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So I was running a noise swash through my sunn beta lead I just bought and when I paused there was a horrible humming. I unplugged everything..still there. Then came the smell...fuck you amp. I loved you so much. So I need a replacement till I find a tech on this god forsaken island. Extra amps is always good anyway.

Anyway. Im looking at a few replacements in the $300-400 range and I want to know what ilfs experience is. Since its a small island with limited amps to actually try...I really need someone to give full honest opinions.

Since the cab on the sunn is still all good, just a head would be fine. Combos are equally as cool. I need plenty of cleans since all my dirt comes from pedals. Onboard effects are not necessary. Tubes are a plus but ss is cool.

Its mainly for practice and recording. I play noise rock if that matters. Think melt banana.

Heres what ive been looking at:

Fender excelsior
Vht special 6
Vox night train
Fender Blues jr

Im leaning towards the vht special 6 combo because theres one for sale locally with upgraded tubes. Thanks you guys!

Give me suggestions!

Noise rock means you're looking at a clean, loudish platform that takes well to pedals, yes?

D.o.S. wrote:Noise rock means you're looking at a clean, loudish platform that takes well to pedals, yes?

Yus sir. I play clean with verb, delay, and modulation and immediately go to oscillating fuzz with alot of the songs I write.

Really loud isnt a big factor, that sunn was actually TOO loud with the gain up. Clean was at a very useable level even at 10. Loud would be necessary if and when I gig but im not worried about that here. Hawaii hates loud rock music. Im just recording for now.

I quite like the Excelsior myself. Much better than the Blues Jr to me. Blues Jr has like 0 clean headroom and sounds pretty boxy with thee internal speaker.
Night train...I found it excessively harsh when it broke up.
Never tried the otehr one.

V_____ wrote:I quite like the Excelsior myself. Much better than the Blues Jr to me. Blues Jr has like 0 clean headroom and sounds pretty boxy with thee internal speaker.
Night train...I found it excessively harsh when it broke up.
Never tried the otehr one.

After researching for the past few hours, the excelsior is sounding better and better. The vht seems be a little dirty all the time.

if your looking at small amps, i had a fender champ 600 that i got for around $100 that sounded godly and took to pedals great. i used loop pedals and modulation and everything. plus you can hook it to a cab if you need more ROAR. you just have to break that little speaker in if you want to use the 8inch it comes with. nice clean, deep, bassy sound. wish i never gave it to my ex's dad...

i just recently got a zvex nano amp, and i thought this thing was just high gain all the time at apartment volumes. to my surprise on my orange cab with neighbors i cant crank it at night to the max so i fool around with the clean settings alot at night and it is astoundingly versatile. fenderish sounds to vox sounds. however you cant really crank it at low volumes to the marshal gain, when the gain is engaged the neighbors can hear haha. crazy loud for 1/2 watt.

good quality on the cheap i recommend jetcity. i used to own the 20watt head and it had decent cleans and good gains. i always used the clean settings and od pedals and it was great. i guess now they have a 2 channel version which is probably a million times better. my brother has an old soldano and we a/b'd them when i still had it and it was almost dead on the same sound. i think it was only like $200 new. was even loud enough to play some small gigs.

good cheap bigger combos i recommend a fender tweed blues deville 4-10. they can be had used for like 3-500 and imo sound like bassman's but with an effects loop. i have one and will never sell it.

i had a vht 6, blackstar 5ht, fender champ, vox night train, jetcity 20, and orange tiny terror all at one point. i was on this mini tube amp kick when i lived in an apartment. i flipped all of them and kept the fender champ 600 until i moved and got back into bigger amps. just such a good clean base for pedals and all sorts of noise. however i feel like if i tried the zvex nano may years ago all the other mini tube amps woulda got kicked to the curb alot earlier.

I saw a champion 600 today at the only shop on the island for 100 and seriously considered it. I read quite a few reviews and it was either love it or hate it. I read it doesnt do fuzz well and the break up added too much to the fuzz. What do you feel about that? For 100 bucks it seemed okay but im thinking if I get something larger, it wont seem so...I dunno...like a toy and more an essential tool in my arsenal. I need all my gear to gel with each other.

Anybody else have good experience with the champ 600?

psychedelicrelic wrote:

V_____ wrote:I quite like the Excelsior myself. Much better than the Blues Jr to me. Blues Jr has like 0 clean headroom and sounds pretty boxy with thee internal speaker.
Night train...I found it excessively harsh when it broke up.
Never tried the otehr one.

After researching for the past few hours, the excelsior is sounding better and better. The vht seems be a little dirty all the time.

We had a huuuge excelsior thread. PM MEC and Sylnau if you want some hands on opinions.

D.o.S. wrote:

psychedelicrelic wrote:

V_____ wrote:I quite like the Excelsior myself. Much better than the Blues Jr to me. Blues Jr has like 0 clean headroom and sounds pretty boxy with thee internal speaker.
Night train...I found it excessively harsh when it broke up.
Never tried the otehr one.

After researching for the past few hours, the excelsior is sounding better and better. The vht seems be a little dirty all the time.

We had a huuuge excelsior thread. PM MEC and Sylnau if you want some hands on opinions.

Yeah I read through that an hour ago. It seems its ILF approved.

The Blues Junior is really cool with the volume at 2 and the master all the way up.

However, I don't really like it's preamp gain sound much at all.

Wow I just saw this yamaha thr10c. They seem to get high praises. The"tube glow" is lame as fuck imo but still. Direct recording would be nice. Fuck I dunno. Im overloaded with options. I wish the sunn didnt crap out. Things were so much simpler then...less than 12 hours ago.

You could always take a boat to Oahu. Still not LOTS of amps but prob. A much better selection.
http://www.hotlicksguitars.com/ this is a cool place. They are nice and always let me crank shit.

Derelict78 wrote:You could always take a boat to Oahu. Still not LOTS of amps but prob. A much better selection.
http://www.hotlicksguitars.com/ this is a cool place. They are nice and always let me crank shit.

No more ferry. Flying is cheaper. And I dont have time to fly to oahu lol. And my if I went to oahu id have to bring the gf and she would be pissed to have to wait for hours for me to try out amps then be indecisive for another hour lol.

D.o.S. wrote:

psychedelicrelic wrote:

V_____ wrote:I quite like the Excelsior myself. Much better than the Blues Jr to me. Blues Jr has like 0 clean headroom and sounds pretty boxy with thee internal speaker.
Night train...I found it excessively harsh when it broke up.
Never tried the otehr one.

After researching for the past few hours, the excelsior is sounding better and better. The vht seems be a little dirty all the time.

We had a huuuge excelsior thread. PM MEC and Sylnau if you want some hands on opinions.

He has "only" his Bogner Duende since years
You mean me?

Noooooo the Beta is cooked already? That's bogus and you should get your money back if that's the case.

I've only played the stock Excelsior/Blues Jr in stores and they were decent. Like, if desperate and in a pinch, that'll do decent.
Admittedly not really my thing, however either one has potential though both are kind of meh/issue prone in stock form...but there are apparently easy, effective mods/fixes (Excelsior rattle) available in kits.

If I were you I'd increase budget a little bit and check around for tiny/dark/dual terrors on the secondhand market.
Or something like a Silvertone or (duh!) Oahus. In fact, I'd even recommend looking to get (a pair of) SF Champs.

@DoS...I think nonmaster amps in general, and the JCM800 are ideal for noise rock...but that's kind of like, quadruple OP's budget.

Either way, for noise rock in all of its forms; fuzz+gritty amp > fuzz+clean amp. IMO YMMV
You just gotta find the right amp to use as your dirt foundation.

Listen to Bitch Magnet; the full catalog is all JCM800. And killer