Amp recommendations - home / rehearsal bargains?

english_bob

So my brother is looking for a new guitar amp. Looking for:

• Budget > £200
• Portable 
• Reliable
• Good with pedals
• Primarily for home use but would be good to have enough power for band rehearsals
• Headphone output (young kids at home. Alternatively, back me up and say that finding something other than the amp to tick this box would be better- he has a Zoom G3 that I think would be a better solution to the problem)

Please feel free to go as far under budget as you like! No real preference for valve or solid state, but I don't think he's interested in modelling amps with loads of bells and whistles.

My suggestions were a Peavey Bandit, or maybe one of the 20W Jet City amps, both of which should be more than enough to keep up with a drummer, but don't have a headphone output.

What do you lot reckon?

simonk

Tech 21 Trademark 60's can be had for cheap. Pretty sure mine had a headphone out.

english_bob

simonk said:

Tech 21 Trademark 60's can be had for cheap. Pretty sure mine had a headphone out.

They do have a headphone output.

not_the_dj

Would a Blackstar HT5 suit him for rehearsals?

english_bob

not_the_dj said:

Would a Blackstar HT5 suit him for rehearsals?

He's considering it. I would have thought that a 5w amp would struggle to provide much in the way of clean headroom, and the combo has a small speaker in it that I'd also (wrongly?) associate with not moving a great deal of air, but it does tick all the boxes... @ICBM?


EDIT: huh. It's got a 12" speaker. Ignore my size-ist comment. After all, it's not how big your speaker is, it's the sensitivity

thomasross20

This very Wednesday I'm checking if the HT5 is going to cut it with a loud drummer. 

english_bob

thomasross20 said:

This very Wednesday I'm checking if the HT5 is going to cut it with a loud drummer. 

I'd be interested to hear how that pans out.

timmysoft

thomasross20 said:

This very Wednesday I'm checking if the HT5 is going to cut it with a loud drummer. 

They don't! 

ICBM

Blackstar or Tech21as well as various modelling amps should be on the list because they have a speaker-emulated headphone out - this is *essential*. A non-emulated headphone out like on most old amps up to the end of the 90s - ie almost all the decent cheap, giggable solid-state amps - is absolutely pointless because it sounds terrible, and its only function is to make the amp less reliable by introducing a point of failure into the speaker circuit… just a waste of time, and I usually bypass them or turn them into a Line output (which at least is useful, with modern recording software speaker emulation) or something.

english_bob

ICBM said:

A non-emulated headphone out like on most old amps up to the end of the 90s - ie almost all the decent cheap, giggable solid-state amps - is absolutely pointless because it sounds terrible, and its only function is to make the amp less reliable by introducing a point of failure into the speaker circuit… just a waste of time, and I usually bypass them or turn them into a Line output (which at least is useful, with modern recording software speaker emulation) or something.

Yep, that's what I thought. That was a big part of why I suggested an amp and a separate headphone... thing, since insisting on a headphone output rules out a huge number of otherwise excellent choices, and what you get in a lot of cases is going to be shit anyway.

thomasross20

timmysoft said:

thomasross20 said:

This very Wednesday I'm checking if the HT5 is going to cut it with a loud drummer. 

They don't! 

Pub gigs in Edinburgh are pretty quiet these days - might be surprised. 
Else I might have to splash on something like an HT-20 or a Bogner Atma (gulp)

JezWynd

Laney Cub 10. If it's not loud enough at rehearsals then an extension cabinet should sort it. Pedals all sound fabulous in front of it.

paulk

Roland Cube 40 GX.  If you really need power then look for a used 80 GX.

english_bob

He's found a good deal on a Blackstar HT-5C. Competing with drummers isn't high on his list of priorities so I reckon it'll be a good choice. 

stickyfiddle

Laney VC15 all the way home. Apart from the headphone out.

EDIT: Bah! too late! I'm sure the HT5 is a good bet too.

english_bob

stickyfiddle said:

Laney VC15 all the way home. Apart from the headphone out.

EDIT: Bah! too late! I'm sure the HT5 is a good bet too.

If it's any consolation, if it had been my money and an amp for my use, I'd say that was a good shout. The VC15 is dead good. I just have that aforementioned phobia of speakers less than 12"...

FX_Munkee

I'll back you up on the headphone/G3 thing. In fact I'd go further and say G1on (it's for home use, no-ones going to see it ), I picked one up second hand for about £30 and it's a really handy little practise tool.

english_bob

FX_Munkee said:

I'll back you up on the headphone/G3 thing. In fact I'd go further and say G1on (it's for home use, no-ones going to see it ), I picked one up second hand for about £30 and it's a really handy little practise tool.

If he was buying it purely to do that job I'd have suggested the cheapest thing possible, but he's already got the G3.

FWIW, I think the G3 is a really solid use of the £70 or so a used one costs- it'll work as a headphone practice tool (with a metronome/drum machine), a utility pedal to cover any number of effects you don't use much, a grab-and-go pedalboard for low-key stuff that you can't be bothered to take your full rig to, a DI, a recording interface, an emergency amp/cab sim in case your main amp shits it at a gig and probably a few more things besides. Easy to use, sounds good (except the pitch effects), costs very little. I don't know why everyone doesn't have one.

randymussel

Aforementioned brother here. 

We must be related - I too have a phobia of small speakers (although I am mostly a bass player) and I also rate the G3 very highly as it does almost everything pretty well. If it had an aux in it would be the complete practice tool, but that's a minor gripe.

On paper, the HT5 is a design triumph: how it ticks so many boxes and comes in at such a price point explains why it is such a best seller. I only hope it sounds good when it arrives. It's my first proper guitar amp as well (although I understand there is some debate about whether its a "proper" valve amp) as I've only had Cubes before. I might well have bought another Cube had a good deal come up as I really rate the clean tone, but I didn't want the fx or half of the amp models.

FX_Munkee

The G1 has an aux in (proper 3.5mm jack, not usb).

stickyfiddle

english_bob said:

stickyfiddle said:

Laney VC15 all the way home. Apart from the headphone out.

EDIT: Bah! too late! I'm sure the HT5 is a good bet too.

If it's any consolation, if it had been my money and an amp for my use, I'd say that was a good shout. The VC15 is dead good. I just have that aforementioned phobia of speakers less than 12"...

I really like 10" speakers, but I know what you mean, the Vc15 in a bigger box with a good 12" would be amazing