eddiewagner
Poster Extraordinaire
Blackstar Fly 3 charge. It’s perfect
practice amp in 2025 ?
- Thread starter brogh
- Start date
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AndrewG
Friend of Leo's
What sort of volume will you be practising at? If you're looking at neighbour and house-friendly levels the Roland Microcube might suit. These small amps are designed to sound good at low volumes, unlike most 'big' amps which are a practise/gig compromise and seldom sound good at low level, irrespective of attenuation. You may be able to find one of these; 2W, all valve, great reverb.
www.gear4music.com
DISC Hayden Lil' MoFo 2W Combo Amp, 1 x 8 at Gear4music
DISC Hayden Lil' MoFo 2W Combo Amp, 1 x 8 at Gear4music
sorryWhat sort of volume will you be practising at? If you're looking at neighbour and house-friendly levels the Roland Microcube might suit. These small amps are designed to sound good at low volumes, unlike most 'big' amps which are a compromise. You may be able to find one of these; 2W, all valve, great reverb.
DISC Hayden Lil' MoFo 2W Combo Amp, 1 x 8 at Gear4music
DISC Hayden Lil' MoFo 2W Combo Amp, 1 x 8 at Gear4music
already picked .. and I went WAAAAAAYYYYYYY over board AndrewG
Friend of Leo's
Good for you, enjoy-and give us a review when you get time.sorry
Shorty Medlock
Tele-Holic
I would have held out for a Dual Showman but that's just me...
Playground
TDPRI Member
For home practice I use either a Postitive Grid Spark 2, or two identical Vox Pathfinder 15Rs' that I usially run in a stereo/ping-pong setup (with a Nux Time core delay deluxe pedal mk.I).
I also have a few iOS apps that I sometimes use just with an ipad and a pair of headphones.
I also have a few iOS apps that I sometimes use just with an ipad and a pair of headphones.
zeke54
Tele-Afflicted
I second the vote for Bugera T5 . I've had mine about 15 years and it's not my only amp but I keep going back to it . It also has a power selector .
ChiTownJimbo
TDPRI Member
2cents worth. **
Bugera v5, after a while you’re gonna want to push more air than the 8in, so you go get a 2x12 cab and a good cable, then you see a great deal on reverb and get a T5, then (if your back can handle the weight) you spring for the BC30 because it has the miss matched speakers AND the attenuation switch!
** then you see that tweed Carvin Sweet 16 1x12 sitting in the corner and forget about everything else that I just accumulated. Hahahahaha
Seriously though go and try every single thing you can there will be limitations in everything
groovemastergreg
TDPRI Member
For cheap, a recently discontinued roland micro tube will blow your mind. About $100 used. I’ve had mine 20 years. Tiny.
The Spark amps are great and have great preset sounds like the micro tube but need smartphone or iPad to get most out of it. Great tones and has a master volume so like an attenuator.
I love my Roland blues cube hot and prolly around $400+ used.
The newish champ reverb tube amp is great but getting up around $700 up used but it’s a loud six watts.
The Spark amps are great and have great preset sounds like the micro tube but need smartphone or iPad to get most out of it. Great tones and has a master volume so like an attenuator.
I love my Roland blues cube hot and prolly around $400+ used.
The newish champ reverb tube amp is great but getting up around $700 up used but it’s a loud six watts.
eoms
TDPRI Member
How about a harley benton tube5? Only around 150€.
kaludjerko
Tele-Meister
Come on, don't leave us hanging!sorry
kaludjerko
Tele-Meister
Yes, that is fine, but what did you get at the end?I didnt Wink
you didn't click on the Wink aboveYes, that is fine, but what did you get at the end?
..Dontownatele
Tele-Meister
Tonex one pedal and a 5” studio monitor or a nano cortex… and a 5” studio monitor.
Seriously. Blows my mind. I love low watt tube amps too.
Seriously. Blows my mind. I love low watt tube amps too.
kaludjerko
Tele-Meister
Aaah, missed link/wink.you didn't click on the Wink above
You are my kind of guy,
I'm looking for pedalboard amp, ending eyeing Two Rocks in local adds.
Congrats on the new amp and let it serve you well.
Aaah, missed link/wink.
You are my kind of guy,
I'm looking for pedalboard amp, ending eyeing Two Rocks in local adds.
Congrats on the new amp and let it serve you well.
Thank you sir
good luck with the two rock 
There's a lot of questions to answer. If you want completely trouble free play and forget, your best bet is a bug type with headphones like the Mustang Micro and understand that the headphones that work well for this or working on your DAW may well not be ones you want to listen to general music with.
Once into actual amps amps, number one question is headphones or speakers and after answering 'speakers' it really starts getting potentially weird and expensive. People will say 'just buy one with a master volume' but this is potentially misleading and possible a 'try not being a loser' type answer. Some MVs do work well, many don't and leave you with a very expensive bee-in-a-tin' type sound. Marshall Origins deserve a mention because while they definitely don't have useful MVs (the have pretty clean pre amps and make the good stuff in the power stage) they not only have a good sounding power reduction setup, they also have built in loads so you can actually disconnect the speaker for true silence and plug headphones or your DAW in to the emulated DI out. That output may well not drive headphones well without a little headphone amplifier (need not be expensive) but works really well. Although I accept the Origins have no built in fx at all.
Otherwise, you're into a game of finding out what you like in terms of combinations of amps, attenuators and load boxes. It's very much the case that all attenuation is not equal, and some will be happy with a cheap option while some may feel they need to drop 1k on an Ox Box. If you're thinking Fenders, then one of those bridges with volume knobs in the FX loopay be all you need (or indeed a simple volume pedal in the loop)
Once into actual amps amps, number one question is headphones or speakers and after answering 'speakers' it really starts getting potentially weird and expensive. People will say 'just buy one with a master volume' but this is potentially misleading and possible a 'try not being a loser' type answer. Some MVs do work well, many don't and leave you with a very expensive bee-in-a-tin' type sound. Marshall Origins deserve a mention because while they definitely don't have useful MVs (the have pretty clean pre amps and make the good stuff in the power stage) they not only have a good sounding power reduction setup, they also have built in loads so you can actually disconnect the speaker for true silence and plug headphones or your DAW in to the emulated DI out. That output may well not drive headphones well without a little headphone amplifier (need not be expensive) but works really well. Although I accept the Origins have no built in fx at all.
Otherwise, you're into a game of finding out what you like in terms of combinations of amps, attenuators and load boxes. It's very much the case that all attenuation is not equal, and some will be happy with a cheap option while some may feel they need to drop 1k on an Ox Box. If you're thinking Fenders, then one of those bridges with volume knobs in the FX loopay be all you need (or indeed a simple volume pedal in the loop)
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