What the best practice guitar combo (weighting 15-17 pounds)?

[Eddie Lang]

I'll run this thread parallel to my other one which is specifically about the price of the vintage Polytone Baby Brute.

I've been wanting a nice practice amp for quite awhile now. I am open to all sorts of suggestions/opinions/recommendations. Just has to be within the parameters I listed below.

Context: I have valve and solidstate amps with 12" speakers and I am looking for a good small amp. I am really talking smaller than a black or silver Princeton and similar amps here. I already have a Fender Champion 600; I LOVE the size and weigth; its sound, no so much... . I just got a Roland Cube 15x but, although it sounds good and I am still getting acquainted with it, I don't think that I will fall under its spell. I also have a Phil Jones CUB AG100; I love it; however, it is an acoustic amp and the sound is, well, "acoustic"; I'd like to get something with more color, something more... "electric".

Here is what I want:

• Practice combo amp, small and light (around 15 pounds, not 20 or 25)
• Clean sound with as much headroom as possible for an amp this size
• Full and creamy tone suitable for swing and jazz guitar playing
  
  • Low end: fat and strong, well defined (not sounding muddy)
  • Mid range: prominent, warm and smooth
  • High end range: smooth but defined
  • Late / smooth break up
  
  
• Vintage archtop guitars with single coil pickup (neck position) will be used primarily

Thanks!

[Keira Witherkay]

the market for practise amps is so wide....... and also depends on what you spend ....

as with everything on this "gear" side of the forum it's all up to personal taste,


and most importantly how loud you wanna practise ...for me as a solo fingerstyle jazz guitarist i can practise really softly ...but if you rehearse with a horn section it's a whole new ball game



but like i said above tastes differ and really grab your guitar go to a huge chain music store who stocks one of everything and spend the afternoon in the amp room trying out various amps...as in my exp3erience unless you can A/B an amp within minutes of hearing another one... you forget the tone easily and that makes it hard to compare


if it was me..... i would go to a store , line up 5/6 amps that suit the size /weight/price bracket.... power them all up and play them one after the other ... eliminating the ones you really don't like.... till you get a winner.... thats the only way to be sure

[disco~juice]

Mambo 10'', 8 kg, all the other things you said included, plus good reverb.

I would suggest Mambo 8'' (6.9 kg) but I have the 10'' so I don't know if there's any other difference except from the speaker.

Jon Mambo says that the 10'' is a bit more round and off course louder.

[jorgemg1984]

Mambo 8.

[Jazz_175]

Mambo 8.

Which one of the Eddie Lang's requirements (first post) is fulfilled by the Mambo 8" better than the 10"?

[jorgemg1984]

Well, it's lighter and smaller. I figure he wants it as small ans light as possible... For gigging the 10 is better, of course.

[marcwhy]

A few things:
- What's your budget?
- If "light-weight, lots of headroom, and full, creamy tone" can be found in a "practice" amp, I want one!!! [To me, "practice amp" means I'm sacrificing certain things in order to simply have "sound" when I practice. My "gigging" amp -- a 20W Jack Anderson tube amp -- works fine at lower volumes, although I'm likely to play unplugged when I practice]
- If your current amps are "OK," and you just want to warm up the sound, your best and least expensive option is to get a nice tube pre-amp and run it through the Cube or the Cub; try one of these: frenzeltubeamps.com - Hot Rod Preamps

[kris]

I use for parctise 15 watt MV3C pure tube combo/about 14 kg/with 12 " speaker.
It has the sound what I like.
I prefer 12" speakers.

[Tom Karol]

I'd suggest looking into a preamp or EQ pedal to use with the Cub.

[Gabe]

Yamaha THR amps are the best practice amps i've used, they sound huge.

[krusty]

If you can find one, try a Polytone Mini-Brain and just about any cabinet you choose to go with it. The Mini Brain is small and light. With a small cab it makes for an incredibly portable package, as well as being great-sounding. Since building a new 1-speaker cabinet to go with my Polytone, my ZT Lunchbox hasn't left its bag. The Polytone sounds absolutely huge with a 2x12, btw.

[Doctor Jeff]

The Epiphone Valve Jr is a great little 5w amp that has creamy tube tone out the wazoo. Loud as heck too.

Very cheap. If you get a chance try one.

[J. Murrieta]

Although i rarely use it, the ZT Lunchbox is a capable little amp and under 10lbs. buy the soft carrying case for it and you're good to go...

[kris]

every one amp in the shop is good for practising...
if you have loud guitar/in.ex.acoustic/ you do not need the amp...:-)

[TieDyedDevil]

I used to have a Phil Jones Cub. It sounded pretty good; I actually preferred the sound to my AER Compact 60 even though the Cub didn't have as much projection. At 11.5 pounds the Cub meets your weight requirements.

[Eddie Lang]

I want to thank you all for your input. You are being more helpful than you may realize. Every comment has given me something to think about.

the market for practise amps is so wide....... and also depends on what you spend .... as with everything on this "gear" side of the forum it's all up to personal taste, and most importantly how loud you wanna practise ...for me as a solo fingerstyle jazz guitarist i can practise really softly ...but if you rehearse with a horn section it's a whole new ball game

Keira, I want to spend as little as possible, but if something really delivers everything that I want without compromise, I wouldn't mind spending up to $999.95.


I don't need super loud. It's for playing solo and duos or trios with a singer who also plays snare with brushes, or with either another guitarist, a mandolinist or a fiddler. The loudest situation might be a duo with a saxophonist. And it's not for gigging anyway, I have bigger amps for that if I need it.

Mambo

Mambo

Disco and Jorge, everything I have read about Mambo appeals to me except the fact that I am in Canada, they are in the UK, and they don't have a distributor in North America.




Gabe, Krusty, Jeff, and Jade thank you for the recommendations.




Kris, I know what you mean but I still hope to find an amp light as a feather (or as the CUB AG100 or the Champion 600) that will satisfy my ears... And for the record, I also play acoustic guitars without an amp.

- If "light-weight, lots of headroom, and full, creamy tone" can be found in a "practice" amp, I want one!!!

Marc, I know, I know...

- If your current amps are "OK," and you just want to warm up the sound, your best and least expensive option is to get a nice tube pre-amp and run it through the Cube or the Cub; try one of these: frenzeltubeamps.com - Hot Rod Preamps

I'd suggest looking into a preamp or EQ pedal to use with the Cub.

Tom, Marc,
You have my attention. I don't know the first thing about pre-amps (other than what the name implies and the possibility that it gives an amp a boost, but would it be a clean boost? In which ways does it alter the tone?). Please, feel free to educate me and recommend (or warn me against) models.


If it does what I think, it could mean that I may already have a perfect ultra light set up with the CUB AG100 that is very transparent and could also be colored and thickened with a tube pre-amp. I could probably even do certain gigs with that rig, which was not even a consideration to start with! -- I already have bigger amps for that, a JazzAmp 12 and a sort of hand-built boutique Deluxe voiced for jazz tube amp.

I have a Baggs Para Acoustic DI that I've never used much. I know it is a different animal than a tube pre-amp, but Tom and Marc's comments gave me an idea. I tried the Para for a little bit tonight with the CUB and I see possibilities. Now I must learn more about tube pre-amps.

[Philco]

Disco and Jorge, everything I have read about Mambo appeals to me except the fact that I am in Canada, they are in the UK, and they don't have a distributor in North America.

.

Mambo head? I know it's not a combo but then you can choose a speaker and box size. I bought a head and had it shipped to Australia. Quite cheaply....because it's so light. Cheapest amp I ever bought. .....and what an amp!

[jorgemg1984]

Jon Mambo will (and has) ship to Canada. They are really good amps, I am not aware of anything that comes close.

[Pukka-J]

Henriksen 110?

[pingu]

Henriksen 110?

Practice combo amp, small and light (around 15 pounds, not 20 or 25)

23 lbs

[Pukka-J]

Oops, that's too heavy then, agreed!

I've been using a Mesa Boogie last couple of years, so my Henriksen 110 is pretty light in comparison

[Jazz_175]

Oops, that's too heavy then, agreed!

I've been using a Mesa Boogie last couple of years, so my Henriksen 110 is pretty light in comparison

Do you also own a Henriksen 112?

[Pukka-J]

Yes, I do. It is considerably heavier though. My 110 is the older 60w version. I have my 112 in the for sale section, but I think I'm keeping it as it has more headroom (12" and 160w).

[pingu]

Oops, that's too heavy then, agreed!

I've been using a Mesa Boogie last couple of years, so my Henriksen 110 is pretty light in comparison

Yeah Boogies are major heavy , most amps would seem light after !

[Petimar]

At 19 lbs and $900 I bought a Quilter MicroPro for practicing. Like it so much, it is my main gigging amp now. Plenty loud, as loud as my Vibroverb.