Beginning Amp
Benny Hsu
good beginners amp would be a Fender Frontman 15R. Would some of you agree
with that? I want one around that price range. What else would you suggest.
I don't plan on performing soon, but a good practice amp. Thanks for your
time.
Benny
Explosif_josif
priced. u can buy just about any 15w solid state with reverb and it sounds
the same. I think crate has good deals on starter amps. just shop around
find a ten or 15 watt amp with reverb that fits the wallet. I starter amp
doesn't need to be anything great.
Joe
--
"If the injustice has a spring, or a pulley, or a rope, or a crank,
exclusively for itself, then perhaps you may consider whether the
remedy will not be worse than the evil; but if it is not of such a
nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another,
then, I say, break the law."
-- Henry David Thoreau, "Civil Disobedience"
Benny Hsu <bhs...@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
news:7o9k5h$h55$1...@bgtnsc03.worldnet.att.net...
J.F. Cole
solid state amps will sound similar.
BUT, make sure you get one with reverb. You will enjoy it more.
I recommend shopping around for something used. Lots of guys trade up
as they get more serious, so you should be able to find something good
for not much money.
The other day I saw a used Fender RAD combo (Reverb and Distortion) for
$35 USD!!!
Good luck!
J.
In article <VNYp3.54$Qn4....@ptah.visi.com>,
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Share what you know. Learn what you don't.
Gallard
J.F. Cole <jay...@usa.net> wrote in message
news:7oa1gd$q9s$1...@nnrp1.deja.com...
> I agree with the last post: Fenders can be overpriced, and most 15 watt
> solid state amps will sound similar.
Yeah they sound like shit. Get a Fender Blues Junior Combo and forget that
low end solid state crap. Solid State doesnt start to sound good until you
spend
alot more than what that original poster can afford now.
Steve Barnes
small tube
amps either new or used such as Peavey,Crate,Ampeg for reasonable
prices.
jay...@usa.net
Yer' whacked! He said he was considering a 15 watt practice amp that
goes for around $75 bucks! And you tell him to go buy a $325 tube
amp!???
I've taught guitar for over fifteen years, and the fact is that not
everyone can afford to spend that much. For PRACTICING at low volumes
in your apartment or bedroom, SOLID STATE IS FINE.
Blues Jr. is a great little amp, but it's probably NOT THE BEST CHOICE
FOR EVERYONE. (Then again, if my mom had bought me one when I was a kid
I would have been psyched! :-)
Benny, if you're reading this, this is your first exposure to a
long-standing argument, i.e., tubes vs. transistors. Personally, I
prefer a tube amp when I play with a band, but I have a solid state
practice amp that works great in my apartment.
Tubes generally sound better, but there are a host of drawbacks, e.g.,
tube amps are heavier, more expensive (plus, tubes wear out and need to
be replaced), and usually more fragile.
For the pros, there's really no choice, you go with what sounds best,
i.e., tubes. For a beginner with limited funds, a solid state amp is
probably the best choice.
Don't let these snobs tell you to spend more money. Most of them earn
their living fixing broken tube amps... ;-)
J.
Gallard wrote:
> Get a Fender Blues Junior Combo and forget that
> low end solid state crap. Solid State doesnt start to sound good until you
> spend
> alot more than what that original poster can afford now.
ps- neither do tubes...
Explosif_josif
with more tone possibilities. if u have to many tone choices when u start
you will waste your time on that and forget about learning to play.
josif
--
"If the injustice has a spring, or a pulley, or a rope, or a crank,
exclusively for itself, then perhaps you may consider whether the
remedy will not be worse than the evil; but if it is not of such a
nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another,
then, I say, break the law."
-- Henry David Thoreau, "Civil Disobedience"
<jay...@usa.net> wrote in message
news:9F2190ABF535A642.78C1D227...@lp.airnews.net...
Frank Carr
>I'm going to be getting a new electric guitar and amp. Someone suggested a
>good beginners amp would be a Fender Frontman 15R. Would some of you agree
>with that? I want one around that price range. What else would you suggest.
>I don't plan on performing soon, but a good practice amp.
I'd recommend the VOX PathFinder unless you're into heavier music. This amp
is the best sounding solid state practice amp I've heard, particularly for
blues, classic rock, and jazz tones.
If you're into heavier music, you might want to look at the new Ibanez
practice amps. They have a decent distorted sound for a small amp.
The small Fender, Crate and Peavey solid state amps really don't sound that
good, although most can produce a decent clean tone that you can put a pedal
in front of to get some satisfaction. They also have a tendency to clip
horribly if you push them with a humbucker equipped guitar, something that
the VOX and Ibanez don't do as bad.
A nice little tube amp is the Crate VC508. It's about the cheapest way to
get real tube tones for under $200. The only caveats I have about it is that
there are some quality problems with them so check them out closely and it
really isn't a suitable amp for metal styles.
Frank Carr
jfc...@msn.com
Miles O'Neal
>
> I'm going to be getting a new electric guitar and amp. Someone suggested a
> good beginners amp would be a Fender Frontman 15R. Would some of you agree
> with that? I want one around that price range. What else would you suggest.
> time.
I'd avoid solid state if possible. Yeah, it might be fine, but
a good tone makes you want to play more. An amp that lets you
hear nuances helps you avoid playing sloppily. (Of course, it
also intimidate some people...)
I'd look for a good, used, tube practice amp.
Of course, if you want a warranty, that makes it tougher unless
the dealer will offer one.
If you're not that worried about tone, go ahead and get the solid
state amp. It will be fine. Tubes would just be finer. 8^) If
you stick with a name brand, you should be safe.
The nice thing about going with SS is that you can probably more
easily afford reverb. You want to leave the reverb off most of
the time when practicing, but it can help cover up sloppiness, so
when you're getting frustrated, or want to play for someone, it's
nice to have that reverb. Plus, it just sounds cool.
-Miles, Mr. Pragmatic
Gallard
I dont know how many parents tell me that they bought their kid a cheap
guitar and amp
on special and he played with it for a week and now it sits in his closet
gathering dust.
So I tell people to start off with good gear and if the kid doesnt decide to
stick with it, then at least they have a better than fair chance at getting
their money out of it.
AND if the kid does keep it, down the road picks it up again at least he has
some good gear that if he wanted to replace, would cost more than it did
when he originally recieved it.
So, snobbery isnt the point my friend. Economics is!
Explosif_josif
if u wan learn u wanna learn simple as that. when u have to many gadgets u
get away from the important part.........playing the damn guitar. if u want
my opinion learn on a acoustic, when you can play decently go electric.
josif
--
"If the injustice has a spring, or a pulley, or a rope, or a crank,
exclusively for itself, then perhaps you may consider whether the
remedy will not be worse than the evil; but if it is not of such a
nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another,
then, I say, break the law."
-- Henry David Thoreau, "Civil Disobedience"
Gallard <gal...@access1.net> wrote in message
news:37a9...@news.access1.net...
J.F. Cole
classical but switched to electric when I was 15. That was 20 years
ago.
I had a Montaya Les Paul copy w/ bolt on neck and my
friend/mentor/corruptor lent me a tiny solid state Kingston with two
knobs: volume and tone. I'm sure it sounded terrible but it didn't
matter 'cause I was driving it with a Big Muff and had everything
cranked to 10. It screamed!
GOD THAT WAS FUN!!!
I got my own amp about 3 months later. It was a 100 watt Univox bass
head (c.1971) thru a beat up old Fender 2-12 cab. All tube, no reverb,
no master volume, VERY LOUD! I think I paid $100 for the whole rig.
The Big Muff did a lot for the tone of that amp too... ;-)
Regards,
JF Cole
Dallas TX
Doc Shock
with a 15" speaker, as I recall.
J.F. Cole wrote in message <7od6hm$4ke$1...@nnrp1.deja.com>...
jay...@usa.net
Yer' Still Whacked! ;-)
If economics is a concern, you sure as H@LL shouldn't encourage yer'
kids to be playin' guitar!
GO BUY SOME MUTUAL FUNDS! :-o
And if a used Blues Jr. is worth more than $150 bucks in 3 years, I WILL
BUY YOU ONE. (Scout's Honor... :-)
I agree that a crappy rig will turn even the most enthusiastic kids off,
but you're still misguided. A $75 SS amp will do fine. Spend the extra
money on the guitar.
J.
Tom
Six months later (after playing Red River Valley over and over...heh),
my sister's boyfriend sold me a DeArmond soundhole clip-n pickup ($15)
(with 5 pole pieces...it didn't have one for the B string...I forget
why). I plugged it into the Magnavox in my folks' living room...sounded
like crap, but nice and loud! About a week later, my dad told me that a
co-worker was selling a guitar amp....I was TOTALLY psyched! It was a
'60 Gibson Falcon (tweed) with cool cigarette-burns and drink-glass
stains on the top...he paid $35 for it....later he mentioned that the
guy wanted to sell a guitar as well......it was white..and by a company
named Guild...unfortunately he didn't buy it...'cause it was $100....tne
following Christmas, I got a Silvertone (Teisco) 335-clone.......I'll
never forget THAT! Of course, being a stupid kid and not seeing any
tweed amps, I spray-painted the amp black......oh, well. That was in
1967/68....what a time that was! Nothing like Foxy Lady played thru a
Silvertone, Electro Harmonix LPB-1, and a cranked tweed amp......
Regards.
J.F. Cole wrote:
>
> I'm wondering what amps other people started on... I started out on
> classical but switched to electric when I was 15. That was 20 years
> ago.
>
Simply Steve
SS
Alpep wrote:
> In article <7od6hm$4ke$1...@nnrp1.deja.com>, J.F. Cole <jay...@usa.net> writes:
>
> >I'm wondering what amps other people started on...
>
> black panel princeton reverb (bought new ) with an extremely cheesy 2 pickup
> red japanese electric guitar and a black wedge clone of the maestro fuzz. still
> have the princeton put it through hell and it still kicks.
Alpep
Wycked7
beginner amp?
"look out Honey cause' I'm usin' technology!" -Search & Destroy by Iggy Pop
>don't forget to remove the NOSPAM from my address......
Miles O'Neal
>
> I'm wondering what amps other people started on... I started out on
> classical but switched to electric when I was 15. That was 20 years
The first one I played through was a Sears/Silvertone
amp-in-case with the guitar that came with it. Belonged
to a friend named Martin.
First amp of my own was an old tube PA amp I hacked around
with and played through a 15" speaker I'd yanked from some
dead item.
Made my own pickup for my acoustic from an old 2.5" speaker
(from a dead portable transistor radio), and wound my own
cable from old phone wire (hey, I was home sick, and I was
13 or 14, OK?)
A tad noisy, but way too loud to play in the house.
Feedback was easy, tho. 8^)
My first real guitar amp was an old Kalamazoo Model One.
Gave it to my son last Christmas...
-Miles
James Leung
want?
Well personally I recommend Laney LC series if you are on a medium budget.
The LC-15R only cost $250+ and has effects loop, reverb, bright channel. The
30W version has 2 seperate channels with independent EQ, and cost around
$350+.
Explosif_josif
work on my playing sounding better to make up for the amo being crap. that
was 4 years ago now I got a VOX Pathfinder cheap but it works and sounds
VERY GOOD!
josif
--
"If the injustice has a spring, or a pulley, or a rope, or a crank,
exclusively for itself, then perhaps you may consider whether the
remedy will not be worse than the evil; but if it is not of such a
nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another,
then, I say, break the law."
-- Henry David Thoreau, "Civil Disobedience"
J.F. Cole <jay...@usa.net> wrote in message
news:7od6hm$4ke$1...@nnrp1.deja.com...
> I'm wondering what amps other people started on... I started out on
> classical but switched to electric when I was 15. That was 20 years
Russell S. Emerson
think it was a Kay? This was followed by a Hagstom Soidbody (black, fast neck,
squeely pickups) and a Harmony amp with 1 x 15 speaker and I think about 15
watts...wish I still had that amp..sounded great...but I was 17 and wanted
something LOUD. So then I got a Twin Reverb in around 1969...worked all summer
to pay for it. Wisd I still had that amp too. Sold too much stuff to pay the
rent a few years later!!
Monte Barnett
or eight inch speaker. The cabinet back had a snap-flap pouch on the inside
which held a greenish square Shure mic (which attached nicely with
electrician's tape to my music stand!). The "head" stowed in the cabinet and
had two or three inputs (Mic, Phono, etc). IIRC, my Dad had to solder up an
1/4" female to RCA male adapter for me to plug my '64 Strat into the PA.
Used that for a couple of years until I could save up for a "real" guitar
amp ........ Silvertone twin-12, 100-watt sandbox. Loud but sterile.
Monte Barnett
mbarnett AT valleyint DOT com
Scott McKnight
>x-no-archive: yes
>
>J.F. Cole (jay...@usa.net) wrote:
>+------
>| I'm wondering what amps other people started on... I started out on
>| classical but switched to electric when I was 15. That was 20 years
>| ago.
>+------
>
>I played fingerpickeing acoustic from age 10 to 14 ... then got a
>Gretsch Chet Atkins amp for $150 and a Teisco electric when I was 14. I
>had to play in the basement when no one was home because my mother and
>my sisters thought I had lost my mind. Next summer of 1975 I turned 15
>and got a summer job and bought a real electric... a cherry red SG,
>and a Univox Super Fuzz.
>
>Kiira
>
1972. A Fender Mustang through a Univox SS bass amp. After a year or
so I got a job and saved enough for (chery red) '68 SG and a Peavey
Deuce II.
-Scott mcKnight
Darryl
You were saying......
>I'm wondering what amps other people started on... I started out on
>classical but switched to electric when I was 15. That was 20 years
>ago.
A 30 watt Goltentone combo (age? probably out of the fifties I
think). Tweed(ish) vinyl. 2x12 Rola twincone speakers. And used
2xEL34is as outputs.
I rebuilt it to piggy back head and sealed speaker box (and of course
black vinyl :-( ) to make it look more powerful like the ones my
mates could afford to buy. :-)
My seond amp, I still have. It's a Maton Powerpack Studio amp. Really
nice reverb. 2x12 speakers. uses 2 EL36 output tubes (about 40 watt).
combo style, but not open back - the speakers are fully enclosed.
__ \ \ __ /__ / \
| | _ \ / / _ \
| | ___ \ / / ___ \
____/_/ _\____|____|_/ _\
arc4786
but it was an amp, dammit! It sounded like a $40 amp on its good days; on
bad days, it sounded like a $10 amp. It wasn't particularly inspiring, but
I learned how to sound good despite my equipment because of it.
I sold it shortly after I bought my Champ, to some pawn shop that gave me
$20 worth of road trip cash for it, and then tried to sell it for $90.
Should I ever want it, it's still there. Am I surprised? No...
There are things I miss being able to use it for, like plugging it into
itself and adding pedals to turn it into a pseudo-synth without caring
what happened to the amp/ speaker. Maybe I'll get it again, just for that.
--
"Some people's idea of free speech is that they are free to say what they
like, but if anyone says anything back, that is an outrage."
-Winston Churchill
PhreNeTiK
Fender original speaker in it and replaced it with a JBL. Ran a used
mid 60's Gibson SG standard through an LPB-1 and an MXR Phase 90 into
it. I thought it rocked. It did. Some of my friends have tapes. They
tell me so. I am not responsible for....
But my dad was a ham, and he was fairly well familiar with tube amps,
soldering irons, oscilloscopes, etc., So he tweaked it for me and
helped me get "that goddamned noise" I wanted out of it. He used to
work on my cousins Showmans and Twins too. I recall putting a fairly
large rheostat on the output of that amp to be able to get my
distortion and keep the rest of the family from suffocating me in my
sleep (think Powerbrake without the chassis).
The old man held court occasionally with the local kids who were in
the ham club. Two of those kids, Mark Gummer and Gary Kimball, started
a business called Northeast Sound (I think that's it - damn my memory
is the shits - Northeast, Southeast, something like that). They do
major concert sound now - ya know, stadiums and festivals, etc.
Occasionally I run into them at ham fests and the like, but it's been
a really long time and I don't live in that neighborhood anymore.
In highschool I probably owned 15 guitars. Went through em like they
were socks for awhile there...Melody Makers, Strats, SG's, LP's,
Musicmasters, Mustangs, a Hagstrom or two.... Then there were the
amps....hehehe....
Revolver
I'm currently making a 2x10" cab and have managed to get hold of some
Vox Tolex, Vox corners and a Vox handle to put on my little beauty but I
can't get feet from anywhere. Anybody know where I can get them cheap?
Cheers,
Steven