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So here we go: I'm looking for a new amplifier.

I have a Marshall Valvestate S80 (alright, but it gets very wooly if you burden it with too many effects) and a Vox Pathfinder (actually often more useful than the Marshall, the tone is warmer). Both are solid state.

I'm looking for a tube combo that can handle lots of effects. I want a good clean tone and master volume or power surge, so that I can turn it down for practice at home. I was thinking roundabout 15W. I want to be able to use it for band practice and club gigs, I'll put a microphone in front if it's too low. I want the amp for articulate sonic textures. I want it to make little shifts in texture, little twists of knobs audible.

Any suggestions?

Until now I consider the VOX AC4TV, Fender Blues Junior and Koch Classictone. Anyone has experience with these guys and can tell me if they're useful? My guitar dealer will let me take the Fender and the Koch home for the next weekend, so then I will know more, but are there any remarks on these? Anything to watch out for, any Amp to put on the list?

(I won't give a price margin, I live in Germany and prices here are different from those in the US. But think in the low budget region.)

Crate V18, replace the speaker and reverb tank, and do the eq and gain correction mods.
Or just getting a Blues Jr. might be easier.

I have a vox ac15 that is great for quiet stuff at home and can make plenty of volume for live.

I'd have to agree on the blues jr.
I would get an aby switch to split the signal into the marshall as well.

Hm, splitting the signal is a very interesting idea. Never ocurred to me.

I've stumbled across a used Mesa Boogie Blue Angel 4x10 on the site of a local guitar store. I'ts pricey at 1.350 Euro, but it might be worth a little saving. I've never dealt with the guys, they usually do mods of amps and some pedals. Anyone an opinion on the Mesa? Anyone an opinion on the price? Justified?

Thanks for the suggestions so far!

phantasmagorovich wrote:Hm, splitting the signal is a very interesting idea. Never ocurred to me.

I've stumbled across a used Mesa Boogie Blue Angel 4x10 on the site of a local guitar store. I'ts pricey at 1.350 Euro, but it might be worth a little saving. I've never dealt with the guys, they usually do mods of amps and some pedals. Anyone an opinion on the Mesa? Anyone an opinion on the price? Justified?

Thanks for the suggestions so far!

Well, Mesa doesn't make that amp anymore, so it's hard to say what it's worth without seeing the condition. I'd say in very good condition it's worth that, for sure. That specific amp was made for bluesy break-up, so it might not be the best for someone using a lot of pedals.

The PV Valveking series is in the low budget region and has a ton of headroom, especially the 2x12 version and head. The clean channel is very versatile with the dual inputs and bright switch to help match the guitar and pickups.

AC4 is weird. Past a certain point on the volume knob, it'll cut off all the high end off the Muff and sound crazy compressed. This doesn't happen with other ODs. Not sure why it's happening.

Thanks for the opinion on the AC 4. I'm still unsure about that one. It's cheap. So much is for sure.

I guess I'll just try out the Mesa. Same goes for the Blues Jr and the Koch (Still noone said anything about those?). I will know more on Sunday. Until then keep it coming with suggestions, I love to have options.

Yeah, I love my AC4, but I don't think its for you if you want to have a decent amount of clean headroom...the blues jr is a good amp, or the pro junior is even cheaper if you don't mind having fewer knobs. I would also recommend checking out some of the peavey tube amps such as the classic 30 (though that's probably louder than what you're looking for), and Ampeg has some sweet low-wattage class A tube amps out there for reasonable prices if you can find them.

Ampeg Guitar Amps are pretty hard to find over here as i found out. I actually didn't even know they made some.

I'm going for the Koch Classic SE now. 12 Watt of mild snobbish coldness. I love it. All the Fenders I played were too warm and cozy in comparison. There was no Punk in those things. Maybe if I'd have found a real silverface twin, but those all seem to have been modded to the blackface circuit.

Next weekend I'm gonny pick it up!