alright, since im too lazy to search, anyone have any actual experience with these amps, not "my friend has one and it says its great" or "i saw a video of someone playing on one", i mean "i have played it and heres what i think..." experience. im looking for a 15-20 watt amp i can use in my apartment without pissing off my neighbors, and this may fits the ticket on paper, so to speak, i just need to know about the reality of it.

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Haven't played one. My suggestion: don't buy that thing. There's plenty of other cheaper and better sounding SS combos out there than the Marshall MG's.

Try something like this if you can find it, it sounds amazing: http://cgi.ebay.com/Roland-405-Tube...1QQcmdZViewItem

Pulls off high gain fairly well and has a broad frequencey resonse. It uses 4x5" speakers and handles 25W, I may end up snatching one sometime soon for home practice and jamming with others.

If you have 200-230$ to spend, get a Tech 21 Trademark 10 combo, you will not regret it. Sounds amazing, has spring reverb, and has an XLR out for pro recording. Oh yeah and most importantly: you won't find a better sounding solid state amp these days, PERIOD.

Oh look here's a cheap one on ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/Tech-21-Tradema...1QQcmdZViewItem

If you simply love the look of those micro stack thingers you can't go wrong with one of those old pre-Washburn Randall RA20 IF you can find one, but generally all the "micro stack" stuff out there are just toys.

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Other cheap alternatives that are common to find: Crate GX-40C, certain GX models, pick em up used for pocket change. They sound a bit better than all the new GT and GLX crap.

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Negative, MG's are garbage.
If you want to buy brand new these days, Roland cubes are great. If I was living in an apartment, I would get another microcube. It has a decent setting for metal on it, effects, recording, etc. Just loud enough for an apartment.
Have you considered some line 6 gear? They can be plugged into computers, or a cheap practice amp. For intance, the guitar port, or a POD.

Cubes are garbage in my opinion. I've played the 15, 30 and 60 and they all sounded like horrendous crap. I would never buy one of those things if I cared about a decent tone. They're begginer amps for noobs that just need a handful of sounds at their fingertips, otherwise it's junk. It's for begginers only, if you buy that thing after having played for some time, expect utter disappointment. They seemed so promising but the sound is just a big letdown. I'm not comparing this to 1000$ tube amps, they really sound bad even for 200$ SS combos.

Tech 21 Trademarks sound infinitely better than all the other solid state combo gadgets found in stores these days. The Trademark 10 is in your price range, I strongly suggest that one, or the 30 if you need enough headroom for jamming with a loud drummer.

And if you just want something for recording(like a POD), I suggest the Tech 21 GT2 or Tri AC preamp pedals. They're not crappy distortion pedals or lame digital modeling gadgets, they're awesome analog preamps in pedal form that can nail great cleans and a wide array of brutal sounds. I personally stay away from most modern SS/modeling stuff available in stores these days because all it does is try to mimic other amps and fail horribly at doing so, giving you absolute shite sound quality. This is what I have to say about Roland Cubes, Behringer V-tones, Line 6 spiders, etc. pretty much all the SS combos(and some tube!) you can buy in plain ol stores for under 300$.

Buy some old used Crate GX for cheap if money is a big issue, those are pretty decent.

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Microcubes IMHO, for the price and all are great. Not great tone, but again its only practice.
+1 on the Trademark though.

Microcubes are ok I guess, for a measly 100$ they're a nice gift and whatnot, but not very inspiring to play/practice with. When I see oldschool Crate GX's that sound a lot better going for like 50$ or less on ebay, I get pissed off at why manufacturers don't make decent solid state equipment these days.

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i have an mg15dfx and dont mind it... its not like im guna be gigging with it or caring if i can get full stack sound out of a tiny PRACTICE amp
i can fuckin NAIL tones from Sleep, the Sword, and Torche, who all use laney protubes... mgs are like... boosted jcm 800 distortion without the sexy 3Dness of tube tone, and lacking clarity at high volumes... but it does fine in my bedroom. BUT that might have something to do with dimarzio Super 2's, they seem to bring the best out of every amp i play... emg's and ibanez pickups sound like shit through it.

ps. keep the FDD or whatever switch pressed in ALL THE TIME... i dont even know why they give you the option... its like the "scrape of the shit" switch, makes it sound so much better, they should have just built it straight in and skipped the switch.

Oh, and i have gigged with it before... it kept up with the drums quite nicely, the key is to turn the volume to full
I kinda wanna test the microstack, if it sounds anything like this, i'd gladly trade in this tiny thing for it... theres nothing funnier than a microstack

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You want a great practice amp? Roland MICRO cube, just go out and try it, it beats any other amp in that range, even many that are more expensive than it.

Seriously guys you can do better with 100-150$ by picking up an old Randall/Crate GX or Roland 405, I've tried pretty much all the common SS and modeling combos so far and it's nothing I would ever spend over 100$ for, they're really just toys not amps. They don't build SS practice amps like they used to these days.

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Ive been umming and ahhing over a Roland 405 for a while, I know someone who has one they have offered to sell me for around $60US. I didnt know if they were any good, but it had the 4 mini speakers, and a footswitch.
Any experience with one, Soeru?

No, I've never played one but they have great reviews and are built really well. They pull of tight high gain stuff, have an FX loop and have excellent cleans which Roland are known for. I think it has reverb too. Definately not a toy amp. I really want one. In a few months perhaps I'll grab one off ebay, if not a Crate GX-40(2x10" 40W combo, sells for under 100$). I was gonna get a tube combo like a Crate Stealth or BV but decided I'd rather not deal with tubes as I just want it for practice/jamming with a drummer, so it would be a "knockaround" amp. I may change my mind and pick up a Stealth or Peavey Ultra or something maybe.

The 405 is said to have plenty of headroom for jamming with a drummer, the four 5" speakers move a lot of air for just a 20W amp in 4 ohms I think.

There's one on ebay with the extension 4x5" cab on ebay right now at 100$ with FS and no reserve. I saw one go for 60$ a few days ago too. Definately grab it if you need a practice thinger or just another amp to play with, try it if you can before hand too.

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