Mr Grumpy
Ambassador of Comings and Goings
In my Friday evening haze, I just lost control of opening a sparkling wine and most of it ended up over the guitar... I was pleased the little Epi has a poly finish, so no harm done; rock 'n roll (& no nitro damaged...).
But, feeling sorry for the Yellow Monster who has given me plenty of joy already, I thought she needed a treat, a new amp to expand my horizons. I was thinking of a 10" speaker (maybe larger), as I like the openness that gives in comparison with the Yamaha THR10.
Over the last few years I've had three low wattage tube amps which I sold off for various reasons although I liked them all:
Randall RD 1 - a great little amp, imho.
Bugera T5 with ENGL 10" cab - sounded really nice, the cab helped a lot, imho.
Marshall DSL5 with Celestion 10" greenback - very nice (could have done with a tad more clean at low volume and a tad more variety of sounds.
&, with all the talk of ss amps, I've done quite a look of looking this week (remember that Korea is expensive for guitar stuff, and my only other real option is Thomann because their amps share the same voltage and plugs), and come up with a few ideas:
1) Orange 35RT. $300. I don't need the wattage, but it's the first Orange with a 10" speaker, and I've never owned an Orange (and I suspect they may be really underated and great). I worry that this ios old technology and just doesn't sound as good as more recently designed amps.
2) Fender Champion 40. $220. 12" speaker could be nice. The Fender sounds I especially like are bassman and princeton, and other digital/modelling amps don't do it like Fender can do Fender. Ideally, I'd like a nice AC30 sound in the amp, and the Mustang 1 that I had a few years ago (when I worked in Oman...) was poor at non-Fender amp recreation.
3) Marshall Code 25. $220. It's a Marshall and some folks say good words. Others, including our respected expert on all stuff guitar - Mr. eSGEe, reckons it's not very good.
VOX AV15/30. $240/$340. I'd prefer the 10", but it's quite expensive. Some folks rave about them, especially the AC30 and Marshall sounds - that's gotta be good. Other folks say less positive things about the VOX modelling amps. Can it do the Fender and/or Mesa sound well (I'm not asking for much...).
Marshall DSL1CR. $335. I could just revert to my normal, successful to some extent, but..., course of getting a small tube amp. I like Marshall, but I wouldn't say I like it over Fender, VOX or Mesa, so it might be very limiting and it has a small speaker which'll need replacing - the DSL 5 I had sounded fizzy and unpleasant with the standard speaker, imho.
Or, alternatively:
Get a 'Mesa' with a 12" vintage speaker cab. $350. It's a one-trick pony, and maybe even not a good trick... I still get the cab and can try other heads (and the head might be great too).
Just get the 12" cab. $200 delivered to Korea... Worry about the head later.
To note, this 1w Blackstar head is available locally for $200
at the shop that I got the Les Paul Special from, and they just sent me an email asking if there's anything they can do as way of an apology about the poor state the Epi turned up in; I could suggest a discount on this head... In my experience, discounts aren't part of Korean culture, but I should try right...
Obviously, an important question is: what will you be using it for. &, the answer is, I have no idea, very little, I just want stuff. Or, I wanna expand my practicing and home playing a bit, enjoy myself and have a couple of guitars/amps for jamming when my mate(s) pop around on a Friday night for beers...
But, feeling sorry for the Yellow Monster who has given me plenty of joy already, I thought she needed a treat, a new amp to expand my horizons. I was thinking of a 10" speaker (maybe larger), as I like the openness that gives in comparison with the Yamaha THR10.
Over the last few years I've had three low wattage tube amps which I sold off for various reasons although I liked them all:
Randall RD 1 - a great little amp, imho.
Bugera T5 with ENGL 10" cab - sounded really nice, the cab helped a lot, imho.
Marshall DSL5 with Celestion 10" greenback - very nice (could have done with a tad more clean at low volume and a tad more variety of sounds.
&, with all the talk of ss amps, I've done quite a look of looking this week (remember that Korea is expensive for guitar stuff, and my only other real option is Thomann because their amps share the same voltage and plugs), and come up with a few ideas:
1) Orange 35RT. $300. I don't need the wattage, but it's the first Orange with a 10" speaker, and I've never owned an Orange (and I suspect they may be really underated and great). I worry that this ios old technology and just doesn't sound as good as more recently designed amps.
2) Fender Champion 40. $220. 12" speaker could be nice. The Fender sounds I especially like are bassman and princeton, and other digital/modelling amps don't do it like Fender can do Fender. Ideally, I'd like a nice AC30 sound in the amp, and the Mustang 1 that I had a few years ago (when I worked in Oman...) was poor at non-Fender amp recreation.
3) Marshall Code 25. $220. It's a Marshall and some folks say good words. Others, including our respected expert on all stuff guitar - Mr. eSGEe, reckons it's not very good.
VOX AV15/30. $240/$340. I'd prefer the 10", but it's quite expensive. Some folks rave about them, especially the AC30 and Marshall sounds - that's gotta be good. Other folks say less positive things about the VOX modelling amps. Can it do the Fender and/or Mesa sound well (I'm not asking for much...).
Marshall DSL1CR. $335. I could just revert to my normal, successful to some extent, but..., course of getting a small tube amp. I like Marshall, but I wouldn't say I like it over Fender, VOX or Mesa, so it might be very limiting and it has a small speaker which'll need replacing - the DSL 5 I had sounded fizzy and unpleasant with the standard speaker, imho.
Or, alternatively:
Get a 'Mesa' with a 12" vintage speaker cab. $350. It's a one-trick pony, and maybe even not a good trick... I still get the cab and can try other heads (and the head might be great too).
Just get the 12" cab. $200 delivered to Korea... Worry about the head later.
To note, this 1w Blackstar head is available locally for $200
at the shop that I got the Les Paul Special from, and they just sent me an email asking if there's anything they can do as way of an apology about the poor state the Epi turned up in; I could suggest a discount on this head... In my experience, discounts aren't part of Korean culture, but I should try right...
Obviously, an important question is: what will you be using it for. &, the answer is, I have no idea, very little, I just want stuff. Or, I wanna expand my practicing and home playing a bit, enjoy myself and have a couple of guitars/amps for jamming when my mate(s) pop around on a Friday night for beers...
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