Amplifiers

aaronblyth · #1 January 9th, 2007

Hi

I have had my electric guitar since Christmas (what a great girlfriend she is!) which came with a standard squire amp….its OK for the moment but its very limited for sound quality and the buzzing and feedback is quite intense when I switch the distortion on.

I would just like everyone’s views, suggestions, preferences on amplifiers. What amp do you guys have and why do you have it. Any interesting features and maybe what I should be looking for. I can look at ratings in magazines all day and be told what to but from a salesman but I want to know what would be best for me. (Its only intention would be for home use of course!)

I have been playing acoustic for 6 months and feel I have progressed well. Since picking up the electric I have found chords a hell of a lot easier to play but I have a very long way to go. I think spending something in the £100-120 GBP mark would be reasonable when I do decide to get a new amp…

….discuss!!

Cheers

Az

allthumbs · #2 January 9th, 2007

That's 232 bucks U.S. Your choices in the UK are going to be restricted because of the import and shipping duties. The members will give you plenty of opinions on this subject.
Solid state tends to give you more bells and whistles while tube amps give you are warmer tone. What are you looking to play on it it? You don't want more than a 30 watt. and even that will be too load to crank if it is a tube amp.

krissovo · #3 January 9th, 2007

For that money you would be looking at a solid state amp of up 30W. I dont know what style of music you play but the ones that I have owned are the following:

Rolnad Cube 30 - Nice amp, versatile tone and very loud. The clean setting is very nice and takes pedals well. Has extra input for CD player, Drum machine etc that plays clean reguardles of the model of amp you are using. Great for Rock music and clean sounds.

VOX AD30VT - Great little amp with nice tones similar to the Roland but has a great feature of reducing the output down to 1W so if you need to be a bit quieter but still want to get the breakup sound this is ideal. Great for Blues and rock but in my opion not so good for clean.

Line 6 Spider II 100W - This was a beast with loads of amp models and tones but not quiet as good as the Roland or VOX amps but the prices are good. Had a Jam last week on a Spider 3 30W and that has a great feature of instant Song or artist tones. Average for all types of music styles

Fender Blues Junior - This is my new favorite, its a mini beast of all tube output that puts the rest of my amps to shame. Very simple to use and versatile for such a simple amp. Its only 15W but its a class A amp and louder than my VOX or Roland turned up. The tone is to die for if you like blues or anything with a "crunch" but you would need pedals to get any where near a heavy rock or metal tone. Well out of your price range but again well worth the investment as the return puts a great big smile on your face.

Those are my babies, I suggest you grab your axe and head to a local store to try out some of these.

allthumbs · #4 January 9th, 2007

Crates are in your price range. They seem to be popular here. Epi valve Jr is a good plain jane bang for the buck tube amp. 250 bucks still puts you into higher end beginners amps.

aaronblyth · #5 January 9th, 2007

Cheers for the suggestions

Thanks a bundle. I am playing more rock on the electric and some funky riffs from Red Hot chillis – Funky Monks to Iron Maiden – Number of the Beast (although I can play 666 riff that’s a little to fast for me at the moment to keep up in real time!!)

Cube 30 sounds good form what you are saying as it could be best for a wide range of sounds

As you say krissovo, I should probably take my axe down to the shop but its good to hear what you guys think...keep them coming!

krissovo · #6 January 9th, 2007

Another option would be to use a decent multi effects pedal, I know the Zoom G2.1u was great value and there is some great support sites out on the internet that have patches for different tones for songs and artists. I dont use one anymore as I just want to switch a amp on and play rather than spend hours trying to get a useable tone. A few guys on here love the Stomp box, both are in your price range as well.

wjp01908 · #7 January 9th, 2007

I use the 60W version of the Cube and can vouch for it`s versatility (and Loudness

)

Good range of sounds in a compact package - as Krissovo said the cleans are especially sweet.

Will.

marinoFret · #8 January 9th, 2007

I'm sorry for going off topic (just a little

):

I have noticed that electric guitar amps are much more louder (with the same wattage) than acoustic amps.

I owe Laney LA30C 30W acoustic amp, my friend owes Laney 10W electric amp. Their loudness is pretty much the same. (?!

) How's that possible? I understand that the speakers are different (acoustic amp=hi-fi, electric amp=instrument speaker).

Please explain! Is there something wrong with my amp?!

krissovo · #9 January 9th, 2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by marinoFret

I'm sorry for going off topic (just a little

):

I have noticed that electric guitar amps are much more louder (with the same wattage) than acoustic amps.

I owe Laney LA30C 30W acoustic amp, my friend owes Laney 10W electric amp. Their loudness is pretty much the same. (?!

) How's that possible? I understand that the speakers are different (acoustic amp=hi-fi, electric amp=instrument speaker).

Please explain! Is there something wrong with my amp?!

Cannot help you at all there, but my 15W almost gives my 100W amp a run for its money when cranked up. Must be something to do with the flux capacitor or one of these scientific baffling gremlins that sit inside all electrical things.

Incidentally again right off topic all things electrical scare me, I used to be hydraulic engineer and if that broke you could see a pool of hydraulic oil sat where it is broke. Now electricity, why do you not see a big pool of electricity on the floor when that breaks? Its scary black magic I tell ye!

marinoFret · #10 January 9th, 2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by krissovo

my 15W almost gives my 100W amp a run

So you say that I can try to drive my amp a little? I guess nothing bad can happen.

wjp01908 · #11 January 10th, 2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by marinoFret

I owe Laney LA30C 30W acoustic amp, my friend owes Laney 10W electric amp. Their loudness is pretty much the same. (?!

) How's that possible? I understand that the speakers are different (acoustic amp=hi-fi, electric amp=instrument speaker).

It`s not easy to explain but it helps to remember that all other things being equal, (speaker, cab design etc.) doubling your wattage does not double loudness.

Our ears percieve sound level in a logarithmic way - this means that, ignoring differences in speaker sensitivity, to double the loudness, you need to increase power by a factor of 10. A 20w amp is not twice as loud as a 10w amp - a 100w amp is.

Add to this that different speakers produce different sound levels at the same power input and it becomes apparent why relatively small amps can give their big brothers a run for their money.

Will

cshude · #12 January 10th, 2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by krissovo

Must be something to do with the flux capacitor

1.21 Gigowatts!!! 1.21 Gigowatts!!! Tom, how am I going to get that kind of energy!? It just can't be done!

Wonder how many people will catch these references???

cshude · #13 January 10th, 2007

here's a hint:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5paXeKX-W8

marinoFret · #14 January 10th, 2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by wjp01908

Our ears percieve sound level in a logarithmic way - this means that, ignoring differences in speaker sensitivity, to double the loudness, you need to increase power by a factor of 10. A 20w amp is not twice as loud as a 10w amp - a 100w amp is.

What the ****

? Are you sure?

Until now I thought that I wasted money on buying an 30W amp because I could buy a 10W amp and have almost the same loudness.