i need a new amp

i'm really just tired of my piece of junk amp that i have to smack to get it to stop making weird noises.
Is this the amp that's possessed?

The one with "disembodied voices" ?

KR2

no, just hissing and buzzing and so on. i used to have a marshall that would pick up cell phone conversations, though.

the Classic 30 has quite a following among some hard core Fender disciples. I bought a Classic 50 410 about ten years ago, mostly based on its clean tones and very tight, crisp bass. but eventually decided it was way too heavy to lug around, unless for outdoor party gigs -- block party gigs. so I bought a Blues Junior and put the Classic 50 in storage. always wondered if I would have been better off with a Classic 30 to start. anyway, I like the Blues Junior cleans more than the Classic 50. never thought of the 50's driven tones as cheesy -- just incredibly LOUD.

Well, Fender does have probably one of the best clean tones out there, but with their recent price hikes, you won't be able to get into one of those new very cheaply. Maybe look around craigslist or ebay for a good used Blues JR or maybe even an HRD in your price range.

how about a Crate V series tube amp? I bought my Crate Palomino v32 from GC as a display model. It's been great - although the input jack needed replaced. It has a great sparkly clean tone, and the OD channel is good for anything but metal.

I don't think that this series should be compared to the junky SS practice amps either

You can't beat playing through whatever you can find at your local shops. I like Fender amps, personally, but I'm boycotting them now thanks to their unwarranted and ill-timed price hikes.

There are some great small amps made my Kustom that might be in your price range. Of course, if you're looking for a good little practice amp, a pignose would be fun to play around with.

i'm not looking for a practice amp. i'm looking for a small home and gigging amp. my current amp is an 80 watter, which is cool. you crank it up and it smacks you in the face. i don't really need that much volume, though. 30-50 is probably enough.
i worked out all the knobs last night and it got rid of the crackling for now, but it's a solid state and the tone isn't great. it's very 2 dimensional.

Man, we've been getting quite a few used febders around these parts in the Craig's List ads. Very reasonable price too, I might add. I've seen recently Vlues Jr for $350, HRD for $425, etc. Seen someolder $1,000 amps go for around $500. I hope you've got some access to those kinds of deal.

i'm not looking for a practice amp. i'm looking for a small home and gigging amp.
30-50 is probably enough.
30 to 50 watts is way too much for home unless you've got a soundproof room in the countryside with deaf senior citizens for neighbours. You won't be able to turn it up at all and you won't get that tube distortion that you are wanting. You could use an attenuator but even then you'll have to throttle the amp way back and you'll lose a lot of the tonal character - the more you throttle it back the more you lose.

I've got a 25 watt tube amp (70's Traynor) and that's too loud for home so I use a Weber attenuator and it brings the volume in but some of the character is lost. With a 50 watt amp you'll have to bring it in even more and you'll lose more. I'm thinking about possibly putting in a power scaling circuit to reign it in for home use and still keep the tone. I haven't decided yet.

If you don't want a digital modeling amp then what about some of the analog modeling amps. I've heard some good things about them and some of them sound pretty nice - i.e. Tech 21.

i don't really crank my amps at home, and like i said, i already have an 80 watt amp. that gets so loud it hurts to be near if i turn up past noon. 15 watts really isn't enough for me. my old gigging amp was a 30 watt amp and i'd usually turn that up to 2 o'clock or so. i liked it. it worked for me, but i wouldn't mid having just a little more. 30-50 is about right.

Jason -- I you haven't done so, recommend you go A-B test a 15 W tube against a 15 W (or even 50 W) solid state before deciding your wattage needs. because of the way power is spec'ed (usually at a particular distortion level), plus the way tube power stages soft-clip in saturation versus solid state harder-clip, not only are the sounds very different, but the achievable loudness levels for same wattage rating are also very different: amps with tube output stages win big time because they can exceed their rated specs (by going into nice, creamy power saturation) much more than can solid state amps (which typically become harsh and brittle in power saturation). the other thing to consider is the cabinet/driver array. differences in driver/cab efficiency make a big difference in the amount of "air" the amp can move.

well, i'll delete that and update: i bought a classic 30 with an eminence cannabis rex speaker, which is supposed to really change the harsher high end. a lot of people recommended it specifically for the ac-30 in the user reviews. it should be here next week, and i'll put up a review. and if it sucks, i can always smoke the speaker.

it's here. it's great. great great tone, great gain channel. a little weak on the highs, dark sound, but i love the roar and fullness. not nearly as loud, but full blast doesn't hurt and the sweet spot isn't too loud. the cleans are nice, rich and warm. very complex sound. not ethereal, but make the crate sound like a toy. plus it's aesthetically nice. good weight, looks right. the 3 eq band is not very responsive.

so you like it, then. good. I think the "not very responsive" tone stack may be common for that type of amp design -- regardless of make. I think the same about my Classic 50 and Blues Junior .... compared to a Cube 30.