[Closed] What guitar amplifier?

Orange do some dinky little amps with small speakers that are a bit above little practice amps; I’ve seen them being used in a live gig situation, and I was very impressed with them.

This is The Drink, playing at Stop The Bus in Bristol, the bass player’s amp was more than adequate...

Depends on what you want to use it for and what style of music you want to play. Do you want the amp to have built in overdrive or do you want a clean sound? Do you have pedals you want to use with it? Is it for home use or do you want to use it in a band situation?

Some form of modelling combo probably. A fender Mustang maybe?

fender mustang, great little amp. works brilliantly with the phone app too

Boss Katana 50. Everybody seems to love them. Solid state obviously, but the digital modelling has improved dramatically in the last few years.

I've a Line 6 Spider 112 which I'm looking to part with, for a lot less than £200. Great range of tones, good condition, Sheffield/Bristol based...

I've got a Mustang, very pleased (although It hasnt turned me into the rock god I thought it would have 🙂 )

bought it used off ebay, was torn between the mustang and the Blackstar Core:ID range, but the Mustang was too good a deal

I use one of these and it’s awesome. It’s got over 55 settings and all manner of available tones. It also has a 5/25/50 watt setting and the 5watt is designed for home practice. Tone and sound quality is fantastic even at really low volume so playing at night (if you have neighbors) is easy.

£199 at PMT music in Portsmouth.

Boss Katana 50. Everybody seems to love them. Solid state obviously, but the digital modelling has improved dramatically in the last few years.

I love the simulations in all my Line6 gear over the years.

Currently I'm using a 35 year old Peavy Classic 20 I paid bugger all for and my mate has a Laney 15 that saounds just as good. Again, a cheap 2nd hand amp.

I've had a vox valvetronic for ~10 years.

It's got a 10" speaker and is loud enough to gig with but has an attenuator at the back to turn the power down and sound ace at practice volumes. Headphone socket for silent practice as well.

They come in versions from small to huge.

The effects section has meant I haven't bought any pedals, which compared the prices of my mates pedal boards has been a huge saving.

Wow - thanks for all the suggestions. I need to ask the boy about overdrive and pedals etc. 👍

Yamaha THR10 - the original version

best practice amp bar none - though I have actually used one at gigs miked through the PA

Most modern digital amps don’t need pedals, there’s normally at least 25 “tones” to choose from and then all the various other knobs like bass/treble/crunch/chorus/reverb etc. etc.

For instance my Katana 50 has:

Acoustic

Clean

Lead

Crunch

Brown

settings, then all manner of programmable knobs and presets and gain settings as separates thereof.

I play Funk, Tele or Strat and use Clean with a touch of chorus and reverb and damn I even at low volumes I sound like Nile..

Slam it into Brown and I’m all Eddie Van Halen..

etc.

Best amp for tone at a reasonable volume I've played was a Tech21 Trademark 60 combo:

http://www.tech21nyc.com/products/amps/guitar/trademark60.html

Solid state, so didn't need masses of drive to get good tone as it's based on their Sansamp pedals.

You can get a creditable tone at a very low volume.

Now only 2nd hand but they come up around your budget. There was a 30 watt version too.

One good thing is they have a DI output so you can plug straight into a PA if needed too.

The straightforward answer sub 200 is a boss katana 50. You won't go wrong with any of the others mentioned (I have a fender mustang 1 and it's really good  Cost less than 50 second hand. It does fender amps very well as you'd imagine, and I get good vox tones from it as well by downloading the community made patches). I hear really good things about the Yamaha, and it's small, but in my eyes the boss is the most versatile. Loud enough to gig (although you didn't mention if that was something you were after) and with the power selector you can get good sounds on the quiet as well. Lots of tone options and slightly more intuitive than the mustang. They come up on ebay but not much less than retail. Seen them for 165 new. I'm on the lookout for a gigging amp at the mo and it's between a louder mustang (3) and the katana 100.  It a good time to be buying amps!

I’ve had a vox valvetronic for ~10 years.

Pretty much what I was going to post.  The attenuator is brilliant for getting overdriven crunch sounds  I like the sound just breaking a bit which can be difficult to get with just volume but easy with this.  Some modelling, not great, but amp stands on it's own anyway.  Gumtree >£100

I've got a Vox VT20X. It's pretty good with loads of amp and effects pedal models. Going to that from a bum basic 15W practice amp was nice 🙂

Trademark 30 is very different to the Trademark 60

I'd go with the 30 or 10 if just for practice

As mention it has a great DI for the PA - I've used it many times with no issues at all

The  Tech21 Trademark 10 is brilliant if you can find one. Or snap up Mowgli's Line 6 Spider 112.

Boss Katana 50

Fender Mustang

Both are great for home use, and pretty versatile....a friend of mine does pro level function gigs with his (albeit with a very nice pedal board and IEM system)

The Peavey Classics mentioned above are amazing for what you pay for them, probably a bit loud for home use if you're after a wide variety of tones though.

Blackstar HT5.

No need to thank me 🙂

I still use an original Peavey ValveKing VK112 with an upgraded speaker. It sounds pretty darn good at gig volume but can need the volume to be high to get that sound - pedals are your friend.

I went down the rabbit hole of multi effects (like the built in ones on recent amps) but just found myself playing a lick, changing the sound, playing it again and again for ages and not actually making any music. In the end I settled on an overdrive (Boss Od-1 - great value and makes a Telecaster sound sublime), booster, bit of chorus, bit of delay and maybe a compressor and get on and play. Hmmm, still quite a lot of effects.

Anyway, I's say go for a proper valve amp with not too many frills and buy a multi effects board if you want (and a Boss 0d-1 pedal as it's brilliant). Always wanted a Peavey classic 30 and there's plenty out there second hand. Just my view - it's all good and the amount of tech available for reasonable outlay now is amazing. But, the best guitarists I've heard nearly always seem to have simple setups, but I'm not one of them.

Thing is, amp =£200 (or less) then pedals at £30-60 each thereafter..

And you still don’t really know what sound the pedal makes until you plug it into an amp.

I’m all for simplicity, get a modelling amp of decent quality and go play with the inbuilt tones..

Like a Katana 50 🤪

Anyway, be good to know what you do buy ..

I've got a Laney Cub 12r, picked up from Ebay last year in mint condition for 150 notes.

All valve, 15 Watts but with a sub 1 watt input for in house use (over half volume on this with any decent amount of gain on the amp and i get lots of complaints). built in reverb. Picked up a Boss od1 pedal and it's nice n crunchy at low volumes. effects loop and will drive an external cab. I've heard of people using them at Gigs.

I love it. Even though I'm crap at playing.

That Laney Cub12R looks excellent. Like the 1W setting on it. Have to be careful with the power output as my Valveking combo can drown out the drummer if it's cranked. Not always a bad thing so I call it a feature.

I use a Roland Cube for home practice - it sounds nice, is small and easy to use, but the bass leaves quite a lot to be desired.

I'm happy to see another OD-1 user.

btw, gear4music are selling a load of tc electronics pedals at 26 quid each at the moment.

My son has my Yamaha TH5R on permanent loan. He says it has the best hi gain amplifier sound he's heard. He uses it for practice and recording. Yamaha do a larger version now with extension cab, as used by Reeves Gabrels.

I've now use my son's Blackstar TH5.

PigNose turned up full and the knob removed.

Volume knob on the guitar becomes your overdrive.

I hated having options and fiddling evdntually fitted a bypass switch on the guitar to get full volume at the cluck of the switch.

If you want a wah sound you'll need a friend ro open and close tge box.

I sold one recently for £250 was a fender blues junior, great little amp, lovely clean sound too. you'll need to up your budget slightly and keep an eye om eBay or reverb.com The blackstar HT5 is also good for home use.

Yamaha THR10 would also be my suggestion. Really amazing little amp and sounds huge.

I have a Boss Microcube, best £65 I spent on guitars! Why did I lend it out?

if the bigger Boss amps are as good I’d reckon they’d be well worth a punt.

i got a blackstar IDcore 10 and I wish I’d bought another boss instead...

but then it’s always going to pale against a Princeton Reverb (significantly more than £200 I’m afraid 🤢)....

I've had the Orange crush 12 which I thought was great, even more so given the price, there is a Crush 20 too with a slightly bigger speaker and built in reverb/tuner. I know it won't match the versatility of a digital modeller amp but if you want a good sounding amp with nice cleans and great overdrive then they are well worth a look.

Sorry, I've just read your original post again. Probably a little over budget but if you can find a fender pro junior second hand they are great sounding amps (just a volume and tone control, no endless twiddling!).

Just looked at that katana 50. looks amazing for the price. Can you switch effects with a pedal?

Yes I think so, there is a line in/out at the back..

Ive never tried it, have a look on the boss katana forum.. or the YouTube vids from Andertons where they test it out.. oh and plenty of other vids testing other similar priced amps.

I quite like the Andertons ones for the Chappers and Captain pisstaking..

Its worthy of a night in and a glass of wine 🤣