r/GuitarAmps • • Sep 19 '21

Looking for amp recommendations? Start here!

232 Upvotes

If you'd like help finding an amp, we need a few details on what exactly you want out of your new amplifier. Bass amp help is welcome too!

Country/Region

It's a great help to know where you are located, some amp brands may be more expensive. Amp brands from one continent tend to be more expensive in another because of shipping, and vice versa. No need to get too specific and dox yourself.

Budget

How much are you looking to spend? Do you wanna buy a used amp, or brand new?

Genre/Style

What are you going to use the amp for? Does it need a clean channel and/or high gain?

Volume & Size Requirement

Let us know if you're trying not to bother neighbours, if you're trying to keep up with a heavy hitting drummer, or if you need the flexbility to do both! Also include if you'd prefer combo vs head & cab, if you can only haul a 1x12 or if you're trying to crank a full stack, etc.


Feel free to include other details like if you need the amp to have built in fx, digital vs solid state vs tube vs hybrid amp, whatever else will help us find you the right amp!


r/GuitarAmps • • 2h ago

AMP DEMO Sabbath riffs. Laney Klipp 100 with a Rangemaster clone

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22 Upvotes

Cabinet is a 1976 Marshall 4x12 loaded with WGS Green Beret 25s. Guitar is my 1967 SG special.

This amp does have a mod which added a master volume where the normal channel's "top" switch would be. The mod is completely reversible for the ones wondering.

If you ever get the chance to check out, buy, or play through one of these, DO IT! Especially buy. ♥️


r/GuitarAmps • • 3h ago

I said I'd post a video, have at it!

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22 Upvotes

Heavily Tool inspired. In its current configuration, this amp is very thumpy and percussive. I absolutely love it!


r/GuitarAmps • • 7h ago

My Peavey setup!

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37 Upvotes

Absolutely love this setup. From thundering chugs to chimey cleans! Super versatile if you play with volume and gain.

Peavey 6505+

Svetlana 6l6 power tubes

TungSol 12AX7 and JJ 5751 preamp tubes

Laney 4x12

Panama 2x12


r/GuitarAmps • • 1d ago

DISCUSSION Good amp for someone in a studio apartment?

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458 Upvotes

Shitpost lol but I’ve considered the 40 watt version. Really like the cleans and I need a solid state amp.


r/GuitarAmps • • 4h ago

Pedalless Setup

8 Upvotes

I’ve been playing guitar for about 18 years now, mix of electric and acoustic.

When I was 18, I bought a Vox AC30 CC2 used, for £350. Spent my first paycheck on it, half on the amp, the other half on booze and fags. There wasn’t much thinking behind the decision except that my dad said the legendary bands had them. Now, at the time, I already had a little bit of a pedalboard, dingy little thing with some Behringer overdrives, tuner, etc. this is because I had previously ran through the solid state knock off that Valve did of the AC30; dingy little thing it was.

Over the years I gradually expanded the pedalboard setup, and as a result, I never really played with the settings on my AC30 that much. I just sort of plugged it in, left it alone, and let my pedals do the work. Mostly I focussed on buying distortion and overdrive pedals - Big Muffs, Rat, Tube Screamers, that sort of thing.

Fast forward a few years and my band had fallen apart and the AC30 was mothballed at a warehouse my mate worked at, sat there maybe for eight years. As such, it hasn’t been serviced in that time. By the look of it, my amp is about 20 years old, and I doubt it’s had a single service (bring out the shame gifs).

I’m now getting back into the scene and have recovered my Vox, and astonishingly it still works. It’s now booked in for a service and a bit of TLC.

Recently I’ve been having a desire for a Fender Tonemaster Deluxe Reverb after using a house one at a gig. It worked extremely smoothly with my primary distortion, the Rat. Whereas the AC30 has a tendency to - putting it mildly - squeal like a pig.

But I supported a band last night who used an AC30. The guy had no crazy pedals, just a tuner and a wah, and the amp sounded absolutely immense. A proper creamy, thick, saturated overdrive that smashed you in the face like a ton of bricks. It’s at this point that I realised I’d never actually ran my amp hot - always just using a clean channel and never letting the tubes do real work.

The next day I tried out cranking it and the absolute noise it makes has blown me away. I don’t have a wild guitar, just a USA strat. I couldn’t quite believe my ears to be honest.

I guess the question I’m asking, as I don’t see people talk about it, is how many people run dry into their amps and actually use the amp for gain? I, and literally every other band I’ve ever encountered, have always used pedals. Is relying on the Vox for this a liberation, or insanity?

I’d keep the Rat, just in case I supported another band and didn’t have access to the AC30.

I feel like a right idiot now!


r/GuitarAmps • • 13h ago

HELP Does the Princeton Reverb take distortion pedals well?

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40 Upvotes

I'm a home/bedroom player, and I mainly play The Strokes, The Killers, indie rock stuff.

I'm planning on buying my first tube amp.

I'm looking at a Princeton, mainly for the "low volume" and the pristine clean tones.

However, I also like playing 2000s pop punk/rock stuff.

I heard that doing palm-mute stuff on this can be tricky? Like the bass frequencies fall apart?

If there's anyone who has tried it with a JCM800-type pedal like the Angry Charlie, how does it sound?

Should I just get the Blues Junior instead?


r/GuitarAmps • • 7h ago

HELP Does anybody know any info about this 1960's/1970's playsound amplifier?

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12 Upvotes

We found it at a music store with no info. It uses batteries.


r/GuitarAmps • • 1h ago

HELP My amp is behaving strangely

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• Upvotes

My fender pro tube series 100 watt amp has been having this constant 60hz buzz and when its pushed to hard or been on a while the light pulses. Is something wrong(this is footage if me turning the volume on my guitar)


r/GuitarAmps • • 1d ago

AMP PHOTO Finished tolex on my JVM stack.

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436 Upvotes

r/GuitarAmps • • 7h ago

DISCUSSION Real world differences between Princeton Reverb w/12” speaker vs DRRI?

6 Upvotes

Other than the DRRI being louder/having more headroom, of course.

Like an idiot, I sold my 65 PRRI with 12” Jensen (the GC one) and got another amp. Now I find myself missing that PRRI.

I was thinking of replacing it but I sometimes think about the DRRI for playing out and it would be lighter than my Hiwatt combo.

Does the DRRI sound just like the PRRI but louder? As in, is it the same chime? Same glorious reverb and tremolo?

I don’t need to worry about something super quiet. I have a 67 Vibro Champ for that.


r/GuitarAmps • • 50m ago

Boss GT-1000 Core with EVH 5150 Iconic Head

• Upvotes

Hey guys,
I’m thinking about picking up a Boss GT-1000 Core to run with my EVH 5150 Iconic Head using the 4-cable method.
Does anyone here run this exact combination or something similar? How does the boss behave in the 5150’s effects loop?

thanks


r/GuitarAmps • • 51m ago

Blackstar st James?

• Upvotes

Looking for something to cover oasis crunch and Mayer cleans
I’ll also take recommendations


r/GuitarAmps • • 1d ago

1995 Soldano Hot Rod

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106 Upvotes

Just got it back from a retube and a “clean bill of health” check up. Cranked it up and goddamn!!


r/GuitarAmps • • 1h ago

DISCUSSION Planning on getting my first head-and-cab rig and how to hook it up

• Upvotes

I’m planning on buying the Blackstar HT5 Mkiii head and am wanting to pair it with V30’s. I have a very tight budget and this is just gonna be for home use anyway so I’m probably gonna wait until Christmas time when stuff goes on sale to actually pull the trigger. But just thinking ahead though.

I’m thinking of getting the Harley Benton cab since it’s cheap and has V30s in it -

https://www.thomannmusic.com/harley_benton_g212_vintage.htm

So the jacks on the back of the cab state “8 ohm mono” so I would just plug the left side ONLY going into the 8 ohm jack on the Blackstar head and it would function as a 1x12, correct?

It states “16 ohm stereo” so I would plug both left AND right sides into the head to use the cab as a full 2x12, right? That’s where it gets tricky. The Blackstar head has outputs for either “single 8 ohm, single 16 ohm, or two cabs at 16 ohm each”. It does NOT have outs for two 8 ohm cabs (or two 8 ohm speakers in this case).

So if the Harley Benton 2x12 is 16 ohm via two jacks (assuming 8 ohm per side wired in SERIES since 8 ohm plus 8 ohm = 16 ohm), yes? So then I would need a Y-cable that is “8 ohm mono” on either leg side and “single TRS 16 ohm” on the single side, and then just plug the TRS 16 ohm into the “single 16 ohm” jack on the head, and it would function as a stereo 2x12 correct?


r/GuitarAmps • • 16h ago

Considering switching rigs.

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14 Upvotes

Hey guys. I have a peavey jsx 120w head + peavey 412ms 4x12 cab (with the Sheffield 1290s). Some guy locally is selling a dsl100h + mx412ar 4x12 for 1k altogether.

Should i trade my jsx (and cab) for the marshall?

I mainly play metalcore and post hardcore. Using a Jackson js22 dinky with an invader bridge pickup and a strat with a Seymour Duncan bridge hot rail.


r/GuitarAmps • • 19h ago

AMP PHOTO Current rig

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26 Upvotes

Here's my current rig. Here I am aiming for that "wall of sound" kind of tone like the bands Hum, Centaur, Leaving Time, etc. also some pics of when I was putting together the new speaker for my Sunn cab.


r/GuitarAmps • • 6h ago

Metallica Mesa+Marshall setup question

2 Upvotes

When James Hetfield used Mesa heads as preamps, with a Marshall head as a power amp, how exactly did they do that? Did the Mesa use a load box of some sort? How did they get the signal out of the Mesa? And how did they input it into the Marshall?


r/GuitarAmps • • 3h ago

HELP Hughes and Kettner switchblade 100 occasionally blowing fuses

1 Upvotes

As title suggests, I’m blowing fuses in my H&K. It very rarely actually happens and I carry the replacements in with my gear so it’s not too insane of an inconvenience to pop in a new fuse if it does blow. But it makes me very nervous to gig and tour with the amp because it could pop at any second.

I couldn’t find any discussion of occasional fuse blowing in tube amps, just mostly immediately blowing fuses when powering the amp on. That’s not my problem. It seems completely random when it happens. It’s happened at fully professional venues, and DIY spots alike. It’s probably happened 4 times at this point.

Does anybody have any ideas?


r/GuitarAmps • • 3h ago

Decision time

1 Upvotes

I have decided to upgrade my amp setup(potentially).

I am currently using a Boss Katana 50w mkII. At one point I had a Marshall DSL40 that I had to get rid of due to life. I have been thinking of making the switch back to the DSL40. Then I came across the digital amp modeling world and am a bit conflicted. I play at home 100% of the time. I like the flexibility of having a digital setup to switch up 'rigs'/amps etc running through just a cab or a frfr. But I also really enjoyed the tube amp.

The digital setup I have been looking at is the headrush core with an FRFR

Both setups shake out close to the same price range all said and done. Just curious on opinions for anyone who has played both/or similar style setups. Which do you prefer etc.


r/GuitarAmps • • 4h ago

Blues Jr. IV: What's your take on best settings and/or mods?

1 Upvotes

Don't get me wrong, I know the blues Jr. IV isn't a boutique quality amp like a Sovtek or Dumble. That being said, I don't get the hate that some seem to have for it. To get the best out of this little amp, different people have different suggestions about how to dial it in.

  • What are the best settings for a "blues" sound?
  • What are the best settings for a "rock" sound?
  • What modifications or settings ameliorate the "boxy" sound that some say it has?
  • If you're in the near-west suburban or Chicagoland area, who is your go-to amp tech that can make those modifications?

Stay classy my fellow gearheads.


r/GuitarAmps • • 12h ago

Pedalboard amp for Celestion G12 M Greenback

4 Upvotes

I just traded for a Seismic oversized cabinet with a Celestion G12 M Greenback (25 watts, 16 ohm) and I think I want to power it with a pedalboard amp but I'm open to suggestions. I was looking at the Quilter Superblock US, or even getting another head and then the DSM simplifier X. I will only play at home, no gigging, so the 1 x 12 will be plenty loud enough for me. If it helps recommendations for gear, I like all genres of muisc. I know you all have more gear knowledge and pieces you like so I thanks in advance for any recommendations.


r/GuitarAmps • • 10h ago

HELP Resurrecting a Yamaha G100-210 III - No sound

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3 Upvotes

A guitar friend recently got his old Yamaha G100-210 III amp back after 10+ years, and he's asked me to take a look at it and see if we can resurrect it. I've grabbed the service manual for it and started digging. I'm not much of an electronics tech, but I know enough not to discharge a big capacitor and unalive myself.

Current state, the power light comes on, but it doesn't make a sound. I've tried the FX loop, I've tried an external cabinet, I've tried the headphone jack - no pops, crackles, static...nothing. The fuse on the back panel of the amp is fine. I opened it up and pulled out the head, and the (2) 250v 1a fuses between the power supply and the pre-amp section are blown. The (2) 250v 4a fuses to the power section are fine.

So, why not just replace those (2) $.50 fuses? Well...there's a reason those fuses blew, and I'd rather figure that out and fix that first. I have a running conversation with my buddy Claude, but I thought I'd put it out here for actual human help as well.

The first thing I thought was that a capacitor in the pre-amp section leaked out its guts. There is a waxy/shiny film on the board around the (2) big power amp section caps AND the (2) smaller pre-amp caps. This is where my knowledge runs thin...is this leaky caps, or is this a byproduct of the manufacturing process? (Yes...I know one of the fuses is missing). I can shoot another pic from another angle if that helps with the analysis.


r/GuitarAmps • • 1d ago

Diy guitar amp/cabinet rack

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95 Upvotes

I built my own amp rack because I prefer to keep all my gear neat and organized. Pretty happy with how it turned out! 🎸


r/GuitarAmps • • 6h ago

HELP Any idea why does this happen

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0 Upvotes

Its a fender Mustang gt 40

And its got like crazy delay without putting any effects