My brother wants an amp for his Les Paul. He plays 1960s Blues-Folk-Rock like Crosby, Stills & Nash; Neal Young; Jesse Colin Young. He plays mainly at home and sometimes jams with friends. No gigs.
What do you recommend for under $500 USD?
Re: Best electric guitar amps under $500 USD?
Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2015 11:37 pm
by Freethenoise
Doug wrote:My brother wants an amp for his Les Paul. He plays 1960s Blues-Folk-Rock like Crosby, Stills & Nash; Neal Young; Jesse Colin Young. He plays mainly at home and sometimes jams with friends. No gigs.
What do you recommend for under $500 USD?
I always give the same recommendation for amps around that price.
Hit up a Roland Cube. It'll keep him covered for pretty much any tone he'd want for now. They're wicked portable if he wants to take it to friends houses for jams and stuff too.
Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2015 11:59 pm
by Josh
Around that price range for an amp I wouldn't gig with id probably try out a small fender tube amp like a blues jr. I know you can snag silverface champs at that price range too.
You can get either a new Vox AC10 or Nightrain combo, or a used AC15 which might be overkill.
Fender Super Champ or blues jr are in that budget too.
I think I'd say Night train comboin this situation. Loud enough for small gigs and practice, small, lightweight, lots of tonal variety and all tube. I think they're $400 at GC.
Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2015 7:57 am
by Fakir Mustache
I've heard good things about VHT amps, they're point-to-point, hand wired in China and good prices.
Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2015 1:21 pm
by robroe
Favorite amp I have ever owned
[youtube][/youtube]
Two 6V6 power tubes, 13 watts; two 12AX7 preamp tubes
15" Special Design speaker
Guitar, Mic, and Accordion inputs (each with individually optimized circuitry)
Volume, Tremolo knobs; Bright/Dark switch
1/4" internal speaker disconnect for driving an external speaker
here it is A/B with an Eric Clapton Tremelux amp that costs $2,000.00. The Excelsior is $300 new. with the $200 left over you can buy yourself a very very nice 2 channel overdrive and have the perfect amp
[youtube][/youtube]
Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2015 3:04 pm
by Nick
On that note Rob when I saw this thread I couldn't help but think of my Fender Vapirizer that I picked up some months ago for $220 new. Great amp (aside from the unfortunate design flaw with a buzzy reverb) for the money, I often find myself preferring it to my deluxe reverb when I don't need loud cleans. I've thought about buying a Ramparte as well while they're available.
Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2015 3:53 pm
by robroe
Nick wrote:On that note Rob when I saw this thread I couldn't help but think of my Fender Vapirizer that I picked up some months ago for $220 new. Great amp (aside from the unfortunate design flaw with a buzzy reverb) for the money, I often find myself preferring it to my deluxe reverb when I don't need loud cleans. I've thought about buying a Ramparte as well while they're available.
after a quick search on fenders site it looks like they quit making all these amps? including excelsior and vapirizer.
isn't the Ramparte super fucking expensive though? or is that a different one?
Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2015 3:56 pm
by robroe
nevermind im thinking of the Machete
it looks like a pawnshop thing
Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2015 4:40 pm
by Josh
The machete and the ramparte are fucking ugly. The vaporizer and excelsior look sweet though.
Love the sound of those amps, not too big, sounds great, cheap as hell for a tube amp too that doesn't say peavey or crate.
Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2015 4:47 pm
by sunshiner
For home use VOX AC4 can be just wonderful
Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2015 5:30 pm
by Nick
robroe wrote:
isn't the Ramparte super fucking expensive though? or is that a different one?
Nah, I find Rampartes all day for between $200-$300. And yes all these amps I believe are discontinued. Not sure about machette. Think all the pawn shop run are meant for a 1-2 year production.
Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2015 6:59 pm
by dots
does he want/need/care about tube?
Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2015 8:15 am
by jagsonic
I love my excelsior. Great amp for at home, jams and little gigs. But if it doesn't need to be a tubeamp, what about a fender mustangs or the blackstar id core series? Also great cheap amps with a lot of good sounds.
Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2015 12:07 pm
by Nick
Guitar Center are selling Orange tiny terror combos for $500 if theres any left. Similarly if Solid State is more his thing you can get a loud Orange Crush amp for that price as well.
Posted: Fri Nov 06, 2015 8:47 pm
by markleton
Nick wrote:You can get either a new Vox AC10 or Nightrain combo, or a used AC15 which might be overkill.
The Ac10 is loud as balls. I have one and it's good for small gigs and rehersals but for home use the volume barely hits 1 with the gain right down and it's louder than a loud tv.
Thanks for the research, 71. I may run over to Kennesaw and test that Excelsior for my bro.
Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2015 10:05 pm
by Doug
robroe wrote:Favorite amp I have ever owned
[youtube][/youtube]
Two 6V6 power tubes, 13 watts; two 12AX7 preamp tubes
15" Special Design speaker
Guitar, Mic, and Accordion inputs (each with individually optimized circuitry)
Volume, Tremolo knobs; Bright/Dark switch
1/4" internal speaker disconnect for driving an external speaker
here it is A/B with an Eric Clapton Tremelux amp that costs $2,000.00. The Excelsior is $300 new. with the $200 left over you can buy yourself a very very nice 2 channel overdrive and have the perfect amp
[youtube][/youtube]
Thanks for this. I forwarded the links to my bro. Looks closest to what he's lookin for so far.
