Hi there!

What kind of amplifier would you recommend for home practice? Generally I would like to have a good quality, thick rock sound.

thx,
k

Oh, and I would like to use the amp distortion, if possible (so no external distortion pedals etc).

your basically asking us to get you an amp? what price range?

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Price range is around $250-300, it depends on. (Maybe more, if something that would *really worth* comes in the picture.)

Try out a Line 6 Spider II 30 combo.This is the amp i use for home practice/recording.The "Crunch" channel sounds so damn amazing it's pretty much all I use,with maybe a Boss SD-1 overdrive pedal as a boost,or a Heavy Metal pedal for swedish death metal sounds.That channel nails the old rock sound and more to a tee.It's pretty cheap too-$200 out the door for mine.It has a line out/headphone jack too for recording direct or jamming with the phones on.Best practice amp I have ever used so far......very musical.

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yeah for just home practicing, something like that is not a bad idea.

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Actually i'm going to add another question.

Between the price range of oh.. 300-1000 what is a solid 112 combo? Like seriously, a pretty fucking decient small practice amp. I mean i know there are like the Marshall DSL combo (which i've heard and its decient.) Anything else.

Oh yeah tube obviously, unless it has a good solid state sound. Foot switch would be nice too.

Any recommendations from experience?

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Tube amps are not generally good for home practice as they are always louder than solid state.Even A 5-watt tube combo will be WAY too loud for you to jam at home,trust me.Plus most tube combos that are low wattage do not have much gain really.Line 6 is the best you will find for practice amps these days.Leave a tube amp for playing LOUD the way they were meant to be used.Failing that you can check out the Pignose tube amps,I heard they are cool,or older Marshall ones,but nothing past the JCM900 series.You could get one of those for about $500 probably used.Check out Peavey,Carvin and
Laney as well.They make good amps and they are cheap.

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Well i dunno i beg to doubt this "you can't use tube thing." Unless i'm literally tone deaf and dont' know what i'm talking about, my all tube 300 watt head sounds just fine for "practice" at low volumes. Then again i have no idea how low people must be playing to practice. I must be lucky to be able to "practice" at.. whatever volume i'm at. Granted with my amp there is definately not a grey area of volume. Its either.. shit low. A decient low, a semi getting loud decient sound. And from there on you're good ol rippin it sounds.

I'm not doubting you're post, its possible it might be "too loud" But i guess i need to compare my "too loud" withsomebody elses "too loud" haha

Only reason why i would even want a good 112 combo is cause i'm going to the dorms FINALLY in a couple of months and i need something that isn't a 80 lbs guitar amp head and a 412 cab. Guitar center is having their sale tomm. Maybe i'll go take a look at what they got.

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I agree with you there-you can use a tube amp for practice but they are really meant to be turned up pretty loud,which for most is not an option in the old apartment scenario.Solid state modeling amps work better in this situation where the perfect tube sound is not really possible and they get fairly close......but they do miss the mark somewhat.

My viewpoint is that a tube amp that is only on 2 which can dish out 100 watts is really not being utilized to it's full and logical potential......thus a reason to get another amp for practice.I was just pointing out that a modeling or solid-state might be more practical in terms of volume/tone since they sound pretty much the same at any volume,where a tube amp is not that way.Of course some tube amps sound great at low volume,but they almost always sound better cranked up.

Yeah man,just try all kinds of stuff in the store and see what works for you.Of course,try to ignore the stupid salesman trying to move units and all that bull haha!

DUDE WTF??????? HOMER!!!!!!!! HELL YEAH (sorry gotta use it I have never seen that on any forum I went on so far) OK......


Sweet.

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with a name like that and that shit you just pulled...... these people are going to eat you alive

anyway
i just use a swr la15...
s'good

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Good points. I used to have the marshall avt 50 head. Maybe i'll get the combo version of that. I mean it had a pretty damn good sound to it. Maybe a hybrid one without power tubes might be better in line.

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My question. Why is a wall of ampifiers not considered a practice unit? For me I like to use the same setup for practice as I would a live proformance. My shit is loud but my neighbors rarely complain. If you need more volume or better sound reinforcement then mic the speakers.

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I use a Roland Cube 30. 30 watts, solid state, has 8 different amp models built into it. Great little amp.

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I think he might be better off with wall of 3-4 full stack tube amps myself...


but that's just me.

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haha where do you get that for his priced range???
i really must know

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Shit, I forgot about the budget Really though, a half stack ( miced into the PA ) is completely all you ever need for even a large live show.

Edit: All those cabs you see at shows behide the guitar players are normally empty stage props just for show. One or two cabs will be miced ( most times backstage ). One cab for the clean rig and the other for the distortion rig; both EQed and setup a little different, but even this is overkill.

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I actually went to guitar center.. AGAIN.. without the intent of really buying anything. But i ended up replacing my "home practice" amp. Got an amp decient enough for practicing while at the dorm and doing what i'll need to be doing. I was sold in about 10 seconds because of the sound and the price.

I bought the Vox valvetronix 30watt amp. For 239, you can't get much of a better practice amp. So the battle of valvestate amps continues. For 240 dollars you can not get a better deal. Its loud as fuck, (but doesn't have to be and still get a decient sound) has plenty of different amp emulations, a shit ton of.. decient effects, and even has a noise gate built in. (sweet!)

So.. once again, no marshall for me.

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For home practicing, a POD is awesome. Get like the atomic reactor, then try to score a deal on a used POD 2.0, and I think you'd be happy.

I use my JSX Stack when practising.

Why bother buying a less powerfull amp when my rig is right there?

I have a Marshall AVT 50 combo. I run my Pod XT through a 10 band EQ and into
its effects loop. Its nothing insanely toney, but it is great for practicing.

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Yea playing through pod's or a gt8 is pretty good if for some reason you have to be quiet. and the tone isnt so bad even through head phones. but I would never buy another amp for practice because I really dislike the tone on a lot of those small combo amps, though out of the vox's I've played they seem to have an awsome rock tone. Don't know about metal with them though.

If you really wanna exercise your budget, there is always the Roland Microcube. Those things are tiny yet they sound pretty damn huge. I always thought it was more of a novelty amp, but they aren't bad for the price at all.

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A Pod and some nice headphones work well.

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