What kind of amp should i get for practice and gigs?

Question

I want a decent size combo amp with good distortion. $400 to $650 is my budget.

Answer 1

Well....your price range limits you a bit here. Always see if you can pick up a used tube Marshall, Mesa, or Peavey, (others as well but I have no idea what kind of sound you're looking for).

If these aren't a possibility, you could always go with a model amp or a solid state amp. Two notable model amps I know of are the Line 6 Spider II & III (some people like one or the other better) and the Vox AD 100 VT. I actually own one of these and was pretty impressed with the distortion it kicks out.

Solid state amps can be okay, but in the long run, you're always going to be looking for a tube driven Marshall JCM, a Mesa Dual Rectifier, or a Vox AC30 if you like the clean tones.....

Answer 2

for practice i use a Marshall DSL 401 combo

for £450 its a bargin for warm ups and small gigs

valve aswel

Answer 3

I was at Guitar Center today for like 2 hours practicing on their

Line 6 Spider III Combo amps and I must say.

I'm buying one now!!!!  Those suckers are really amazing...

Why?  Because they have like 200 to 300 presets on it and really do the job real well. They are like $400 to $500 for a 120 watt combo one.

www.guitarcenter.com

www.music123.com

Answer 4

Kustom has a number of great sounding amps in that price range.

The Line 6 Spider III amps are c**p. By c**p I mean that they're loud and have lots of presets, but the digital effects are barely customizable, the tone really isn't all that much better than the Spider II, and for all that they are louder than the Spider II's, it isn't the sweet dynamic range that a true tube amp should have.

Of course, if you like the presets and can handle the idea of an amp that will do some things but will never be able to do more or be customizable, etc, (no fx loop? seriously?)  then go for it.

Saul