so even when I do buy a tube amp (I'm looking) I'm going to keep the Cube.
Interesting. I don't know. I dunno if I'd sell it off right away, I know one of my friends who plays guitar is looking for another amp. I could maybe sell it off to him if I eventually do sell it.
Thanks for the input everyone.
FWIF - another rec to get the Blues Jr. and hold onto the Cube. I have a Blues Jr, Cube 30 and Micro-Cube and use them all. I prefer the Blues Jr. for most gigging, but sometimes it's just too easy to toss a Cube into the car and go ...
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I think it depends on the kind(s) of tone(s) you are after.
If you love the tone of a good tube amp that is cranked, go with the Blues Jr. But if you like a wide variety of tones for different styles of music, then I would go with a solid state amp.
A tube amp is gonna break up and saturate at volume. If you run a modeler into one, it is going to change the tone of your presets unless you really tweak it to work with a cranked amp. But a solid state amp will stay clean to very high volume, it will faithfully reproduce your modeling unit or pedal.
So if you want one tone, but a great one, go with a tube amp. If you want a wide variety of tones, go with a solid state amp and modeler.
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