Player's advice on amps

Good afternoon guys from a new member of this forum. I hope my question has not been beat to death already.

I play at church and would like to upgrade my amp from a 30 watt ss to a 15 - 22 watt tube amp. I also would like to use pedals and get away from some of the the built in effects on my amp. I see more players using pedals and think that one can get better tone and effects that way. I am only thinking of using a couple of pedals. My budget is up to $700.00.

My music tastes include classic rock, blues and country. I am not into metal.

So can you players recommend some amps that take pedals and is easy to operate and still be in my budget?

Thanks.

Very obvious choices to look at in music stores:

Fender deluxe reverb re-issue
Peavey classic 30
Vox ac15
Carvin nomad

Its all in the tasting though...

Welcome to the forum guitar59!

What speaker configuration are you contemplating? Pedals to do what?

To answer your question Cole, I am thinking of a combo type amp with one speaker (maybe two if it was light enough, ha!) and using a overdrive and maybe a chorus pedals. I already use a Boss TU1 so that would be there too. But I'm trying to keep it simple and have good cleans and some overdrive and sometimes slight distortion.

I know about the Fender Blues Jr., and the Peavey Classic. But I see that a lot of folks want to do mods to them. Since I am not good with electronics, I would prefer to just keep it simple and use playing style and the different pickup positions to alter the sound.

For pedals, you can never go wrong with the industry standards. Ibanez Tube Screamers are popular for a reason. So are BOSS overdrives. Neither will break the bank. Chorus, wahs, delays, etc, are all useless in the real world, you want a good clean/dirty sound to go back and forth with. The other effects are all seasonings that get overused (IMHO).

And a tuner pedal. You gotta have one.

For amps, you can never go wrong with the industry standards. Fender Deluxe Reverbs and Blues Juniors are popular for a reason. So are VOX AC15s, Crate Vintage Clubs/Palimino, Peavey Classics (newer) and Ampeg Jets. Neither will break the bank.


There's effects in 'em, but I'm fond of the Vox Valvetronix line. I always pluck around on them when I kill time at a guitar store. You can turn the effects off or use self-control when setting them. I use the Tonelab SE myself, which is the same thing in a pedalboard format.

peavey delta blues would be a good amp for you .cant help you with effects the effect i like is a sweet tele through a good tube amp........good luck

How much stage volume are you allowed, you might be better off with a SF Champ with pedals and micing in.

How much stage volume are you allowed, you might be better off with a SF Champ with pedals and micing in.

Exactly my thoughts too. If you play a 30 w SS today and want something similar volume wise then a 15-30 w tube amp would probably be too loud for comfort. Unless you want to keep it clean, of course. I used to own a Pro Jr and it was a friggin' loud 15 watts of ear cutting crap! JMHO!!! Most people really seem to like it a whole lot though, esp. after after swapping out the original speaker, something that I never did with mine.

I have no experience with the AC15 myself so please fill me in if there's anyone else who has. But my amp tech just told me that he gets loads of them in for repair for all kinds of reasons (circuitry, cabinetry, speakers, you name a problem and he's got a dead AC15 to match it). And they're not even good enough build quality to be worked on. But then again this is strictly his opinion!

Another definite +1 from the tips above is tele-t's. Try to find the-best-sounding-without-pedals amp that you can afford. No pedal can heal a crappy sounding amp. On the other hand a nice sounding amp makes most pedals unnecessary! The best players that I know of have nothing but a tuner between the guitar and the amp. With a responsive amp, you can go a long way just altering your picking style, attack et.c.

Noth much help I guess, sorry :sad:.
But once again, try to find a SF Champ that you can try out and see how you like it. Good luck in finding your amp!

Exactly my thoughts too. If you play a 30 w SS today and want something similar volume wise then a 15-30 w tube amp would probably be too loud for comfort. Unless you want to keep it clean, of course. I used to own a Pro Jr and it was a friggin' loud 15 watts of ear cutting crap! JMHO!!! Most people really seem to like it a whole lot though, esp. after after swapping out the original speaker, something that I never did with mine.

Another definite +1 from the tips above is tele-t's. Try to find the-best-sounding-without-pedals amp that you can afford. No pedal can heal a crappy sounding amp. On the other hand a nice sounding amp makes most pedals unnecessary! The best players that I know of have nothing but a tuner between the guitar and the amp. With a responsive amp, you can go a long way just altering your picking style, attack et.c.


I believe 4string has some good advice and probably a great pick for what you're used to volume wise. For worship duties... the Fender Pro Jr with some NOS tubes would be a perfect start... a Boss OD & chorus and you're there!

If I had to own only one amp, and that amp had to be a multi-task amp, I'd go for something a bit louder i.e. 40-50 watts and 1 or 2 12's, and find a nice sounding pedal/device to allow you to turn that amp down to meet the needs of the gig. So you need plenty of loud clean headroom. I also like to keep it compact, so I usually use nothing larger than 2x12's, and for some bar gigs, I wish that I had my old Peavey Bandit 65 back! The combination of it's clean headroom, nice spring reverb, and my Morley JD-10 device was equal to any tube amp I've own - and surpassed a few too - really!

And then there's the other side of the coin. I own a lot of amps and have tried all kinds of different rigs on stage. I've used Champs into cabs, Champs alone miked up, DR's cranked and turned around backwards, I have a Weber MASS attenuator that gets used from time to time... but my favorite setup for the past few years has been either my Pro Reverb or my Sovtek Mig-50 into a 2x12 cab (Emi Legend V12's). BIG clean headroom, BIG clean bottom end, and I use the JD-10 for my "regular" amp tone, and leave it turned on all the time. I keep the amps volume much lower this way, and the amps tubes last MUCH longer than if you crank it to 8 and use an attenuator. I get a really smooth tone, compared to the rattiness that some amps will have when cranked. Maybe some folks don't like that combination since it may be perceived as being a fake sound, as opposed to baking the tubes. Maybe a little too smooth.

There is no right or wrong way, but I just thought that I'd pass along my experiences. In the $700 range I'd say maybe look for a used DRRI, unless you need to be REALLY LOUD. They're a very loud 22 watts, and many here think they'd mate well with something like a Boss OD-3 to allow you to keep the amp volume down. That, or a Bad Monkey, which I've personally yet to try.

It's a never ending search, and once you think you've found YOUR tone, a couple weeks later you'll be ready to try something else. It never ends.

Welcome and good luck on your search!

Thanks for the replies so far, guys. I too agree that I don't need more than 15 watts in a tube amp. I also agree that using the amp as much as possible and not depend on pedals is the way to go. Thats the reason for only wanting a couple of pedals. The church auditorium will seat 500, and we have a sound system as well. So I will be mic'ing the amp so that I can put the tone I want to the sound guy. On the other hand, every now and then you will be at a jam with friends and it helps to hear yourself over the drummer and thats when just a little bit more muscle is needed from the amp.

I like the clean sound of the Fenders and the warm bluesy tones that can be brought out. I lean more towards the Fenders. I must admit that I am not familiar with the SF Champ. Is that a discontinued model? If I can find a used one, what would be a good price on one? How big are they and will it be too loud as a bedroom amp?

UV head and a decent 6V6 would get you there under 15 watts, and through the right speaker, louder than hell. Get it? For church! Can't please all the paple all the time, eh (tough crowd)?

You can play with the tubes (input, driver and power) and use like old RCA's through an old Jensen/Weber and get about every era Fender ever made out of that. It is just a great amp, but maybe too much for your budget? Mine would have been a great buy but I gave it away.

How's the Epiphone Valve Junior? I just picked one up on the strength of a recommendation of a friend, but it seems to be a pretty hit-or-miss unit: some are great, some are crummy. Is it a set-up issue, or are the units really that uneven in quality?

A Princteon Reverb or Deluxe Reverb (both currently reissued by Fender) is all you really need. A used Deluxe will be well within your range. The Princeton is too new to see much action on the used market yet, but give it time.