Friends,

My son plays rhythm guitar with his (ska) band. He is now looking for a guitar amplifier. He used to gig with my old Peavey KB-300 and a cheap distortion pedal. His pedal got stolen, so now he is using it as an excuse to get a real guitar amp.

Can you give me some advice regarding which features to look for, which brands, which types of speakers to get (e.g. 2x12", etc.).

What is a reasonable price he should expect to pay? They play a lot, but their music does not bring income, so money is a concern. On the other hand, he does not want to buy cheap crap, but something he can use for years to come.

Thank you in advance for your help in this matter.

Alex

I just bought a real nice Fender Blues Jr. on ebay for about $250 real nice tube amp with nice tone but only about 15 or 20 watts. Has a 10 or 12" speaker I'm not much on specs but it is nice sounding reminds me of the amps I grew up on in the 60's. Without the big price.

Alex, I have lots of guitar amplifiers, and have owned most of what's been available out
there(Standel, Gretch, Vox, Traynor and lots more). While I'm partial to Fender tube amps, recently, I've been using a Roland Cube 60...60 watts, 12" speaker...line out, cabinet similator, multiple effects...switching channels, capability of using an 8 ohm extension cabinet, which gives you nearly 80 watts...all in a light, easy to handle "cube".

Don't know about this one specifically, but have also been using a Roland Jazz chorus for nearly 20 years without a malfunction.

Street price...$349.00. Friends have been using various new Berringer models, which cost less, but I don't know much about them.

I use the Roland 4 nights a week, and it's worked flawlessly.

You might take a look at this one!

Good luck!


Russ

PS: I also have the Fender Blues Jr....nice little amp if you don't need the power and want that fat tube sound.

[This message has been edited by captain Russ (edited 10-20-2005).]

Fender tube amps are tough to beat. Clean, crisp, clear sounds and lots of beef!

Gary

------------------
Travlin' Easy

A tube amp for sure.
affordable?

Fender hot rod de luxe
Fender hot rod deVille
Fender concert II
in fact any fender TUBE guitar amp, but most of them could come expensive allthough in usa they are much cheaper as in europe.

Peavey classic 50 (the tube version!)

To be honest I don't know what SKA is?, so
if he needs more jazz sounds as pop/rock sounds the roland jazz chorus amps do very well.

I can mention a lot more but most of them are expensive...

Fred

At the moment I have;
Fender concert II
Fender Twin
Fender hot rod de luxe
Mesa mark IV
Roland JC77

The most versatile amp is the concert II which can still be found for reasonable
prices and is actually the amp I use most.

Alex,
I own a music store and sell the Fenders, Peavey, Behringers and Roland Cubes discussed here.
Personally, I would get a Fender Blues Deluxe (1 12") or the Blues Deville (2 12") speakers and know that I've got an amp for years and years.
The Roland Cubes are very nice but don't have all the warmth and pure volume the Fenders have.
I sell a lot of Behringer models, especially the GMX212 which has 120 watts, 2 12" speakers and built in effects. However, they are made in China and I don't know if they will last as long as a Fender under band level volumes and moving around. However, the Behringers are under $300.00 brand new and the fender DeVille is more like $750.00.
Peavey is a good choice for a little less money than the fender for a very similar all tube design, but you still see more Fenders played than anything else.
George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California

Alex:

There's lots of choices out there. I also don't know what ska (sounds sorta familiar) means. but you mentioned he plays rhythm guitar, but need more info such as, does he play acoustic electric?, or a solid body electric?, is he probably going to learn to play lead? There's a lot of different sounds from different amps, some amps are modeling amps, some amps are just straight amplifiers. Lots of youngsters use pedalboards..

I'm a fender man also, and I play every kind of music, and have many amps, the one I use is a 1964 Fender dual showman with reverb and vibrato. This is a head only and sits on a speaker Cabinet that I modified and currently has 2 heavy duty 15" woofers 2 8" mid range and a bass horn. I've never found anything better and no place it won't get the job done, and after all these years its still in perfect condition. It weights probably 175 lbs or close to it.

A good starter amp for a rocker is a fender princeton 65 watts with a 12" fender blue speaker. probably 285 bucks. a good amp for a acoustic electric player for folk church etc is a Fender acousonic comes in two sizes small is probably 350 bucks large probably around 650 bucks.

Versitile amp for all around use is Roland Jazz chorus probably get a used one from Ebay for about 300 dollars.

If it country, its gotta be tube, there's only one and thats Fender, I would pick a tube head and buy the speakers seperately and start him with 2 12" cab. The old Fenders are built like a tank and will not wear out, only need minor repairs sometimes, and a occasional tube. A good middle of the road choice is a mid 60's Bandmaster reverb, If it has to be all in one cabinet there's the Fender twin reverb, the #1 pick for the last 1/2 century and still probably tops, especially to older musicians who have worked with them.
You can buy used and if you look for a couple of things you can do okay on tube amps. look close for signs of tampering, missing parts and most important almost flawless in cosmetics, look in the back, no water marks, chassy Looks clean. turn in on and try it, if its quiet and has lots of volume and no scratchy sounds when knobs is turned its probably a good amp.
Buying a solid state(no tubes) is risky business, in used, wouldn't do it unless I knew the amp or person selling.....

Some of my veiws on this subject, not set in stone, but I've been using guitar amps since 1946, and have played thru most all of them. Hope you find something of use in my book.... ............pose

I have been using a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe for about 8 years now and I couldn't be happier with it. I'd recommend any of the Fender tube amps from the Blues Jnr and up. Personally I think tube amps are the only way to go. About the only solid state amp that is worth considering is the Roland Jazz Chorus that Russ and pose recommended.

George, how are those Peavey tube amps ? Do they compare well with similar Fenders ? I'm curious because someone was just telling me today that Peavey was selling a range of reasonably priced tube amps.


[This message has been edited by Nigel (edited 10-20-2005).]

Friends,

Thank you very much for your advice. My son has been calling around today and found a used Peavey Classic 50 212BT for $375 - I guess that is a reasonable deal and an amp that would work for him. He is asking me to lend money for the amp, so I want to make sure he is making a wise decision.

He is playing a solid body with 2 single coil pickups DeArmond M75T, which he traded "up" from Ibanez Artcore.

Thanks again,
Alex

PS Fred, Pose, you can hear samples of my son's band on http://www.myspace.com/oedipusska
- this is not a true band site, so ignore the juvenile antics and poor recording quality. The music, though not my style, is pretty good - my son wrote all the songs.

Ok, Alex that's the good one.
212BT Should be 2 x 12" and blonde tolex.

My band mate uses one and I really like that amp.!

As it's used you might have the amp chequed on the tubes and tubecabs, allthough as long as no crackles when warming up they're probably fine.