Maybe check out the Vox Valvetronics series. I bought a VT50 around Christmas, and I have never been happier with an amp! Basically a solid state amp that uses a tube to help with the modeling. I have owned some of the amps that this Vox models, and it does a great job. About $379.00 new with tons of power. You may want to check one out. Quite a few Youtube demos and reviews out there on this series.

Ah herein lies my quandry. A brief history on me and guitars.

I always wanted to play, specifically electric and more the Strat becasue it seemed every guitarist that I liked to listen to plays it. So a couple of years ago I get a Starcaster at Costco. Started teaching myself. After a bit Ithougth I was ready to move up to a real guitar. At GC I was all set to get a Strat and was playing it plugged into the Spider Jam. My wife asked me if it was the guitar or the amp I liked. Not being able to answer I went home, got my guitar came back and plugged into the the same amp. Long story short, I took the amp home.

The amp is really nice, in my beginner like opinion. It does everything I have asked it to do up till now. I have a floor board controller/wahawah for it and probably could do some more digging into the amps capability.

Two things are driving my amp search now.
1. Right before I got my new guitar, my amp just stopped working. All that came out of the amp was a hum, almost like static. Checking around and calling Line6 the verdict was that I would probably have to replace the entire board on the amp which would cost right at the same amount of money as buying a new one. Then one day, it started working again. I did not move it, did not shake it or bang it or anything else, it just started working. So now I am wondering what will happen tomorrow.

2. I hear people playing at GC or other places and marvel at the sounds they create. None of them in a Spider Jam. So given number one above, I was thinking it is time to "upgrade" my amp.

Truth be told I don't know if I need to or have to get a new amp. I do know that if I go to GC and a tell them this, they will tell me how much I need to upgrade.

Again, all things considered, there is nothing that I dislike about the Spider Jam, and a lot of my issues could be cockpit error. I am going to go over to my first garage jam this weekend. I might get some good ideas from the guys over there too. It is time for me to start playing with other people and seeing how it's done from that perspective.

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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

It sounds to me like you "want" a new amp more than you "need" a new amp, and thats OK. I WANT and HAVE tons of gear that I dont "need".

I see your point about reliability with your current amp. After all if it happend once, it can certainly happen again. My advice would be this: Take the advice and opinions you gather as as just that! Advice and opinions.

At the end of the day your the one who will be shelling out the cash and taking the earful from the missus over the purchase. Take one of your guitars and try as many amps as you can find in your price range (try a few just out of your budget as well as there is quite a market on used amps if your willing to shop around). Despite what I just said, dont let price be the determining factor by itself. You should be shopping features and tone (within your given budget). And most importantly, dont get in a rush! The best way to end up with another amp your not really in love with is to get in a hurry.

There is a whole world of tone out there and somewhere is an amp that has your name on it. Just get to playing on some of them and enjoy the ride!

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"I started out with nothing, and still have most of it"

Man, I love this post... especially the "earful from the missus" part. Who ain't been there, right? Needs and wants often times confuse us guys.

At any rate... at lunch, went down to my local shop, and looked at the Peavy Vyper 35W (I beleive) for $199 and the 75W. The 75w had a USB which I love the idea of; the 35w did not have a USB, but was a "C" note cheaper. They also had a Vox Valvetronix for 199. My local guys was big on the Peavy for me, just b/c of how i utilize my equipment.

But good luck dude; and update ya thread from time to time to keep us posted, err... at least keep me posted. I'm interested to hear about what ya get.... I AM A MUSIC EQUIPMENT JUNKAHOLIC~~~!!!!!

Peace,
84

Well, I"m the odd man out here in regards to this but if you're lookin' to buy new, personally and if you're on a budget, check out the new Bugera V22's. I recently got one and I -LOVE- it...I honestly can't say enough about it! Seriously, it's got to be the single most versatile amp I've ever played! I had a "Triode/Pentode" selector switch on the back to switch the tube mode...in Tiode mode, it really has a very nice, vintage sound to it reminiscent of the really old Fenders but once you kick it in to Pentode mode, she really starts to scream like a small Marshall. -PLUS- it's got a switch on it that's labeled "Boost"...at first I thought it was a treble or mid range boost but (to my ears at least) it really gives it more of that Classic Vox AC sound, ala The Beatles, Tom Petty, The Pretenders, etc.. It really is like having 3 different amps in one. I haven't even touched my old Lab L5 since I brought the Bugera home...and my Lab has been my baby for about 10 years now.

Now I have to add here that again I've really been blown away with this amp...and this is right off the sales room floor with the stock tubes! I really can't wait to hear how this puppy's gonna sound with a set of Groove Tubes in her! Woo-hoo!!!

Seriously...for $350 new, these amps are really a steal. I don't think there's ANYTHING else out there even near this price range for new that comes anywhere close to the quality of sound and versatility of the V22's. I had been looking at the Fender Blues Jr's for quite a while and I just walked away from them the moment I played the Bugera...for the price it's an truly amazing amp.

The only real downside that I've found is that of course she is a tube amp and as such, will require period maintenance. Regardless of whether you buy one of these or not, if you decide to go with a tube amp of ANY brand, that -is- something to be aware of...depending on how much and how hard you play, you -will- need to put fresh tubes in and have the amp biased periodically. If you're not willing (or can't afford) to do that, then stick with solid state and get yourself something like a decent used older Peavey, Lab, Roland, etc..


Ok...just my usual $.02 worth,
Jim

iomitus , my marshall which is a tube amp is still on it's origonal valves it was built in 1981 , i;ve owned it for 16 years or so and it still rocks like a bad mofo with the origonal valves in it , . it;s been giged jamed and home played for thousands of hours that ive owned it , what kind of valve amp are you using ?

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Sorry to say this, but Bugera aka Beringher has a pretty shoddy reputation. They allegedly use other manufacturers designs, load them with sub par components and sell them really cheap. I tried a V22 and killed it on the showroom floor. The salesmen were chuckling about it.

I read some good stuff about these Jet City amps http://www.jetcityamplification.com/

The legendary Mike Soldano has a hand in this company. I've never tried one out though. Really inexpensive too. They "talk the talk" but I"m not sure if they "walk the walk". Still looks interesting though.

Dude...changing valves is a personal thing. I've known guys like you who never change their tubes and I've known guys who won't go on stage without fresh tubes and change them as often as once or twice a month so the amp always sounds "fresh"...it's that almight personal preference thing.

Personally I typically change my tubes a couple of times a year if I'm gigging with it regularly...this is in regards to my history with my '73 Bandmaster. Honestly, I hadn't changed the tubes in that sucker for the first couple of years that I owned it...back then I always thought she sounded decent so I never bothered. I had bought her used around '85 and she still had the original "military spec" tubes in her (7440's or something like that?). Then one day I figured "what the hell" and I put new tubes in and had it properly biased....WOW!!!!!!!!!!! Monster huge difference to say the least...and that was with those old Audio Glassics...not even Groove Tubes or anything. Ever since then, if I'm using that amp on a regular basis, I'll keep fresher tubes in her. That said...to be honest I've used my Lab L5 for most of my serious work over the past 10 years so the ol' Fender's been sitting down in the studio...I think she's got a set of Mesa tubes in her at the moment and yea...she sound's "ok" but if I were to start using her again, first thing I'd do is change those tubes.

On the other hand, I've known guys like yourself who simply prefer the sound of "old tubes"...won't even try something like Groove Tubes or anything really. -If- they change their tubes at all, the try to find old, original RCA's or something. Again...personal taste thing and nothing more.



I just -knew- the moment I mentioned Bugera that someone was going to go off about Behringer...

I know a lot of folks crack on Behringer but I'm simply not one of them. I own several pieces of Behringer gear including a couple of smaller mixers as well as a couple of rack units and all have performed exceptionally for me. In fact my only single gripe about Behringer over the years has simply been that their owner's manuals really suck! LOL!!! Ok...ok...my Behringer dual 31 band eq does need a good cleaning as some of the sliders are getting a bit noisy...but then so does every used Alesis I've ever seen! LOL!!! At this point I personally have to take negative comments about Behringer with the proverbial "grain of salt"...with snobbery likely being one of the prime motives.

As far as Behringer using other manufacturers designs, I can't really say this bothers me at all...if nothing else, we are after all on a Fender forum and as I recall my history, Leo Fender himself got the basic design for his first amps right off the back of the leaflets that came in RCA tubes back in those day (or something to that effect). Does that mean all Fender amps are just "cheap RCA rip offs"? Hardly. Does Behringer use other manufacture's designs? I don't doubt it. Do I really care when their prices are often 1/3 or less compared with the competition? Not one bit. Either way...I've had my Behringer gear side by side with some of "the expensive stuff" such as Mackie mixers for example and my Behringer gear has performed as good, if not better in virtually every case. In fact we lost one sound guy a number of years back who got p*ssed off at me because my little Behringer 2004A was actually quieter and had better sounding mic pre's than his 32 channel Mackie! LOL!!! I'd be willing to bet that to this day he's -still- bad mouthing Behringer (and me). Like my old Peavey stuff, my Behringer gear has been there for me night after night, gig after gig...-and- we were able to afford it. To me, -THAT- is the important thing.

Now in regards to Bugera specifically I will say that everything I've read seems to indicate that in this case they have in fact used their own designs...I've seen this mentioned on a couple of other forums now as I was looking for info on how to bias the tubes on my V22 for future reference. Further I've seen it mentioned that the first run of the V22's did have a manufacturing flaw...something about cold solder joints as I recall. I also recall reading the Bugera/Behringer went out of their way to fix this for their customers...I've seen this in a couple of reviews where people who had to deal with Behringer's Customer Service were -VERY- happy to say the least. I honestly can't even say that about Fender (every experience I've had with Fender's customer support has been poor to say the least). As far as I can tell, any problems with those first V22's has been rectified...at least mine hasn't shown ANY signs of problems and I've been playing the crap out of it for the past two months (and I do work the crap out of my amps during the afternoons when no one is around).

I also feel the need to point out that at one time Fender amps also had a VERY bad reputation. Maybe this is showing my age a bit but I do remember the days when if it wasn't "pre-CBS", -NO ONE- would touch it. That's actually how I got my Bandmaster...again I bought mine used back around '85 for a whopping $75 (in near mint shape I might add...that's now worth $400 - $450!). Back then no one would touch a "newer" Fender because their amps had a reputation for catching fire on the show room floors (at least the solid states did!). There was no such thing as "Quality Control" back then and the corporate mentality was similar to that of the auto makers at the time; let the dealer fix it. Doesn't mean my '73 is a bad amp...but a great many people thought that way back then. The point is, give a dog a bad name and you can often hang him with it.

In regards to the Jet City amps...honestly I had never even heard of these until this thread. Obviously I have never played one, let alone side by side with my Bugera (or anything else) but based on what I've read in the specs, considering they're $150 more than the V22, they don't look as versatile as my V22 has proven itself to be. Same tube lay out but I'm not seeing anything to switch between modes or anything else really. Yea, the Jet has spring reverb vs. the digital on the Bugera...I'll give them that one, but I can't honestly say I'd pay $150 extra for that either particularly with everything else considered. In fact the only thing I've seen that seems to come close to the V22 as far as versatility is the Egnator's...and again those cost considerably more. Now I'm sure that if Soldano is behind the Jet City amps that they're probably pretty decent but I can't honestly say I'd even consider buying one without playing it first or let alone comparing it to the amps I already have. I also can't say that I can really buy in to the hype either as Bugera and many others have similar hype. On the other hand, I was able to play my Bugera, I LOVED the way it sounded and I was blown away by the price...and I brought it home.

I really can't speak to other people's opinions or issues with Behringer or Bugera but again personally I've been using their equipment for about 10 years now both on stage and in the studio and I haven't had a single problem. I really don't know if the bad rep is because of people who prefer top shelf gear just like to crack on inexpensive stuff (aka "snobs") or if they just can't keep the drunk sound man from dumpin' his Bud Light on the sound board or what. Maybe it's just that I've personally been very lucky...I really don't know. I will say that I'm simply not one of those people who's so arrogant that they really believe they need the best, most expensive of everything...if it does what I need it to do, that is what is important to me. Beyond that I can only speak from my own personal experience and I would honestly buy Behringer gear again over many of the other brands out there...in a heart beat.

As far as the Bugera V22's go...please...don't take my word for it. Look around the internet and read the reviews. As with virtually anything, yea...there's a few folks bad mouthing them...in most cases just because they're associated with Behringer. Again I have read a few comments from people who bought the V22's when they first came out and did have a problem but those who stuck with it were very satisfied with the customer service they received and -MOST- of the reviews on these amps show them to be not only great sounding amps such as mine has proven to be but a truly exceptional value for the money.

Peace,
Jim

Like I said...I'm usually the odd man out on this one)

dude,save your money and grab a fender Vibro Champ XD or Super Champ XD. i just bought a VCXD for $179 and that lil tube amp cannot be turned up over 5 or my wife freaks the hell out. either one of those amps are great. i dont have blues JR money otherwise i'd play that.

75-100 watts if tube amp power is some colon-releasing power. if you are not getting paid to play it, i wouldn't spend that kind of coin.

Hi Markara,for around $500 you could pick up a used Vox AD or VT series and they can be amazingly loud and also are loaded with special features such as 12+ amp models and 12+ effects although they are hybrid amps meaning that they are essentially solid state but have a tube driven pre-amp that gives them a tube like warmth.Their modeling and effects are outstanding and from personal experience I can say they are reliable. You can also get used Marshall tube amps pretty cheap and believe me a 50 W Marshall is plenty loud unless you intend to play at Red Rocks or some other venue.I have a JCM 800 4210 1-12 combo I paid $550 for and it is deadly,for a 1-12 combo the sound is amazingly full and very loud. Marshall has recently introduced the MA series of tube amps that are considerably cheaper than other series of their amps,you can check them out at -www.marshallamps.com .I hope this info is helpful.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

I'm a blues and rock player, so I like something that's light, tube amp, and versitile. That's a hard combination... So I found the Superchamp XD by Fender. Light, loud, and loaded. Great 15W amp for the money.

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"Epitaph on a blues musician’s tombstone: “I didn’t wake up this morning”" Davy Knowles


facebook.com/313DBC

Thanks for all the advice! I am glad I found this place.

I will take my time and really look for something I like and try out all the suggestions. I am in no hurry.

Again thanks, I learned a lot here!

_________________
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 totally agree with and have similar experience relative to your comments on Behringer, Fender, and "Snobs". Glad to see someone else shares these thoughts and isn't intimidated into not stating them.

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The quintessential sound of 60/70's R&R:
Fender Tube Amps
Gibson Guitars

I've been looking at the Bugera for awhile now. A friend bought the little 5w version, but he said it ended up being a terrible amp. But then again, the AMPEG amp he updated with new tubes didn't sound good either, but he thought it was awesome.... So I'll have to take it with a grain of salt. The local GC by my office has a V22 on clearance. I should seriously try it out....

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"Epitaph on a blues musician’s tombstone: “I didn’t wake up this morning”" Davy Knowles


facebook.com/313DBC

By all means, go try one at GC. Meanwhile, listen to the sounds at this website: http://www.frugalguitarist.com/Frugal.a ... gera%20V22
Of course, this doesn't address reliability issues, but after reading lots of reviews on the V22 and still wondering, this convinced me that it was worth trying, based on the great sound!

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The quintessential sound of 60/70's R&R:
Fender Tube Amps
Gibson Guitars