Amps: 1x12'', 2x10'', or 4x10"?
RPF
Posts: 4
Currently i use a cheap 10 watt practice amp with my MIM Tele, however as i am about to join a band, i will need a louder amp to be heard over the drummer. I was wondering what your opinions are about speaker size and number. We plan on playing a good variety of music, everything from Zeppelin, to PJ, Rolling Stones, Radiohead etc. What are the advantage/disadvantages/differences between a 4 by 10'' stack vs a single 12'' etc? Also, is it better to get a combo amp, or a head and separate speakers? Also what brands/types of amps would you recomend?
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I think the best thing might be a head. That way you hook up to any kind of cab you want. 1X12, 2X12, 4X12. Don't mess around with 10"speakers. If you want a boutique amp, here are some good builders:
http://www.fargenamps.com
http://www.badcatamps.com
http://www.aikenamps.com
http://www.savageamps.com
If I was you, I'd probably go for a used Vox AC15. Check on ebay. If it's out of your range, I'd go for a Peavey classic 30 or Delta Blues with a 1X15?
There's no right amp for you to play. A combo is easier to haul around. Go to a big music store and play a whole bunch of them. Marshall makes some small combos that are great sounding. One ten inch speaker or twelve is usually fine. I used to love old Vox's, and you can pick them up used at a reasonable price. Watch out for expensive stuff if you're playing in clubs though. ( Beer, drunks, dropped, forgotten, stolen )
If you get a head, then you can add to the speakers later if you want. You don't need big wattage any more though.
However, if your first gig is at the Rose Bowl, A row of Marshall Stacks baby, go for it!
lol... if only.
Thanks for the advice and websites, I guess i'll be hanging around the local guitar store this weekend fro a few hours.
seeing as your're going from a practice amp, no need to jump to boutique amps, unless you have a money tree.
How DARE you steer this impressionable young player away from 10" speakers?!? I am the world's biggest fans of 10's, and they are the very foundation of my tone. Just look at the '59 Fender Bassman combo and look no further! 4 10" speakers are the absolute bomb in combo with a good tube amp. My 4x10" has been the only real constant amp companion for me in all my years of playing. 10's give you definition and punch, not to mention warmth, that no 12" or 15" could give you.
If 10's aren't your sound, that's cool, but leave the rest of us to decide for ourselves.
Venting complete.
Nice vent.
My fingers were too tired to type about that!
I play an Orange AD-15/12 myself. Think Plexi.
It smokes. THe only Speaker is a vintage 30 It's small but I live in an Apartment so I can't even turn it up. I had to give away my big fender to my brother in law
I currently jam at home with a '66 Fender Vibro-Champ (8 watts through an 8" speaker) with my TS-9 in front (an MXR Phase 90 and an Ibanez Digi Delay, as well). Similar, if more quiet, to Neil using a Deluxe.
I still say the Fender DeVille is the best all-around amp to start with, though. Especially for the price.
I got my AD-15 for 850 plus tax it was just over 900. No Reverb no nothing but an active EQ and really really responsive gain and volume.
I passed on a 50-watt Orange head two years ago for like $800. I was flat-assed broke at the time, and I've always regretted it. I would really rather have an old Fender Vibrolux or Bassman head to power up my 4 x 10" cab with. I really love the sound of a TS-9 through a Fender tube amp. A Deluxe would be damned sweet, too. Ultimately, my wishlist is:
'59 Bassman combo
'66 Twin Reverb combo
'56 Gibson Les Paul Goldtop
'57 Gibson Les Paul Goldtop
Put an A/B box before the two amps, dial the Bassman in for dirty (overdrive, not DeathMetalDistortion), the Twin 'Verb in for clean (glassy, bit of reverb, vibrato on footswitch) and use as few FX as possible.
My Marshall will do for now, though.
Maybe shop around for a second-hand deal like the other guys suggested.. eBay etc etc.
It's really just a case of trying a number of amps and seeing which sound you like best... don't fret too much about the brand especially if you're choice is between Vox, Laney and Fender... the only thing is forking out to buy new tubes every now and then.
Happy hunting!! I'm goin out today to check out some wah pedals..
see ya round
dan.
"It is I, with the empty bladder!"
www.nowalletevolution.com
my next amp was a crate club50 tube amp. 50W. 2x12" it was unreliable.
i then traded it for a fender hot rod deluxe that i played for a long long time. 1x12" 40W tube.
i added a fender 4x10 deville (60W tube) when i was briefly in a band. let me tell you. a 1x12 and a 4x10 in parallel are loud!!.
i then traded the deville and the deluxe for a fender 65 deluxe reverb when i started playing solo and hit a huge buckley phase. it's a reissue but i love and will have it forever. 1x12" 22W tube.
at one point, i had a mesa boogie blue angel 1x12" that i lliked but didn't use it all that much b/c i was getting the sounds i needed out of the deluxe reverb. i regret letting it go though.
so now i just play the deluxe reverb. i run the vibrato channel primarily and i just set up my POD running 'tube preamp' in front of the DRY channel. i use 3 programs in the POD: a good leslie sound, a really choppy tremolo and a basic dirty. i switch between the two channels using my handy new A/B box i made.
i use a THD hotplate to cut the volume to the speaker without constricting the amp itself. let's me turn it up to 5 or so without pissing off my neighbours.
i also have the POD programmed using the matchless chieftain model that i do the bulk of my recording with.
here's what the set-up looks like today. i just finished tweaking it a bit. trimmed some fat out. i like it.
http://www3.telus.net/alcoholiday/guitar/guitar_setup%20-%209-25-03.jpg
what did this have to do with anything? i'm not sure. i like combos though. that i know. and i'm loud enough to fill any place i'd ever play.
I have a mark II that I had made in like 1982 or so that's 160 watts and has 6 6l6's in it. Can't really use that either. What waw I thinking!
I love my Fender Deluxe reissue. That IS my favorite these days. About 600 to 800 bucks though, but a pure sounding amp. I ended up putting in a weber speaker, and nos tubes. But they are great out of the box,too
Another possibility is a mesa boogie dc 3 or 5. I've got a DC 5 around somewhere, you can pick them up used for about 4 -500 bucks. They have a lot of guts at 50 watts, and have an equalizer built in. One complaint about them was that they need a lot of tweaking to get your sounds, but once you find your settings, you write them down. That thing has a bit of Fender and vox for the stones and a bit of Marshall for your jimmy page. That thing can hold it's own to a Marshall Stack. But it sounds good at lower volumes when you're miking it. That thing went everywhere.
Good luck
A tube screamer through a mid 60's or late 50's fender is heaven.
Vibrolux. or deluxe = Heaven
Super Reverb with a 335= heaven.
Orange with anything,= Heaven
Marshall Plexi hanging out with Mike= priceless
Much better than women. Women and friends are unreliable and bitchy.
Guitars are forever.
i must say i love having this forum for us to talk about this stuff and for us lesser players to learn off you experienced ppl... keep it coming
"It is I, with the empty bladder!"
www.nowalletevolution.com
Marshall Plexi... Mmmmmm....
I therefor propose the following:
All PJ fans/Gearheads move to a single location, buy a 100-acre commune, pool their financial resources, and build the ultimate in gear-sharing communities! We'll have Deluxes and Twin Reverbs and Rectifiers and Plexis and Oranges, we'll have Marshall cabs and Fender cabs and SWR cabs and Ampeg cabs, SVT's, maybe we'll kidnap Trentino and convert him to our cause...
Get some recording gear, build a studio, have a Studer 2-inch 24-track, an Ampex 1-inch 8-track, and Pro-Tools for edit and mix-down. Some Neve channels, an Amek recording console, some TL Audio tube pre's, some Joe Meek tube compressors, Avalon DI's.
A stage with EAW speakers, a Midas XL3 at front of house, a PM3000 at monitors... with digital snake running to the studio for live recordings...
Anybody in?
"It is I, with the empty bladder!"
www.nowalletevolution.com
Regards
Gonzalo
guess