# Practice amps



## rjporter (Aug 12, 2009)

I have recently inherited an older Guild electric which is going to take place of my old acoustic. I am now looking for a suitable amp that I can play in the house. I have had lots of advice from the various retailers in Vancouver on Fender 15 R, Orange 15R, Vox etc. Hard to tell how many features to buy into and what are the real necessities. Seems like reverb is good to have. Any thoughts on what I should narrow it down to. Have also looked at the Fender Vibro Champ and the Vox small tube amp.
Thanks
RJP


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## al3d (Oct 3, 2007)

rjporter said:


> I have recently inherited an older Guild electric which is going to take place of my old acoustic. I am now looking for a suitable amp that I can play in the house. I have had lots of advice from the various retailers in Vancouver on Fender 15 R, Orange 15R, Vox etc. Hard to tell how many features to buy into and what are the real necessities. Seems like reverb is good to have. Any thoughts on what I should narrow it down to. Have also looked at the Fender Vibro Champ and the Vox small tube amp.
> Thanks
> RJP



Welcome rjporter..you might have better luck in the amp section...ask a mod and they can move your thread..

give us a budjet you want to put in an amp..might help narrow the choices.


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## Jaggery (Mar 12, 2006)

I can swear by my Tech 21 TM30, both clean and overdriven.
The only effect it has is reverb. 
Works wonderfully at low volumes.
http://www.tech21nyc.com/products/amps/guitar/trademark30.html

I have also used the Vox ADVT30 in the past. 
Very nice amp and has Amp models and effects.
http://www.voxamps.com/us/valvetronix/vt-series/#page_intro


Also you may try the the Fender SuperChamp XD.
Has Amp models and effects. 
http://www.fender.com/products//search.php?partno=2331100000

All the above have 10" speakers.


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## Evilmusician (Apr 13, 2007)

I've been looking at the Vox AC 4 looks like a nice little grab and go amp for the cash


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## rjporter (Aug 12, 2009)

Would like to stay under $240 which is the L&McQ price for a vibro Champ. I am trying to figure out which are the best features as effects without degrading the actual quality of the amp. 
RJP


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## rjporter (Aug 12, 2009)

By the way as this is the first time in this site how do I get the Mod to move this thread to the amp section.
Thanks


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## Gene Machine (Sep 22, 2007)

*requirements?*

I recommend you write down a list of what you need, or what you think you need.

If you don't know that, spend some time in a guitar store and play with the different options, and then decide. 

example: i rarely use chorus, flanger, auto-yah, pitchshifter... so i wouldn't seek an amp with a bunch of thhese types of effects built in. In a small amp, I would like reverb, maybe tremolo, an adjustable delay, and maybe and amp modeller. This would be for home practice where I can't crank a nice fender tube amp.

But, you need to pick a target first. there are SO many choices. Too many choices. Don't discard Traynor either, they have decent stuff in the entry level low power amps too.

have fun with your search.

Gene


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## Jaggery (Mar 12, 2006)

rjporter said:


> Would like to stay under $240 which is the L&McQ price for a vibro Champ. I am trying to figure out which are the best features as effects without degrading the actual quality of the amp.
> RJP


The used prices for the ones I mentioned are well within your budget.
If you want to buy new then Vibro champ XD or VOX ADVT15 might be worth trying.

I would not worry about the effects degrading your tone. If yout dont want , just dont use them. 
Although some basic effects like Reverb, Delay and (for me) Trem can add a lot of fun to playing.


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

Like Gene Machine suggested, it's important to know what you'll need and what is superfluous.

Unforutunately, when you're first starting out with electrics, you might not know what you're really looking for in terms of sound. I started out with a Line 6 modelling amp and went through a bunch of pedals before I realized that I don't use wah, chorus, flanger, etc., but I _do_ use overdrive, reverb, delay and tremolo.

Take a listen to some of your favorite artists and try to pick out what effects they are using. You can also google to see what kind of gear they use. That way you have a starting point in terms of having an idea of what kind of sound/effects/features you might need.

If I were in the market for a cheap practice amp these days, I would be looking at the Fender Champion 600, Vox AC4 or any of the other similar little tube amps.


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## Blue Apple (Feb 8, 2006)

For what it's worth, I just picked up an Vox AC4tv and it sounds fantastic.

No reverb but the attenuator feature is great for practicing at home... at a 1/4w, it gets into Marshall grind territory at very low volumes.

If effects are a must, I would definitely go for something like the ADVT15.
:food-smiley-004:


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

There are some folks for whom things like headphone outputs and CD inputs are important aspects of what they mean by "practice" amps. So, as good-sounding as many of the single-power-tube amps out there are, and as strongly as some of us might recommend them (and I just saw an ad for a new Fender '57 Champ in the current Guitar Player), one may have to look in other directions, because a lot of the 3-tubers (rectifier/preamp/power tube) tend to lack such features.


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## Joebob (Aug 4, 2009)

You'de be suprised of what can do a Roland Mini-Cube.

$100 second hand, the reverb is nice. I use it on clean.
I have two, one in the car and one in the house.
I bought the one in the car 4 years ago, it stays
there summer and winter, run with batteries for camping. 
I think it's great, it's the only transistor
amp i have . :smile:
For low volume at home this is it sdsre


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## Jaggery (Mar 12, 2006)

Maybe you can persuade the seller to ship.....

http://guitarscanada.com/Board/showthread.php?p=220394&posted=1#post220394


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## mrmatt1972 (Apr 3, 2008)

http://www.guitarscanada.com/Board/showthread.php?t=25810

Probably a perfect match to a guild


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## rjporter (Aug 12, 2009)

I decided on a Vox VT 30 which provides me with a 10" speaker, tube pre-amp and lots of amp models. It is bit bigger than I had originally contemplated but with the output control I can retain the full effects at a lower volume and it did sound better than the 8" version. All in all I am having a blast especially when the house clears out.
Thanks for all of the replies which provided me with good user insight.
RJP


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## doftya (Nov 1, 2009)

Hey, I just found the forum, looks like I'm going to be spending too much time here.hehe

Anyhow, just a thought. I built myself a Ruby Amp (not the real tube amp, the small SS one from runoffgroove.com). I hooked it up to an old CPU speaker and put it into an old lunchbox. While it didn't sound that great there, I did have a chance or two to use the line out jack I added. Huge difference. The first cab I plugged it into was a Fender Super Reverb. Just pulled the speaker jack from the combo and into my Ruby. Sounded great into those two 10" speakers. The second time was when I went to show it to a guy a know. We compared it side by side to his BlackHeart. I was shocked when he said he like the sound of my little "_$8 in parts and a really bad soldering job packing into a lunchbox_" amp. I have some respect for what he says, he's got some Juno nominations under his belt.

Anyhow, I traded that one for one of his spare speakers and started building number two. The point is, that for a practice amp, this little 1/2W (that's right, 0.5W) amp does pretty good considering the cost.


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## rhh7 (Mar 14, 2008)

I am really interested in building a solid-state amp.


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## doftya (Nov 1, 2009)

Seriously, the Ruby or any of it's predicessors are not hard to build, take a look at runoffgroove.com and listen to the sound samples they have. You can build it small like a Smokey Amp, but a real speaker or cab will sound much better.


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## noobcake (Mar 8, 2006)

I've been rockin' a Vox AD30VT at home for a couple of years now. Best practice amp bar none. Not quite enough juice to keep up with a loud band, but it's just fantastic for practice and casual jams. The AC30 model on the amp sounds reaalllly good when dialed in.


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## JonF (Sep 4, 2009)

I have used an old (late 1950's/early 1960's) Harmony amp for years. They can be had pretty cheap and can produce some decent tones.


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