Reliable New Amps in the £500 - £700 range?

BellycasterBellycaster Frets: 5861
I'm moving towards Heads instead of Combos, so soon enough my Mesa Combo will have to go. Got a Bogner GF 45 Head and a Dr Z Maz 18 Head. The Bogner rarely gets gigged but I love it that much I can't part with it, the Maz will be my main Gigging Amp.

So I want another head at a reasonable price to act as a back up and of course to play at home in general. I don't want to go mad with the spend as I have 2 great amps, but I want something smallish and reliable in the 18-25 watt region, preferably that takes pedals well.

So far I've thought of

Marshall Mini Jubilee
Hughes and Kettner T.M 18
Egnater Rebel 20 (Some of these had Transformer issues in the past I think)
Laney Lionheart 20
Peavey Classic 20

Any suggestions as to which are reliable or any more ideas?

Thanks.

Only a Fool Would Say That.
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Comments

  • ICBMICBM Frets: 72407
    edited October 2016
    Blackstar ID60 head.

    Smallish, weighs very little, completely reliable and takes pedals well. £400 new - add £60 for the footswitch though.

    There's one in a practice studio I work for, and if they haven't managed to kill it in three years you can assume it's totally bombproof.

    "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

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  • Thanks @ICBM ;

    I'll get those out too. Do you know of any issues with the ones I mentioned, or the best one out of those?
    Only a Fool Would Say That.
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 72407
    Of the ones you've listed the only ones I've seen for repair or anything of the build quality are the Egnater (several models, I probably wouldn't buy one - not just transformer issues), and the Lionheart (one with a manufacturing mistake - I'm less impressed with Laney build quality than some people seem to be, but they're not too bad).

    I'm unsure about the Jubilee as yet - the old ones were good, but even if this uses the same circuit it may well be a new circuit board and use the crappy pots that Marshall seem to want to put in everything these days. They do have a reputation for transformer failures across a wide range of models too.

    "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

    0reaction image LOL 0reaction image Wow! 0reaction image Wisdom
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