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Post subject: Choosing an Amp for practice
Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 10:21 am
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After 30 years or so of playing acoustic on and off, I have switched to electric, and am now playing an HSS strat. I'm now wondering what is the best decision for a practice amp for home use. I'm currently using a Roland Cube 30W. It's fun to use the electronics on it, but I don't think it's giving me that real "strat sound". So, what's better, Tubes or electronics, and what's the recommended wattage?


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Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 10:45 am
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I'd say that a 5 watt tube amp is the best for practice, although if you're just playing clean there's not much difference in sound between tubes and solid state. In the small tube amps, even though this is a Fender Forum, I gotta give the nod to the Epiphone Valve Junior. $150 street price compared to the $200 street price for the Fender Champ 600 and an 8 inch speaker compared to the 6 in the Champ. You can't go wrong with either, but the $50 cheaper for the Epi makes is a real value. The real value in either is that they only have a volume control so they teach you how to get tone from the guitar rather than just setting everything on the guitar to 10 and wailing away.


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Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 2:09 pm
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The new vibrochamp XD at 5 watts and one channel, or the superchamp XD at 15 watts and two channels would be a great choice. Both are tube amps with 16 voicings and digital effects. Simple, yet feature laden. They both have available gain, so either would work for practice at home just fine. You could jam with the 15 watter too. Check em out!


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Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 4:38 pm
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I love the 5 watts on he Champion 600, nice little amp


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Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 9:25 pm
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Hello Treetops,

If you have about $450 the blues jr is a fantastic
15 watt amp. It's got reverb and can give a wide
variety of tones. Plenty loud enough to rock your world
and your neighbors. For $80 more you can get a upgrded
speaker and tweed covering.

Best of luck.


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Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 9:59 am
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Thanks everybody, for the advice. I'll be looking at these carefully. The Blues Jr sounds especially interesting, - I'll start there and compare.


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Post subject: Re: Choosing an Amp for practice
Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2008 2:22 pm
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Treetops wrote:
After 30 years or so of playing acoustic on and off, I have switched to electric, and am now playing an HSS strat. I'm now wondering what is the best decision for a practice amp for home use. I'm currently using a Roland Cube 30W. It's fun to use the electronics on it, but I don't think it's giving me that real "strat sound". So, what's better, Tubes or electronics, and what's the recommended wattage?


What do you mean by Strat sound? Are you referring to the bright, twangy Fender cleans, or the warm, slightly over-driven, creamy blues tones?

It sounds like a 15-watt Super Champ XD is in your future - great tube amp with some very convincing classic Fender voicings, very nice onboard effects and all-tube output. If you haven't yet played one, then do yourself the favor and let your EARS be the judge.

Good luck!


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Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 1:06 pm
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The Champ 600 is great cos you can carry it anywhere - you could take it into your kitchen and play it if you wanted!

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I can't imagine what life would be like without it.


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