Make sure you have a local tech that's certified to work on Blackstar amps. Nobody else has the schematics. The HT Club 40 is a great amp besides that issue; I like mine a lot.
I think we have radically different views of what a loud drummer is. I can't get on top of the band mix and maintain a clean tone using a 22 watt deluxe. This is why I use Twins. Clean and edge of breakup can be maintained and you can still get out front of the mix without going full blown overdrive when needed.Recently I bought a PRS MT-15 and I have really been blown away by it. Don't be put off by the 15w rating - I play with a loud drummer and it's never not been loud enough at a gig yet.
I would take a look at the Quilter Aviator or some of their other offerings.https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/AviatorCub--quilter-labs-aviator-cub-50-watt-1x12-inch-combo-ampI have gotten to a point where I would like to scale back my gear and focus on my practicing and playing. I would love to get to 3 or 4 guitars and a single amp, but wonder if that is possible. I would consider a Headrush or Helix, but just not something I can afford. I also like simplicity. That said, I haven't tried one yet, but have been reading a lot about and am very curious about the Blackstar HT Club 40 Mk II. It seems to check all the boxes and wondering if anyone has just one amp that can do everything you want it to.
I cross channeled a plexi on more than a few occasions to cover bass. Mostly a squier precision but also a fretless jazz I put together using assorted spare parts. That was all my basses at the time.No amp will cover all basses.
Maybe, this is about as close as you can get now, because not only does it have a huge library of amps, and speaker/cabs, you can create your own, so yeah it could do every amp good enough.No amp will cover all basses.
This made me chuckle. True, and succinctly put. “Do it all” can mean different things.You can have a do it all amp, as long as you don't really want to do it all.
TDPRI classic: you ask an open-ended question and everybody responds to recommend the amps / pedals / guitars / pickups they have and love.My personal take on this question would be an AC15ish amp -- a Bad Cat Cab 15, to be exact -- but that's just the one sound I can't do without.
What do you want in an amp? Cleans loud enough to tame a drummer? Loose and woolly (just making up a term) to do Neal Young stuff? Tight and gainy to do metal? Whisper quiet without loss of tone (what is tone anyway?) so the baby in the next room can not hear your mistakes? Smoky character to do bluesy stuff? Simple one knob EQ to let you concentrate on playing, until you want a bass, mid, treble, presence and cut controls along with switches to change the character of the EQ to amaze the bass player (who hopefully does not have a graphic EQ and throws it right back at you)? The sound of 6V6's or 6L6's but can pretend they are EL84's or EL34's? Simple reverb or an effects loop to delay and modulate all night long with the controls while the band patiently waits?
And if you get it all, what is there then to strive for?
I'll probably never buy another twin reverb, because I'm not interested in having my back broken and my eardrums shattered.Damn, if this bug isn't biting me in the backside again...ran across one in a guitar store yesterday. From the look, 1971. Pair of JBL's(they looked *newer* edition).
I like used amps, if they work just fine. This TR. is beat, but intact.
Tempted to go back and check out the JBL's for their magnet sticker...could be K's...or E's? dunno.
I appreciate the JBL sound. I have a 1980 Deluxe with a vintage OEM JBL . The sound is everything you read and hear about. The hook.
Given that, you could do much worse than a Spark 40. That can emulate most amp types for a stay-at-home, bedroom player.I am really learning a lot from all the responses and requests for additional information. There is a lot to think about. I don't have a lot of money tied up in amps (total about $500), but was wondering if/how to simplify. Maybe I just mess with them for now and in 5 years or so I decide what to do. I am a bedroom player only and always will be.
This made me chuckle. True, and succinctly put. “Do it all” can mean different things.
I get a lot of mileage out of just about the unsexiest amp ever: an early 90s Peavey TKO115S, which is a bulky, heavy, tall box with a 15” Scorpion in it and 75 watts. Intended for bass, it has all the weight and bulk of an old-school gigging bass amp but is underpowered for that use.
But for playing and recording at home, it is flexible enough, without any pedals, to do crunchy rhythm guitar using a humbucker and with the gain turned up. It sounds fine for bass at home levels either clean or slightly dirty, and it even does my lap steel justice if a dry lap steel part suits what I’m doing. If I need reverb or tremolo (or high gain distortion for guitar) I can add pedals...but it’s a pretty flexible preamp with pretty flexible active EQ. And a speaker that can survive bass at that low power level, and which extends high enough to do the other instruments justice without weird excessive EQ boosting
and cutting.
Most people would probably not seek out a TKO based on this experience, and it sure sucks to carry around. But if I had to cut back to one amp, I could do just about everything I need to with that one. And maybe a hand truck. As long as any bass gigs had decent PA support so the amp only needed to be a personal monitor.
There is NO way a Deluxe is gonna poke out from behind an actual LOUD drummer. But I have heard 20 watt amps that are much higher headroom than a Fender Deluxe.I think we have radically different views of what a loud drummer is. I can't get on top of the band mix and maintain a clean tone using a 22 watt deluxe. This is why I use Twins. Clean and edge of breakup can be maintained and you can still get out front of the mix without going full blown overdrive when needed.