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So, my girlfriend plays open mics a lot and is switching from an Ibanez acoustic to a Stratocaster. She is very much in the indie rock genre and needs a mid-sized amp that won't annihilate my back. Loud enough for a coffeehouse and able to take pedals well is the goal. Her board is simple (delay, compressor, overdrive, Rat). I think solidstate might be preferable to tube, for the sake of sturdiness. Any suggestions?

I really really really like the Pignose Hog 30. Its also battery powered with a pretty good life.

Vox AC4.

Fender blues Jr would be perfect. great reverb and small. if you can find a vox pathfinder, that's a no brainer. fantastic solid state combo, light, small, weak reverb but really nice tremolo.

echodeluxe wrote:if you can find a vox pathfinder, that's a no brainer. fantastic solid state combo, light, small, weak reverb but really nice tremolo.

I have the non-reverb (but with trem!) version of the pathfinder and love it but I never use it its just sitting around as everytime I list it nobody seems interested.

She's playing solo? Bass or keyboard amp is going to give her wider frequency response...

doommeow wrote:She's playing solo? Bass or keyboard amp is going to give her wider frequency response...

The plan is mostly solo, with me sitting in occasionally to lend my dissonant leads. Her new sound is very Ani DiFranco meets Pavement.

You should have dunwich build her something. Maybe quad kt88s? Bring that coffee house to its knees.

Pathfinder is good. The reverb on the 15R isn't stunning but is handy. You want to do the Tweedbassman trem depth mod on either. And the LED mod is pretty essential for use with pedals--I mean, it's okay without, but all the pedal come through better after, and the amp's drive still sounds good. These have been discontinued, so they will probably start to thin out before long.

The Marshall Lead 12 might work, but getting rarer and pricier, and the Vox will give you a bit fuller low end response, though we're not talking about doom stacks.

I like the ZT Lunchbox, though she might not need all that volume. The Lunchbox Jr. is cheaper, more moderately powered, smaller still, can power a pedal daisy chain, and can run on a battery pack for busking. Worth a try.

I saw some nice Peaveys on KC CL...

sonidero wrote:I saw some nice Peaveys on KC CL...

Shit. I need to fix that. I live in upstate New York, now. Kansas City is the land of Peavey.

I did a SF Champ (later two) and a Space Echo in my earliest coffeehouse days.

Could bring the average place to its knees volume-wise even if it didn't stay clean.

You're not exactly competing with a biker convention generally, and not a massive amount of bodies.

xrleroyx wrote:Vox AC4.

I loved this amp when I had one and regret selling it.
Took pedals well, got surprisingly loud, and sounded wonderful.
Plus the attenuator was great for bedroom playing
I feel like it could fit your needs pretty well

Sunn Alpha 112! It takes pedal in an amazing way, small size and weight but plenty of volume and a good eq section. Here in Europe they're quite rare, but I thint it won't be difficult to find a cheap one in the US.

a used Bose L1 would work wonders and can carry 4 inputs I believe. Also availible are bass modules to help expand the low end. And its amp and monitor in one. Just a thought.

Edite: Grammar. My keyboard is shot to hell.