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Hi all
Been thinking about my amp (Fender 68 Custom reissue Princeton Reverb) and trying to sell it in order to replace it with something cheaper as it's way too loud to use in my spare room and I don't often get much opportunity to play outside of the house, so seems a waste to have so much money sitting in an amp that sits under my desk doing nothing most of the time. I have used the Princeton a bit the last few weeks but I realised before that I hadn't even switched it on for a good 7 months. Just thinking I may as well try to cash in on it and get something cheaper, but use the leftover pounds to fund some more fun GAS. (I've also got a few other bits that if sold would give me some good GAS funds to play with)
But, it's struck me that I don't actually know how to replace it in this scenario if by any miracle anybody wanted to buy it. So looking for recommendations! Yesssss it's a "recommend me an amp" thread!
So, spec would be:
Small in form, Princeton size is ideal so around that physical size is cool
Master volume - don't know why I got the Princeton knowing it did not have one, useless to me without that.
Should be able to go clean fairly loudly, drive is only a bonus not a necessity as I'd want it to be good with drive pedals (so modelling amps are out). I use either an MXR Distortion Plus or a JHS Twin Twelve for drive, Fuzz would be either muff based or fuzz face based, maybe a Rat.
Don't mind in principle if it's valve or solid state, but would need to be loud enough so maybe use the Princeton (or louder) as a volume reference point (think that's 12watts valve)
Reverb or FX loop
Sound wise, tender to favour Fender Blackface type cleans but am open on this to Voxier sounds or the Roland Jazz Chorus type sound even if they are nice clean and work with pedals, drives again would kind of be irrelevant as I'd use a pedal unless the amp drive was spectacular.
Nice looking - shallow I know but it matters to me! So no Peavey Bandit lookalikes! Again means modelling amps are probably out as they tend to be either ugly or look like toys (or both in the case of Katana!)
Styles to play through it - I tend to play either clean to accompany my singing as a sort of electric singer songwritery type thing, or I play with a sort of White Stripes/Strokes/Yeah Yeah Yeahs type drive sound for more up tempo rock stuff.
Ideas I've had, thoughts on these welcome:
Fender Super 60 - been offered a nicely refinished one for about £300 and I believe they have a decent albeit slightly 80s sterile clean sound on them. Not huge in size but think they are a bit heavy in weight
Blues Junior - there must be decent sound in them somewhere right? Though think one I last tried was very rattly
One of those sold state Fenders, I think the chap from radiohead uses one but something along those lines
Roland Jazz Chorus JC22 - the new small ones but think it'll be too quiet, think they're only for home use really aren't they
Thoughts on a postcard
Or should I abandon all logic, all sense, and all my money on a Supro 1605R if i sell everything I want to?!?!?
Thanks all
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Comments
Vox ac10?
I don't want a Bandit though, they're too big, too ugly and I'm not sure I like the sound but suppose the last one is changeable if I tried it with pedals
Edit : adding the word guitar to the search was key, they do exist albeit without speakers at the one I've looked at just now so would need some further spend and work
Forget the Super 60, the only thing valve-like about it is the weight.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
https://i.imgur.com/3xi678R.jpg
Smaller, handwired 6w, nice at low volumes and gets raw when turned up. New filtercap capcan and the desirable discontinued Weber 8" heavy magnet speaker. (original speaker here too)
@funkfingers that's a bit spendy I'm afraid, if I was looking to spend that much I'd go for the aforementioned Supro!
@icbm I have an attenuator but it's very fiddly with the short speaker wire and still sounds like the Princeton which I don't like that much. It also doesn't give me the clean volume for playing outside my little room, and it would cost more money rather than giving me any GAS funds.
@winny_pooh thanks but not for me thanks, need that master volume and reverb, and presumably more clean volume than that would give
How about a second hand Mesa Express 5:25? Selectable 5W or 25W, clean channel, overdrive channel, valve-driven reverb, loud enough to gig, looks nice, typically sells for around £600-£650.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Edit - will look into the Mesa, thanks. Though would be a net spend still but who knows, if it works. Oh and the Supro, that's just a silly impulse thing that wouldn't actually happen, I would not spend a grand on an amp
PM me
I’m not really a fan of anything smaller than a 12” speaker but this 10” does its job pretty well, with a nice clean channel and a dirty side that has that Orange fuzz, rather than a more usual gritty drive. The reverb is about right for just taking the dryness off at home and the tuner is useful, though it doesn’t mute the sound.
I even took it to a rehearsal with our outrageously loud drummer once and could still hear myself. Although the clean channel is anything but with it all maxed out.
I was also thinking about the DV Mark SS stuff , the Jazz combos ( not the one with the 8” speaker though) and the heads. The micro head is supposed to have Blackfaceish cleans and doesn’t cost much. These certainly don’t tick the Cool box but they don’t have the associations of Marshall, Blackstar, whatever but are just fairly anonymous looking bits of audio equipment.
If you are looking at valves you have to accept or manage their quirks; if not and you like your pedals then decent SS.
It's not so much the quirks of valves I have an issue with as such, it's the fact I don't like how the Princeton sounds that much at any volume and it's a waste having a £500 amp sitting under a desk for eight months when I could spend that on better more interesting stuff
All analog with decent digital reverb mixed with dry through signal. Clean can keep up with drums with a decent sounding breakup at full volume that's really good with pedals.
You might even like the dirt channel as it provides a wide range of tones with varying stages of gain.
Also available in black.
I don't think an ac4 is for me, admittedly it was only the crap 10" ugly cream one I had but when I used it in public it was not at the right usable volumes for the clean and drive sounds, and that one had no reverb though I've no idea if this edition does