Practice Amp

Hello. I have just found and joined the forums here. I am looking for a recommendation for a small practice amp strictly for home use. The only gigs might be backyard barbecues! I generally like a cleaner sound. Years back I played a Fender Twin Reverb and loved the sound. I like a warm sound with a touch of overdrive. Regarding effects, I have to have reverb. Others, including tremolo and/or chorus would be nice. Price range: I'd like to keep it at $150 or less. Any recommendations or feedback would be greatly appreciated. Guitars played: 1984 Fender D'Aquisto Elite hollowbody and a PRS SE Soapbar II.

Thanks for the help!!

I'm partial to the Line6 Gear.... you can get a decent Line6 Spider practice amp from Musician's Friend for $99

You can go really small and battery powered with a Vox, although I would spend the extra money and get the Valvetronic , which many people rave about, but is about $190.... It's loud enough to play over drums (Line6 has one in a similar price range with a bit more power).

I've played through the Fender DEC series, and found them to be a bit too gimmicky and over priced.

If you can do without the built-in effects and want a good real warm tube sound, I've heard nothing but good things about the Epiphone Valve Junior....which can be modified to sound like a higher end amp.

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I just purchased a Vox DA 5, I really like it for noodling on the couch but my main reason for purchase was that it's battery powered. I like to buy and sell guitars on craigslist and meeting people at your home to plug in and check out your guitar is not the safest option here in LA - plugging in at the parking lot is decidedly better.

There's a demo video on the vox site or Muscians Friend - I worked the price down a bit at GC and have found that it's a good value.

I've got the Vox DA5 also.

It's a blast for a practice amp. A lot of amp models and digital effects. Has chorus and reverb among other effects.

I don't use that much high gain anymore, but I find myself turning on the crunch setting and turning up the gain on this amp and just wail away. Lot of fun.

I like the clean setting with a little gain for playing rock and blues.

Pretty versatile practice amp with the battery option.

Only 5 watts though, but it's enough for me for around the house.

I played the AD15 Valvetronix at my local store and was impressed. Had a single tube power circuit. Sounded real nice. If I needed more power That would probably be the way I would go.

I've got a Tech 21 Trademark 10 amp that has the best tube emulator I've ever heard. They replaced that model with the Trademark 30 that sells for about $300. If you can find a Trademark 10 for a good price used I'd grab it. It has good volume for a 10 watt amp, but what I like about it most is you can get the same crunch at low volume as high volume. Great little amp. Just a thought.

Good luck, Steve

We got a Fender "Frontman 15G" for about $80 last month and so far have been a great practice amp. The 15W output would be fine for BBq fun but it does not come with reverb. It plays clean and has a good overdrive as well.



Fender.com information on the Frontman 15G

I just found out they also make a reverb model:

Fender 15R info

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-Steve
http://www.stevedez.com

I am going to my music store haunts today and hoping to check out the "new" Fender Champion 600



For $200....if it gives a relatively quiet real warm tube sound... it will be awesome for not only practicing, but great for the studio as well. The reviews I've read about it claim it is a must have amp. One volume knob. Class A tube. Overdriven when loud. Probably makes modelers like a Line6 POD sound warmer.

I'll let you guys know how it goes.

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OK.... I bought the Champion 600 after playing it for 45 minutes in a quiet room, with Relic Strats, Teles, and Les Pauls....I could clearly hear the differences between the guitars. I A/B'ed it to a Class A Marshall hand wired (which had to be cranked up 5x as loud to achieve the a similar overdriven tone). I instantly feel in love with it. What an incredible little amp! It's sounds like a little Badcat! You can easily overdrive it simply using the volume knob on a guitar with the Champs volume on full...I'm sure with a Tube Screamer you can get a killer heavy lead tone out of this puppy. Both clean and when overdriven, it keeps that that Class A sparkle that makes handwired amps so desirable....and it's still relatively quiet on full blast (probably has loud as normal listening volume for a home stereo). It's perfect for mic'd recording.

I paid $200 tax included.

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I made a quick and dirty recording of the Champ with three of my guitars:

Here it is.

The first guitar is my Line6 Variax modeling a Les Paul (Lester). The second is a Fender Telecaster Nashville Power with the Texas Specials, and the last is my Fender American Deluxe with the Vintage Noiseless pickups.

What is blowing me away about this amp is the tube warm and sparkle at a very moderate volume (my wife slept through the recording in the next room).

FYI, I simply mic'd the amp with a Rode NT5 condenser mic through a Joemeek OneQ (totally flat) and recorded into Sonar at 16bit/44.1 with no effects.

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