Amps! What should I buy!?
 

So I'm in the market for a new guitar amp. I'm playing in a band with a very jangly, REM / Guided By Voices kinda sound, so I'm looking for something that compliments that. All I've got right now is an old Crate solid state combo, that sounds pretty shitty... so I need to upgrade.

I want a tube amp for sure. I've played a few Fender reverbs that sounded really good. The other day I tried out a Vox AC30, and that thing sounded great. Huge tonal range, and pretty cool features. The problem with the Vox is that they're made in China now, and I've had a few people tell me that they sound great for a little while but crap out pretty quick. I have no idea if that's true or not, but it's what a few people have told me.

I'm no amplifier expert, so I'm looking for suggestions.
What amps do you play?
What would you recommend?

Fender Twin Reverb!!!!

^^^ I'm looking at getting one of those. Also check out Fender Supers.

Vox is the way to go if you like clean tones, but I haven't heard of the China thing. That could be true.

if you are out to be dirty then you can never go wrong with marshalls I think.
mine is indestructable I think.

Look at some Laney's. They are one of the only companies (in my opinion) making really good products right now.

Marshall hasn't made anything decent sounding in 20 years. Twice the price, half of the tone.

well, actually, Marshall makes good amps for their ultra-high end market. And every few years they make a decent quality, decently priced amp. But as a rule, I just ignore the Marshall sections.

I wouldnt buy it again. but I was trying to say something similar. they are solid but just too expensive

i have a blues jr and am very pleased wityh it.
it the cheapest fender tube amp. it sounds great and has really good volume. i play extremely loud at gigs (small rooms) and dont have to make it louder than 3

If I were you I'd get an older Vox AC30.
Or maybe you should check out Orange.

I've read mixed reviews of the new chinese built AC30s regarding build quality. I'd agree with terriblecanyons that an Orange might be a safer bet.

Consider:




Peavey Delta Blues. 30 watt, all tube. This little fucker 2X10 is versatile, nice chime, and great amp distortion. I don't even need a distortion pedal most times..

yes, go for the peavey, they are superior amplifiers tube or solid state.

Yeah, I'm really hesitant to drop all kinds of money on a Vox when I read all these reviews from people who've had them break down so quick. It seems like the new ones are just built kinda cheap. Cheap speakers, cheap tubes, etc. I'm leaning towards the Fender Twin Reverb, but I've gotta play one again to be sure.

I've never played any Orange amps, but I hear they're excellent. They might be a bit out of my price range though. They're quite expensive, right?

Thanks for the suggestions, by the way!

Yeah, Orange amps are pretty costly. You'll probably be looking at upwards of $1k for anything other than the Tiny Terror. (The AD30TC costs around $1500.) Saying that, I doubt you'd get a new Fender Twin for that much less than that.

Laney do reasonably priced valve amps, at least they're not that expensive in the UK. The other ones that've been reissued are the Sound City ones, which are mostly associated with the British Glam 'hooligan' tone - think Slade, etc. Oh yeah, and HiWatt too. Although all of these are 'British' amps, like Vox, I think the more affordable ones are actually made in the far east. The exception is Laney, whose VC30 is made in the UK and is priced quite reasonably in the US.

http://www.hiwatt.com/data/gcombos.html
http://www.arbiter.co.uk/soundcity/index.htm
http://www.laney.co.uk
http://www.orangeamps.com/

The Marshall DSL401 might be a decent bet. There were some complaints about them breaking down due to overheating, but apparantly Marshall have sorted this problem out.

It's worth noting though, that Orange, Sound City, Laney, Vox, Hiwatt and Marshall all have that heavier 'British' tone (a consequence of their mostly using EL84 valves). As such, they'll sound quite different to the classic 'American' tone of the Fender Twin (which uses the 'brighter' 6L6 valves, just like most Mesa/Boogies). So if you're going for that 'janglier' tone you mention in your first post, then the Fender Twin might still be the way to go. Although it's worth reminding yourself that the Twin is ridiculously loud, with acres of clean headroom. So unless you use an overdrive/distortion/fuzz pedal, it won't even start to distort until you turn it up to near wall-shaking volume levels. It's also true that the newer ones get very mixed reviews regarding reliability.

A good, alternative might be the Peavey Valveking. This uses the same 6L6 valves as the Fender Twin and is a lot cheaper - although this is because it's made in China. Having said that, in the case of Peavey, I wouldn't let that where it was built put you off, seeing as how their reputation for quality control seems pretty good.

You might want to consider trying Fender's Hot Rod Deluxes. A lot of people complain that the overdrive channel on them is terrible, and that there are issues with build quality, but they are about half the price of the Twin - and still very loud!

I've not heard the Fender Blues Jnr, but the fact that it uses EL84s makes me think it'd have a slightly more 'British' sound than other Fenders.

Hope this helps a little.

PS: When I say 'valves', i mean the same as when you say 'tubes'. Just one of those quaint British-American differences.

I've got a 12 y/o Marshall Valvestate 8080 amp, and it's sweet as. Given it's age, it could probably do with a valve replacement but otherwise it sounds fine.

I find Marshall is better for overdrive, while Fender does clean sounds nicer.