Sleeper amps?

[Jazzman301]

I am looking for sleeper amps guys. I know that the Yamaha G series are great sleeper amps in the used market and the Roland Cubes are great amps new(or used for that matter). Looking for something under $200 that has great reverb and a great clean, warm jazz tones. This is for my apartment that I keep in NJ and not for gigs. At home I have a Cube 80XL, 67 Ampeg Reverberocket II and a Yamaha G115 amp that all get used for gigs and home practice and noodling.

Really interested in something 20-30 watts but certainly open to any sleeper amp recommendations.

'Mike

[barrymclark]

Now, I haven't played one, but I am hearing great, great things about the Fender Super Champ XD and X2 series of amps with regards to jazz and blues.

[Jazzman301]

Do those have built in reverb? Great suggestions.

'Mike

[barrymclark]

Do those have built in reverb? Great suggestions.

'Mike

If memory serves, it does and a decent one at that.

[hans halmackenreuter]

I bought a peavey studio pro 110 for 35€ some weeks ago. it has a spring reverb tank, but a small one and 65 w into 10" at 8 ohm. there was also a 12" version the studio pro 112. the amp is great, since I don like 12" speaker very much and nowadays amps with 10" speaker's useally don't have 65 w anymore. well anyway,
I change the speaker in my peavey for one delta demon and now this amp is awsome.

[Eddie Lang]

Under $200, you could get a used Fender Frontman 25R ($50) and change the stock speaker for a Lil' Buddy ($80). It should give you a good tone for jazz with the speaker upgrade. Who knows, the stock speaker is really not that great, but it can still do a decent job on the clean channel.

it's got

• 25 watts ss
• spring reverb
• aux in
• phone out
• a clean and a drive channel - that can be switched with a foot switch

Or, if you like your Cube 80, you could get a used Cube 20 under $100 or a new one under $200. Or find a Cube 15 aound $60 and get a reverb pedal.

[cosmic gumbo]

Peavey Bandit

[Wildcat]

Peavey Bandit

+1

[jorgemg1984]

Fender M80, Princeton Chorus... the whole 80s SS series. 80s Roland Cubes too.

[boatheelmusic]

The Fender Mustang 1, at about $110 new, sounds surprisingly good.

Use the Twin Reverb model, and it includes all the effects you could ever dream of.

Headphone out, aux in and USB out all make this a great value and a good amp for home use.

[Jazzman301]

Just picked up this great sleeper from Jazzkat of all people:
Jazzkat JK20R Electric Guitar Amplifier Nice Cond Working Great | eBay

Jazzkat JK20R. I contacted Marty over at Jazzkat about this amp to see if it indeed was a real jazzkat. Here is what he had to say in part:

"the JK20R was marketed by Jazzkat at the request of one of our local dealers for an entry levell product.. It was 20 watts with a reverb
Marty"

How much better can you get than a 20 watt Jazzkat with reverb for $150??

Keep the thread alive though. I am sure other cats on here will find this helpful in their own search for cheap amps that are good/great for jazz.

'Mike

[sbayjoe]

hello boys

this is my first post.
this may sound a bit unconvenional but here goes.
after buying a esteban nylon string acoustic electric with a small practice amp, the "es15a", i started modifying these little solid state amps.and having a very good time doing so. o.k. so what do i mean by modifying these amps?
actually i really just repackaged them. i would build a new maple cabinet and of course try an assortment of different speakers. i did some open back designs, and some cloed back designs. i feel the sound is very respectable
for playing at home. probably not the best amp you ever heard but clean at lower volumes with almost no hum at all.
my first couple of amps had what i called a twin six arrangement.(two 6" speakers ). my current and favorite . . is a single 8" arrangement using a jensen speaker. this amp to my ears a very respectable sound from bright to bassey.
it also has a real spring reverb. so what am i saying? of course the amp will not compare to a fender princeton or a blues jr. but the amp gives me what i will call an honest sound when playing an archtop or a telecaster thinline.


all this tinkering led me to actually try and build an entire amp from scratch. knowing absolutely nothing about circuitry i bought a guytronix lo watt amp.you can look them up at guytronix.com. yes i did complete the project and it did work. you can see a picture of the completed amp on the guytronix web site.(JOE FROM BRICK) and yes , i probably couldn't have or wouldn't have even attempted the projected without the coaching of Rich Guy from guytronix who answered all my questions and was a great help.

so to sum things; up that is how i ended up with a few unique amps that give me much satisfaction when practicing in my home studio.

till next time
sbayjoe

[snoskier63]

A used Fender Mustang III can be had for $200 or less. There are a few on EBay as we speak.

The Super Champ is very good as well. I use one in my ensemble on the clean channel, and it works well.

[vintagelove]

Not exactly a ground breaking post here, but for the price they go for, an old polytone seems like a no brainier, especially considering it's one of the holy grail jazz amps.

[nopedals]

Danelectro nifty-seventy (the bass amp, not the nifty 50 guitar amp). Don't laugh.

Closed back, three knob EQ, larger OT than comparable guitar practice amps, stays clean all the way up, voiced to imitate old ampegs, cool looking. I have a 10 inch Weber Chicago wedged into mine. Takes clean boost really well if you need more headroom (works great with reverb units that can add DBs to the signal), but not really a club amp. In other words, it is built to handle bass signals, so you won't get unpleasant woof or distortion from archtops or clean boost, especially if you swap out the speaker.

For years I have been buying booteek practice amps, but I end up selling them and keeping the dano.

[Greentone]

Best "sleeper" amp I have ever owned for jazz is the Lab Series L5 amp made by Bob Moog for Gibson. The late B.B. King played this amp long after it ceased being produced. I can see why.

[entresz]

I have a Peavey Bandit 65 that I bought on a whim for $50. It was made in the mid 1980's. It's very loud, has a sweet tone, and is fairly compact considering how powerful it is. It is fairly heavy, but I think the large magnet Peavey Scorpion speaker largely is responsible for that. I have done countless gigs with that amp now and it has been incredibly reliable.

[christianm77]

Under $200, you could get a used Fender Frontman 25R ($50) and change the stock speaker for a Lil' Buddy ($80). It should give you a good tone for jazz with the speaker upgrade. Who knows, the stock speaker is really not that great, but it can still do a decent job on the clean channel.

it's got

• 25 watts ss
• spring reverb
• aux in
• phone out
• a clean and a drive channel - that can be switched with a foot switch

Or, if you like your Cube 80, you could get a used Cube 20 under $100 or a new one under $200. Or find a Cube 15 aound $60 and get a reverb pedal.

I've got a Fender Frontman in storage. I'm thinking of sticking the spare Jenson out of Princeton reverb in it. Can't be any worse, right?

I am 100% sold on the Eminence Lil' Buddy for the PRRI

[TheGrandWazoo]

hello boys

this is my first post.
this may sound a bit unconvenional but here goes.
after buying a esteban nylon string acoustic electric with a small practice amp, the "es15a", i started modifying these little solid state amps.and having a very good time doing so. o.k. so what do i mean by modifying these amps?
actually i really just repackaged them. i would build a new maple cabinet and of course try an assortment of different speakers. i did some open back designs, and some cloed back designs. i feel the sound is very respectable
for playing at home. probably not the best amp you ever heard but clean at lower volumes with almost no hum at all.
my first couple of amps had what i called a twin six arrangement.(two 6" speakers ). my current and favorite . . is a single 8" arrangement using a jensen speaker. this amp to my ears a very respectable sound from bright to bassey.
it also has a real spring reverb. so what am i saying? of course the amp will not compare to a fender princeton or a blues jr. but the amp gives me what i will call an honest sound when playing an archtop or a telecaster thinline.


all this tinkering led me to actually try and build an entire amp from scratch. knowing absolutely nothing about circuitry i bought a guytronix lo watt amp.you can look them up at guytronix.com. yes i did complete the project and it did work. you can see a picture of the completed amp on the guytronix web site.(JOE FROM BRICK) and yes , i probably couldn't have or wouldn't have even attempted the projected without the coaching of Rich Guy from guytronix who answered all my questions and was a great help.

so to sum things; up that is how i ended up with a few unique amps that give me much satisfaction when practicing in my home studio.

till next time
sbayjoe

Im just discovering the beauty of small 5w amps and 8" speakers with a champ I acquired. This looks l Ike a fun idea.

[ruger9]

Danelectro nifty-seventy (the bass amp, not the nifty 50 guitar amp). Don't laugh.

Closed back, three knob EQ, larger OT than comparable guitar practice amps, stays clean all the way up, voiced to imitate old ampegs, cool looking. I have a 10 inch Weber Chicago wedged into mine. Takes clean boost really well if you need more headroom (works great with reverb units that can add DBs to the signal), but not really a club amp. In other words, it is built to handle bass signals, so you won't get unpleasant woof or distortion from archtops or clean boost, especially if you swap out the speaker.

For years I have been buying booteek practice amps, but I end up selling them and keeping the dano.

Actually, the Nifty Fifty is great too... just don't use the "dirty" knob LOL. It won't get LOUD and clean, but for home practice, it's great. It'll also do the little "hair on the note" ala Charlie Christian and all the old-school guys, at decent home volumes (again- without even using the "dirty" knob, which is useless).

Also- a little Fender Champion 600, with a preamp tube swap, isn't bad AT ALL. Actually a great little tube practice amp.

Check this demo out: (this isn't the demo I was looking for, but it does show the C600 getting a "warm jazz tone")

[Alder Statesman]

When looking at Fender solid state, the Mustang V2 series is more reliable than the Frontman series.
YMMV

[wildschwein]

Epiphone Triggerman 60. I don't know if it's a "sleeper" but it is out-of-production, totally off the radar and is an amazing solid state amp -- especially the clean channel. It is oversized for a 1x12, has massive low end response and usable delay, chorus and independent reverb effects on board. It's also supernaturally loud for a 60 SS watt amp and can keep up with even the most aggressive drummers. There is a 30 watt 10" version as well.

[TheGrandWazoo]

Traynor BLOC50G

1.50 watts
2.10" Eminence Beta
3.2 channels
4.T M B tone contorls
5.EQ bypass
6.effects loop
7.speaker out
8.<25lbs
9.$50
10. reverb

An all around great amp for practice and performance. Great back up amp. Very balanced response. Think Polytone.

[bluemusic4us]

I think the Crate Vintage Club series is truly a sleeper amp. Made for a short period of time in St. Louis, MO.
All Tube, the 3112 shown here is 30w class A all tube with a clean and distortion channel. big sound.