Amp / Backup for Gigs

[Jeru]

I gig 2-3 times monthly, ebbs and flows seasonally, so maybe 20-24 each year.
The old Princeton is in great shape, has not let me down.. Yet.

Keep thinking about having some sort of backup plan to finish a gig if my amp,
uh, decides not to.

I have a Crate powerblock that I sometimes throw in the car, but it's mostly set
up a as part of my thrown-together ~PA and I'd like to be able to just leave it be.
Also, I'd like a smaller/more elegant solution, something small enough to bring all
the time in the hope that I never have to use it.

- There are Amp Pedals -- EHX Magnum 44, Mooer Baby Bomb 30 (BB30 is TINY, could be great)
- There are small (Class D) amps like the Elf and TC BAM200 (..?)
- There are pedals / sims.
(Strangely, for the last year or so I ws thinking about getting myself a Bad Monkey
because folks say that the PA out on that was passable and they were cheap.
Until -- you know, the craziness. Ha / oh well)

So -- back to the venn diagram -- Good vs. Cheap vs. Practicality (small size for gigging). PICK TWO

I'd ideally like to spend less than $100. Heck -- I'd ideally like to never use the thing.

Thoughts, ideas, suggestions -- welcome.
Encouragement -- sure.
Admonishment -- join the club.

Thanks.

________________
Some great reading:

Pedalboard sized power amps

Does anyone have any experience with this subset of the market? Specifically the Quilter Interblock 45, the Seymour Duncan PowerStages, the EHX 44... The appeal of cutting setup down to a pedalboard and a speaker cabinet is growing on me. The amp I'm using with this setup now is a 94w solid...

www.tdpri.com

Solid state surprise - TE Elf with a Tele

I play electric & steel guitar in a rockabilly & classic country band, 1940/50s stuff, lots of songs where Grady Martin played on the original recordings. My band recently added a guy playing a full drum kit (we had a guy just playing a snare drum with brushes before), and ever since I have...

www.tdpri.com

 

[ScottTunes]

I've been taking a Quilter Interblock 45 to gigs as a back-up amp. It can go to the amp, and PA as needed. It's just shy of being loud enough for clean work, but add a touch of gain, and it's loud enough.

I recently picked up the Microblock 45 because it is even smaller.

The reason I don't just convert to SS or Quilter from toobs, is because of this little sparkle and some harmonics that come from tubes, but not from SS or other non tube amps.

It's a personal thang...

 

[runstendt]

Since you're currently using a Princeton, I assume that you do not have any (or much) guitar coming through a monitor. If your backup is a modeling pedal or pedal-based amp it would require you to heavily change your setup and/or the mix. To keep things simple, I would use a solid state amp as a backup, probably a Peavey Envoy or Vypyr. Stuff by Peavey is fairly bulletproof as well as inexpensive for what you get (there's two circles on your Venn diagram). As much as I swear by modeling pedals, if my current rig was based around a combo amp, then my backup rig would have to be too.

 

[BlueShadows]

Under $100 for anything gig-worthy might be a stretch, but there may be an alternative in that price range. In my mind, if an amp like a Princeton is going to fail mid-gig it would be 95% caused by a tube failing. I used to haul around a backup amp, but now just have spare tubes in the event of failure. Cheaper and easier than a second amp, but certainly not as certain. (In the event of really important gigs I will still haul a second amp, but most gigs I am now just carrying spare tubes in my guitar case just like spare strings.)

 

[Marc Morfei]

Quilter Superblock. It does a pretty good Princeton and is small and not very expensive.

 

[teletail]

I’ll never understand people who don’t bring backup guitars and amps. It’s so little effort, but so important if needed. The only gig I played without a backup was when I had a brand new amp. New amps don’t fail, right??? Half way through our first tune, it stopped working.

I don’t care how much maintenance you do on your amp and guitar, they are electrical and mechanical devices and have numerous points of failure. You can’t check everything every time.

Buy an old peavey solid state - they are cheap and last forever. Don’t forget to check it occasionally.

 

[Tim S]

Going on the premise of “under $100”, the absolute cheapest solution I can think of is to re-use your Princeton’s speaker (assuming it connects to the chassis via a 1/4” jack plug, otherwise you’ll need to buy a spade connector to 1/4” cable) & use a micro/nano head.

Now it’s a matter of wattage. If you can get by with 5w, you can pick your favorite flavor Hotone Nano Legacy head for ~$65 new. (There’s no model that sounds like a blackface though, so the closest choices are a tweed-like Mojo Diamond or a Vox AC-like British Invasion)

If you need more power, you can pick your favorite Vox MV50 head instead. Going into an 8ohm speaker, you get 25w. They retail for over $200 new, but I managed to get mine when they were on sale for $100-$130.

There are a lot of other options, including separate preamp & power amp pedals (or Quilters), but they cost more.

 

[uriah1]

Crate is great but watch for alternative. I got one that said x watts but only at certain ohm. Cut in half with other ohm.

 

[NoTeleBob]

I think a SS combo amp would be the plug-n-play best choice too. You don't want to be fooling with changing your entire configuration if your amp goes down mid gig. It's enough of a panic when that happens. A simple swap is the ticket.

Pick up a Peavey 1 x 12 trans tube amp. One of the 65 W amps, which most of them are, will keep up with whatever the Princeton would do. The trans tube sound isn't perfect but it would be fine as a back up.

 

[Jeru]

Going on the premise of “under $100”, the absolute cheapest solution I can think of is to re-use your Princeton’s speaker (assuming it connects to the chassis via a 1/4” jack plug, otherwise you’ll need to buy a spade connector to 1/4” cable) & use a micro/nano head.

Now it’s a matter of wattage. If you can get by with 5w...

To clarify, this is my plan -- get something to use with my Amp's speaker. Just unplug the combo's
speaker (1/4" jack) and insert a small (nano head/pedal amp) in the place of the Princeton chassis. The
Princeton is a Silverface (non-reverb), ~12-14 watts, has a 12" baffle and an Eminence Alessandro speaker.

I have plenty of amps, including a couple of SS combos. We play mostly bar gigs -- not high stakes. Not going
to bring an actual backup combo amp to gigs, just looking for a small ~head/pedal to have with me to get
through a set if ever needed. Thinking the TE-Elf may be the best of all worlds here (see RomanS' post,
linked above), but not cheap.

Thanks all for your thoughts.

 

[northernguitar]

I’m on the verge of going ampless. Next gig will be with my pedalboard and a modelling amp. My sound will be all through the PA, unless I choose to have a speaker on stage. My backup will be a Fender Mustang Micro.

Previously, I would never have gigged without a backup amp. It’s why I chose to use amp heads/cabinets over combos.

 

[Happy Enchilada]

2 suggestions that will save you from your dysfunctional amp:

1. Tech21 Fly Rig. Think of it as a bunch of amps and effects in a floor pedal. I believe they require a powered speaker, and I know they will run direct into a PA with flying colors.

2. Quilter makes a whole bunch of really decent SS amp-in-a-box or pedal devices. They will go direct into the speaker of your amp, or into the PA. Lots of love for Quilter on this forum.

 

[Guitarteach]

I usually have a spare combo for any big paying function gig.

I keep a DI box and a Boss GT100 fx in the spares kit for total breakdowns and as last resort the mixer has speaker sims I can add to my amps mic channel to let me get pedal board sounding decent enough to a break to get properly sorted.

Unless your speaker fails, the little vox MV50 AC units are pretty cool as an amp fix and could live in the back.

 

[Telecastoff1]

I bring a DV Mark Little 250M power head as a backup. I've never had to use it for that, but I have used it as a main gigging amp on several occasions, plugged into an old Bandmaster cab loaded with a Swamp Thang and a Texas Heat. Reliable, portable and good old Fender Tone!

 

[Tim S]

I usually have a spare combo for any big paying function gig.

I keep a DI box and a Boss GT100 fx in the spares kit for total breakdowns and as last resort the mixer has speaker sims I can add to my amps mic channel to let me get pedal board sounding decent enough to a break to get properly sorted.

Unless your speaker fails, the little vox MV50 AC units are pretty cool as an amp fix and could live in the back.

I like the AC model of the Vox MV50 best, but as a backup to a Princeton, I’d recommend the “Clean” model instead.

But, unless you’re buying one used, it’s over the “less than $100” target of the OP.

 

[unixfish]

To clarify, this is my plan -- get something to use with my Amp's speaker. Just unplug the combo's
speaker (1/4" jack) and insert a small (nano head/pedal amp) in the place of the Princeton chassis. The
Princeton is a Silverface (non-reverb), ~12-14 watts, has a 12" baffle and an Eminence Alessandro speaker.

I have plenty of amps, including a couple of SS combos. We play mostly bar gigs -- not high stakes. Not going
to bring an actual backup combo amp to gigs, just looking for a small ~head/pedal to have with me to get
through a set if ever needed. Thinking the TE-Elf may be the best of all worlds here (see RomanS' post,
linked above), but not cheap.

Thanks all for your thoughts.

I was thinking along these lines, until I thought about an amp falling over in a van / trunk and having something punch a hole in the speaker. I guess it depends on where / what you are worried about failures.

An inexpensive solid state would make a good backup - Peavy Bandit comes to mind - but $100? Maybe for $200.

My first though was a Tone Master Princeton, but that $100 limit eliminated that.

 

[omahaaudio]

Find a Quilter 101 Mini.

 

[omahaaudio]

I’ll never understand people who don’t bring backup guitars and amps.

They are poorer than you.

It's always a problem getting the rich to understand the problems of ordinary people...

 

[northernguitar]

They are poorer than you.

It's always a problem getting the rich to understand the problems of ordinary people...

I think he just means that you take on a responsibility to the venue and more importantly, your band. Letting them down due to equipment failure is unacceptable when you agree to take on a gig. The show must go on....

 

[Jeru]

I was thinking along these lines, until I thought about an amp falling over in a van / trunk and having something punch a hole in the speaker. I guess it depends on where / what you are worried about failures.

An inexpensive solid state would make a good backup - Peavey Bandit comes to mind - but $100? Maybe for $200.

Appreciate your post. I'm really not worried about speaker failure / damage.

Read your second sentence and just had to respond -- I have three old SS Peaveys,
including a Bandit 112 and a Special 130 -- paid $40 and $125 for them, respectively.
Dollar-per-Decibel and Dollar-per-Pound they're the best deals out there..!

That said -- The point of this thread was to get ideas for ~pedal-sized solutions
because I don't want to lug a second amp.