I'm looking for an amp that I can practice on at low levels but still have clear and heavy distortion. I'm guessing 60 watts or less will be fine, maybe just 30. What are some good buys for the money? Tube or solid state I don't care, you guys tell me. I've searched and read some on here and I see that the following amps are good.. Peavey Triple XXX, Crate Blue Voodoo, Crate Shockwave
or a Peavey 5150.. Though, I think they are a tad too loud/nice for playing at my house. I live in a little culdesac with neighbors who do not care for a lot of noise. They even complain about my truck being too loud lol. I play through a Jackson neck-thru with an emg-85 bridge pickup(contemplating on moving the 85 to the neck and adding an emg-81 or some other hot pickup to the bridge that's a little more clear)

To sum this up I guess, what's the best 60 watt or less, mass produced amp out there for the money? I enjoy the guitar sound in Behemoth, Nile, Deicide, Slayer and similar bands.

A SS half stack like the crate shockwave can be very quiet and sound very good at low volumes (in fact, it sounds the best at low volumes, since its SS)
but if you don't have $~600 to throw down on an amp, a half stack of course is not for you.
If you were thinking about gigging and getting into a band, having a half stack is a good thing, and almost essential. If you dont think you'll be gigging or being in a band any time soon and only want it for practice, then i'd suggest a Roland Cube. They sound pretty sweet.

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For low volumes, the Shockwave just plain kicks ass. I might get one in the future just for recording ... but Crate did'nt seem to care that someone might actually try to play in a band with it. If you're just going to play it around the house and your budget is bottomless, that's what I would do. Its versatile too.

If you're looking for a combo, I'd say that you should get a Tech 21.

The New Ibanez Val-bee might be worth checking out.

Its a tiny little thing driven by one Pre and one Power amp tube.

Kick the shit out of the volume and it would probably sound good

Alright, thanks for the suggestions. I went to the guitar store just now and played a peavey xxl and it had a nice distortion but overall it sounded pretty shitty to me, maybe i didn't have the knobs right. I can never figure out what to do with the low to make it sound good. The mid I put at the middle or on 0 depending on the amp and the highs i max out usually. Anyways they didn't have any shockwaves but I've played a 300watt shockwave at another store and it sounded really heavy and muddy at low volumes. May have just been because I have that 85 in my bridge. I'll look for a smaller shockwave tomorrow. Also, I don't plan on ever being in a band. But if I did I would most likely be the sole musician and not be playing live so a combo may be my best bet. I'll see if I can't find and try a roland cube or tech 21 but I dont remember seeing them at any guitar stores here.

YES. Definately try a Tech 21, US made amps. I have a Trademark 30 which I got for 270$ new and it rips. 30W, but the speaker is a custom 50W manufactured by Tech 21. I play stuff from those bands almost exclusively, my kinda stuff, and the amp is extremely versatile but it can pull of some brutal sounds very well. No distortion pedals needed, the amp's own dist. is very nice. Even my JS30 with its shitty stock pups sounds decent through it. Can't wait to run it with my new pups soon.

They sure don't look as solid as a Roland Cube, mainly cause it doesn't have a grill but a lame straw-like speaker cover, but they're very well built. It's also opened-back. It has plenty of useable distortion, great cleans and it's amp models are great, but the cab simulations are pretty useless, I just keep it at the center one which is the clearest-sounding one.

The other day it took a 3 feet fall and landed upside down, dislodging the spring reverb box it has, and it still works fine, I'm impressed.

I hear they're one of the best solid-state amp manufacturers around... It was my first amp and I didn't try it beforehand nor the Cube, but I think I made a good choice.

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You could go a 40/50/60w tube combo,(dsl,bv,5150,jsx,ect),and then get a smaller s.s. for when you need to be quiet,like a Cube.

This might seem a little puny for a practice amp but meh , i use a Crate gx-15r and i dunno.. it just seemed to have a nicer tone than the Roland Cubes that was in the guitar store and it only cost me £30 in a reduction

But yeah .. if its a practice amp , no point in spending a fortune really is there? just get something with EQ's and Reverb id say..

If you are practicing in the bedroom and your sound is created by pedal, and also not a sound pollution felon, a Marshall MG10 is alright.

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If you practice almost exclusively with your PC ( like I do ), then a Guitarport and a great set of hi-fi speakers makes a damned good practice amp.

Great idea actually!

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Hey i recently played with a drummer, and i got well over him only being at about 4.5 on my amp.

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Yeah. I went to a friends house today who has a shockwave and I had no trouble keeping up with the drummer soundwise and had the volume at 5

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heh what about that Marshall MG micro stack. i'd like to get one of those for the fuck of it. I have a shitty little Laney 10w hardcore max. its not that bad though

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MG micro stacks look cool,but they dont sound as cool.

Is there much of an Input/output delay through the guitarport?