Electric guitar amp

[rhornback]

Hello,

I bought my son the first act VE591 electric guitar. It has a pre-amp and we route it through his stereo.

Because we move it around to different parts of the house, I was thinking about getting him an amp. I was looking at ebay and at jr but I really don't know what I am doing, there are lots of choices and I don't know where to start.

It would be nice to have something that would fill up a room if needed. That he could play at school or with his friends. Does that mean 10 amps?

I would like to play < $50. But if that is not enough, less than $100.

Something light enough that we can move it around. So I would not want something greater than 25 lbs.

I only know enough that I don't know enough :lol: . Any advice from some musicians?

Thanks!

[Renaissanceman]

I can guarantee, without much chance of being contradicted.....You will not find a better deal than this

http://shop.firstact.com/PublicStore/product/30-watt-1X10-Guitar-Combo-Amp,560,94.aspx

First Act 30 watt amp! If you want to make it better for the future as well? Add the footswitch..

http://shop.firstact.com/PublicStore/product/V-stack-Foot-Controller,566,94.aspx

Should be less than $120 shipped!

[radford]

Hello,

I bought my son the first act VE591 electric guitar. It has a pre-amp and we route it through his stereo.

Because we move it around to different parts of the house, I was thinking about getting him an amp. I was looking at ebay and at jr but I really don't know what I am doing, there are lots of choices and I don't know where to start.

It would be nice to have something that would fill up a room if needed. That he could play at school or with his friends. Does that mean 10 amps?

I would like to play < $50. But if that is not enough, less than $100.

Something light enough that we can move it around. So I would not want something greater than 25 lbs.

I only know enough that I don't know enough :lol: . Any advice from some musicians?

Thanks!

There are tons of intro amps in the 80-120 range though they are almost all solid state. In the old days, everything was tube or almost everything. There are still tube purists that say dont bother with anything besides a tube amp. The solid state amps used to horrendous --- very dead, sterile and flat sounding. They have to artificially produce distortion which was often harsh and buzzy. You didnt get that warm , clean tone nor did you get that sweet , bluesy bite when you cranked it up a bit and finally that outrageous , super mean growling full blown distortion when you really cranked it with some amps like Marshalls or Mesas ---- with the better tube amps.

The SS amps though have gotten a lot better with amp modeling ---- digital effects that mimic amp sounds. Tube purists still say they suck but compared to what they used to be like --- its light years better.

http://www.amazon.com/Line-Spider-Guitar-Combo-Amplifier/dp/B000JKVLE0
Heres a popular one Line6 Spider 15 watt. Around the 100 range a 15 watt with 8" speaker is a common configuration. Line6 is famous for their POD which really kicked off the era of amp modeling. Its sold everywhere for 99 but Amazon has free shipping and you might not have sales tax.

If you go to MusiciansFriend.com, Music123.com, SamedayMusic.com, Zzounds.com, AmericanMusicalSupply.com, Woodwind and Brass and other well known online sites -- they pretty much have the same main stuff at similar prices. In the past there were tons of 100-120 amps that were similar to the Line6 and even more and more sub 80 buck amps though they often had 6 " speakers and even less features than the intro amps in the 100 range.

They even had waves of inexpensive 20-30 watt amps and even 5 watt and 5+ watt tube amps intermiitently. With cheap chinese manufacturing there were waves of new amps that were intro-ed then cleared out after a few years and then a new wave of cheap amps would come on the scene again.

Ill give you my impression of the Line6 --- because it was so cheap I got one for a cheap practice amp. Im disappointed. IIt replaced a horredous really old SS Fender dinky 15 watt SS amp I got in LA. It is BAAAAAD. Its like how I described the early SS amps -- flat, tinny, dead , sterile sounding. Virtually no sustain or air, no bass and very weak mid and dull highs. When you dial in distortion with a button its harsh and buzzy. Compared to that the Line6 is fantastic. Its also got some built-in effects and has 4 modes -- clean, crunchy, distortion and hyper distortion.

Most beginners would probably like it though its hard to get a a usable good tone out of it. You do get passable OK tones for goofing around, if you are a beginner but you cant escape some of that dead , sterile feel of SS. I would probably explore the option of getting a multi-effects pedal later or even now though the Line6 does have effects built in. I tell you this though --- this amp will be 1000 times better than the stereo you are playing through. Ive had friends when they were kids playing through stereos -- horrible.

Strangely enough I have a Line6 POD 2 which I was using as a frontend effects box (amp modeling/compressor/delay) and it bizarrely worked OK with the horrendous old cheapo Fender SS amp I had making it light years better. I thought it would work even better with the Line6 - its horrible with the Line6 amp. Its also horrible with the Laney 15 I bought years ago to get back into tube amps. Im not sure why. I also got a PODX3 which Im having problems with.

I got so sick of all of this I am looking for dependable decent setup at a reasonable cost so I dont have to mess with all these different cheapo things over and over again. Im exploring different tube amp options (Bugera, Crate etc) and a decent inexpensive strat. I have a really old Fender strat which looks much worse than those relic strats and its pretty beat up. Also have a Custom Les Paul thats beat up. Im thinking Lite Ash Strat and maybe a cheap PRS. Its not even tube amps --- I used to have several tube amps from the Princeton Fender, slight bigger one and a 100 watt Peavey. Not all tube amps are created equal. One guy I knew had a Marshall and it blew away anything I had. He also later bought a MusicMan which also blew away most of the cheaper tube stuff. Ive looked around and I dont like a lot of cheaper tube stuff Ive seen too. Im not that crazy about my Laney 15 which is hyped all over the net. I did see one girl playing like Robben Ford (Youtube)--- she did get an amazing tone from the Laney 15 -- but Im not sure what effects she added. There a lot of bad tone out there with tube amps Ive heard.

They are clearing out some tube amps and other things so there are a few deals floating around too. MF and Music123 are bizarre as usual -- they had all kinds of things listed the last week up until last night which disappeared today. They (both are owned by the same firm) sent me some bizarro "sale" a custom quote good for 10 days which I have to call or add to my cart. I add the thing they hyped to my cart and its the same price as usual, the same price in fact its sold at all the other stores -- another fake sale.

[The_Linux_Crew]

I can guarantee, without much chance of being contradicted.....You will not find a better deal than this

http://shop.firstact.com/PublicStore/product/30-watt-1X10-Guitar-Combo-Amp,560,94.aspx

First Act 30 watt amp! If you want to make it better for the future as well? Add the footswitch..

http://shop.firstact.com/PublicStore/product/V-stack-Foot-Controller,566,94.aspx

Should be less than $120 shipped!

Agreed. This is the best value right now. Especially with the footswitch. Basically, you are getting a $250 amp for under $100 with pedal.