Amp advice

pottolom

I currently play a G&L Doheny Tribute (lovely guitar, BTW!) through a VHT Special 6 combo, which for those who don't know is a Fender Blackface Champ-esque circuit, with 12 inch speaker and rated at 6 watts.

I play shoe gaze/post rock type stuff, so quite far removed from traditional rock and blues. I play clean a lot, usually with a fair amount of reverb and delay, and also use some fuzz from time to time.

Playing at home, the Special 6 sounds absolutely great. It's got ample headroom for this setting, and it's possible (with the built in power scaling) to dial in a little bit of edge-of-breakup grit when I want it. It really does sound wonderful with the Doheny.

However, I've now started rehearsing with friends, and with two guitars and bass, I'm finding where I want to sound clean, the amp breaks up more than I'd like it to. When we get round to adding a drummer, it's only going to make matters worse.

So, I kind of think I have the following options:

• Stick with the Special 6. Maybe for rehearsals I could plug into a larger external cab and get some more volume/headroom (would this work?) and if we get round to gigging, just mic up the amp to a PA (but not sure this would work either at 6 watts?).

• Get a new amp. Willing to do this, and if I sell the Special 6 for around £200, I'd probably have about £400 to spend in the used market. I really couldn't stretch beyond that. I *think* I want to stick with something Blackface-y, but I don't think there's much in that price range. Anyone got any ideas? This video confused me today as it makes me think that an AC15 might be a good idea (but I realise that's not sticking with the Blackface sound!): 

pottolom

Oops. Sorry. Any chance someone could move this to the Gear/Amps forum?

Roland

pottolom said:

Oops. Sorry. Any chance someone could move this to the Gear/Amps forum?

You can do that yourself if you edit your first post.

As for amps, the VHT isn’t going to have the headroom to compete with a drummer. It sounds as though you’re about to embark on a long, and possibly expensive, process of buying and selling amps until you find one you like. In the course of this search your criteria will change. 

The good old news is that some people here have already trodden that path and can offer advice.

Modellista

Small, clean, loud, cheap? Katana 50.  

kreggs

2nd hand Blues or HotRod Deluxe could be a shout

ICBM

Fender Deluxe 112 or Deluxe 90. Yes, I'm totally serious - Blackface clean tone, more volume than you will probably ever need, pretty reliable, and you can pick them up for not much more than £100... so you can keep the VHT as well for home and recording.

Or if the reliability is more important than nailing the Blackface tone - Peavey Bandit, preferably the first Transtube version.

Or for an even cheaper, even louder basic clean platform, Laney Linebacker 100 or World Series 120. Bombproof and surprisingly good sounding.

You're unlikely to even find a decent extension cab - which won't actually do the job anyway - for much less than any of these will cost.

monquixote

Good advice from @ICBM

Laney LC30 and 50 are stupid cheap SH  and will do the job

pottolom

ICBM said:

Fender Deluxe 112 or Deluxe 90. Yes, I'm totally serious - Blackface clean tone, more volume than you will probably ever need, pretty reliable, and you can pick them up for not much more than £100... so you can keep the VHT as well for home and recording.

Or if the reliability is more important than nailing the Blackface tone - Peavey Bandit, preferably the first Transtube version.

Or for an even cheaper, even louder basic clean platform, Laney Linebacker 100 or World Series 120. Bombproof and surprisingly good sounding.

You're unlikely to even find a decent extension cab - which won't actually do the job anyway - for much less than any of these will cost.

Thanks! Any reason to go for the Deluxe 112/90 ahead of the newer Champion 100? They seem to sell for a similar price on the used market.....

ICBM

pottolom said:

Thanks! Any reason to go for the Deluxe 112/90 ahead of the newer Champion 100? They seem to sell for a similar price on the used market.....

Smaller, lighter, and marginally more reliable. The Champion 100 is not at all heavy for a 2x12" but it's still bigger than the Deluxe, and seems to have a slight problem with blowing speakers, although it's not that common. But at least it's new and you get a warranty, which you wouldn't with either of the older ones. It's also about double the price, but still astounding value for a 100W 2x12".

sweepy

Fender HRD

pottolom

sweepy said:

Fender HRD

Hot Rod Deluxe? Look like great value, but I always thought they lacked clean headroom and didn’t really do the blackface “thing”?

ICBM

pottolom said:

Hot Rod Deluxe? Look like great value, but I always thought they lacked clean headroom and didn’t really do the blackface “thing”?

Not quite, but they do have a loud clean Fender sound. Not quite as scooped or as clean when pushed, but I don't think you'd really find headroom an issue at normal band volume. If you do, there's the Deville which should be loud and clean enough for anyone, especially in the 4x10" version - but they're rarer than Deluxes, and quite a bit heavier.

p90fool

The HRD has masses of clean headroom and is definitely in the Blackface ballpark. 

The other option is do what I did when gigging a Princeton - pick up a cheap used powered monitor for about a ton and a Superlux cab mic (£38) and mic up your existing amp. 

That means you'll have power to spare, a better onstage spread than any 1x12 combo and you can keep your amp volume exactly where you want it, using the monitor as a master volume to suit the band.

I didn't want to sell my Princeton to buy a louder but inferior amp, so I just miced it up. 

pottolom

p90fool said:

The HRD has masses of clean headroom and is definitely in the Blackface ballpark. 

The other option is do what I did when gigging a Princeton - pick up a cheap used powered monitor for about a ton and a Superlux cab mic (£38) and mic up your existing amp. 

That means you'll have power to spare, a better onstage spread than any 1x12 combo and you can keep your amp volume exactly where you want it, using the monitor as a master volume to suit the band.

I didn't want to sell my Princeton to buy a louder but inferior amp, so I just miced it up. 

Thanks! That’s an interesting idea. I don’t suppose my 6 watt amp is going to much quieter than a 12 watt Princeton, so if it worked for you......

olafgarten

pottolom said:

p90fool said:

The HRD has masses of clean headroom and is definitely in the Blackface ballpark. 

The other option is do what I did when gigging a Princeton - pick up a cheap used powered monitor for about a ton and a Superlux cab mic (£38) and mic up your existing amp. 

That means you'll have power to spare, a better onstage spread than any 1x12 combo and you can keep your amp volume exactly where you want it, using the monitor as a master volume to suit the band.

I didn't want to sell my Princeton to buy a louder but inferior amp, so I just miced it up. 

Thanks! That’s an interesting idea. I don’t suppose my 6 watt amp is going to much quieter than a 12 watt Princeton, so if it worked for you......

Yeah, a doubling in wattage is only making the amp around 1.2 times louder.