planning new amp for the direct drive

[browndream]

Hey everybody, I'm new here. I need a new practice tube amp that sounds good with the direct drive. My budget is $200. Fender champion 600 and Vox ac4tv8/ac4tvmini are great. How do these amps sound with the DD? Any opinions/sound clips? Many thanks.

[hobbyist789]

Hey everybody, I'm new here. I need a new practice tube amp that sounds good with the direct drive. My budget is $200. Fender champion 600 and Vox ac4tv8/ac4tvmini are great. How do these amps sound with the DD? Any opinions/sound clips? Many thanks.

Dare I say it, but in that price range you'd be better-off sticking with a good/decent solid-state amp. I like the Peavey TransTube series--you can even snag a nice-condition 1x12 model off eBay for around that price, which would be a very versatile setup for practice and jams. They take pedals pretty well, too, so just stick with the clean channel and use the DD pedal for overdrive/distortion, etc.

[David Barber]

Hey everybody, I'm new here. I need a new practice tube amp that sounds good with the direct drive. My budget is $200. Fender champion 600 and Vox ac4tv8/ac4tvmini are great. How do these amps sound with the DD? Any opinions/sound clips? Many thanks.

Man, that's a tough price point. I don't like cheap amps with 8" speakers and less than 5 watts much, it's a recipe for electric kazoo sound. I would try to find something with a little power and at least a 10" speaker, that way you have some versatility. From what I can see look at the Fender Mustang II 40W 1x12, Roland CUBE-40XL 40W 1x10 and if you gotta have the small speaker small watts sound you might look at the Fender Vibro Champ XD because it has more EQ than most amps that size, which will help dial out the "small sound".

Pedals work best into an amp that has some dynamics and guts, modern pedals can carry more of the workload so a good clean sound is the most important thing, I'd probably find the least sterile sounding solid state amp in that price range. It's a shame you can't still get the Crate Powerblock on sale for $99, that was a steal of a versatile amp!

[hamerman]

Ditto on the Power Block. I picked up two at $99, and worth every cent.

[gonzo-x]

http://cgi.ebay.com/Peavey-JSX-Mini-Col ... 500wt_1045


peavey jsx mini colossal.

a great little 5 watt all tube amp, i owned one for a while.

takes the barber pedals wonderfully.
designed by joe satriani.

[David Barber]

I was in a local shop today and saw has a new Super champ that's 15 watts tube power and has a 10" speaker for $250, that seemed like a nice deal at that price range. I wish they would leave all the DSP off these cheaper amps and just make a solid little clean amp, but everybody wants iPod functionality.

I also wish they were not all super cheap Chinese amps, I can't really support underpaying Chinese "employees" so we can have dirt cheap electronics...and an unemployed workforce. Another thing to consider when you try to "go cheap", the cost of ownership of cheap gear is often VERY costly. If it eats tubes like mad, or costs $50 every time you need to reflow the terminals of the input jack, you might as well buy a nicer amp that can be serviced for less, and operates the output tubes at a less pernicious potential or draw....don't forget how much all those mods and new speaker might cost to get that "cheap amp" sounding just right.

[gonzo-x]

jsx mini........

made in usa.

[mjcyates]

I have a Blackheart Little Giant 5 watt 1x12 combo. I plug my mostly Barber board into it and it sounds great. I don't know what the going price is now but you can probably get one near your price.