Good li'l combo amp

[Ilikewater]

Pignose G40V is the shit, always around 2-300 dollars. Real straight forward, and can drive a cab no problem. It's a bassman in practice amp form.

[dubkitty]

i was gonna say Laney...i have a VC30 which i got used for $500 and is more than adequate for my needs unless i'm playing with people that are blasting 100-200W amps. the VC15 is commensurately cheaper and roughly equivalent to an AC15; the major difference is that the Laneys have a Marshall-style tone stack, and thus are more fun for my taste.

or if you want something that'll just holler, spend more and find a used silverface Princeton Reverb. you'll never regret it.

[Gearmond]

mkay so the dude at the local guitar store said that the AC15's 15 watts of toob isn't loud enough for like a small venue and that i should buy a solid state or something.

is he fulla shit and trying to sell mustangs, or is there some merit to what he's saying and solid states have more clean headroom than tubes

[Ilikewater]

http://proguitarshop.com/andyscorner/2011/08/03/appropriate-wattage/

this article helped me to understand loudness and wattage and how they are connected.

[Gearmond]

ok, so it sounds like i'm on the right track here

[grindonomicon]

What are you going to be playing? Cuz these are all good ideas, but if you're going to be doing your experimental folk live, it's going to sound a lot different out of a tube amp, esp something 15 watts. The article has some good info, but speakers + cabs, type of music you play, etc all figure into it much more than that article lets on.

If you're going to play the kind of music on your bc pages live, you might want a solid state amp... A Jazz Chorus type amp for the more psych leaning, maybe... Or a good ss acoustic amp for much of the folkier stuff. I like (LUV) tube amps, but it sounds like the sales person was trying to steer you to a bigger version of what you're using now.

[Gearmond]

I don't really know yet but yeah, probably the loopy guitar stuff. it definitely needs to handle fuzz.

i've heard it used for what I do,and i've played some vox amps and i like how they sound and feel.

would the hybrid valvetronix one be a better idea? they have a solid state AC30 that costs as much as the AC15 CC and i figure that since it has twice the wattage of the AC15 and solid state, that should mean a lot more clean headroom, and it also has a simpler circuit to me. i can do without the tremolo because i can just get a pedal for that.

anyone know if the valvetronix stuff is all that? i've only played the modelling ones and while they sounded okay, they didn't QUITE hit the mark for me. but i imagine since the AC30VR has essentially the same controls the tube in the power amp might show through a bit more.

[grindonomicon]

Any good amp will 'handle fuzz'. Tube amps just have more cool janke they interact with before hitting the speakers. If you like the sound of Vox, check out a bunch of them if you can... Both tube and the hybrid ones. Pretty common to see those used and places like guitar center should have a couple models you can try. You might be able to get an AC4 tube head and a valvetronix in your budget. You could end up with a great scalable power home-jamming-recording tube amp and a gigging hybrid combo amp with tons of clean headroom. Try before you buy is key!

With the valvetronix, it's a preamp tube, not power. The preamp tubes help a bit in those and the Marshall Valvestates, but not as much as they'd like you to think. You should look for 50 watts + of solid state or hybrid amp power if you try one of those 'tronix out. Having the extra power won't be a minus in terms of trying to push a tube power amp section, and it will definitely be a plus in the clean headroom and probably a better speaker.

[Fuzzy Picklez]

It sounds like he doesn't know what he's talking about. ac15s are louuuuddd.
You won't have a ton of clean headroom, but it will sound rad.
Also, everywhere mics shit, so you won't have a problem anyway.

I'd go for either an ac15 or a blues junior. I don't see a lot of people praising Blues Juniors here, but I love them. They're great pedal platforms, and are only 30 pounds.
Pretty light and portable.