Buying a cheap amp

[Rog]

I think by the time this thread has ended, you will find it's similar to the other gear threads in that everyone will add their own flavour to the mix and there will be a common picture emerge.

That is:
We all have different opinions on what is acceptable to us.
Those opinions may differ widely from yours.
Its all good.
Whatever floats your boat is good for you.

See how helpful we all are??

[mak]

Or you could get one of these:
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Music-instrume ... 95.htm?p=1

Similar to the Cube, by my understanding. Good little practice amp with effects and lots of different tones so you can find what suits you before moving up to a bigger amp.

[IkeKrull]

I had a marshall MG15 and loved it. If you want distortion, it'll stomp all over the fender (even much higher wattage fenders), and to my ear it has a much nicer tone than the peavey rage. - Havent tried the roland or the vox. The baby marshall sounded pretty sterile compared to my 2x12 valve amp, but thats hardly surprising.

If youre buying new, you have the luxury of trying out a bunch of options - get the store people to line up the Fender 15G, Roland Cube, the Marshall MG, the Peavey Rage, the VOX VT and the Epi Valve Jr (for comparison purposes) - you might have to visit a couple of shops as different retailers have exclusive distribution deals, and make up your own mind.

[r4nd0m]

Nicholas (my 9 year old) uses a Epi Goth SG, usually through a Digitech Death Metal pedal to a VOX AD30VT. Recently he's been using just the SG through a Roland Cube-15 and one of the distortion modes on it (the heaviest distortion one of course), apparently it was pretty loud and during some of his practices, I couldn't really tell the difference between his Digitech/VOX setup and the Roland Cube. So +1 for the Roland.

[aaronyap]

hey i got tis for sale if u r interested.
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Music-instrume ... 061014.htm

[Rog]

There's so many to choose from. IkeKrull's advice is good - try a lineup to see what does it for you.

[sopachrga]

Yeah, there are always so many opinions around, the only real option you have is, to ignore everyone but me, and realise I'm always right.

[Rog]

Riffles!!
Another Tui moment??

[sopachrga]

yeah.... more than likely.

[Willias]

Thanks for all your advice

I went into town and had look round and ended up walking out with a Line 6 Spyder III 15 for $300, it seems pretty good and blew all the other amps i was looking at in the shops out of the water

Im gonna have to play around a bit with the presets to get how i like, any1 got any advice on that?

Once again thanks and i think i might hang around

[ant]

I reckon get a epiphone valve jr and a boost pedal.

Alternatively a marshall mg series or peavy(the bigger the better, generally for the solidstate ones), the distortion sounds better on those models than fenders.

[IkeKrull]

Sounds like you made a good choice - you'll probably find at some point, after listening to and playing some higher wattage valve amps at volume, that the little Line6 starts to sound a bit lifeless, but its got everything you need in one box - all those features in a $300 amp is pretty sweet, and as a way to experiment with different sounds and find out what you like to play, its pretty awesome.

[Kerchang]

Don't overlook Epi valve juniors, they are cheap, 100% valve, and you can easily overdrive the output tube (they're built for it) for the sweetest distortion ever - and singe your ears at the same time.

[nzsimon1]

We have a great little amp slightly more money than what is being put forward

It is 75 watt and has a single 12 made in the USA and comes with wheels and a 3 button footswitch I actually have one at home it is the closest thing to a valve amp I have heard but solid state
They have 2 channels of distortion and a clean channel spring reverb and they are only $690 plus I will give a 10%donation to the website if anyone buys one http://www.jansen.co.nz/product.php?b=&sku=LG7512 looks like we only have the one left

The egnater amps arrived today just have to get them from the warehouse to the shops