To bassists who also play guitar...

[Cochise]

OK so this is probably not the right forum for this but I am a long time bass player who has just acquired a guitar. I am looking for suggestions for a moderately priced guitar practice amp. I was looking at a Line 6 Spider III 15 watt but heard a few non specific negative comments. Any suggestions?

Thanks

Neil

[dustdbass6]

Depends on the type of stuff you're going to be playing. Personally I'd stay away from solid state for guitar. The tone in tubes is too good for guitars to not have. I have a Crate 50 W tube amp that I've gigged with for about 5 years.

[bad_andy]

Tubes are good but pricey. I like the Vox combos that feature amp modeling. Lot of bang for the buck. Still, if you can afford tubes, they are hard to beat.

[geremia]

define 'moderately priced'

[Nedmundo]

Depends on your price range and how you want to use it. I bought a Roland Cube 60, which is an excellent all-around amp with built-in effects and models. It's more than just a practice amp, because it has the juice for rock gigs in small clubs. If you don't need that much punch, the Cube 30 would be great.

In my last band, the guitarists used it to record some of our EP, even though they had tube amps available. So they were definitely impressed with it. If I played guitar in a band, however, I'd get a tube amp and use the Roland as a backup. It's great, but can't duplicate the beauty of tubes for guitar.

[coolrunner989]

+1

go tube if you can - even if its only 15-30w you'll still have tones of power and tone. Mesa is my personal fav, but i cant afford it seeing how little I play electric guitar (mostly bass and classical guitar right now)

if you want SS and modeling, I think Vox is the way to go - very good tone, good control interface, and middle of the road price-wise

[JimmyM]

Originally Posted by bad_andy

Tubes are good but pricey. I like the Vox combos that feature amp modeling. Lot of bang for the buck. Still, if you can afford tubes, they are hard to beat.

For guitar, I think they're the only choice. However, a lot of kids these days use SS guitar amps and like them. Trent Reznor is one of the biggest fans of solid state guitar amps. But I'm old school, so I think there has to be tubes for guitar. You don't need a lot of wattage, though. I heard a guy playing an Epiphone Valve Jr. through a homemade 2x12" cab that sounded excellent. Also, check out some vintage amps...I recently bought an old Airline tube amp from 1962 that is an excellent amp.

[Swift713]

It really depends on what sort of guitar you're playing. If you're just practicing and on a budget then the digital modeling route may be right for you. I kind of liked the Roland cube amps, I think the micro and the 30 watt were nicer than the 15 IMO. At rehearsal the other night the guitar player used a Vox Tonelab right into the PA and it sounded great. For "real" amps, you have to test drive them, I really liked the Roland JC 120 and JC 77 for my hollowbody and a Fender Champ for solid. The Fender 59 Bassman reissue is nice and it woks for bass too.

[waveman]

used peavey classic or delta blues is a great amp for the money. also look at the peavey ultra combo amps.

[ksandvik]

Line 6 Spiders are good -- for playing back home and in studios (not that a Line6 Pod of GearBox/PodFarm is better for recording purposes.) They fall somewhat flat on stage as the mid-range boost is not there compared with tube-amps, resulting in somewhat thinner sound. I know as I once placed a Line 6 Spider III next to an old Marshall combo. The Line 6 Spider (used one purchased a week earlier) was quickly sold and I switched back to my Marshall JCM900 combo that has the same punch needed for stage use.

Now, you could get different answers from different musicians, that's for sure.

If I would get an amp today, well I would get a Pod X3 or used Pod XT and hook it into a good keyboard amp, you get all the nice modeling of the Line 6 Pod algorithms. It might be good to get a cheaper tube amp for the amp section, but any decent keyboard amp is fine. This is for a case where you need to play multiple styles and sounds.

If you go for hard rock or metal, get a Marshall or a similar amp. For blues, a Marshall or Fender Twin is a good choice. Check out Guitar Player as the ads and the articles give good indications what amp is suitable for what purpose. Finally, use your ear. If you think that the Line 6 III Spider mid-range is beefy, then it's quite OK to get one.

PS: The combination of my Pod XT for guitar via a MarkBass CMD 121P also sounds really great, so that's one way to actually make use of a good bass amp in combination with a guitar preamp/amp simulator.

[Eilif]

My dad has the carvin vintage 16, and he loves it.

https://www.carvinguitars.com/produc...duct=VINTAGE16

It's plenty loud for practice, recording, and coffehouse gigs, etc and sounds great.

If it's low price you are looking for, the fender champion 500, Epiphone valve jr, or the new gretch (forget what it's called) are all good sounding 5 watt all tube amps that can be had for well under 200 bucks. Lots of good info on the net about modding them also, if that's your thing.

Lastly, my brother speaks very well of Blackheart amps. Supposedly made by the guy who designed the Epi valve jr.

[Deville2Rocket]

If you like Fender-style cleans, but want it to bark when you crank it, the Blues Jr. is hard to beat.

Even the cork-sniffers at TGP agree with that statement. I should know... I'm one of 'em!

[Willy2911]

I use fender, and Peavy amps for my Guitars they are both really Great, It just depends on what you want, and how much you can afford.

[RickenBoogie]

I don't play guitar anymore, but when I did, it was through either a Vox AC15, or a Hot Rod Fender.

[Liko]

Originally Posted by dustdbass6

Depends on the type of stuff you're going to be playing. Personally I'd stay away from solid state for guitar. The tone in tubes is too good for guitars to not have. I have a Crate 50 W tube amp that I've gigged with for about 5 years.

Well, you're right in that I wouldn't recommend a solid-state guitar amp. However, you're a bassist. You have bass gear. You actually don't really need a dedicated guitar amp. I've been plugging into a Peavey 2x10 combo since I bought my first electric guitar (I now have a Strat and SG; pretty much covers the bases). What I like is that a decent bass combo, solid-state or tube, retains that bassy goodness when you plug in a skinny-stringer. Also, guitar amps produce a highly colored tone. Your better bass amps try not to color tone, so what you end up with is a super-clean, hi-fi sound that's excellent for rhythm work and even better for acoustic-electrics. You want dirt? Get a tube screamer. I personally use my ODB-3, and love it; other guitarists complain about how they lose all their low end when they hit their distortion pedal/channel. That simply is not a concern with a pedal designed for bass.

Now, there's one thing solid-state will never do, and that's give you tubey overdrive. SS distortion pedals are great; as much dirt as you want. However, overdrive requires a different level of amp clipping that analog solid state simply cannot do. If you have to have that tone, you need a tube amp, no two ways about it. There are some OD pedals that use tubes, but a tube gain stage is only a part of the equation; real OD comes from pushing the power amp tubes, which have a far higher wattage capacity, and so will break up more gradually.

[baba]

Not sure what "moderately priced" is to you, but check out the Fender Blues Jr. and the Hot Rod Deluxe.

[dean owens]

Originally Posted by Cochise

I am looking for suggestions for a moderately priced guitar practice amp.

what is moderately priced? $300.00? $600.00? ?????
is this just for around the house?
what sort of music do you play (what sound are you looking for)?

i agree with others in the tube front. and if you get something small enough you can do away with pedals for dirt IMO there is no other way to play.

[AxtoOx]

Originally Posted by dustdbass6

Depends on the type of stuff you're going to be playing. Personally I'd stay away from solid state for guitar. The tone in tubes is too good for guitars to not have. I have a Crate 50 W tube amp that I've gigged with for about 5 years.

Well I paly both. Started on Guitar. A Tube Overdrive is as good as it gets. You can throw out some of your pedals.
I play an all tube Marshall dual super lead. Tubes are more important on guitar IMO. Hybrids are fine for bass. I also play an Ampeg SVT CL for bass so I'm tube all the way.

A lot of people make good Hybrid guitar amps that would suit your needs from about 30 or 40 watts on up. I have a little 40 hybrid Marshall that kicks a....

[Ezbass]

By far and away the best guitar amp I've ever owned is the Fender '59 Reissue Bassman. But they're expensive, so now that I don't play guitar so much I use a Tech21 Trademark 60 which despite being fully solid state has great valve like tone. Even Les Paul himself uses one!

[lunarpollen]

I'd recommend one of the silver-grilled Vox Valvetronix combos. I am a tube fanatic but Vox really nailed it with these amps.