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Need to be pointed in the right direction if you guys can please, I'm looking for a small amp which will only ever get used in the house, I want one that will take pedals which I fancy experimenting with,
Currently got 2 amps, both are modeling amps which i believe are not the best to add any pedals to, correct me if I am wrong... one is a little Vox VX11, the other a whopping Fender Mustang GT100 which I bought out of naivety.
Don't want to break the bank as I'm still learning to play....
A no frills 'up step' you could try a Fender Blues Junior III which is a very popular 15W tube amp that usually only costs new about 50% more than your GT100. They are known to take pedals very well.... Bargains could be had on the 2nd hand market...
And almost any VOX AC15 on the market is worth having a look...
But there is nil harm in trying your wonderful new pedal through your modeling amps... the only 'damage' you could do is to the sounds you hear at the time...
Thanks Marcel, was going to get a couple of pedals to try out first as you said via the modeling amps, from what I had read they wouldn't be any good...so I was preparing myself.....
Set your modelling amp dead clean and you will get straight into the ballpark.
I run pedals through a Fender Mustang using the 65 Twin emulation with the default effects removed, at home and small practice levels sounds rather convincing, same pedals through the H||H which is 100W dead clean sounds much the same but is big and far too heavy for everyday use
You'll probably find that some will work great while others will leave you scratching your head in bemusement.
Things like Wah's will often work universaly as they are usually at the beginning of any signal chain. Same goes for most 'distortion' or TS type pedals.... but reverbs, delays and phase/flangers are usually in the signal chain after any "input gain distortion" and typically on an insert loop or effects loop so putting them on the input of a modeling amp will often give less than optimal results.
If you run your modeling amp clean (as clean as you can get it) then anything you put on the input will often work quite reasonably, although your mileage may vary depending on how clean your amp actually is in reality (on how little "modeling" is still taking place)
I have a VX-I and a VT-40X both of which I can get quite clean, and I find there is still always "modeling" taking place within the amp. Yeah, I can check that an effect works and the effect does what it is supposed to do but to me it is always 'coloured' by all the often seemingly less than always 100% predictable digital modeling going on in the amp. Sometimes that colouration doesn't sound too bad but all too often than not for me it is simply annoying. Quite often I find myself wishing for a modeling free setting so that I can have a fixed and un-interfered with non-digital reference to base all the sounds I'm hearing on... so that's when I jump to my VOX Pathfinder 10 or my AC18W build, or depending on the effect even go and fire up the JVM210
if you can find an Orange Micro Terror (not the Dark version which is a lot more gainy) they are a cool little little amp (valve pre-amp, solid state power amp). You will need a speaker however. yay new project!
I'd suggest a used Blackstar HT-5R 5W combo. You can pick them up reasonably cheaply used, but they are not over-expensive new. The MkII versions have a 12" speaker which puts out a bit more volume than the 10" version and has a touch more bass end. It also has a decent digital reverb built-in. It's also very quiet with minimal noise (partly because the first gain stage is solid state), with a valve after that and a single power valve. The other guitarist in my old band now uses 2 for a stereo gig rig.
They sound good on their own without pedals, but also do take pedals well. It's got a serial effects loop so you can place your delays and modulations after the preamp if you want. Sound good at low volume and when turned up (which is pretty loud). Also has a mini jack input for an MP3 player etc. for playing along to, which won't give you great fidelity but is better than nothing.
Ditto on the blackstar or any baby vox, the seperate head / cab setup in the minis look really cool IMO.Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon Barden
One of the most absurd rigs I have seen is an Orange Micro Terror sitting on top of a Marshall quad box, sounded surprisingly massive
Sounds great ( has a single 12 "Jensen in it)Quote:
Originally Posted by dave.king1
Attachment 24335
Agree with Simon on the Blackstar HT5R - I have the stack and is a good setup. Definitely takes pedals well. (Running a GT100 through it and sounds great) Great sound at low sitting in front of amp volume and have yet to be able to be in a room with it cranked.Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon Barden
Fantastic reverb and the ISF is a great feature.
You could also consider getting one of those 5 Watt Pitbull valve guitar amps once they're back in stock, I'm seriously thinking of getting one later on this year, hopefully the ones stolen will all be recovered.
As you probably know, my current setup is a Marshall MA 100C 2 X 12 100 Watt all valve amp, I've found that the clean channel seems to take pedals pretty well, I've also got the Fender Super Twin amp head which I'll be doing some restoration work on this year, it's a 180 Watt behemoth, but since it's a Fender amp it apparently does cleans really well, it does have a distortion effect built in but apparently most Super Twin owners think it's rubbish, that's fine with me cause I'll probably never use it, a mate of mine reckons it'll make a great bass amp so that's one of the reasons why I'm calling it a keeper, I happen to also play bass and was looking for a good amp to play my Squire P-bass through, prior to acquiring the Super Twin I had to make do with an old 80's Peavey TKO80 bass amp which admittedly was barely adequate (it's the non-graphic EQ model that's apparently only rated at something like 35 watts).
The reason why I'm going with such powerful amps is that I've decided to get back into gigging mode.
The Boss Katana 50 gets great reviews, and is a good pedal platform. The guys at the GuitarNerds podcast love it.
Otherwise I've also heard great things about the Blackstar 5Watt amps
I've got the original blackstar ht5 combo without reverb and the celestion speaker and it's the ducks guts for playing at home.
Yes, I've got the old HT-5 1x10" from the first batch they made, and an HT5-R as well. I was chatting to the Blackstar chaps at a guitar show shortly after the HT5 hit the shops and I got mine, and they said they simply weren't sure how to price it. But they seemed to have priced it right as it certainly sold OK.
The nicest amp for home use I've seen recently is the Vox ac4, which has three power settings so it can get quite low in volume and still sound ok. It's a tube amp, but has plenty of headroom so it will stay clean for pedals
I looked long and hard at the Vox and it is a great amp but ended up with a Bugera 5w which was better sounding and had aux input plus headphone socket too. Only shortcoming was the 8 inch speaker which was still good enough and it also has 4 ohm external speaker output too.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tony
Regretfully sold it recently when downsizing some of my gear and wouldn't hesitate to buy another in the future.
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Wasn't that the one i said if I was in Aus I'd make you an offer for a few months back or am I getting mixed up here in my old age..
Not that bad a price over here new....
That was the one.Quote:
Originally Posted by chrissyinbkk
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You'll just have to get yourself into a guitar shop and try some out!
Ultimately, whichever amp you end up buying is going to be dictated by how much money you want to spend i.e. your budget, what kinds of basic sounds you're after, and what you're going to be using your new amp for whether it's home use or for gigging, of course there's also the weight of the amp to consider as well.