Practice Amp?
El Marto
May 8 2011, 08:37 PM
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Hi,

I'm living 5 out of 7 days in Ghent (to go to college). I live in a small student room. But my amp I have at home, is too large (and loud) to put there. So I need a new, smaller amp. I'm thinking about a practice amp. What are your recommendations? Solid state, tubes, ... In fact, it doesn't matter, as long as I like the sound smile.gif

My current amp is a Line 6 Spider III, which I don't like anymore and I'm thinking about selling it as soon as I have another amp...

Thanks!

El Marto

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SpaseMoonkey
May 8 2011, 08:45 PM
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Haylos,

I since you mentioned you have a Line 6 Spider III, does it matter if it has effects built in?

Because I use to have a Vox VT50, it had a great sound to my ears, it was a hybrid, it was a mixture of 12AX7 tube and solid state together. It also had a headphone jack so just incase you needed that little bit more of a personal me time without bothering everyone else.

If your looking into something that does effects and such. Do you have to have an amp or maybe get something like a line 6 pod? Its just headphones but it will help save a ton of room and way easier to carry with you.

- Travis S.

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Bogdan Radovic
May 8 2011, 08:47 PM
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Blackstar has some cool 1-5 watt valve combos - maybe you could check them out.

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This post has been edited by Bogdan Radovic: May 8 2011, 08:47 PM


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Ivan Milenkovic
May 8 2011, 09:43 PM
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What type of tone your after, and how big is your budget?

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Todd Simpson
May 9 2011, 04:29 AM
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A lot does depend on your budget. Do you plan on recording while at college or playing in a jam/band/group? Or is this just a tiny amp for practice in the dorm that won't get you a fine for disturbing the peace?

All of these factors will help decide which amp is best for you.

No matter what amp you get, (if you haven't already) take a look at some software options like Guitar Rig and such that will run on your laptop so that you can record, play at all hours with headphone and not get a noise violation.


QUOTE (El Marto @ May 8 2011, 02:37 PM) *
Hi,

I'm living 5 out of 7 days in Ghent (to go to college). I live in a small student room. But my amp I have at home, is too large (and loud) to put there. So I need a new, smaller amp. I'm thinking about a practice amp. What are your recommendations? Solid state, tubes, ... In fact, it doesn't matter, as long as I like the sound smile.gif

My current amp is a Line 6 Spider III, which I don't like anymore and I'm thinking about selling it as soon as I have another amp...

Thanks!

El Marto

You are at GuitarMasterClass.net


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El Marto
May 9 2011, 07:38 AM
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- No, it doesn't matter if it has effect built in or not. I barely use them on my current amp smile.gif
- I like to play blues, rock, Queens Of The Stone Age and Eagles Of Death Metal-like stuff, ... (Is this enough to understand what tone I need? I'm not that good in describing that...)
- It's an amp I need, because I have some friends who play the guitar also, and I might jam with them, sometimes.
- Budget is about 200 - 300€ max.

Sorry I forgot those things, but I was in a hurry.
Thanks for the replies and I'll be sure to check them all out this afternoon! biggrin.gif

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Mudbone
May 9 2011, 07:43 AM
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From: Charlotte, NC (residence)/Boston, MA (home) USA
QUOTE (El Marto @ May 9 2011, 02:38 AM) *
- No, it doesn't matter if it has effect built in or not. I barely use them on my current amp smile.gif
- I like to play blues, rock, Queens Of The Stone Age and Eagles Of Death Metal-like stuff, ... (Is this enough to understand what tone I need? I'm not that good in describing that...)
- It's an amp I need, because I have some friends who play the guitar also, and I might jam with them, sometimes.
- Budget is about 200 - 300€ max.

Sorry I forgot those things, but I was in a hurry.
Thanks for the replies and I'll be sure to check them all out this afternoon! biggrin.gif


Like Bogdan said, you might want to check out the Blackstar HT-1 combo. I've never played it but from the demos I've seen online it looks like a great practice amp.

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Ivan Milenkovic
May 9 2011, 12:06 PM
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Hey mate, here's something interesting that you should check out:



This is Kustom High Voltage HV30T, and you can find it on Belgian Thomman for 219e, which I think is a great price for this little fella.

Here are the features:

tube preamp,
24bit digital effects,
2x channels,
30W,
1x 12" Celestion speaker,
lead channel with controls for gain and volume plus switch for crunch and grind,
rhythm channel with controls for gain, volume plus switch for fat and lean,
EQ section for both channels with controls for bass, mid and treble,
16x 24bit digital effects with controls for level and effects, tap-delay,
external speaker output,
DI out (XLR) with speaker simulation,
headphone output,
CD input,
optional footswitch available (KAC FS201).
Dimensions: 431 x 501x 241mm.
Weight: 12.25kg

To me, this is a perfect little practice amp for a serious beginning guitar player. Good brand, all the handy features for a practice amp, small weight for transport, onboard effects, 12" speaker, two inputs for jamming with friends - all for 220e, that's a bargain. This amp is more blues/rock oriented than metal, but it has some very usable hi-gain tones as well.

You should definitely keep this in your top 5 choices.

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This post has been edited by Ivan Milenkovic: May 9 2011, 12:08 PM


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El Marto
May 10 2011, 02:31 PM
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Nice! I'm checking this one out.
But what's this: DI out (XLR) with speaker simulation, ?

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SpaseMoonkey
May 10 2011, 03:00 PM
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QUOTE (El Marto @ May 10 2011, 01:31 PM) *
Nice! I'm checking this one out.
But what's this: DI out (XLR) with speaker simulation, ?


I'm going out on a guess after some searching.

DI out (XLR) would be a XLR output but a balanced signal.

So for instance you gig you could take your amp on the road hook it up to a mixer and play it via a pa system. Also you may be able to use it for recording purposes if you were to have an XLR in to an audio interface.

Speaker simulation: It's would be tho the signal is being transfered to another source. It would add other features with that signal to recreate the tone of speaker so you won't have that pure digital sound overall.

I hope that helps.

- Travis S.

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El Marto
May 10 2011, 05:27 PM
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Posts: 43
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From: Brugge, Belgium
QUOTE (SpaseMoonkey @ May 10 2011, 02:00 PM) *
I'm going out on a guess after some searching.

DI out (XLR) would be a XLR output but a balanced signal.

So for instance you gig you could take your amp on the road hook it up to a mixer and play it via a pa system. Also you may be able to use it for recording purposes if you were to have an XLR in to an audio interface.

Speaker simulation: It's would be tho the signal is being transfered to another source. It would add other features with that signal to recreate the tone of speaker so you won't have that pure digital sound overall.

I hope that helps.

- Travis S.

Hmm, I understand the DI out (XLR) to play via a PA system (or for recording purposes). But I don't understand the speaker simulation quite well... Sorry sad.gif

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SpaseMoonkey
May 10 2011, 07:48 PM
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From the manual:

Direct (SPKR Emulated) - this is a 3-conductor, XLR output jack for plugging into Lo-Z microphone
inputs as found on PA or recording mixers. It is intended in place of external mics or used as a built-in
direct box. Great effort was made in emulating the actual speaker sound.

So it would be to recreate the sound of the amp without needing to mic it when using the XLR out.

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Bogdan Radovic
May 10 2011, 07:58 PM
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From: Belgrade, Serbia
QUOTE (El Marto @ May 10 2011, 06:27 PM) *
Hmm, I understand the DI out (XLR) to play via a PA system (or for recording purposes). But I don't understand the speaker simulation quite well... Sorry sad.gif


DI with speaker simulation is a very useful feature. It will allow you to record your amp directly thorough it (or connect it to a mixing board).
Speaker simulation will help you get a nice guitar tone that resembles the real amp tone (as it will emulate a speaker cabinet). Without it - DI sounds too dry and raw.

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Ivan Milenkovic
May 11 2011, 08:56 PM
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Speaker simulator will work nice if you have overdrive going on, if you use clean setting, DI can often sound more clearer.

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Todd Simpson
May 12 2011, 02:34 AM
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Yup smile.gif The Speaker Simulator aproximates the "color/tone" of a speaker even though your going out Direct (DI). If you have ever plugged a distortion pedal directly in to a PA or mixing board you know it can sound a bit harsh. It sounds better through an amp because of the way the speaker "colors" the sound. So the Speaker Simulator sort of fakes it and makes the DI sound more like you stuck a microphone in front of your speaker cone instead of ran a line out to the PA.

All the amps mentioned so far are really nice pieces. The line 6 Spider in this range is also a great value but does not sound like a "Boutique" amp as much as the Blackstar or ENGL would.

Also, ORANGE makes a very spiff amp in this range now. For about $200 Euro you can get a 35 watt Orange. It's solid state, not tube, but has a very tube quality to it. For the price it's hard to beat. You could get two of them as a mini stack smile.gif It's called the

Orange Amplifiers Crush PiX Series CR35LDX 35W 1x10 Guitar Combo Amp



QUOTE (Ivan Milenkovic @ May 11 2011, 02:56 PM) *
Speaker simulator will work nice if you have overdrive going on, if you use clean setting, DI can often sound more clearer.

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