Second Hand Bargain Amps?

Boromedic

My old Genz Benz sold on eBay for £140... Cheaper than some overdrive pedals, that's a frickin bargain!

Teacherphil

Orange Rocker30 is an absolute monster. Around £300 used.
Any of the Chinese AC30 custom classics that don't have blue speakers. I prefer them with greenbacks anyway. I have the 1x12 and put a cream back in it. Ive seen them for as low as £250 used. It sounds amaxing, particularly cranked. It cuts through like nothing else. It's also the best sounding amp I've ever recorded with.

ICBM

Teacherphil said:

Orange Rocker30 is an absolute monster. Around £300 used.

This. It's also very well built, and as completely reliable as any valve amp can be as far as I've seen. The combo version suffers a bit from being an awkward heavy lump and having a V30 as stock though - the head is a better choice. The guitarist in my band has been using one for years and it's always sounded great through G12H-30s. Why Orange discontinued it, I have no idea - to me it's easily the best of any of their modern amps.

Bidley

ICBM said:

Keefy said:

As you know I bought a dead Carvin Vintage 33 and can only agree. Don't let the tweed fool you folks!

I worked on a X100 recently and I would describe it as a poorly-made flimsy piece of junk. I didn’t think it sounded very good either.

The Steve Vai Legacy range seems to be much better, but they’re rare second hand and appear to hold their value well.

My 80s XV112 has been fine for the last 5 years and sounds great. I wonder if the reissues are the turkeys (saying that I had a new X100B and that didn't give me any problems).

viz

ICBM said:

Keefy said:

As you know I bought a dead Carvin Vintage 33 and can only agree. Don't let the tweed fool you folks!

I worked on a X100 recently and I would describe it as a poorly-made flimsy piece of junk. I didn’t think it sounded very good either.

The Steve Vai Legacy range seems to be much better, but they’re rare second hand and appear to hold their value well.

The combos go cheap cheap; the heads seem to have appreciated! For some reason.  

viz

ICBM said:

Cols said:

I must be lucky; I’ve had one for about 20 years without incident.

There's always one .

Sooo unreliable!

fretfinder

Rift Tweed 15. Fantastic amps, no longer made and possibly available at a bargain price, if you can find one.

Oh wait, I think there might be one in the classifieds right now as it happens... 

Vintage

If you find one, give a try to Peavy Encore 65....monster amp.

2 6L6
65 watt

robmac5150

IvisonGuitars said:

I know it’s not technically bargain money as they are still a large chunk of change but Matchless and particularly Bad Cat can be found at almost half price (in relation to new RRP) in many cases.

send me a link if u see a Matchless. I miss mine!

Redlester

thermionic said:

I was looking at Marshall combos on ebay recently and DSL15C/DSL5C amps seem to be going for about half the price of Class 5s. If they’re half as crap as I’m led to believe Class 5s are...

DSL5C is fine. A possible reason it’s cheap is because they were lower prices to start with. And while smallish they are still loud. Suspect a lot got bought by noob players who shifted them on. 

markslade07

There’s a Blackstar Artisan 30 on eBay for £400...that seems a decent bargain!

sidthekidlives

I vote for the line 6 DT amps and peavey classic 30 - cheap , giggable , both sound ace !

gjonesy

Bygone_Tones said:

I've seen the Laney AOR combos selling ridiculously cheap for a valve amp. They can't be that bad surely?

I like them, when the speaker has been changed. I've got a AOR30 and 100 but couldn't resist getting a Blackstar Artisan 100 which has relegated both into the cupboard 

Johnnyseven

RiftAmps said:

Carlsboro 50 Top

I had a 60's grey version of this, it sounded awesome.

Johnnyseven

About 12 years ago I bought a '75 Bassman with 2x15 cab for £350 on eBay. Sold the cab for £200. I think the guy was expecting more but as he wouldn't post and the cab was heavy as hell it reduced the market somewhat. It's worth keeping your eye out for things like this.

jimmyguitar

Wem Dominator, especially mk2 and mk3 models. I just bought a mk2 for £220 and it’s ridiculously good. So good in fact that the owner/engineer at my last session has now bought one for his studio. 

YellowLedBetterMan

Kustom Coupe 36. Mine was £120 and has some of the nicest blackface fender sounds I've heard without spending considerably more than 5 times that much, and has a very nice spring reverb.

rainer2859

Savage Rohr 15, awesome build quality, tone and price.

JayGee

Johnnyseven said:

RiftAmps said:

Carlsboro 50 Top

I had a 60's grey version of this, it sounded awesome.

Best rock and roll guitar sound I’ve ever heard was from the guy playing for Eddie and the Hot Rods at Kelvedon festival a few (more like about 10!) years back. Carlsboro 50 top, unbadged 4x12 with half the covering held on by gaffa, one pedal (couldn’t see what) a battered looking SG Junior, and a hellacious amount of volume (I was a few rows back from the stage and could clearly here the backline over the PA).

Never heard anything like it, it was like The Voice of God...

Pabcrane

The Peavey Classic 30. Along with the 50 already mentioned.

I was going to say the Laney LC15R as I picked one up for a little over a hundred quid - but I have retreated to my corner following the ICBM attack