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Happy New Year!

So after years of pretty much playing no electric guitar, I've decided that now is the time to explore it again. I seem to be headed in a Noveller-plays-Floydian-spacedoom solo act sort of direction. I play a Les Paul and my board is still very nascent, involving things I've managed to pick up over the years (DD5, Tuna Melt, Phase 90, Muff, Sabbra) and the amps I have at my disposal are a Laney Protube 30W combo and a Barcus Berry SXL-15. I am not in love with either of them for these purposes and am more than willing to trade/sell them... but I'm not sure what to look for. I want a combo that sounds great clean but takes pedals well (I guess that goes without saying), sounds good at house volumes (more room than an apartment, but gigging's not a priority) and won't run me over $500. (ETA: preferably, but not necessarily, with onboard reverb).

In casual conversation, people have suggested Deluxe Reverbs, Bassmen, etc. (And tomorrow I'm checking out a '67 Gemini I, just to see). I realize this is all highly subjective and of course the thing to do is play them, but despite a half-dozen shops within easy reach, the amp selection seems pretty skimpy, so I thought I'd ask around even more...

Your thoughts and ideas are most welcome.

If you are looking for a clean pedal platform with all your dirt on the floor and you want your swirlies in stereo, the Roland JC-40 seems nice for a single unit combo.

Yeah I was gonna suggest a Jazz Chorus as well. Wonderful clean and works great with pedals. I played a JC-22 and was really impressed with it, but waffled about too long and it sold. Actually flipped some bass stuff I wasn't fond of and ordered a new JC-22 last night. Perfect apartment amp imo.

All the blues dads shit on the JC-40 distortion, and while it's mostly deserved I think it's nicely fucked up SS grit. Heavy as fuck though for its size.

The chorus though

It's funny you should both say that - I got rid of my JC-120 last year for this Barcus Berry, after years of lugging the damn Roland around and not really using it, then starting to use it and finding it just a little too brittle for my taste. I do miss the (non-distortion) effects, though.

Science mother.

tremolo3 wrote:Science mother.

That's like 4 times what I want to spend, plus I'm looking for a combo.

It does sound sweet, though.

Boss katana gets lots of praise

Peavey Bandit 112
Peavey Stereo Chorus 212

anything that says PEAVEY!

Or CRATE!

;P

The old red knob Fender Princeton Chorus amps are pretty good, and can be had well within your budget. There's one at a GC near me for like $190 or something.

adamajah wrote:Boss katana gets lots of praise

I'll back this. It's really not a bad amp. I think most of the modelling is terrible, but the clean channel is nice and the effects are well done. Plenty of tweaking to be had if you like using the software.

Aghartha wrote:The old red knob Fender Princeton Chorus amps are pretty good, and can be had well within your budget. There's one at a GC near me for like $190 or something.

That was my very first "real" amp, many years ago. No idea what happened to it. There's a red-knob Deluxe 85 near me for $199...

Aghartha wrote:Yeah I was gonna suggest a Jazz Chorus as well. Wonderful clean and works great with pedals. I played a JC-22 and was really impressed with it, but waffled about too long and it sold. Actually flipped some bass stuff I wasn't fond of and ordered a new JC-22 last night. Perfect apartment amp imo.

All the blues dads shit on the JC-40 distortion, and while it's mostly deserved I think it's nicely fucked up SS grit. Heavy as fuck though for its size.

The chorus though

The new JC40s have a much much nicer distortion channel and they weigh next to nothing.

I always think that head/cab is the better and/or more interesting way to go, but there are plenty of options to be had under five bills.

Take a look a red knob Fender’s. They are heavy and have most of the components directly on the circuit board, so they don’t make great touring amps - and can often be found for cheap. The Super 60 and Red Knob Twin make great pedal platforms - so does the hybrid Champ.

Current production, I’d look at the Laney Cub10. Not the 8 or 15, the 10. Completely different sound than your protube - much cleaner, closer to a trad Fender sound, more preamp headroom than the protube. Not enough volume, it’s cheap enough to get two under your budget. Other news stuff, dunno? Maybe VHT?

Proper vintage - should be able to score a Traynor combo right around $500. I don’t know the combos as wells as the heads, but I’ve never played a Traynor I didn’t like.

And don’t forget the Fender Champ - bf, sf, or c600. While I prefer using big amps w a good MV, a well tuned up Champ through a larger cab makes a great home pedal rig. My most recent living room setup was a sf Champ thru a $25 Calvin 410 bass cab. More than enough volume and low end, even when I’m running 2-3 oct down. Don’t want to run an extra cab? Mount the guts of a C600 inside a 212 cab, prob solved. I did that for about a year. Great little setup.

Thanks for all these suggestions! I tried out a '67 Gemini I tonight that I really liked - took all my pedals well, sounded good clean, insides in great shape, outside a little rough, $400. I may make it mine...