i'm not sure if this is the right forum but here goes...

i'm looking to ad a few small amps to my studio that would cover a wide range of music styles. i personally prefer recording through small amps.

i'm not a guitarist myself but have different ones coming through from time to time to lay down tracks for my production. i kneed to cover rock, jazz, blues and r&b. looking to pick up three to four good one. i prefer tubes even if they're vinatge.

agian, i'm not a guitarist so i thought that i could get some help from some of you guitarist out there.

late 50's fender champ gets my vote.


gregoire
del ubik

what style of music is it good for?

A quick small guitar amp primer:

imo, I divide amp sounds into "fender" and everything else. The fender sound is just so unique and so ubiquitous, that if you're trying to cover peoples' amp needs, you kinda just gotta get one. Vibrolux (NOT reissue), Princeton, Deluxe, and Champ are staples.

http://www.ampwares.com/ffg/

Everything else then gets wide, wide open. One might say from there, it gets split into Boogie, Marshall, and Vox, and everything else. A vintage Mesa Boogie like a Mark II would be a killer choice. Versatile, common sound. Great rhythm and lead choices.

http://home.earthlink.net/~ayan/history.htm

An old Vox amp like an AC30 or AC 15 is a cant miss.

Another good verstaile small recording amp is the (solidstate) Polytone minibrute II. Also can second as a good piano / keyboard amp. Common gigging amp with the jazz players.
Finally the Velocete by Trace Elliot is a pretty cool little amp, but kinda one trick. (bluesy).

So, I'll probably get flamed for something up there, but thats my take....

If I were starting over from scratch, I'd get a Fender Vibrolux, Mesa Boogie Mark II, either an older Marshall or Vox (pick one), and a Polytone....that'd cover a lot of bases.

fender pro junior ... great lil' amp

I will second the pro junior. I love that little amp. I was doing a record with a tweed champ, and then overdubs with a pro junior, and the 'junior made the record! I also love the Movieola Squack boxes (the green metal ones) and a couple of small supro and magnetone examples. Between my business partner and I, we have almost every "size" fender of varying vintages, and levels of modification. The pro Junior is still the most versatile little amp in the arsenal, as it seems to work for almost everything, depending only on how much you crank it and your guitar choice!

Reverend Hellhound

fender champ
fender princeton reverb
fender deluxe reverb
vox ac-15/ac-30
thd univalve
groove tubes soul-o-single
randall rm-30b (i think thats the model #) w/ mts swappable modules
these are a few that come to mind...
joshua

This is one of those places where definitions get funky. I don't consider Mesa mark series to be small amps. I've seen them eat Stacks for volume, and the lowest volume at which they sound good can be pretty loud. In the small amp class, champs are certainly contenders, and Ampeg jets. The "little smokey" is surprisingly good. The Hughes & Kettner Blues Master (aka Crunch Master) is also worth a shot.

The Fender 65 deluxe reissue is a great small amp and
it covers the blackface fender sound really well.

I like to have the same output (8 ohms) on my small amps so they
can all use the same THD hotplate and a variety of speakers.

Some of my favorite speakers I have in cabinets are
Celestion vintage 30
Celestion blue
Vintage Jensen
Tone Tubby
Eminence legend
Vintage JBL

thanks guys for your replies thus far. you're making it hard to narrow it down i thought there would be a general consensus on a few goods amps but it isn't.

nevertheless, keep it coming. i'm sure that it'll all be come clear. the only thing that i'm sure about is a vox ac10,15 or 30.

The 5 watt Sweet Sue by Jule Amps is probably the best small amp I have ever heard. I actually one of the best I have heard at any size.

http://www.juleamps.com/the_amps/sweet_sue.html

www.65amps.com








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cover your eyes tube natzis!!!! I like the JC-55...it's a JC-120 but made for small people, half the size 2x8 and lots of chorus!!! It's the andy summers sound in a small box

Fender Hot Rod De Ville
Peavey Classic 30
Vox AC 30
Marshall Anniversary (combo)
Mesa Boogie Mark II


Jo

I came across a little amp a few years ago called Zinky. This little sucker kicked ass! I heard they went out of business though. Perhaps on the used market. Anyone else try one of these?

Hey dolo,

West New York in the house!!!!

What makes you think you need 3-4 different amps? Modern channel switching amps can cover a vast array of styles, one good one will definitely cover all the ground you need. I would spend the extra $$$$ on some FX pedals and a nice house guitar so anyone can just show up and lay down a part.

Now this is coming from a guy who has over a dozen new and vintage amps and 50+ FX pedals, so take from me what you can: I'm here, you're there, you don't want to be here EVER, you don't NEED to be here in "guitar gear wonderland" to get good sounds, trust me on this.

All the above amp suggestions are good, if you can swing a Mesa MKIV by all means do it, although the other amps mentioned are not high gain enough to be considered "versatile" in my book - this is not a negative, just something to consider. I love Champs, AC15s, and Peavey Classics as much or more than anyone - they're just not one stop tone shopping.

A nice 1x12 combo amp, I'm thinking a a thirty watt, EL84 powered Mesa F series , a Teese wah, maybe a Foxrox Captain Coconut 2 or a Kurzweil Mangler, a nice USA Strat or Les Paul Studio, and you're good to go for about $2,000.

Have fun!

has always i am a big fan on the brown and early black Princeton's!
i love them.
i have played country, older r&b, and some jazz, with theses.
i have one running some 6550 full tilt for a over drive stomp box.
i also like the masa blue angle, i use it often.

http://www.zinky.com/

they're still around. i had the blue velvet for awhile and while it was a cool amp it wasn't a 'can't live without' kinda thing (for me... ymmv). i have a zinky 2x12 cab thats convertible from open to closed back which is pretty cool.
joshua

mesa .22 replace the speaker with a greenback it makes a world of diffrence - Rock/blues
tophat club royale - rock/blues
fender blues jr from the custom shop...- rock/blues
vox ac30... everything
fender black face dlx reverb -jazz/blues/rock
polytone minibrute - jazz!!!!
mesa mark IV - umm everything

I love the sound of the Fender Pro Junior and Blues Junior, Right know Im having fun with BadCat's hotcat 30.
The AC30 has its very own sound and when I want "that VOX" sound I use it, usually with Strats or teles, I find the AC30 very "single coil" friendly, the bad cat sounds fine with almost every guitar, I saw that the Edge use 2 AC30s, one vintage tweed and a Blues Junior on stage.

Is all about colors, diferent amps, diferent colors.

Best regards.

Armando.

thanks everybody. cdog that an intriguing suggestion. i'll have to consider that. i just want any guitarist to come here and feel comfortable with the equipment here. that's why i wanted three to four good "staples". i i also whanted them to feel excited to play through what i supplied. that is kinda why i am leaning more toward the vintage stuff. but tell me 'm i really over doing it here? as a guitarist, what should my mind set be in pleasing you?

so far what's been jumping out to me is the vox ac30 and thre boogie mark iv. that so far puts me over cdogs budget.


@cdog. i like the idea of owning a few house guitars but it was my impression (not being a guitar player) that they all have their guitars set up in a way that is more comfortable to them that others may find awkward. is this not true?

Top Hat Prince Royale is very nice for recording. EL-84, 4 watts, what more could you want?

by the way, my wife is a jazz singer and composser. after continually telling here that the upgrades that i've made to our studio will help her songs sound that much better (thus the cash flows without much hinderance ), i feel i have to get a cab that is absolutely great for jazz. come guys help a brother out!

she's an artist and understands the G.A.S. (Gear-Aquisition-Syndrome ) she is still first and foremost a wife and a mother of three kids!!! budget & save! oh yeah, and baby needs a new pair of shoes... "Litterally"!

Well, I would worry about pleasing everybody 86% than pleasing a few people 100%. If someone is a huge tone snob and can't play through anything less than their Brian Moore DC1/p.13 into a Diezel Herbert and 4x12, well, let them haul all that crap over to your place when they want to record.

I'm talking about building a simple general purpose studio rig for not that much $$$$, that sounds great and gets the job done for everybody who uses it.

Its all about "covering the basses" so to speak. I've played the Mesa F series and I have to say it does a great job of that. Is it going to sound like an AC15? No. But it can sound "kinda AC15 ish" and "kinda Dual Rectifierish" and "kinda Marshally" all pretty well depending on how you set up the Master, Gain, and tone controls - wheras the AC15 just sounds like an AC15, you turn it up, turn it down, crank the gain, treble, whatever, still sounds like an AC15.

Also, you have to consider your budget. If you can swing a vintage AC15, Fender Deluxe, Marshall Bluesbreaker, and Mesa Mark I, then by all means GO FOR IT MAN. Its only money right, you can't rock out on a $100 bill.

There are a lot of nice new amp makers out there (VHT is one of my favorites), Mesa is something you can just walk into any store and buy.

As for guitars, people definitely develop preferences but most players can play a variety of axes assuming they are properly "set up" (this means string height relative to the fretboard aka "action" is OK, and "intonation" - every note is in tune up and down the neck). You can get a guitar "set up" for about $50 at a guitar shop. Until you learn how to do this yourself or find a friend/player who can do it, paying the small fee for a nice playing set up is crucial.

A good player should be able to get a good sound with a minimum of properly functioning gear. If you can't get decent sounds from a player with a stock USA Strat or Les Paul Studio and a Mesa F series, you need to re-evaluate both your needs and the abilities of the player.

We're not talking about re-recording Sg Peppers or the Black Album, you just need some basic guitar tones that go from jazz/blues to heavy rock to so anyone can drop by unannounced and lay down some keeper tracks in any style.

Just don't buy a Crate

@ cdog

what part of Bkare you from? i 'm from bed-stuy do-or-die born and raised.


any way. you made some good points there. i'm sure that if others disagree with you they'll chime in. will deffinitely consider what your saying.

thanks!

Abybody else?

heh

I want to add another flavor. Marshall 1974x 18w. I have one in my place and everyone is in love with it. It's great for blues, alt rock, and rock. On low gain settings it's very VOX 'ish - hi gain it's classic O/D. Tube rectification, so you get that sag at hi levels.

This amp seriously works with everything, except clean. There is no clean - almost, but nope

Actually, now that I think about it this amp plus a Fender Vibroverb can get you close to most of the classic sounds out there. If you want 4 throw in a MESA and something cool like a Tone Lizard Route 66 (I got some great recordings out of that amp btw)

Has anyone ever used one of these . Or maybe one of these .