ilovefuzz.com

severe gas for a
1. big, clean amp
2. practice space where i can crank it
3. bandmates

i am gearing up to buy an amp before the end of the year though and i dont really know what to get/how much to spend
obviously down here amps are harder to come by and more expensive
i just need something than can
1. handle both bass an guitar
2. be loud enough to practice unmiked with a band
3. a lot of clean headroom

i was originally thinking tubes for sure but could now go either way if i find something cool and solid state
overwhelmed with choices and underwhelmed with my wallet
maybe i'll start a thread about it

man, finding amps down here is awful
if you come across an old 70s-80s peavey head or something that would be your best bet. they're powerful and clean generally. for something loud to use with pedals in a band you can't really go wrong.
i like my acoustic 450 too but it's probably more of a bass amp than guitar, a bit muddy with guitar. loud and clean though.
i can't really think of many affordable tube amps that are obtainable in australia that work well on bass and guitar, let alone with massive clean headroom.

I was thinking peavey! Will have to keep an eye out on gumtree

Was also considering rusty box + power amp since I really like the sound of the rusty but I'm not sure

Fuck getting awesome amps down here is balls man.
I feel your pain.

Peaveys are probably the best bet.
Don't rule out the First gen valve kings, you should be able to get one cheap, the clean channel doesn't suck and it was ok with pedals.
The gain channel was almost cool. Almost.
Like a little bit off being a 5150, with too much noise.
But, the clean channel was ok.

No pics, srry...

Massive WANT:

- DOD FX20 or Malekko Omnicron Phaser. Consider that reverse spam. I'm in the EU, someone please hook me up.
- EQD Afterneath. It's gonna be real hard to stick to mah guns and hold out for a used one:s
- A nice yet affordable delay pedlol: Probably either an Ibanez ES-2 or dml10/20.
- Always on the lookout for a killer deal on a mahogany Martin 017/00-15/000-15, but with my budget I'll probably have to settle for the Sigma copy. Lemme know if you're selling.

whats this the aussie want ads?
thats cool

Maybe look for an old Marshall Valvestate. I have a VS102r combo. Got it new about 14 years ago. Still going strong. Really nice clean channel ( though I never use it ) and 2 levels of drive grunt. It can get really loud but also can lower the volume heaps for just kicking around rocking out at home. And it has a headphone out too. Think they go for pretty cheap these days. They do have head versions and I'm sure you could find some good cheap cabs to run it into. I think running it into a cab with a 15" and 2 12" speakers would sound awesome.

KaosCill8r wrote:Maybe look for an old Marshall Valvestate. I have a VS102r combo. Got it new about 14 years ago. Still going strong. Really nice clean channel ( though I never use it ) and 2 levels of drive grunt. It can get really loud but also can lower the volume heaps for just kicking around rocking out at home. And it has a headphone out too. Think they go for pretty cheap these days. They do have head versions and I'm sure you could find some good cheap cabs to run it into. I think running it into a cab with a 15" and 2 12" speakers would sound awesome.

Agreed with this, I'm using a Marshall Valvestate combo, I think mine's one of the AVT models, single 15" speaker. Real nice clean channel, the overdrive channel is pretty good, the distortion channel is a bit bass-heavy though. Both distortion channels sound best stacked up with dist/OD pedals in my opinion.

I got mine second hand for about £100 about 5-7 years ago, never had any problems with it. As KaosCill8r said, it's great at low or high volume.

Thirded on the Valvestate.

There is a fucking Travis Bean bass on Ebay for local pickup in North Carolina ending tomorrow and you don't know how hard it has been the last 15 minutes trying not to bid and justify a roadtrip with the wife. Damnit.

Thanks for the suggestions folks!
There's a valvlestate head and cab on gumtree for $800 negotiable, should I hit it?

EDIT: with cabs, is it the size of the speaker that makes it appropriate/inappropriate for bass or what?

Closed-back for bass. Not aware of any Marshall open-back cabs in wide circulation, but I'm a Fender amp guy.

Larger speaker is generally better, especially with the Valvestate stuff. Normally they aren't real high headroom-type speakers.

I'd call that outrageously high here, but no idea which model, etc. or your local prices. Keep in mind that generally the Valvestate-type stuff takes a HUGE hit on first resale - it's mostly beginner/cheapie stuff.

Check Aussie ebay or whatever you folks use for pricing I'd think.

tomlane95 wrote:Thanks for the suggestions folks!
There's a valvlestate head and cab on gumtree for $800 negotiable, should I hit it?

EDIT: with cabs, is it the size of the speaker that makes it appropriate/inappropriate for bass or what?

Nah man, fuck that.
See if they'll seperate the head, don't pay anymore than $350 for it (and at that price it would want to be the 80w head, or larger, and in mint fucking condition).
Save up, get a used Orange 4x12 (spend your $800 or so there and never spend it again), be happy, chug out.

Listening to Eyehategod makes me want an Ampeg SS150....more so.

For bass try and find like an old EV 1x15 cab to go with whatever head you get. those things are solid and not that big to lug around. I would generally rather play guitar through a 'bass' cab than play bass through a 'guitar' cab, i think a 1x15 with the right speaker is a good balance for guitar/bass but an Orange quad or something would probably slay too.
I'd call that price high on the valvestate but if you can get just the head for 300 or something that would work.
I'll keep an eye out for stuff you might want though, i usually skim gumtree/ebay once every day or two for dealz. sometimes you get lucky when a cool amp does finally pop up because nobody knows what it is