Help me buy an amp! Please! 20w or less . . .

[Kreiger]

Hey guys-

I've been PORING over reviews and threads for a week now trying to decide on my next amp. Here's what I'm working with:

1. Budget- $500 (maybe $600 if it's warranted)
2. Watts- at least 15, preferably 20, though 50 is fine as long as its under $500
3. MAX Clean Volume- THIS IS KEY. All I really care about is nice, sparkly, LOUD, cleans. Don't care about OD, don't care about separate channels, or fx loop.
4. Tube reverb- not a deal breaker, but would be nice

I'm coming off a Blues Jr. I had modded for max clean headroom and it was (barely) enough. And stolen. Thought I'd add 5w or so to give me some breathing room. I use pedals for my OD so I don't care about that in the amp.

But damn, everytime I check a thread or review I get nothing but conflicting views. ("The Jet City in so in-your-face sounding!"/"The Jet City really lacks that in-your-face sound . . ."

So to anyone that owns an amp that fits this bill, please let me know. And why don't I go to GC and try them all? For one, my GC has hardly any selection and NONE of the amps I'm interested in (except maybe another Blues Jr.) and two, trying to determine clean headroom in an echo-y GC with kids playing Slipknot on a Line6 Spider behind you is an exercise in futility.

To make things easier here are the amps I am aware of that are viable options: Fender Blues Jr. (owned one, loved it, looking for more volume), Epiphone Valve Sr. (no info anywhere), Jet City 20w (insanely mixed reviews), Blackstar Venue 20w (a bit pricey, mixed reviews), Peavey Valveking (just found out about it, spring reverb?) Peavey Windsor 20w, Blackheart 15w (who the hell is Blackheart), B-52 60w (screams "junk"!), and last but not least the Bugera v22 (too many reliability issues).


I just want and awesome CLEAN. And LOUD. That's it! Thanks for your help-

[schwa]

I know it's slightly above budget - but $650 seems to be a pretty common price for a used Fender Deluxe Reverb RI. They're quite popular, and available.

It has good clean volume, nice 'verb, and matches your power requirement.

You might want to consider them - there's a lot of happy DRRI players out there.

[Pax]

Ok, I'm usually pretty good about just answering questions that are asked and not pushing beyond that. I know it can get annoying when folks don't stay on point. But, in the interest of offering you the best advice I can, I apologize upfront and say this: Save up some more $$$ and you'll have so many more options. Loud and clean in an amp under $500 is very hard to do. If you can find a way to get to the $1K - $1.2K mark you'll have a lot of choices, especially if you consider used from the emporium. I have a used Matchless Lightening that I think I got for around $1300. I now that's above what I quoted, but I've seen plenty of great amps in the price range I mentioned. Just a thought.

[jimmyohio75]

The Jet City will NOT be what you are looking for. It breaks up quite a bit even at mid volume. Not a loud, clean amp IMO

[Pax]

Originally Posted by schwa

I know it's slightly above budget - but $650 seems to be a pretty common price for a used Fender Deluxe Reverb RI. They're quite popular, and available.

It has good clean volume, nice 'verb, and matches your power requirement.

You might want to consider them - there's a lot of happy DRRI players out there.

Didn't think of this one. Very good point.

[Nork]

i run my TT pretty well clean, 15W and it's loud enough for what i do - i've got a 12au7 to bring down the gain, so it breaks up around half way on the gain knob and at this point, it's pretty stinking loud - and even then, it's barely broken up. i don't know that i would consider it "sparkly" but it's pretty decent sounding anyway.

what about an old princeton silverface? they're pretty cheap and are some of the best sounding of the silverfaces...

[Kreiger]

Originally Posted by Nork

i run my TT pretty well clean . . .

What's a TT?

Aside from that thanks for the responses, guys. Maybe I should have clarified by saying I'm not looking for a monster amp, but something I can use comfortably at home as well (a la the Blues Jr.) I just need a good clean at a volume I can play in a band with.

Just found the Epiphone Blues Custom 30w. Seems nice but its hard to find info on these Epiphone amps. As far as the Vlave Sr. its like it doesn't even exist (not even on their website).

[Nork]

orange tiny terror - they're not known for their really LOUD cleans, but what do you want? it's a 15W amp, so the amount of clean headroom on it is going to be minmal anyway. mine will keep up with a loud drummer no problem, but then maybe my drummer's not as loud as i think (he's pretty loud). i've had no problems. you can get a combo for like 600-650, usually, and it'll do great dirt sounds and low volumes for recording. it's definitely loud enough clean for home.

[zzmoore]

Too bad your location is not in your profile...
I have an amazing, 15 watt, 2 channel, George Dennis head you can try.
Good Luck

[vbjamin]

a c30 peavey would do it , speacially with a greenback in it.

[Kreiger]

Just checked out the Peavey Classic 30. That sounds fantastic! I said I don't care much about the distortion but the Classic 30 has a sweet, well, classic sound to it. The demo guy was rocking a strat and getting some real old-school classic rock sounds on the dirty channel. The clean channel sounded real nice and had that certain something I like. I initially discounted Peavey because I have negative associations with the brand (from using an old solid state Peavey years ago) and I looked at some Valveking videos and HATED the tone. Too modern-sounding.

Gonna see if GC has those in stock to demo (I doubt it.) Seriously, at my GC there is a friggin wall of line 6 junk, some fenders and some mesas and marshalls and that's it. Annoying-

[Kreiger]

Originally Posted by chud311

Mine didn't. I was there today and wanted to try the Classic 30 since the Youtube vids are few and far between and most of them are amateur.

That being said, I came home with a Blues Jr.

Well, the Blues Jr. Is a sweet amp. Just a tip- if you want more reverb get a Ruby tank from Antique Music Supply. You'll get literally 5x more verb and it will be nice and dark and "wet" sounding, perfect for surf. The stock tank was a bit weak to my ears, and a new one is only thirty bucks or so.

I may end up just buying a another Blues Jr. My quest for more volume and clean headroom <$600 is still going though.

[Nork]

so are you looking for something different or an upgrade?

[Kreiger]

Originally Posted by Nork

so are you looking for something different or an upgrade?

Blues Jr was stolen, so I'm looking to replace and possibly upgrade (or downgrade, I suppose, as money is tight).

Basically just want another amp for home practice, small gigs, and some recording. Right now I'm borrowing my rhythm guitarists solid state Marshall (meh).

I was content with my Blues Jr and got a good deal on it and modded it a little (so we bonded, you know). When I bought it it was on a friend's recommendation and basically I am trying to see if there is something better/more suited to me in that range. I loved the Blues Jr. clean tone, just wish there was a bit more of it. A Twin Reverb would be ideal, but I cannot affford one, nor would I be able to use it at home.

[Nork]

hmmm. i guess then the orange tiny terror isn't for you - it doesn't have the fender cleans. a princeton?