Amps costing no more than $200, suggestions?

A Roland Cube would do it.....trust me.

 

I bought my youngster a Peavey Backstage Plus on Ebay for about a hundred bucks delivered. It has 35 watts and a 10" speaker. You could probably find an equivalent Fender or Marshall solid state unit just as easily.

 

You can find a used Fender Pro Jnr for around $200, geat clean tone, crunches up nicely at volume (no MV)

I've been using one as my main recording amp for years, my other amps, a '64 AC30, a '74 Twin Reverb and a '79 Marshall get used *way* less than my PJ, it's my go to amp for clean to slight breakup tones.

 

kalamazoo model 2

old silvertone perhaps

 

Crate GFX15, I love mine.

 

If you like portability, Roland Microcube is just great. Pretty loud for 2 watts.

But I think you'll be better with a 10-30W solid-stater if you need it for jamming.

------------
Jimbo

 

Peavey has made a lot of all-tube sleeper amps that can be had for cheap. The Ultra 60 is an example, I saw a used head in a music store that may have been had for $250 with a little sweet talking. I have the Rockmaster preamp which is a preamp spin of that model (I paid $90 used), sounds awesome.

 

New:

Epiphone Galaxie 10 - tube
Traynor TubeMate - hybrid
Hughes & Kettner Edition Blue - ss
Behringer Vintager GM110 - ss (SansAmp clone)

Used (either > $200 new or discontinued):

Tech21 Trademark 10 - ss
Garnet stencil combo (Mann, Raven, Granada, etc) - tube
Fender Pro Jr - tube
Ampeg G-100 / GT-10 (or other G series) - ss
Randall Commander (or any orange label Randall really) - ss
Hohner International series - ss (seriously, these things rock)

As far as the cheaper end goes (i.e. not the Classics or Delta) I've heard good things about the Encore 65, but never played one. A local shop has one for $199, I should check it out.

 

I was in GC today with a friend who was picking up a PA system and a used Marshall MG 100 DFX . I saw an Epiphone 5 watt Valve Junior Class A amp for $119.00. Not a bad little amp to mess around with.

The Valve special combo is 5w Class A Circuitry with Dsp reverb + 3 Band eq. $219.

Not bad for what your looking for. Good Luck.

 

My big buck amp purchases over the past few years:

Univox 1226 50 watt tube head $70 used through ad in City Paper
early 70s Univox sounds pretty decent w/channels jumped,RVB needs repair

Roland Bolt 60 ss preamp,2 6L6GC power amp channel sw,rvb works fine early 80s $125 thanks GC!
these things go for cheap,you can search out a dedicated site and I'm quite happy with it

 

Doug I think you just opened yourself up to a smear campaign from your competitors...I can see the ad's now...."Why would you buy an amp from Doug Roccaforte? He'd rather play a Crate than his own amps!"

Or maybe some Crate ad's "Crate...what boutique builders really play!"

 

More options:

New:
- Crate Powerblock
http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?s=&threadid=87717


Used:
- All kinds of old PA amplifiers (Bogen, etc., see this thread and others on TGP)
http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?s=&threadid=70823

- old vintage Gibson amps - GA-5, GA-15
Still cheap, and a bargain compared to the Fender counterparts:
http://cgi.ebay.com/GIBSON-GA-15-RVT-Explorer-Guitar-Amplifier-GA15-Amp_W0QQitemZ7336992685
http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Gibson-GA-5-Skylark-Tube-Type-Guitar-Amplifier_W0QQitemZ7336670508
http://cgi.ebay.com/Gibson-1966-Skylark-GA-5_W0QQitemZ7337612196
http://cgi.ebay.com/GIBSON-SKYLARK-GA-5-Amplifier-gently-used_W0QQitemZ7336874949
http://cgi.ebay.com/960s-Gibson-Skylark-Amp-Vintage-Tube-Amp_W0QQitemZ7336077392
http://cgi.ebay.com/Gibson-GA5-Skylark-amp-Crestline-series_W0QQitemZ7335193908
http://cgi.ebay.com/Gibson-GA_W0QQitemZ7337562072

- Yamaha GII series (I like the "II" series only, SS with MV and a 3 knob parametric EQ) like this one:
http://cgi.ebay.com/YAMAHA-G100-112-AMPLIFIER-100-WATTS-EXLT_W0QQitemZ7335216732
The 100 watters are almost always less than $200, and the 50 watters often around $75

- Ampeg Jet (found sometimes around $200, like this one):
http://cgi.ebay.com/AMPEG-AMP-JET-J12-R_W0QQitemZ7336948066

 

+1 on the Pro Junior

+1 on the Blues Junior

 

I will say get the butt ugliest amp ever made. They may need another speaker but frequently come with rca tubes and are point to point wired, schematically similar to a vintage fender, but man are they ugly. The silvertone 1482. For more power get 1484. They are big in Latin America because of the tone/cost ratio.

 

There's a Vox modeler under $200 that is REALLY impressive. On-board effects, several amp models, sounds great!

http://www.zzounds.com/item--VOXAD15VT

Go play one at a GC somewhere. For the money I've never heard anything top this.

 

yes do
as long as it's the 2004 or later

 

It seems to me I was able to purchase a Sovtek Mig50 head in the $200 range not that long ago.
Pro Jr is a cool amp
I own a Marshall MGDFX-
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/fg=141/g=guitar/search/detail/base_pid/483187/
Got mine on ebay for $89.00

 

I haven't tried the Microcube.


I tried the Palomino V8....it just sounds small.

I bought the Epiphone Valve Special. I love it. Never tried the Valve Jr...I like the additional tone stack of the special.

-Jay

 

VOX 15r

My Son bought one and it sounds really good for a $100 amp