Good new amps for decent $$$

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Telecicle

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For amps that sound good, are fairly reliable, and don't cost a fortune, I don't think it gets much better than the Fender Blues Deluxe RI, or Peavey Classic 30. I like the DeVille RI 4x10, and Classic 50 2x12, too, but they're heavy and have too much power for 99% of my gigs. With any of these amps, add a compressor, and your favorite Telecaster, and you can just hit the ground running for just about any roots music gig. I sell guitars and amps, both new and vintage for a living, and I can't think of a better way to spend your amp money. What do y'all think? (For the record, I'm not a Peavey dealer, either. I just like their amps.)
 

Wally

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telecide wrote: " I sell guitars and amps, both new and vintage for a living, and I can't think of a better way to spend your amp money. What do y'all think?"

I think that your testimony dictates that there is no better way for YOU to spend YOUR amp money than to purchase and use these amps that you are testifying about. My money is another story, and never the twain shall meet. Everyone has to please his/herself, n'cest pa?
 

Telecicle

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I think the point that I was trying to make is that if you're gonna play out at a basic level, you can't go wrong with these amps. A friend of mine who plays with Jon Cleary and Bonnie Raitt uses a DeVille Reissue. Admittedly, these gigs are more about subtlety and taste than being a honky-tonk super hero, but he's still gotta hold his own against a B-3, and a horn section, which ain't easy. Another dude I know has gigged a 4x10 Blues DeVille for 10 years without any problems. He had his amp in for repair awhile back with a microphonic preamp tube. That's 10 YEARS 2-3x a week, with nothing but a microphonic preamp tube for trouble. I know a couple of other guys that have similar stories about Peavey Classic amps. More money can be spent on a guitar amp, of course, but WHY? A band's sound, like a chain, is only as good as it's weakest link, anyway, and that's true only if you're dry in the room, with nobody mic'ed up. If the gig is big enough to mike, you're only gonna sound as good as your front of house and monitor engineers let you sound, anyway.
 

sidneystreet

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Telecicle said:
If the gig is big enough to mike, you're only gonna sound as good as your front of house and monitor engineers let you sound, anyway.

Well said. That is one of the reasons I try to NEVER fret too much about my tone on stage. If I can hear a little bit of everything, I just play the best I can and hope the FOH is decent. Control the things you can, and forget about the rest. Truly, what other option do you really have?
 

Tremo

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There's been PLENTY of threads here and elsewhere about the problems with the Blues/HotRod series of CRAPPY amps. (Did you bother to search?) Their issues are well known and documented. If you want to come here and pump them up, you just lose your own credibility, because the vast body of evidence says otherwise. You aren't talking to a bunch of n00bs here, pal.

Plus you admit that you're a dealer. Agenda?

And yes, there's MUCH better ways for me to spend my dough than on crappy mass produced modern Fenders and PVs. If you like 'em, more power to ya, whatever floats yer boat. Have a nice day.

IMO, YMMV, etc.
 

Tim Armstrong

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I was just talking to another guitarist about amps, and we both agreed that 99% of the time, audiences just plain don't care what your amp sounds like, as long as it doesn't actively suck. My brother plays through a very sweet-sounding Deluxe Reverb, but sometimes he uses his backup amp, a Peavey Transtube. Does the barroom audience notice or care? Heck no.

However, WE care, and playing through an amplifier that WE really like helps us to play better.

I just bought a particularly sweet Princeton Reverb (see other thread!), not because my now-sold Traynor wasn't a fine amp (it was!), but because I'm even happier when I play through a PR. I'd note that I bought it from a good friend, who gave me a great deal on it. Less than a Blues Deluxe, more than a Classic 30.

...for a purely classic hand-wired Fender tube amp, a lifetime amp for me!

Cheers, Tim
 

Wally

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Tim Armstrong said:
I was just talking to another guitarist about amps, and we both agreed that 99% of the time, audiences just plain don't care what your amp sounds like, as long as it doesn't actively suck. My brother plays through a very sweet-sounding Deluxe Reverb, but sometimes he uses his backup amp, a Peavey Transtube. Does the barroom audience notice or care? Heck no.

However, WE care, and playing through an amplifier that WE really like helps us to play better.

I just bought a particularly sweet Princeton Reverb (see other thread!), not because my now-sold Traynor wasn't a fine amp (it was!), but because I'm even happier when I play through a PR. I'd note that I bought it from a good friend, who gave me a great deal on it. Less than a Blues Deluxe, more than a Classic 30.

...for a purely classic hand-wired Fender tube amp, a lifetime amp for me!

Cheers, Tim

Tim, for the part I agree with you....except when I am in the audience or playing. Drunks don't hear much of anything except their own voices..and they can't remember what they heard anyway.
My personal point of view is that I dono't play for anyone except me. If someone else enjoys it, fine.
My wife is a non-musician who can and does hear the differences. Early in our relationship, we went to hear a band out of Dallas play here in Lubbock. The guitar player was a hot player, and I was looking forward to hearing him. He was playing through a RI '59 Bassman. I don't know how it was biased, how he was running his tones, or anything else about his set-up. All I know is that we left after one set because his amp sounded like the worst POS solid state thing you ever heard. My wife said: "Why is his sound so thin?" Some people listen, some hear, and some walk away when the sound is not good. Hey, the drunks are what makes the bar money, so if you don't upset them you are allright.
 

Telecicle

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Tremo said:
There's been PLENTY of threads here and elsewhere about the problems with the Blues/HotRod series of CRAPPY amps. (Did you bother to search?) Their issues are well known and documented. If you want to come here and pump them up, you just lose your own credibility, because the vast body of evidence says otherwise. You aren't talking to a bunch of n00bs here, pal.

Plus you admit that you're a dealer. Agenda?

If you'd bother to check my post history, you'd know that I've NEVER used this forum to sell ANYTHING. I love telecasters and that's why I'm here, OK? Although I'm a dealer, that doesn't mean that I have a bottomless pit of money or endless supply of gear to go play gigs with. I like these amps for what they cost, and what you can do with them, and that's all my post was about. Don't spin MY post to address YOUR issues, whatever they may be.
 

Telecicle

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Old Doc Skinner said:
I think most folks in NOLA have the same aganda right now.

You're absolutely right, but I have kept my agenda as far away from this forum as possible. The only folks on this forum that my shop has sold ANYTHING to were our customers long before I contributed here.
 

Old Doc Skinner

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Telecicle,

The only agenda I'm talking about is getting dry, getting clean, getting back on your feet and rebuilding your life. I hope you're doing OK down there, and I think that Tremo's response was a bit of a flame. Looks like Arhooliegeorge agrees.

Best wishes.

Mike

PS Jon Cleary rocks!
 

Telecicle

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Tim Armstrong said:
However, WE care, and playing through an amplifier that WE really like helps us to play better.

Of course you are absolutely right. I had hoped that nobody would take my post personally, or misunderstand it's intent. (A lofty goal, to be sure.) The thing is, I know a lot of guys that lost EVERYTHING in the hurricane, and as a result, I can't keep the Fender Blues Tweed Reissue series in stock. I've heard plenty of guys sound GREAT in the room , or thru the mains with these amps, and they didn't have to break their kid's piggy bank, or go on some kind of Ebay crusade to get there. That's all I meant. BTW, nice score on the Princeton. I can't keep Princetons OR Deluxes of any kind in stock longer than a week, unless it's the DRRI. Those usually last 2-3 weeks. ;)
 

Tim Armstrong

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Telecicle said:
BTW, nice score on the Princeton. I can't keep Princetons OR Deluxes of any kind in stock longer than a week, unless it's the DRRI. Those usually last 2-3 weeks. ;)

Thanks. I got purely lucky!

I have several NOLA musican friends, y'all have my deepest mojo aimed at you!

Cheers, Tim
 

Telecicle

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Old Doc Skinner said:
Telecicle,

The only agenda I'm talking about is getting dry, getting clean, getting back on your feet and rebuilding your life. I hope you're doing OK down there, and I think that Tremo's response was a bit of a flame. Looks like Arhooliegeorge agrees.

Best wishes.

Mike

PS Jon Cleary rocks!

Thanks! I am very lucky in that all I lost in the storm was my job. (I used to be a lighting/production tech at the Convention Center) I like my current job a lot better, so I'm doing great. BTW, Jon Cleary's guitarist, Big D, is one of the dudes I'm talking about with the Blues DeVille reissue. I think he sounds like Cornell Dupree, and when you're that smooth, It probably doesn't matter what you're playing thru. He toured as Bonnie Raitt's guitarist a couple summers ago, and was using a Squier Strat for that gig.
 

Durtdog

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Telecicle--
I agree, I think the new Fenders do a good job live. I've used a Blues Deluxe a time or 3 with good results. I'll probably be flamed by some as an idiotic hack who doesn't "know tone" but for me they sound good. I played my first gig in 1973, and have most always used whatever current Fender amps were available to me.

I just don't understand the venom some people spit about others' choices of amps. Not everyone wants a vintage amp. I have a couple of small older Fenders, but for live performance I like using the new amps just fine.
 

dougb415

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Tremo said:
There's been PLENTY of threads here and elsewhere about the problems with the Blues/HotRod series of CRAPPY amps. (Did you bother to search?) Their issues are well known and documented. If you want to come here and pump them up, you just lose your own credibility, because the vast body of evidence says otherwise. You aren't talking to a bunch of n00bs here, pal.

Wow! :rolleyes:

Okay, to take the heat off of the Fenders (which I like, but then again, what do I know?) I'll sully my non-reputation by stating in public that I just bought an Epi Triggerman and am having a blast playing my MIM Tele Standard thru it.

It looks cool too.
 
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