Topic: Guitar Amp

[TalkingBook]

Hey there axemasters. I'm looking to buy my first guitar amp soon (I'm usually a bass guy). I've been looking around and reading alot, listening to videos and I've played a few different things. So far I'm leaning towards a pretty simply all tube amp with a good amount of headroom and an emphasis on very nice cleans. I like to use a lot of pedals, and I'm not big on high gain sounds, so I think a relatively simple all tube job should be a good clean canvas to start from. I don't want to spend any more than 500€, preferably a bit less.

I'm currently looking at a used Laney VC30 112 (350€ and open to negotiation), it's supposed to be more or less a Vox AC30 clone. Anyone have any experience with them? Or any other advice? Or free amps?

[DeanMorrison]

There's a couple ways to good for a good clean tube amp. Vox amps have a more british sound, but are great for a reasonable price, and you can get one with pretty decent wattage for some headroom.

Fender amps will generally be quite a bit brighter with a different kind of character to them, but you can get them for pretty cheap as well. It really depends on what kind of clean you want. Can you list some players whose tones you really like?

[YouSayPotato]

I use a Vox AC15 – it kicks uber ass! It's loud a feck, with that lovely glassy tube sound, has an absurdly 'powerful' spring reverb and classic tremolo. A cheap switching pedal means you can kick in the reverb and trem at will.

The best bit is, if you have an ABY pedal, then you can jump both clean and crunch channels together – and then the amp becomes a seriously different beast.

And it's really affordable, with no loss of quality sound.

I looked at getting an AC30 as, admittedly, it did have more bang and a better treble response, but I didn't fancy the hernia that comes with it. The AC15 is frickin heavy enough and, being a bloke, to me heavy=quality.

Are you any good with a soldering iron? TubeDepot has some fab copycat kits that get a top sound with half the bucks. I plan on building one myself this year.

[TalkingBook]

Been meaning to update this. I bought the Laney VC30 for 320€. I'm still getting used to it, but the sound is quite nice. Turning it up past 0.5 (as in, half of one!) is not possible in my apartment, so I've only had it cranked once at band practice so far. Unfortunately there's a problem with the reverb, if I turn it up past 2 or so and the amp gets loud, I start getting unpredictable and incredibly loud bursts of distorted crackling. According to some things I've read, a few people have a similar problem which ended up being caused by nothing more serious than a loose cable from the tank to the board. Next time I'm at practice I'll take a look at it.

I considered going the 15 watt route, and also the DIY route. The last thing I wanted was an amp that was going to break up when I wanted a clean tone, so I went with the 30 to be on the safe side. I am somewhat handy with a soldering iron, but I've never taken on a project as large as an amp (only done pedals and some circuit bending so far), and probably don't have the time to dedicate to such a large project at the moment. If I can get this reverb issue sorted, I think I'll have made a good purchase for the price.

[YouSayPotato]

Fab. Enjoy & keep rockin!

[seamas]

Turning it up past 0.5 (as in, half of one!) is not possible in my apartment, so I've only had it cranked once at band practice so far.

A common thing in guitar amps is some manufacturers will use Linear Taper pots instead of Audio taper pots for volume control.

This is so the sales people in the showroom can turn the amp up to "2" and say "see how loud it is and it is only on 2"!!!

It makes it difficult to dial in a volume that is more "bedroom friendly"

I had the volume pots in my Fender HotRod changed to audio pots so I could have a more gradual volume control.

[YouSayPotato]

You might want to try an attenuator to get the amp driven, with tasty tone, but controlling the volume.

[TalkingBook]

Turning it up past 0.5 (as in, half of one!) is not possible in my apartment, so I've only had it cranked once at band practice so far.

A common thing in guitar amps is some manufacturers will use Linear Taper pots instead of Audio taper pots for volume control.

This is so the sales people in the showroom can turn the amp up to "2" and say "see how loud it is and it is only on 2"!!!

It makes it difficult to dial in a volume that is more "bedroom friendly"

I had the volume pots in my Fender HotRod changed to audio pots so I could have a more gradual volume control.

Yeah, the hot rods are notorious for that, but this amp definitely has a log pot. It's just really damn loud.

You might want to try an attenuator to get the amp driven, with tasty tone, but controlling the volume.

I'll have to look in to this.