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Good Looking AND Playing Amp

ajsmcs

ajsmcs

Guest
Oct 15, 2014
19
3
37
#1
Hello,

This is my first post here. I've been playing guitar for about 10 years now. My fiancee had always wanted to learn to play bass, so I bought her a Sterling SUB4 Stingray for Christmas last year. Really great bass for the money.

I recently bought myself a Vox AC15, and she's become rather smitten with it, particularly the way it looks. (Isn't it great when you buy something that sounds fantastic, but is pretty enough that your SO lets you keep it in the living room?)

Anyway, now she wants to upgrade from her (actually my...) little bass practice amp. She hasn't progressed far enough to know exactly what she'd like out of it, soundwise. But she'd really like something that looks as classy as my AC15. Yeah, I know. Priorities...

Basically, here are my requirements:

-Must look nice enough to be displayed in a living room.
-Must sound great. I don't really know enough about bass amps to describe what I'm looking for, so all I can ask for is "good."
-Must be loud enough to cleanly keep up with my AC15, which is a 15W tube amp. It gets pretty loud.
-I'm looking for something in the $200-$400 range. I'm pretty flexible on price. I'd rather buy nice now and have it last. I don't mind buying used provided it looks like new.

Any recommendations or advice are fully welcome.

Thanks in advance!
~Andrew


AC15C1-large.jpg
 
#6
That amp is really sweet David. In pristine condition too.

Last week I went to play with some guys in a town near the city. Met in a new facility where I got to use a Mesa amp though an Ampeg cabinet. Sounded good once I found where the mute switch was hidden.

Back on topic, for guitar there was a nice AC30. First time I ever saw one in a rehearsal studio. I tried to pick it up and it was just as heavy as I remembered. :D
 
#8
B100R has a cool vintage look and is also one of the best amps ever made. ;)

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Emperor cabs look more like furniture than any other cab I've seen. Too bad they are on permanent hiatus or something. I own two of their guitar cabinets and they are phenomenal in every way (cant speak to the design of their bass cabs though).

rpih218oiqum1jlpdbv1.jpg
 
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#9
chaosMK said:
Emperor cabs look more like furniture than any other cab I've seen. Too bad they are on permanent hiatus or something. I own two of their guitar cabinets and they are phenomenal in every way (cant speak to the design of their bass cabs though).

rpih218oiqum1jlpdbv1.jpg
Click to expand...

Dude from Emperor set up Dictator ow. Although I dunno what 'amplifacation' is. http://dictatoramps.com/
 
#11
BassmanPaul said:
That amp is really sweet David. In pristine condition too.

Last week I went to play with some guys in a town near the city. Met in a new facility where I got to use a Mesa amp though an Ampeg cabinet. Sounded good once I found where the mute switch was hidden.

Back on topic, for guitar there was a nice AC30. First time I ever saw one in a rehearsal studio. I tried to pick it up and it was just as heavy as I remembered. :D
Click to expand...

Somehow I always liked the Fawn covering.

I was going to say that my amp is in good shape because it isn't that old. Then I realized that I've had it for 30 years.

They are nice amps that love to be cranked. The thing about an AC-30 is that with a Telecaster you can use them to peel the paint off the walls. :)
 
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#17
If you want something that looks nice you might want to glance at the Ampeg "micro stacks" (Micro-CL and VR Micro). They basically look like a classic SVT stack but shrunk down to the size of an end table. I can't comment about the capabilities as I haven't owned one, but my gf saw one at Sam Ash with me and kept commenting on how cute it looked. I think Acoustic also has one the MKII maybe?

upload_2014-10-16_11-14-23.png

Ampeg mirco-cl with bass for scale (no banana available)
 
#19
Thanks for your responses!

beans-on-toast, I totally agree with you. I actually went to the store that day to buy a used one of these I had seen on sale two days previous:
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That blue just looked awesome.

But when I went there to actually buy the darn thing, the salesman told me it had been bought the day prior. Buuttttt...they happened to have a standard black AC15 that looked basically brand new at a very good price, and I figured I might as well take the opportunity.

I don't regret it one bit. While I didn't like it as much as the blue one at first, the classic Vox colors just really grew on me.

And, I just so happen to play it with an AmStd Telecaster :cool:. That sucker just cranks.
 
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