Best entry-level amp?

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

Originally Posted by zovanou

Vox Pathfinder Is The Sleeper , Have Been Playing Mine For 5 Years , Was Able To Fit A 10 Inch Speaker Into It , Great Practice Amp

Sleeper? It seems to be the favourite small SS amp on the Tele forum. I still haven't tried one out.

[chasgrav]

Apologies for dredging up a thread-gone-cold, but I had to chime in on this. I've been playing jazz at home on a Roland Cube 60, which I love. It has great clean sound and can be played at low volume nicely. (Gets LOUD if you want it to).

After reading this thread, and others, I bought a used Champion 600 today for $100. Just to have, ya know? It's pretty much mint.

Right away, I swapped out the pre-amp tube for a Mesa 12AT7, to get more headroom. It had a good Sovtec 6V6 power tube, but I also picked up a Groove 6V6. Wow, what a super little amp!!! I think it's a better home practice amp than the Cube, and it only weighs about 7 pounds! Looks very cool with that retro, two-tone color scheme, too! I get plenty of volume out of it, and it's warm and clean. Outstanding jazz vibe!

I don't play out, but I guess I'll keep the Cube around, for just in case. But it's the Champion at home now, hands-down! HIGHLY recommended!

[Eddie Lang]

Chasgrav, I do not know anything about making mods to a tube amp. So, you say the Mesa 12AT7 gives more headroom. Good! I can understand that. Now, what difference does the change to the Groove 6V6 make compared to the Sovtec 6V6? Does the mod for the two new tubes make a big difference and how does it affect the sound? Thanks!

[chasgrav]

I'm not an expert, either. But yes, the 12AT7 gives more clean headroom (less gain) than the 12AX7. The original 12AX7 was a cheap Chinese tube, which I've only read bad things about. In fact, some people say they can blow out, causing damage to capacitors. So, I decided just to replace it right away.

I bought the Groove Tube 6V6 before I knew what kind of 6V6 was in the amp. It turned out to be a decent Electro-Harmonix tube from Sovtek. I tried each briefly, and didn't detect a whole lot of difference. The Groove may be slightly warmer, or that might be my imagination. Both sound great and give lots of power.

I guess a lot of people do mod these amps, and you can buy kits and instructions. But their purpose seems to be to add more distortion capabilities, which is the opposite of what I was after.

Even fully stock, this is a warm and clean sounding amp that has enough volume for home use, and is more pleasing to my ear than my Cube, (at least for jazz). It's also light, convenient, retro-cool looking and very, very cheap!

Also worth mentioning: I'm playing an Ibanez Artstar AF-120 (full-hollow) with P90 pickups. It seems to be a great match with the amp.

[82Benedetto]

I understand this is a fairly old thread, but check out the Fender Pro Jr. It's loud, it sounds stunning, and it's relatively affordable. You'd be surprised to find the number of artists that use it live (yes, a 15w amp live) and in the studio.

[BobD]

Chasgrav,

Don't you miss the effects on the cube(ie reverb at least)?

[histind]

Don't forget the Cube 40xl's phrase looper function. Loop pedals themselves go for around $150, and with the Cube you get an amp with that! Not to mention, a loop function is an excellent learning tool, especially for a beginner. In fact, I am seriously considering buying one for that reason. And, you can use it on solo gigs instead of a backing track (which is less cheesy IMO). Now, if only it came with a footswitch, that would be perfect.

[burchyk]

Ex Cube 30x owner here. Used it as home practice amp for more than a year. Sold it because I got tired of its sound eventually, and since it is a digital modeling tech you can not really tweak it.

My current plan is to buy a simple small handwired tube head or combo to be able to tweak the sound by changing individual components. This seems more flexible and sounds like a fun project by itself. I suspect when played through a home built solid pine cab with 15" speaker it will sound nice.

Happy amp hunting

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

Originally Posted by burchyk

Ex Cube 30x owner here. Used it as home practice amp for more than a year. Sold it because I got tired of its sound eventually, and since it is a digital modeling tech you can not really tweak it.

Then again, you could buy a Fender Mustang III, hook it up to your computer and use Fuse to tweak it to your heart's content.

[burchyk]

Originally Posted by BigDaddyLoveHandles

Then again, you could buy a Fender Mustang III, hook it up to your computer and use Fuse to tweak it to your heart's content.

Good point, but isn't digital modeling a part of the preamp, and there are still some other components left which might have an influence on sound? My point was if someone has basic soldering skills he may consider getting a flexible platform to build upon. Digital processing is fun too, I'm using standalone studio type digital EQ, compressor and reverb for playing with headphones and enjoy it alot.

Back to the original topic, my friend who is a pro musician used to play gigs with Fender FM65R and he sounded fine with it. He paid about $250 for it new. It had a spring reverb and 12" speaker. We used to laugh about the price/value of it

[woyvel]

The lines of "professional" versus "beginner" quality has become blurred over the years because good quality can now be found in low-cost, imported equipment - amps, guitars, and effects where we're concerned. Unless you're playing a 1000-seat club or larger, you have tons of choices with tons of tone, and you don't have to spend a fortune. You can blow $2,000 on a 5-watt amp that gives lovely distortion, or $200 on something with acceptable clean tones, or vice versa.

What really matters is - to borrow a tag line from Pierre, another contributor to the forum - time on the instrument.

[msr13]

I like the Vibro Champ XD. Really nice, low volume amp.

[amhabz]

I'd like to add a G Dec Jr. to the mix for practice. 75% is kind of useless to us, but it has some nice clean amp models on it. Plus you can use the drum backups to insure you're tempo is correct. Good jazz background, jazzy 3/4 and a 5/4 time to practice with. A nice chicago blues backing if you like that. Mine played good until it stopped putting out sound. All the light and gizmos turn on, just no sound. Wish I was good enough to figure out.

[Sailynn]

I'm using the Vox 15R Pathfinder and I love it.
Perfect for my jazz practice with the clean sound and my hollow body and perfect for blues with the overdrive boost switch and my Godin Progression.

[Ric Lee]

Seen quite a few Good condition Roland Cubes on ebay. Even saw a Cube 80X on ebay for $249 shipped a few weeks back. I have a micro-cube that's fun for just carting around the house.

[Tele 2K]

Please don't rule out 5W tube amps. I have a small Vox 10 in. combo, AC4TV, that is all tube with 3 output settings. I use a reverb pedal, and maybe a Delay, that's all it may need. Sounds great at low volume and gets quite loud on the 5W setting. Celestion speaker...

VW

[Al_F]

2nd, what was said about the AC4. I have one with an EH reverb pedal in front & that's all you need. It is a wonderful sounding amp clean or dirty. Inexpensive as well since they are easy to find on CL.

[Dennis D]

I sold an old tube Ampeg Gemini I'd had since the '60's. I don't gig, and loved the tone, but man it just got heavy in my old age. So I pretty much bought this without even playing it. I use it primarily with an L-4, and really it is more than enough. I have had a tough time adjusting to solid state controls, and that's my only real gripe. That and the fact the cabinet will rattle at medium or higher volume. I had the local warranty tech try to stop it, but he just couldn't. But for a practice amp, and/or beginner, it is worth considering. And if you can find one used, and maybe not used too much, it could be tough to beat.