Howdy folks, Putting together a Guitar Rig - thanks to the internet, I know have a lot more choices than I did the last time I put together a guitar rig. hehe. Anyhow, looking for something smallish (1x12) with Voxy cleans. I'm definitely willing to tweak a 15 watter to improve clean headroom (tubes and a Red Fang may be in order), so hopefully that will allow me to stay at my budget I prefer a single channel amp - I think - unless there's a switcher that is a better value or something. But I already bought a Hot Cake and a Mosferatu for the drive section of my pedalboard. So yeah, I'm really open to suggestions here. Most important thing is tone, then price, then size. I was even comtemplating one of those ridiculously cheap Line 6 Duoverbs, but that thing is huge. Thanks folks, I appreciate the help! Ryan
I have been testing amps for about 6 months. I play a Vox AC 30 HW Limited Edition. It sounds Killer through those Celestion Blues. I wanted a different sound for some rock stuff I'm doing . The Hand Wired Marshall 20 Watt head playing through 1- Celestion Blue and 1- Red Fang is an awesome sound. You can get the head for about $1400 . or If Tele clean is in order go for the Dr. Z Prescription ES $1500 or If thats too much , Try a Fender Reissue Bassman $950 All are great amps and work well with pedals . The fender bassman is one fine amp for the money !
Not sure of your budget but I would recommend either: Cheap Fender Pro Jnr. (c.$200 used) EL-84, simple circuit, great Fender/Vox clean tones. Put a 12" baffle and speaker or even better add a 12" extension cab and a couple of pedals and you have a powerful and great sounding cheap rig. For ref. I have a '64 Vox AC30 that I love and my Pro Jnr. still gets used plenty. Midrange VHT Pitbull 45 (c.$800 used) EL-84, channel switcher. Maybe more amp than you need but does a lot of stuff very well. Fancy Matchless SC30 (c.$2000?) Two channel, not switchable so you need and A/B/Y but you can use both together. Killer sounding amp, especially clean to crunch.
Hehe, yeah, I neglected to mention the budget. I'm looking to stay right at 7 bills. One option that's still looking pretty good is buying a blues jr and having s2 convert it to a matchless lightning. Also thinking about throwing a Red Fang in there, I think I might have to flip the baffle around, though. I guess the magnet's a bit large. I want to keep it Voxy, for sure.
If you're looking for mainly clean tone and don't need reverb then I'd go with a Pro Jnr. Simpler circuit than the BJ and better clean tone imo. Another option, though not as Vox-like, is a Fender Super Champ.
If you want clean then why do you want low wattage? Clean comes from running high wattage amp below the level of distortion.
Well, the main reason for low wattage is low weight/low cost. Seems like the obvious choice for a touch more money would be the Valvetech Hayseed (I'm already looking around at what I could sell to make a 1x12 version happen for me), but for my budget/size restraints I'm sort of limited. I'm not opposed to a DRRI, it's just I've never been terribly happy with their bottom end - also some reliability issues. Maybe a speaker change could put this one back into more "british" territory. My drive section is already put together, so whatever I get needs to pair up will with a Hotcake and a Mosferatu. (Thus the EL84 preference). Thanks folks, the input is really helpful! Ryan
Fargen Epic 30 1x12 combo will do this and you'll be smiling!! I have a Tonker in mine and I had Ben voice it BIG and CLEAN and that's what it is. Loves pedals too! For me I've had the best results when I start with a good big clean sound and pedals.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, the Valvetech Hayseed is available as a 1x12". It's an exact duplicate of the early JMI AC30 circuit, plus, it's got a 1/2 power switch, so you can run it at 15 watts. The best part? It's a USA-made, hand-wired amp for only $1,075. For a little more, you can add a tube tremolo or reverb or even an EF86 preamp tube, just like the old JMI AC15. The catch? Well... the guy who builds them does so all by himself, so there's about a three-month waiting list.
