opinion on guitar amps

voxpop

Guys,

I've just started looking for a new guitar amp which i can afford eg 100-200. Now I know I wont get a great amp for that, but i just want something for home use. I've been looking on buy&sell and came accross a
Marshall Valvestate VS15R Guitar Amp (15w)
and
Peavey Envoy Guitar Amp. 110 (40w)

Both of these are priced roughly the same €100.
Which of these two would be the better buy or are they both rubbish ?

Any suggestions/recommendations ?

feylya

Well, what's your level of experience, are you gigging, jamming with a drummer, things like that?

voxpop

very little experience with an electric - i have an acoustic but wanna move on to an electric

I want the amp for home use - practice mostly

feylya

I don't have any first hand experience with those 2 particular amps but I'm sure Doc J or Fitz will be along tomorrow to point you in the direction of nice little tube amps or just slightly more than €200. I think

Eoin Madsen

I've worked with many a Marshall Valvestate. In my experience they are, thus far without exception, the worse guitar amps that money can buy. I haven't used or recorded that particular Peavey amp, but my experience of their cheaper products hasn't been the best.

It's a bit of a stretch, but for 370 euro you can get a new Line6 SpiderII 112 from Thomann.de (that's including shipping). For the price, it's quite an exceptional amp. And it's good for just about any application.

voxpop

€370 is a bit above my budget - i was hoping for something below 200 but could probably strech to 300 (maybe :dunno: )

For a newbie to electrics do i really want/need a great amp or will a ok one do i.e if i buy an ok one, will i be kicking myself 6 months down the road ?

feylya

Yes, you need a decent one. If you have a poor one, your tone will be crap and you'll think you're worse at playing that you actually are. Even great players sound ****e through bad amps.

Oeneus

You would probably find it will be worth saving up a ****load more cash. I've always considered 10-15 watt practice amps a complete waste of space and time. I'd recommend you go at least a 50watt valvestate amp.

But when I first started. I busted my ass off to get the cash to get a Half-stack Marshall valve amp. It was my first amp, and probably still the best sounding.

voxpop

well the Peavey i was looking was 40watt

Ok so for a good amp, what sort of cash am I talking about ? Should i try and go straight for a valve amp or compromise with some sort of middle range valvestate yokie ?

bombidol

Peavy make some very nice amps, but ive found they tend to lean more towards the metal/hard rock sound. But honestly, if its your first and and you just want to play around at home. theres absolutly nothing wrong with a practice amp, i think theres someone selling one in the for sale forum at the moment actually.

ferdi

Carlsboro Keyboard Amp. 150w, 3 inputs, would suit beginner, €200. Contact: 087-2820778 Drogheda.
Conn and Leinster

Carlsbro Guitar Amp. 100 watt, 2 twin 8" speakers. £50. 02830 838338.
Northern Ireland

Crate Amp. 65 watts, reverb, switches from very loud distortion to soft, excellent clean sound, ex cond, Price: €220 Contact: 087 1334319.
Conn and Leinster, Web

Fender Amp. 30 watt, brand new, built in effects, Price: €250 Contact: 087-2602145.
Conn and Leinster

Fender Frontman Amp. Little use, great sound, clean & distortion, ex cond, perfect for beginners or for home use, Price: €90 Contact: 087 1334319.
Conn and Leinster, Web

Laney Valve Amp. Never gigged & rarely played, as new, cost €550, will incl Jim Dunlop wah wah pedal, Price: €195 Contact: 0872634501.:)

Marshall Valvestate Amp. 100 watt, good cond but has flaw. 100 euro o.n.o., Price: €100 Contact: dallas182@eircom.net / 016243400 / 0879775157 eves.
Conn and Leinster, Web

voxpop

is the Laney amp the pick of the bunch ? I've never heard of Laney but they seem to have been around along time judging by their website

Paladin

I have one of those 2 amps you listed:

Marshall Valvestate VS15R Guitar Amp (15w)

Nice amp.

Dunno what on earth Eoin Madsen is on about. Ive used marshall valvestates a lot too. I think they are the best value amps on the market. They consistently get the top marks in guitar review magazines so I rekon you must be the unluckiest guy in the world with the ones you have used. Got 4 marshall amps in my house.

Best beginner:

New marshall DSL series. Get a 30W for around E200. Got some ok effects built in. 2 channels. Great for practice. Gig with it too. Its fine in a pub but we hook it up to the PA for better "roundness"
http://www.marshallamps.com/images/products/dsl/dsl401.html
This is the 40w version. Got loads of good reviews. Sweet sweet sound with les paul guitar.

Nothing at all wrong with a small practice amp tho. Ignore people who say otherwise. However, if you do plan on buying a gigging amp, buy a GOOD loud gigging amp unless you are flush enough to own a good PA.

voxpop

Paladin,

I was looking at those marshall dsl 401s - they are 850e on thomann.de !! Thats well outta my range - i really can t afford anything above 300e -

Some of the amps listed by ferdi are more what im after
Maybe the crate or the 30w fender or the laney valve ?

bombidol

Laney Valve definatly

voxpop

The laney is gone

bombidol

crate looks nice too

bovril

I too will be looking at getting an amp towards the end of the year. I have been learning acoustic for about a year and am going to get a mex strat when I am in the US at the end of the summer. I plan on getting my amp from thomann or musicstorekoeln when I get the guitar. Has anyone had any reliability issues with amps bought on-line? I have been reading reviews on harmonycentral and even the marshal amps (200-400Euro) price range have poor reviews on reliability. I will only be playing my electric at home, I will never be playing it gigging and don't fancy shelling out a mint for an amp.

Eoin Madsen

I'd still say if you can't afford a valve amp go with something digital like the Line6. And don't pay too much attention to "wattage" - it's a buzz word that gets thrown around a lot to dazzle. It doesn't directly relate to the volume or quality of the amp, so you're better trusting your ears. You're looking for anything between 15 and 100 watts. A friend of mine has a Fender Junior 15watt tube amp - and it's quite a bit louder then my brother's old 60watt Valvestate. The tone of course is incomparable.

I know a couple of people that have bought amps from different sites in Germany (and I bought one myself), and there have been no problems.

ferdi

Originally posted by bovril
going to get a mex strat when I am in the US at the end of the summer.

NOOOO!!!

if you are going to be in the US you have an opertunity to pick up are REALLY nice guitar, a mex strat is ok but things are alot cheaper over there and they have pawn shops and vintage instrument shops where you could pick up a beautiful axe for the same price as a mex strat.

http://www.elderly.com/

padraigmyers

Originally posted by Paladin
New marshall DSL series. Get a 30W for around E200.

Good Luck finding one of those for €200, they are about €700 or €800 new in this contry, and they are a great amp so they don't tend to go too cheap 2nd hand either.

Angry_Penguin:
Of the two amps you mentioned, I'd go with the Peavey, a bit more power for when you want to get together with some mates, and in my opinion, a better amp then that Marshall.

Giblet

Best VALUE amps he said

padraigmyers

Originally posted by Giblet
Best VALUE amps he said

Ummm, sorry

feylya

Actually, I'd started typing out the valve amp speel too until I reread the post.

Zoton

Was a bit disappointed with the AVT marshall's myself. The earlier valvestae ones sound quite nice though. I myself recently got a line 6 spider II 112, and its luverly.

fitz

Two options which come in under the €200 mark:

Vox Pathfinder or the Danelectro Nifty 50.

Both small and portable, but with decent kick for their modest 15 Watts, and remarkable tone for the money.

Marshalls suck, apart from the very expensive ones, and even at that, they're all overvalued by at least a third of their cost.

For transition to electric from acoustic, either the Vox or Danelectro will serve you very very well, and won't hurt your pocket.

Paladin

Ack. My bad. got mixed up between DSL series and MG series.

Marshall Practice amp that got 10/10 on WhichGuitar Magazine:
http://www.netzmarkt.de/thomann/thoiw6_artikel-153759.html
E119

My friend has the 30W (MG not DSL as i erroneously posted).

Just so you know, the thing about Marshalls in my experience is they are fantastic on overdrive (see The Darkness etc). However their clean tone can be beaten (Id go for fender there). Id go with the MG marshall listed above if its for a practice amp.

fitz

Ah, yes...but The Darkness use the pre-ampless Marshall head, with a Mesa-Boogie V-Twin for the pre-amp stage, so that's where the overdriven sound comes from.

Paladin

Also look at some loud Behringers. Very cheap amps. You get very average sound but hey, its half the cost.

Also I agree with whoever posted about not taking too much notice of wattage.
Thats a theoretical value and not always very accurate. Its a design Maximum, not a real maximum. Valves are usually louder than valvestate (but more expensive).

voxpop

Guys I was thinking of one of these (thanks fitz for putting me on the vox non-valve path)-
http://www.voxamps.co.uk/products/valvetronix/ad15vtad30vt.htm

Probably the 15w one - they are 230e in musicstorekoeln including shipping. Seems like a good place to begin my amp collection.

fitz

Nice. Looks like you've got a winner there. Good price, good features.
If you're buying from Musicstore, check out the Export section of the site, there's a number for a rep who lives here in Ireland, you can put your order in through him, and he's very helpful as a point of contact.

voxpop

These rep people are all on the level ?

There is a guy on the xport section called Damian Edwards - sent him an email about the amp and he said to give him my cc card details inc. the 3-digit number on the back +address,phone and he would put the order through.

Are these guys to be trusted ? Is there any benifit to ordering through this guy rather than ordering from the site itself ?

fitz

Yes, I've dealt with Damien.
Basically, he'll get the commission instead of some bloke in Germany.
It's always useful to build up a rapport with people that you can actually phone and get hold of in case anything does go wrong.

I got a Fender Blues Junior from them a while back, and a Mesa V-1 pedal.
No complaints.
Amp arrived 2 days after it left the warehouse.
Mesa arrived a couple of days later.

Eoin Madsen

Make sure you only give credit card details by phone though, email is not secure!