Best amp to buy with ~$300?
Hey. I'm selling my Crate GLX1200H half-stack for about $350, but $50 is going to my dad 'cuz I owe him money. Anywho, I'll have about ~$300 to spend on a new amp - I'm thinking either a Fender Mustang III or some kind of tube amp. I definately want it to be loud enough to overcome a very heavy-handed drummer, whilest still retaining a good tone. I generally play with distortion, but good, warm, clean sounds would be nice to be able to produce, too. Versatility is a big bonus... I'm really open to anything, as long as it can overcome a LOUD drummer (and the rest of the 5-piece, with me on lead). Thanks!
EDIT: It's really starting to look like a toss-up between a tube and a Mustang III. Which do you guys recommend?
Posted May 30, 2012, 2:05 AM UTC · edited
Used Peavey Classic 30. That thing is a workhorse at a reasonable price and sounds great. Also well modified if you want to make changes.
That amp looks pretty pricey, but somewhat doable. However, I don't really have any FX pedals... so that's a bit of a minus, and why I was really considering the Mustang III.
By the way, distortion-wise, I like a pretty heavy distortion - anywhere from a light crunch to a balls-out METAL distortion. (Such as the tone from For Whom the Bell Tolls, and also Still of the Night.)
Upvote for visibility, anyone?
Get a good clean amp (like the Classic 30) and get pedals.
I've got a used Classic 50 that I paid like 150 for, but only because I obsessively scoured craigslist for a month looking for a cheap tube amp. It's a fantastic amp, but it's got a bluesy, growly overdrive, not great for metal, maybe stoner metal though. But mine's from the late 70s, maybe newer ones sound different.
I remember liking the Valvetronix and Vypyr amps when I tried them out. Good tube emulation and lots of good effects. I liked them better than Line 6 and much bettern than the Fender modeling amps. I remember the Fender amps having level issues; switching preset channels the volume was way different. I only tried it out in store, maybe you could learn to fix that, but I didn't have that prob with any other modeling amp. I also have an old Marshall Valvestate that gets great distortion for metal, you can get them used for really cheap (which is why I haven't sold mine, just can't get any money for it).
Great amp. I had the classic 50 4x10. Loved it.
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I concur.
This for sure, I have wound up with a few of these over the years trading. There is also a pretty easy mod you can do to it changing out a couple resistors to help with the lower end. After the mod it has a really good marshal style distorted tone without much sacrifice to the clean tone. Well worth the money and the ones I had were super reliable. It also matches up well with other cabinets.