Can anyone recommend a reasonably good blues / rock amp?

Question

Can anyone recommend a reasonably good blues / rock amp?

Answer 1

It really depends on the sound. If you want a more blues rock type amplifier, I recommend Marshall. I know its a classic and everyone has them bit I feel that’s for a reason. I personally have a small Marshall MG15CD which is a tidy sounding little amp. It’s good for bedroom jamming sessions with friends and practising alone. Also has a head phones jack, good for if you have easily angered parents. On clean with low volume you have a nice smooth sound, which is also very dynamic. With light plucks it’s very smooth and subdued almost and dig in and it really starts to bite. Turn on the distortion, and you can make a good biting tone and really crank it up and the volume and you can get a good distorted sound. I personally play with the distortion about half and the volume about a third. Gives a good sound reminiscent of Stevies Crossfire.

The larger Marshall MG100HDFX and 412A Cab I own is amazing. It’s like the small amp x 1000 and with built in effects it’s also extremely versatile. The range of clean and dirty sounds is amazing and you can really crank the volume up with this too. Also as a plus it really does look good too, and the price ain’t half bad either. You can pick head unit and cab up for around £500 if you shop around i got mine for £400 on a deal. There are a range of better and more expensive Marshall’s out there and if money is no option then shop through them. There valvestate stuff is well worth a look, you wouldn’t be disappointed.

Moving out of my area there are a huge range of amps available. I have played through Orange amplifiers, which have a very tidy clean sound. However they lack a built in overdrive so lacking versatility in that respect. Another failing is the price. Even the smaller Orange amps are pushing up the prices, for an amp I don’t consider any better quality than the previously mentioned Marshall.

For a higher price yet also very high build and sound quality are fender amplifiers. They have a range of much lower price amplifiers for bedroom practice which equal in price and almost in quality to the Marshall. However if you can afford to go that bit further then the Fender Twin amp is a beautiful valve amplifier, which really screams when you crank up the distortion. Its gives a beautiful clean blues sound, very close to Lenny when you put on a little reverb and a strat, but can also give that thick warm blues sounds. Similar maybe to Buddy Guy’s modern sound or peter green’s early Fleetwood Mac, and Mayall outings.

There are a range of other amplifiers out there, from smaller manufacturers such as crank. These are very good amplifiers and not too expensive but are more aimed at the metal market rather then the blues style you mentioned.

I hope this helps :)

Answer 2

It all depends on the exact kind of sound your going for, and how much money you have. If your looking for a Eric Clapton type blues sound, I personally own a B-52 half stack, and they are nothing short of excellence. Theirs so much tone options you can mess with, and the head is 250 watts alone. This amp can make any guitar sound good lol.

Now, if your looking to sound something like Jimmy Page or Eric Johnson or somethin like that...Id go with the Fender G-Deck. This amp has OPTIONS GALORE, with a drum machine, and MIDI processor to record your guitar riffs. Over 200 preset guitar tone options, gain and drive are f*ckin chunky too lol. Im a metal guitar player, so good sound HAS to be an option for me.

Answer 3

Whatever you end up deciding upon, take it from one musician to another: buy tube. Do not go and waste your hard earned money on some piece of **** solid state marshall MG c**p. Don't buy an amplifier because of the name printed on the tweed.

The best amp I've ever owned was a Peavey Classic 30 with an upgraded alnico speaker with more headroom.  I play a lot of blues and jazz, does it immaculately.  I actually sometimes use it to amplify my acoustics, though some purists are probably scoffing at me right now.

Buy a tube amp, that's the bottom line.

Good luck.

Answer 4

A Fender '65 Twin-Verb driven by a Ibanez TS-808 Tube Screamer. If it was good enough for Stevie Ray Vaoughn, it's good enough for me.

Answer 5

fender blues deluxe

its like a marshall and a fender (the 2 best amps ever)

its like a marshall because the old original marshalls were copiesof fender amps

and they sound incredible

i might get one