Guitar amp advice wanted

[gregbish 10]

Hey Chris,

 

If you're looking for a really good sounding little tube amp try the:

 

VOX AC4TV8 or

Fender Champion 600

 

These are both 5watts of tube power. Really simple controls 'tone' and 'volume'. If you want that vintage tube distortion sound turn the volume up! Easy and great sounding (not the cheapest little amps on the market though - both probably in the region of £150).

 

Greg

[hairmot 10]

removing old post history

Edited December 9, 2016 by hairmot

[hairmot 10]

i also played an orange tiny terror recently and that was amazing. really raw though

[paintedwhite 10]

maaaattee! Forget the muso rubbish...just get a fender 100 watt. It has dual channel but you are looking at around £200 for a great gigging amp. In my opinion guitar amp effects are never as good as good pedal anyway. marshall 100dfx is a good steady amp too. I think they both do 50watts if 100 is too big.

[ChrisT70 10]

cheers again. at the minute i dont really do any amp justice as i've only been playing a year, but to save wasting time messing about with the line 6 one i usually just play it dead anyway and am practising an hour a day where possible.

 

the bit i asked earlier is bugging me, "what sort of volume/tone levels should i have on the guitar knobs generally, and once set would you leave them alone or do you need to adjust it frequently?", can anyone help explain?

[ChrisT70 10]

ps what annoys me is i went into the shop with £300 quid cash and asked for a decent amp for that sort of money and was advised the line 6 was as good as anything in that price range so bought it! do'h! its probably very good for someone who knows how to work it and who can master it but something simple would have done me and the money was there!

[hairmot 10]

an amp like the line 6 or a marshall mg will make a bad player sound better

 

but a good player sound really awful

 

you need something with tubes in. as soon as you hear the difference with tubes you'll never want to go back.

 

the volume and tone controls can completely change the sound of your guitar.

 

a solid state amp(non-tube, like the line 6 or marshall mg) will take the guitars signal, no matter what it sounds like and make it sound like you tell it to on the amp

 

a proper tube amp will take the guitars signal and add something to it

 

so with the line 6, you could play two different guitars and get a very similar sound

 

with a tube amp, you can hear the difference in guitar types, pickups and even woods.

 

so with an amp like the line 6, you may as well leave the guitar controls alone cos it wont make much difference

 

with a tube amp, even a small basic one like the epi valve junior, fiddling with the guitar controls will make a huge difference

 

the best way to hear this is to turn the volume from full to half way on your guitar

 

on a solid state amp (line 6) it should sound pretty much the same

 

on a valve amp, at full you should be getting a nice distortion, at half way you'll get a completely different sound thats either clean or semi clean, depending on how you set the amp

 

i have my amp set to really distorted

 

but if i roll down the volume on my guitar, i get a nice clean tone without touching the amp. that wouldnt work on a solid state amp

 

basically, in music shops, they'll try and sell you amps that are terrible. and it makes me sick. if you're paying over 100 quid for an amp, they really should point you towards tubes.

 

a key word to avoid with amps is "digital"

[ChrisT70 10]

an amp like the line 6 or a marshall mg will make a bad player sound better

 

but a good player sound really awful

 

you need something with tubes in. as soon as you hear the difference with tubes you'll never want to go back.

 

the volume and tone controls can completely change the sound of your guitar.

 

a solid state amp(non-tube, like the line 6 or marshall mg) will take the guitars signal, no matter what it sounds like and make it sound like you tell it to on the amp

 

a proper tube amp will take the guitars signal and add something to it

 

so with the line 6, you could play two different guitars and get a very similar sound

 

with a tube amp, you can hear the difference in guitar types, pickups and even woods.

 

so with an amp like the line 6, you may as well leave the guitar controls alone cos it wont make much difference

 

with a tube amp, even a small basic one like the epi valve junior, fiddling with the guitar controls will make a huge difference

 

the best way to hear this is to turn the volume from full to half way on your guitar

 

on a solid state amp (line 6) it should sound pretty much the same

 

on a valve amp, at full you should be getting a nice distortion, at half way you'll get a completely different sound thats either clean or semi clean, depending on how you set the amp

 

i have my amp set to really distorted

 

but if i roll down the volume on my guitar, i get a nice clean tone without touching the amp. that wouldnt work on a solid state amp

 

basically, in music shops, they'll try and sell you amps that are terrible. and it makes me sick. if you're paying over 100 quid for an amp, they really should point you towards tubes.

 

a key word to avoid with amps is "digital"

 

thats interesting and i wasnt really aware that the volume of the guitar/tone will affect the amp as much as that. i've set mine quite high on both sets (one for each pickup) and then been fiddling with the amp trying to make it sound as i want.

think i will see if i can get a shop demo done on a small practice valve amp using my guitar.

[chanser 10]

Lots of people play perfectly happily through transistor amps.

 

You do get more warmth and tone out of a tube amp but if you are learning to play at low volumes there isn't a lot of point changing amps now. As far as I can tell you are a beginner, you would benefit more by paying for some lessons, you already have all the equipment you need.

[ChrisT70 10]

i am having weekly lessons anyway, and am just about at the stage where i feel confident enough to start using the amplifier again. i basically bought it about 6 months ago when it wasnt really needed! i'm not sure yet if playing dead is actually better anyway while learning as you can hear the mistakes while you make them but i suppose an amp will do the same for me.

[chanser 10]

You'll get to the point where you want to join or start a band, then you are going to need a bigger more powerful amp and either some individual pedals or a multi effect unit. Keep what you have until you are ready to upgrade. your guitar teacher can probably help you get the sound you want out of your amp.

[ChrisT70 10]

oh god no! i have no plans to perform or anything! would die of stage fright! lol

i'm just doing this for my own benefit for home practise etc and a small amp will be fine.

:-)