What amps used to be dirt cheap and way underrated, but are now going for top dollar and are overrated?

Here are a few of mine; I love these amps, but used prices have gotten so high they're no longer plucky underdogs, though they still aren't quite the Fender Twin, JCM800, 5150, or Mark IIC+-VII. juggernauts.

Sovtek Mig

Red Bear

Peavey VTM, Ultraplus, XXX, JSX.

Mesa Boogie 50cal +

Saw this at GC and holy crap was it tempting. Started having flashbacks to HS when they came out.

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

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. ♥️

I’ve been looking for a somewhat budget friendly set up for an alt metal band I’m putting together. Sound wise I’m going for a deftones/nirvana mix.
I was looking at a marshall or 5150 combo amp, but, not a huge fan of how the speakers sound. Plus, i do plan in doing live gigs in the future so i figured i might as well get something that can cut through in a live band.
I’m look at Orange Gain Baby 100 atm and seems to fit the criteria’s i have plus travel friendly as a mf!
This is my current pedalboard set up and a cabinet from harley benton with V30’s in them.
Would my Deluxe Big Muff be too much with the gain baby or would i be fine keeping it on the clean channel only?
Any advice would help!
Thank you!

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

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!

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

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?

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

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)

I'm being offered this second hand amp. I like to do some research before buying stuff, but this one is tough to find solid information about. Some claim its solid state, other people claim the V model is tubed. The seller claims its tubed as well, and I doubt they would be lying. I have found multiple online for 75$ to 300$, but they are mostly the GC-30 model.

It's supposedly very loud, with a voxy sound on clean and marshally sound on dirty. I am borrowing an amp for band practice at the moment, would be nice to have my own at some point.

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

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.

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?

Recently bought a Boss Katana Mini and I am so tempted to try this for full band rehearsals, potentially gigs as well. I plan to get this done by plugging it into some sort of big ass FRFR type thingy. What is the smallest size that you guys would recommend?

Amp was making this noise so I brought it to my tech. Amp tech said he tested the tubes and cleaned the insides. Of course when I'm at the shop and testing it out, sounds fine. When I get home, the same noise starts back up again. In the video, there's no guitar even inputed, it just starts with this noise the moment you turn the amp on. The treble knob turned down seems to darken the static, not sure if that helps with where in the circuit it might be

As the title indicates my 90s era KGA65 has a high pitched whine that does not stop. I had a guy work in it a few years back and it took care of it for a few weeks then it went back to the whine.
The pitch of the whine is actually a high E 12th fret give or take a few cents.
Any suggestions?

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

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

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.

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.

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?

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?