Light weight gear to recommend to the guitarists?

[Bredian]

Why? Because I always help my band mates set up and break down. Our last gig was easy, as the house provided a PA & decent drum set. Each band member made only two trips in.

Do 50 watt guitar combos with Neo speakers exist yet? Any good?



Currently, my lead guitarist uses a Bugera V5 (5watts, 1x8", 25lbs) for practice. Its an over achiever.

His main gear is a Marshall 50 watt 1x12 58lb 2 channel combo, which gives him plenty of stage volume anywhere we play, and it gets miked.

The tones generated with either of the above are fabulous.


In my last band, both guitarists played mainly through Fender Twins, weighing 85+ lbs. That's a lot of unnecessary weight, power and speaker (2) to get "the tone"... I've noticed since the lead player has down sized.

All this gear, even the small Marshall, outweighs my GK MB115s, each weighing around 35lbs.

[CL400Peavey]

I would look into a Fender Hod Rod Deluxe, 40 watt 112 combo. My drummer has one in his practice room and that thing is killer.

I also ordered a guitar cab for my dad for christmas. 112 cab made out of okoume ply with a Neo Eminence Tonkerlite speaker. Should come in around 20# or a tad less. Wasnt hugely expensive, and I dont have to pay shipping as Dave Homer of Gigmaster Soundworks is local to me.

[T-Bird]

Hi.

I would probably try to find a suitable neo driver for the Marshall.

AFAIK gear made just the light weight in mind doesn't quite yet exist for guitarists, mainly because as "heavy" the Fenders You mentioned are, they're still much lighter than the bass rigs of the same vintage. And easier to schlep.

Now that the tiny power class-A tube amps are even used by the pro's on tours, I doubt that there will be many "lightweight" rigs for guitarists anytime soon.
Those offerings are lightweight and powerful enough for majority of situations.

There's then obviously plethora of "pods" to choose from if minimalism is the goal, but as nice they're from the FOH persons POV, an old farts like me still think that "an amp is an amp" .

Regards
Sam

[chaosMK]

I think guitar equipment is already pretty light! You can get by with a 1x12 for most stage situations or 2x12 if you want to get loud. Even metal guys are going 2x12s these days, though an increasing number of "metal guys" apparently are bedroom jammers.

I don't like neos in general. Something thin or cardboard in the midrange about them (though I use a neo 1x12). They could be horrible for guitar. Eminence makes a 5lb Neo "Lil Texas."

As with bass gear, I prefer the heavy weight big stuff for guitar. Just sounds awesome. Any cab less than 90 lbs or head less than 45 is light to me.

[spacebassed]

I don't know what you'd consider "lightweight," but I have a Vintage 20 made by Rick Hayes @ Vintage Sound Amps. It's an AA1164 Princeton Reveb circuit with added midrange, reverb dwell, and presence controls. You can run 6v6's or 6L6's in it. All top quality parts (Sprague Orange Drop caps, Mercury Magnetics Transformers, etc.). It's also got a 12" Weber Cali (JBL clone) speaker instead of the inefficient 10's usually found in Princeton Reverb's. Awesome sound for it's size (same as a standard Princeton Reverb except 1-2" taller to accommodate the 12" speaker) - weighs 38 pounds. He also just started making a 35 watt amp with an AA964 circuit that fits in the same size cabinet - weighs 45 pounds.

[Downunderwonder]

Fender Blues Jr
Marshall 5
Orange Tiny Terror
THD Univalve
1x12 cab

[scottfeldstein]

Originally Posted by CL400Peavey

I would look into a Fender Hod Rod Deluxe.

Do not. Say. Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. I'm almost deaf from one of these deceptive little demons! Loud? I can't even hear you right now because my ears are still ringing from a year ago!

Still, if its super powers are used for good (weight savings) instead of evil (blowing me away when I'm on a 500w + 810), then maybe it's ok.

[Passinwind]

I'm considering doing a trade for this early 80s Fender 20 watter, a Princeton Reverb II. 1--12, 35 pounds. Much nicer clean sound than a Deluxe, with a very decent footswitchable lead boost circuit and a few other cool bells and whistles as well. Plenty of people are doing semi-clones of these nowadays, but the originals seemingly are not really all that hard to find either. You might also want to take a look at the AX84 website, lots of cool stuff there if you follow threads and links back to some of the commercial builders.

[spacebassed]

Originally Posted by Passinwind

I'm considering doing a trade for this early 80s Fender 20 watter, a Princeton Reverb II. 1--12, 35 pounds. Much nicer clean sound than a Deluxe, with a very decent footswitchable lead boost circuit and a few other cool bells and whistles as well. Plenty of people are doing semi-clones of these nowadays, but the originals seemingly are not really all that hard to find either.

Keep in mind that these are a completely different animal than the earlier blackface and silverface Princeton Reverbs.

[Passinwind]

Originally Posted by spacebassed

Keep in mind that these are a completely different animal than the earlier blackface and silverface Princeton Reverbs.

Yep, much much nicer in my book (I need the clean headroom), but definitely a lot louder in any case!

[FromTheBassMent]

I also play guitar, and while I am extraordinarily happy with the sound I get from my solid state MarkBass rig, for guitar I must have tubes. So...

Egnater Rebel-30 112. This brilliant design not only allows linear blending of 6V6 (Fender) and EL84 (Marshall) power tubes, it also has a wattage control that allows you to dial in any wattage between 1 watt and 30 watts in the output stage. At 1 watt cranked, you can get full-on Marshall stack rage at bedroom volumes. At 30 watts cranked it will hurt you. Add a gorgeous tone stack and some really musical bright, tight and voicing switches and independent reverbs for each channel, and an out-the-door price tag under a grand, this thing is a winner. I adore this amp (currently saving to upgrade from my Egnater Tweaker 15-watt combo, which is also a killer but must be miked in loud environments).

Weight? It's 50 lbs. For a tube amp with these features, I don't consider that excessively heavy. YMMV.

There are arguably better boutique amps (Dr. Z and Divided By 13 come to mind), but you won't recognize any weight savings and you'll pay three times the price. Egnaters are amazing bang for the buck.

And no, I do not work for or have an endorsement contract with Egnater. I wish!

[RickenBoogie]

I'm a firm believer that no guitarist ever needs more than 15 watts through a single 12. Great examples of this size guitar amp include- Vox AC-15, Fender Blue's Jr, Mesa Transatlantic 15, and a whole host of other awesome tone-monsters that will prevent future garage-rocking bassists from needing massive bass rigs to play along.

[CL400Peavey]

Originally Posted by scottfeldstein

Do not. Say. Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. I'm almost deaf from one of these deceptive little demons! Loud? I can't even hear you right now because my ears are still ringing from a year ago!

Still, if its super powers are used for good (weight savings) instead of evil (blowing me away when I'm on a 500w + 810), then maybe it's ok.

They are a killer little amp, and have a lot of tone to boot. I wish I could find one used with a blown speaker, would tear out the amp and load it in to a small case.

[Steve Dallman]

I put a Jensen Neo in my stepson's Mesa combo (Mk 1V). He plays jazz guitar in a Marine band. He loves it, and it is far lighter than the EV that was in there.

[tech21nyc]

Once you go the tube route any wattage amp is fairly heavy. Even solid state 212 combos aren't always light. If you want to cut down on weight with a tube guitar rig, go the head and cab route. Neo speakers will work but for an electric guitar application with a traditional tube amp they are not favored at all compared to Celestions.

[MyMusic]

I get by with a Carvin SX200 100W 2X12 COMBO. 46 lbs.

[jungleheat]

< 60 lbs is really not that bad for a gigging guitar setup. I mean, if you are playing "lighter" styles of music like pop, jazz, country, etc... you might be able to get away with saving 15-20 lbs or so, but at what cost? Going with a completely different setup (in terms of sound and controls, possibly features, etc...), and a 40 lb guitar combo still needs to be picked up like a box of records just like a 60 lb one, so you won't even save a trip to the car.

So in the case of a 50-60 lb 40-60w Marshall/Mesa/etc... 1x12 combo, I say hold what you got. Where the most potential for downsizing is, is guys playing in non-hard rock/metal bands using 2x12s and 4x12s (sometimes multiples of each) and using 80+ watts (I'm sure somewhere there is a dude playing in a country band with a 150w Mesa Triple Rec and a 4x12). The exception to this would be the Roland Jazz Chorus, which is a 60Wx2, 2x12 SS combo revered for it's excellent clean tones for a variety of genres (I've had one for about 13 years and it's amazing). But those only weigh about 70 lbs, so they really aren't too bad considering how much punch they pack (I held my own in a 7 piece loud rock band where the other guitarist, the bassist, and the keyboardist all played ridiculously loud, and then we had a violist and a trumpet on top of that).

But yeah, starting from scratch, some of the new "mini heads" coming out are pretty cool. Carvin has the V3M which is a 50w, 3 ch all tube head, is tiny/light and only costs maybe $500 or so. Pair that with a stout 25-40lb 1x12 and you're all set for most gigs. Mesa Transatlantic, Egnater Tweaker, etc... all compelling options for big tube tone out of tiny heads.

[scottfeldstein]

Originally Posted by jungleheat

The exception to this would be the Roland Jazz Chorus, which is a 60Wx2, 2x12 SS combo revered for it's excellent clean tones for a variety of genres (I've had one for about 13 years and it's amazing).

I used to know a dude who ran stereo, one side into the Jazz Chorus and the other into a Peavey 212 combo. He was also the first guy I knew to own a guitar synth. Remember the guitar with the odd stabilizer bar? Good times. Anyway, yeah, the Jazz Chorus did sound awesome.

[Passinwind]

Originally Posted by jungleheat

< 60 lbs is really not that bad for a gigging guitar setup. I mean, if you are playing "lighter" styles of music like pop, jazz, country, etc... you might be able to get away with saving 15-20 lbs or so, but at what cost? Going with a completely different setup (in terms of sound and controls, possibly features, etc...), and a 40 lb guitar combo still needs to be picked up like a box of records just like a 60 lb one, so you won't even save a trip to the car.

Not in my experience (definitely not hard rock or metal); but as always, just depends. The Princeton II I posted is definitely easy one hand carry material. My Fender 30 (35 watts, 2 X 10, 55+ lbs.) is barely so for me, but a bigger dude could probably hack it pretty easily. Either one would need to be miked in a club if clean sound is important though. The OP did mention that his guitarist is always miked, so now the question seems to be how much stage volume is needed.

[tjh]

in one group of old timers I play with one guitarist had a little Roland cube (40?) and now the other got the next size up (60?) .. they are both in their 60's and happy as larks ... I think they sound better than the old heavy gear they were moving around ... one is about 20# and the other I think he said a hair over 30# ...