Buying an Amp

hyn-zie

Looking for a bit of advice on whats the best tube amplifire to buy, i usually go with Marshall (MG models, Valvestate) but never expierenced playing a tube amp by them, ive heard about Bogner, Engl, Orange etc but im looking for an amp that will last and i wont get frustrated with after spending so long with it. I was looking at the Marshall MA 50 watt, are they any good? My style of playing is isually to the likes of Gn'r and AIC! My Budget is anything up to €800!

Id appreciate your thoughts!!!

eviltimeban

hyn-zie wrote: »

Looking for a bit of advice on whats the best tube amplifire to buy, i usually go with Marshall (MG models, Valvestate) but never expierenced playing a tube amp by them, ive heard about Bogner, Engl, Orange etc but im looking for an amp that will last and i wont get frustrated with after spending so long with it. I was looking at the Marshall MA 50 watt, are they any good? My style of playing is isually to the likes of Gn'r and AIC! My Budget is anything up to €800!

Id appreciate your thoughts!!!

Marshalls are awful. Really, they are.

You are better off going for a Vox AC-30, or maybe a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. Or you could go vintage (70s amps aren't really that expensive), like a Carlsboro or a WEM.

But don't go looking to buy them in shops - there's loads of them for sale on Adverts.

Malice

Moved to Instruments.

groovie

My own preference these days is for a seperate head and speaker cab, mainly due to the > 50lbs that most decent combos weigh. You don't say if you are gigging or not, and whether you mic up the amp or not if you do.

For example, I gig and we mic up, so I have a lower powered valve head (30 watt) and a 1 x 12 speaker. This is sufficient for onstage volume, for classic rock/contemporary music. Now if you are playing in a band that specialises in more extreme music - heavy metal, thrashcore etc - a half stack with a louder amp (100 watt) maybe more the part. 800 is a decent bit of cash and as has already been stated, Adverts.ie is chock full of amps (600+).

There maybe a local guitarist whose sound you like, talk to him and get his opinion. Knowledge is power.

I wouldn't advise you on one brand over another, but since you are getting tubes I would advise that it be serviced before purchase, if it isn't brand spanking new that is.
I have heard and seen guitarists getting good sounds out of a variety of amps, Fender, Marshall, Peavey etc.

You need to source a good tube amp specialist, Aladdin Amps are on the east coast; here in the good old south west we have John Truba. There are probably others.

Good hunting.

Grolschevik

eviltimeban wrote: »

Marshalls are awful. Really, they are.

You are better off going for a Vox AC-30, or maybe a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe.

In all fairness, that's a bit like saying "Jaguars are awful cars, better off with an MG or a Mustang"...

cezet

You have a wide range of amps for €800.
I think anything 15W to 50W would be great for any occasion.
There is a small different in loudness between 50W and 100W, but 100W tube amp is double expensive for servicing.
Also it's very hard to set up 100W amp at reasonable volume for playing most situations.
The best idea go to shop and play on what you can find, and buy it from some e-market.

slavetothegrind

i like blackstar's and have my eye on a new stage 60.

play blues,rock and metal. For extreme overdrive you can place a tubescreamer in front of it if you wish.

I love the tonal possibilities from this amp and the one i'm after has three channels footswitchable and a boost on the switch also.

But really it's an individual thing, mate has an avt marshall and loves his tone, i don't particularly but there you are, horses for courses!

Get out there and try a load of 'em, it's a great way to spend hours...;)

Sergio

slavetothegrind wrote: »

i like blackstar's and have my eye on a new stage 60.

play blues,rock and metal. For extreme overdrive you can place a tubescreamer in front of it if you wish.

I love the tonal possibilities from this amp and the one i'm after has three channels footswitchable and a boost on the switch also.

But really it's an individual thing, mate has an avt marshall and loves his tone, i don't particularly but there you are, horses for courses!

Get out there and try a load of 'em, it's a great way to spend hours...;)

I can vouch for blackstar too as ive got the series one 200 head. Blackstars product are all amazing highly recommend!

firefly08

Marshall have some great valve (tube) amps at the moment, and some new ones coming out this year.

If you're not used to valve amps though, I'd advise you to be very careful of one thing: buying a high power (50 or 100 watt) valve amp can be a mistake. A lot of their sound comes from having the master volume turned up very high. It's easy to do that in youtube videos and even in music shops but then when you get it home and discover you can't get the volume past 0.5 or 1 without tearing paint off the walls, it can be very frustrating. The solution usually involves spending more money - either on attenuators, or on some kind of pedal/preamp to boost the gain and 'fix' the tone at low volumes; but it never sounds the same.

Some high powered valve amps sound good at lower volumes, but just don't take it for granted - it's not like solid state amps when the tone is almost completely independent of the volume.

From the musical interests you've mentioned, you owe it to yourself to check out the demos of the new Marshall 1 watt series of amps. They are staggering the release throughout the year to celebrate their 50th anniversary. I think the amps are way overpriced, but on the other hand, they do sound sweet and there is not much else to compare them too.

If you like playing with relatively low gain, try to get a chance to play the Marshall Class 5. It's well under your budget. It's a great sounding valve amp, 5 watts, and it has a low power mode that makes it easy to get full gain at low volumes. But it falls a little short of the GNR/AIC type sound.

If you like lots and lots and lots of gain at low volumes, try the Orange Tiny Terror and Dark Terror amps. I have the Dark Terror and it's amazing. The amount of distortion you can get at low volumes is shocking, and it gets better and better as you crank it up. It's switchable between 7 and 15 watts so you can get the volume up a bit in a residential setting. It's expensive and not very versatile but I will never sell mine.

See if you can find anywhere that you can try out the new Mesa Boogie Mini Rectifier. It might be just inside your budget and if it's anything like the other Mesas it will be extremely versatile.

hyn-zie

Cheers dude very helpful!!!