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Right so I've sold my amp and I'm now looking for a smaller 30w or 50w amp just for mucking around with at home. Which in your opinion is the best to consider? Bearing in mind I have a maximum £150 at the most.

Depends on what you are looking for in an amp, nice cleans/ handles pedals well/ reverb/ tubes?

The usual set of questions apply, really:

-What style of music do you play? What kind of sounds?
-If you use distortion/OD, does it come from a pedal or the amp?
- Do you need an FX loop?
- Do you want onboard FX, reverb?

I'd always recommend buying something secondhand because you'll generally get more for your money; be it in the shape of a familar brand or addition features that'd normally push the brand new price out of your range.

edit: DAMN YOUR EYES, JOHNO!

Also, do you want it to be valve or not?

If it's for bedroom use only and not gigging, then 30 watt tube is still pretty loud, a lot louder than you'll likely need in your bedroom.

If I were you, I'd look at a second hand Marshall AVT or similar. They are (for the most part) solid state, sound great, and will get great sounds at a range of volumes. It's unlikely that either a 30 or 50 watt one would be loud enough to gig with though, maybe the 50 would.

i dont gig that's why I don't especially want a massive amp. I'm not goin to be able to get valve for that price I dont expect. Stuff I like to play would be things like Forward Russia, At The Drive-In, Sonic Youthy type stuff.. I prefer pedals so don't need on board FX but reverb would be nice. I looked at the Vox Valvetronix and the Orange Crush but I'm not entirely sure on either of them.

just get a Marshall Valvestate & be done. I always go 2nd with gear as much as poss, better value for money + green points.

I'm not sure of the recent transformations of the Valvestate. I know there was the Valvestate, then the VS2000 (maybe), then AVT (which I have) then they all got a bit weird looking, but I think they were roughly the same amp and it was just cosmetic changes.

Doog: Didn't you just buy a Valvestate? Which one was it?

VS100 for £156 on eBay, local pickup. Somewhat overpowered for home use (the volume dials are so touchy because of the amount of range on them), but a fine fine amp. The drive channels are pretty nice too, it's all about using the EQ well.

It's the reason these sort of amps often get a bad rep; the price dictates that they're often used by gigging newbs who haven't quite nailed how to dial an amp in properly. They're actually pretty warm sounding beasts if you keep the high end down.

Slightly out of your budget, but these are excellent. I know someone who used to gig with one of these, so as well as sounding great a low volumes, being stereo, it might be of some use at some point for gigs:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Marshall-AVT-275- ... 996wt_1167

30-50 watts is pretty loud for home use. Have a scout around for a 2nd hand laney VC15, I have one and it is great sounding amp. I had a valvetronix and while it had an interesting range of sounds I just stuck it on one setting and stuck with it while using pedals for effects. Not tried the Orange Crush though so I can't comment.

it may sound stupid but I can't actually stretch the extra £6. £150 is the maximum I'd have which is a bugger

There's a 50w Valvetronix on the bay for £150 buy it now but I was wondering if anyone here had one to know what to expect.

argylelewis wrote:it may sound stupid but I can't actually stretch the extra £6. £150 is the maximum I'd have which is a bugger

The point being made that I picked up a used 100w Marshall Valvestate for that price, so you'd be able to get a smaller home amp for a fair bit less.

Ah right. Sorry I thought you meant there is one now on there for that price. I'll look into them then and see what we can fund

The Laney VC15 looks really nice on google. Unfortunately I'm stuck at work and ebays filtered so can't find a price but they sure look good.

Roland Cube 60 & Marshall MG100DFX both £150 for sale in your area, Gloucester...

http://gloucester.gumtree.com/gloucester/19606_1.html

Going on completed Ebay listings, they go for £200 or so used, although one went for £160 pickup only.

I'd personally say a modelling amp is the way to go for messing about at home; they're ideal for when you want a variety of half decent sounds but can't be bothered setting up pedals and stuff. I've said it before and I'll say it again- I love my Zoom Fire 15.

argylelewis wrote:The Laney VC15 looks really nice on google. Unfortunately I'm stuck at work and ebays filtered so can't find a price but they sure look good.

there is a limited edition Old English White one on there at the moment at £155 with a day left. You might be able to get closer to your budget with one of the normal ones.

i had a vox ad50vt and it was great for bedroom playing

The problem is the MG100 will be too big really for what I'm looking at getting and the effects just won't get used. The music shops by myself (The Soundhouse) don't really offer all that much though so it may need to be a trip to Bristol this weekend