Closed Looking for my first Valve Head and cabinet

clarky94

I have been learning to play for the approx 6 month - just replaced my Squire Fat start with a 2016 Mexican Strat , i would now like to replace my Roland 40gx amp combo with a valve head and cabinet.

I have been recommended to look at the Egnator Tweeker and Cabinet or a Carvin V5m both look ok but the Carvin is at the upper end of my budget and its almost impossible to find a good used one.

I am looking for advise on others to consider - i am looking for something that plays nice and clean for home and possibly later venues - would like something i can add to if necessary

boogieman

A Blackheart amp is definitely worth looking for, although they're not in production any more.  They sound decent at low levels but are still loud enough to gig if you wanted to later. Prices were very reasonable from new and they're well made. I've got a Handsome Devil I got used from the classifieds on here, cost just over £200 for a head and cab. It has a 7/15 watt switch so it can be throttled back for home use, although it still sounds better on the higher setting with the guitar volume rolled off. 

simonk

What's your budget and what sort of stuff do you like playing? Does it have to be a head and cab?

hywelg

You dont specify budget, but for the money @leerocker 's Dr Z EZG and 4x10 cab is quality, build and tone wise.Its something that is supremely adpatable, will give you the finest Fender clean tones and with good quality pedals will deliver up some superb Marshall crunch, Vox Chime  and heavy metal, and will last you a lifetime. The amp is the best I have ever heard or played for handling pedals. Hit with a clean boost and you can get delightful pushed cleans at lower volume. Gig volume, it is sublime, there are some YT videos of Matt Schofield when he had one and his tone is glorious.

clarky94

I would like to keep around the £350 mark if possible, i like the clear shadows, dire straits , floyd tones - not so much in the heavy metal - i assume thats was crunch is?but having the option is good,  I like the idea of the small head thats easy to move around and as i  understand it valve amps work well (even lower power ones) with large speaker, small size big sound 

monquixote

Jet City Custom 22 would possibly fit the bill for you.

bbill335

Tweaker is good. Very good through a 4x12.

clarky94

excuse my ignorance but when you say 4x12 does that mean 4 12"speakers in a cabinet?

boogieman

clarky94 said:

I would like to keep around the £350 mark if possible, i like the clear shadows, dire straits , floyd tones - not so much in the heavy metal - i assume thats was crunch is?but having the option is good,  I like the idea of the small head thats easy to move around and as i  understand it valve amps work well (even lower power ones) with large speaker, small size big sound 

Crunch usually means the gritty rhythm tone where the amp is just starting to break up and distort a bit. Think Keith Richards. Metal tones involve lots of overdrive or amp distortion. The tones you mentioned are at the cleaner end of the scale, especially the Shadows and a lot of Knopfler's material is through quite a clean amp. You might be better off looking at amps that give Fender type cleans, like err, a Fender. You can always beef it up with an OD pedal to get more driven or rock tones. 

clarky94

I am guessing that a combo would give more options - but would be harder to get up and down stairs

bbill335

clarky94 said:

excuse my ignorance but when you say 4x12 does that mean 4 12"speakers in a cabinet?

That's right. You're less ignorant than you think! 

I have an Orange 2x12 cabinet for sale if you're interested? 

clarky94

bbill335 said:

clarky94 said:

excuse my ignorance but when you say 4x12 does that mean 4 12"speakers in a cabinet?

That's right. You're less ignorant than you think! 

I have an Orange 2x12 cabinet for sale if you're interested? 

what sort of price are you looking to get for the cabinet - would you have an amp as well 

english_bob

monquixote said:

Jet City Custom 22 would possibly fit the bill for you.

Jet City amps turn up in just about every thread about budget valve amps. Very well built apparently, and good sounding.

They seem to be marketed primarily as RAWK amps, but I've heard demos of them doing lower gain, tasteful stuff as well.

bbill335

clarky94 said:

bbill335 said:

clarky94 said:

excuse my ignorance but when you say 4x12 does that mean 4 12"speakers in a cabinet?

That's right. You're less ignorant than you think! 

I have an Orange 2x12 cabinet for sale if you're interested? 

what sort of price are you looking to get for the cabinet - would you have an amp as well 

The orange stuff has all sold. There's still a 2x10 I'm selling in the classifieds. £100 collected. 

digitalscream

english_bob said:

monquixote said:

Jet City Custom 22 would possibly fit the bill for you.

Jet City amps turn up in just about every thread about budget valve amps. Very well built apparently, and good sounding.

They seem to be marketed primarily as RAWK amps, but I've heard demos of them doing lower gain, tasteful stuff as well.

This is true. There's no sound I've wanted which I couldn't get out of a Jet City amp. The only problem with the JCA22H (not the Custom 22) is that the preamp doesn't have much clean headroom, so you might struggle to get a pure clean tone at drummer-beating levels.

For what it's worth, their cabs are cheap too (around £120-ish for the 2x12"), and they sound excellent with their amps.

BintyTwanger77

Maybe a 2nd hand Vox AC15?

EDIT: just read the post, you're not after a combo....ah, sorry. Orange cleans are nice a gritty at a push. Maybe one of the mini-stacks?

kreggs

What about a bugera v22 head and bugera 1x12 cab. Might get the lot for under 400 quid.

Dave_Mc

english_bob said:

monquixote said:

Jet City Custom 22 would possibly fit the bill for you.

Jet City amps turn up in just about every thread about budget valve amps. Very well built apparently, and good sounding.

They seem to be marketed primarily as RAWK amps, but I've heard demos of them doing lower gain, tasteful stuff as well.

i think they have some lower gain models too, but i haven't tried them.

olafgarten

Buy mine! Blackheart Little Giant Rat Modded with VVR!