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Amp Help for new player


Tad

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Stay away from effects at first. A mistake some newer players make is to rely too heavily on effects/distortion. Take those away and they suddenly can't play anything interesting.

 

Spend the $$ on a good amp for now. Check out used amps. Get a tube amp in the 15-40 watt range. The Traynor is a good choice. So is a Fender Super Reverb reissue.

"You never can vouch for your own consciousness." - Norman Mailer
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I would bet that there are a lot of used amps in stores in Florida, especially in bigger cities. Go try them all out!

 

Seriously, try as many different amps out as you can, and be realistic about your volume needs. (Besides, the difference between a 50-watt amp and an otherwise identical 100-watt model is about six measily decibels... !) Look for an amp that you like the sound, and sounds, of; but overall, remember that no one amp can do everything. The more an amp is designed to be a do-everything "Swiss Army Knife", the less convincing it will be in any one mode. Some may come fairly close, but... listen for what sounds good to you, and ask a lot of questions, taking the answers with a grain of salt sometimes. Then come back here and tell us all about what you found.

Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do?

 

~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~

_ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _

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Let me echo going with lower wattage. I'd suggest staying 30 or less, with 15 to 20 being the goal. Otherwise, you'll never get the amp past "2" at home and you won't get the tone you want. Then you'll start adding effects pedals in search of your tone at low volume, and the next thing you know you've got 15 pedals and a lot of noise.

 

Even a 30 watt amp in your house is going to peel the paint when cranked to 6 or better on the master volume. My Marshall DSL201 (20 watt) is still too loud past "5" in the small rehearsal room I've got at home. The "classic rock" tone is found in that high master volume range where the power tubes get distorted.

 

My personal opinion is that's the reason there are always so many marshall 100w heads and combos for sale -- you can't ever push that much amp outside of an arena, and I think the owner finally gets tired of trying to dial in his tone between 1 and 2 on the volume!

 

Mesa makes some nice 15 to 25 watt amps that kick (subway rocket is nice).

 

As the Right Honorable Mr. O'Shite recommends, hit your local stores over a few weekends and play everything.

 

Good luck.

www.ruleradio.com

"Fame is like death: We will never know what it looks like until we've reached the other side. Then it will be impossible to describe and no one will believe you if you try."

- Sloane Crosley, Village Voice

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so basically i was a dumbass for getting a 65 watt 1x12 for $280 for my first amp....damn, oh well too late now....anyway, i wassa upgrade soon, ill probably definatly be buying a marshall 4x12 cab but suggestions on a head would be great, i play classic rock/metal and would be playing live gigs but nothin arenan size... :D

sorry for bummin off the post...

 

ryan

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try a tech 21 10, its 20 watt 10 solid state that sounds very good for that kind of money $250. It has a simple tone stack setup, will play clean and crunchy, not too loud and has a nice reverb, headphone jack and a direct out do you can run it into a board or computer for recording.

 

Since youre just starting out this will get you most of the sounds you want, you can use it to jam as long are youre not playing with real loud drummers and guys with 4-12 stacks.

 

Once you get a handle on what you want to sound like you can go to tubes but you cant beat this baby for versatility and sound quality and it has a lot of nice features for not too much dough!

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A Fender Hotrod Deluxe will get you more than enough volume, you get "clean", "drive" and "more drive" so you can go from funk rhythm to heavy rock and cover everything in between, and they are not too expensive
- due to recent cutbacks, the light at the end of the tunnel has been SWITCHED OFF
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Depending on if you're hard set on a tube amp or not, I have a couple of options for you. Line6 makes a great product in their 112, 210, & 212 Spider II amps. They have all your effects built in & range from $300 to $480. Randall also has some great amps for that price. The 100w RG100SC has two channels with dual gain stages, reverb, & stereo chorus....this amp really rocks. They also make a RG75D that has all of the above plus 16 digital effects built in. Let me know if I can help with anything else.

 

Chris

Check out www.tulsaband.com for great prices on gear.
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