Oh dear... Advice needed!

PC_Dave

So I gone and done a bad thing. I thought my electric guitar gigging days were numbered, and I as such I sold my much loved HRD, with a view to sell my various pedals as well, and concentrate on acoustic shenanigans. I was bored of lugging the weighty bastard around when I was gigging, and it was just taking up space in the cupboard of recent.

No more than a week had past when I got approached by a chap looking to put a Soul band together - exactly what I had been looking for before I sold my amp, but I hadn't been able to find anything of the sort anywhere!

Anyway, cool story bro. My point is, I now need to find an amp that fits several requirements....

1 - Has to have lovely cleans and sound awesome, and take pedals well
2 - Has to be able to sit in a band with a 3 piece horn section - assume no mic'ing.....
3 - Has to be lightweight and easy to move for the sake of my well-being
4 - Has to be extremely wallet/marriage friendly. No, really. This should probably be point number one, to be honest....

Any thoughts?

Ta muchly.

Lev

Boss Katana would certainly satisfy 3 & 4.

ecc83

Not heard much about them since they came out but the Blackstar Artist 30 might fit the bill? Might want to fit a different speaker.

Dave.

Strangefan

Blues deluxe reissue, loud as hell amazing cleans and takes pedals brilliantly... 

Telejester

For playing soul main thing is clean headroom for you. Sadly if you go the tube route clean headroom = watts and big tubes. Fender twin would be ideal but weight would be a killer and god help you if the wife sees the receipt.

For you id say pick up another used hrd £350 -400 or buy the 100w 1 x 12 katana, the clean channel is very nice, the others did nothing for me at all. If on a shoestring the peavey bandit 65 with sheffield speaker might do, nice big reverb and spanky cleans by the bucketload and cheap as chips.

Let us know what you go for and good luck

impmann

You may not want to hear this but... Hot Rod Deluxe! Although they aren't super light, they are lighter than a lot of valve amps. They sound great, they are reliable and not that expensive.

Another option - Sessionette 75. Loud as heck, and are great pedal platforms. Cheap as chips and no valves to think about. I used mine in a Ska band (horns plus an organ) and it more than kept up, plus it was light... and small. They have a great clean sound IMHO (especially for soul/stax/ska etc) but the overdrive can be a bit marmite. Deffo worth checking out.

Final suggestion - Peavey Bandit. The later transtube ones sound really lovely, especially at volume and they are cheap to buy. Might not be much lighter than a HRD though, iirc. Bulletproof - near nuke-proof - reliability.

koss59

Blues Cube artist. There’s one for a good price in the classifieds.

PC_Dave

Lev said:

Boss Katana would certainly satisfy 3 & 4.

This is where i'm heading at the moment....

PC_Dave

ecc83 said:

Not heard much about them since they came out but the Blackstar Artist 30 might fit the bill? Might want to fit a different speaker.

Dave.

Can take a look, but i've never been a fan of Blackstar....

Strangefan said:

Blues deluxe reissue, loud as hell amazing cleans and takes pedals brilliantly... 

Would love to, but it's the same weight as a HRD.... And the price new would mean divorce! 

PC_Dave

Telejester said:

For playing soul main thing is clean headroom for you. Sadly if you go the tube route clean headroom = watts and big tubes. Fender twin would be ideal but weight would be a killer and god help you if the wife sees the receipt.

For you id say pick up another used hrd £350 -400 or buy the 100w 1 x 12 katana, the clean channel is very nice, the others did nothing for me at all. If on a shoestring the peavey bandit 65 with sheffield speaker might do, nice big reverb and spanky cleans by the bucketload and cheap as chips.

Let us know what you go for and good luck

I like what you say here... I think I need to seriously get a Katana sorted. At least for the rehearsal/initial gigging phase and then see where it goes.

hywelg

Carr Rambler. Cover points one to three with points to spare. Downside is point 4, but once you've tried one you'll overlook that.

PC_Dave

hywelg said:

Carr Rambler. Cover points one to three with points to spare. Downside is point 4, but once you've tried one you'll overlook that.

Oh I would truly love one, but I think that plus a divorce would just be too expensive...!

mbe

You should get a head and a 2×12 cab to project your instrument alongside a brass section.

Legionreturns

mbe said:

You should get a head and a 2×12 cab to project your instrument alongside a brass section.

That's my rig, and works brilliantly. Probably not as weight friendly as the 1x12 though

exocet

HRD George Benson. Lovely tone for soul / funk plus this model is a bit lighter than standard.

bazxkr

How about a Marshall Code 50 ? Use the ipad to set up the tones you want. Light and plenty loud.

Wasn't gonna worry shifting til after Xmas. Excellent condition with original box. I've hardly used it. Culling much of my stuff due to hand damage as only keeping the stuff I'm gonna be buried with lOL

Seems to cover all your requirements. If you are ever over Essex way you are welcome to take a look

boogieman

I go to see a soul/funk band fairly often. The guitarist uses an old (G series?) Yamaha amp and a Strat. Sounds excellent and you can pick those amps up for peanuts on eBay. No idea what the weight is like though. 

57Deluxe

your  criteria really shouts Deluxe Reverb

PC_Dave

57Deluxe said:

your  criteria really shouts Deluxe Reverb

To keep up with a horn section? Cleans?

ICBM

impmann said:

Final suggestion - Peavey Bandit. The later transtube ones sound really lovely, especially at volume and they are cheap to buy. Might not be much lighter than a HRD though, iirc. Bulletproof - near nuke-proof - reliability.

This. Loud, bombproof, cheap, and sound good.

As far as I can remember they are actually quite a bit lighter than a HRD, and if not then you can always use some of the huge cash saving from buying the amp to replace the speaker with a neodymium one of some description.

benmurray85

Yep you want a Bandit