Hi All,

I am secretly (don't tell my wife ) planning the next place to spend some money for my guitar hobby. I have my Standard Strat, and currently play with a Spider Jam amplifier.

I think, because I am not sure, that my best bet to throw some money out in search of tone is with a new amp. I don't want to spend a ton, say up to $500.00, hopefully less. 75 to 100 watts is all the output I "need".

What say you? Blues, Classic Rock is my thing.

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http://www.facebook.com/UCtheband
2012 American Standard Strat Charcoal Froast
2009 Standard Strat Sunburst Brown
Blues Junior Tweed NOS
2007 Line6 Spider Jam

I don,t think you will find a tube amp 75 to 100 watt for under 500, maybe used. And I know nothing about SS amps sorry no help here.

Do you need that much grunt? 75-100watts is gonna be pretty loud unless you're playing an outdoor stadium gig!

In that price range you'd probably be looking more at 15watt amps like the Blues Jr or maybe a Vox AC15? If you're just playing at home (or even smaller venues) they'd have no trouble giving you plenty of volume. Tone on the other hand is VERY subjective. I run a Blues Jr and LOVE the tone I get. I also mainly go for Blues, classic rock and love it for that. Others may have different ideas.

Cheers.

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MIM Std Tele, MIM HSS Strat, Homemade Mongrel Tele, Blues Jr, Champ600, coupla pedals...sweeeet!

You might find a used Blues Deville 212 for $500. Maybe. If you get lucky. It's reasonably decent sounding and is damned loud. You might have to cough up a little extra for a big amp like that. Don't get squeamish about spending money on your amp. It's far more important than most people think.

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

Solid State amps are very different compared to Tube amps wattage wise. A 15 watt Tube amp will be much louder than a Solid State 15 watter. Very much louder. My amp is based on the Fender '50s tube amps. Check out Li'l Dawg Amps for more info on that. Good luck in your search.

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-Kirk

GUITARS
'12 Sonoran Acoustic - black (dated 10/31/12)
'13 Standard Strat
AMP
Vox ac4c1-bl
PEDALS
Compressor
Big Muff
Vox Stomplab 1G
Carbon Copy Delay

A used DRRI can be had between $500-650. It's a great sounding amp and really reliable too. A 20 watt tube amp has no problem keeping up with a 75 watt SS amp. My main gigging rig is a 20 watter.

Wow, I am learning already. My Spider Jam is a 75 Watt amp. I normally only play it less than a quarter turn on the volume. Any louder and things rattle in the house.

So tube amps of similar wattage put out more dB of sound? I did not know this. This helps my search.

Thanks!

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http://www.facebook.com/UCtheband
2012 American Standard Strat Charcoal Froast
2009 Standard Strat Sunburst Brown
Blues Junior Tweed NOS
2007 Line6 Spider Jam

you could easily afford a marshall Class 5. more than enough amp to play inside your house.

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I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.

I agree with the other guys that a tube amp is the way to go. The sound is just so much richer than a solid state amp, however getting one on the budget you have can pose a bit of a challenge. I recently picked a gently used Hot Rod Deluxe for $350, but you're not gonna find those everywhere.

There are several good Solid state amps out there in the price range or cheaper. The Line 6 Spider III is about $299 for a 100 watt and so is the Peavey Vypyr. Both are modelling amps and have a variety of effects built in that you can use instead of pedals (I believe the Line 6 has a built in tuner also). Also the Fender Frontman 212R is within your range. With 100 watts and 2 12 inch speakers pushing out the grunt what the Fenser lacks in built in effects it makes up for in volume alone.

In the end though your best bet is to go somewhere that you can try out a few different models and see which one is best for you. That way you can play around with the fiddley bits and see which one sounds best to your ears.

Hope I've helped.

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"Hope is the thing with feathers, that perches in the soul..."

-Emily Dickinson

YES. These little beauties are insanely loud for just 5 watts. Every review I've read has remarked that this amp should have a Master volume (especially if you want to get some natural breakup / overdrive from cranking the amp).

The other week I tried one out in a store and yep, she's plenty loud enough.

Go try a couple of these lower wattage amps and see how you like them. Most small (5 watt) amps will sound quite boxy due to the small speakers but if you get something with a 10 or 12 inch speaker (or better still hook up a speaker cabinet) and you'll get some REAL tone (and volume) happening.

Maybe post this over in the amp section.

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MIM Std Tele, MIM HSS Strat, Homemade Mongrel Tele, Blues Jr, Champ600, coupla pedals...sweeeet!

Not really but it seems to work out that way in practice. In reality a 25 watt amp puts out the same decibel level whether it's solid state or tube but tube amps seem louder to the ear, usually in the order of roughly double in terms of power. It has to do with several factors. One of which is a pretty big difference in transformers and capacitors between tube and S/S. The other difference is the algorithmic nature of the volume-wattage equation. To increase volume by 3dB you have to double the total power output. For another 3dB you have to double it again and so on. As you have prolly already figured in your head a 100 watt amp is only theoretically 6dB louder than a 25 watt amp all else being equal. You doubled it once (to 50 watts) to gain the first 3 dB and doubled it again (to 100 watts) for the next 3dB. That may be a little confusing though because 3db is a bigger difference than it might look like on paper. Still, it helps understand how a 15 watt amp can seem like it's almost keeping up with a 40 watt amp.

That being said, big amps do still sound better when playing clean or slightly dirty. More grunt on the bottom end and usually more spank and chime. These are important considerations for playing Blues as Blues is a very expressive form and touch is important. When real dirty big amps can sometimes be too loud and they are almost always heavy.

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

or try and pick up a s/h marshall amp / combo i use a 1981 jcm 800 100watt head with a roost 2x12 and it sounds amazing and has done for a long time , and if needed i can always get a couple of 4x12 cabs like i used to have , nothing like the sound from a stack . i can't say what the smaller marshall amps sound like , never tried one . on a side note i give lessons to my daughters b/f little bro and he has an epi sg and was messing about on some little crappy amp , i was browsing through gumtree over this side of the pond and i found a nice marshall combo it was a 50 watt with a 12 inch speaker and 1 valve to give a bit of warmth to the tone (you can tell i can't remember the model ) and it sounds quite good for what it is , oh and itcost £90 , so worth looking on craiglist ect see what you can find , cheers
Alan

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The human ear is sensitive to distortion. A tube amp has a linear distortion and solid state amps tend to get to a certain volume then start clipping. Because of this we hear tube amps as louder.

A few things to consider when getting an amp.
Tube amps may require maintenance if used regularly. The tubes will eventually need replacing. They are heavier due to their transformers, more fragile and more expensive. They are also in some cases more susceptible to hum.

If buying a tube amp consider its intended use and playing volume. If you purchase even a 20w amp and are practicing at home you may never get the sound you require out of the amp. Dependent on the amp and tubes sometimes the best tones are achieved at the upper end of the dial. If your amp is a high wattage you may drive the neighbors out before you get to that sweet spot.

Just like considering the total volume of the amp if you are purchasing a single channel amp you need to consider at what point it distorts. Its no good getting an amp that distorts at 5 when you need to play clean at 8.

An attenuator can help which allows you to turn up the volume control to drive the tubes to distort while playing at lower volume out the speakers.

Some amps come with a output power selector to adjust how much power you want the amp to operate at.

Tube amps come in various flavors one being hybrids either a tube preamp or solid state preamp and tube output circuit. So do research if you intend for your amp to be a pure tube amp.

Seriously , if you are somewhat limited on budget and are just a novice ,play at home or maybe a jam kind of guy,i would check out the vibrochampxd and the super champ xd.Both are within your budget and can give you the sounds you want.You wouldnt really need to invest in pedals if you didnt want to either.

I know less than DINK about amps and pedals and processors and digital v. tube v. ss... I just plug and play

Anyway, just b/c I am as curious as you (OP), is the Spider not doing "it" for you? What is it that you don't like?

And i'm sure you have taken this into consideration, but, you could certainly unload the Spider and have a little more $$'s for the purchase. Just a thought and a question.

Peace,
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