new amp time...

hi folks,

i'm currently using a slightly knackered, old marshall g15 cd r with a 'park' speaker for bedroom practice. once a week, me and another 3 old guys go into a rehearsal room for a 3 hour jam. when i go to jam, i hire a marshall or crate combo, at a very reasonable rate.
what i'm thinking is, i might buy an amp for both situations. good quiet sound for home, but loud enough to be heard over a live unmic'd drummer...

i was wondering if any of those 5 watt valve combo's were any good...? if only for home use... as i say, i can hire an amp for pennies.

we mainly play classic rock stuff. i don't use effects much, other than a bit of reverb. i like to do a bit of clean, or gritty single coil stuff at home now and then. when i record, i go through a yamaha dg stomp (amp/cab sim with fx) straight into a mac.

what does everyone think? i'm a bit out of touch with all the new gear out there these days!

cheers,
bob

Hi Bob,

There are a few 'mac' users in here, Bluesman and Corsair, to name but two that I know of, and I'm sure there are others too who will be able to set you on the right track as to what will be the best amp to get which will cover everything that you need.

I'm sure they will also be able to advise you which recording programmes to use with your mac. I'm not into the more 'technical' side of that kind of thing myself but I do know that my 'other half' (Bluesman) has a programme called 'Amplitude' installed in his mac for recording.

Watch this space because I bet before too long, the answers will come flooding in!

Pauline :flower: :queen:

I just use the built-in mac stuff - Garageband - for piddling about with home recording but my gig set-up was a spring-reverb 100W combo, miked through the PA if necessary. I have always felt that one should practice with what you're gonna use 'on the night' but these days with all of the new micro-amps out there with a line out, well, it hardly seems necessary to heave a thumping great valve amp around; in fact - this is my blinding light on the road to Damascus! - I would find a little wee amp 35W or less which did a reasonable job with my pedalboards and just whack it straight through the board.... let the soundman sort it out, and you're still practising with what you're gonna use for gigs!

Problem solved; now, for my next trick, I shall solve world hunger...

hello peeps,

i've got cubase on the mac, which i quite like. mind you, i don't record much at all, but it's nice to have it there. i'm pretty sorted as far as recording goes...
i've only got a g4 emac, and most of the new amp software won't work on it (processor just a bit too slow) - i have looked at the specs of some of the stuff i've kinda fancied.
but i don't really feel the need to upgrade my recoring set up just now...

the priority is getting a nice amp to use for bedroom practice (oooh, matron!) and jamming.

i don't play live, and don't intend to, so, it's purely a bedroom and rehearsal room amp that i need.

i'm sorted for effects (which i only use when i record my own ideas, which is rarely!) with the dg stomp, so a straight ahead rock amp with a good clean sound is what i'm after. something that sounds good at low volume, as well as cranked up. 35 - 50 watts sounds plenty!!... although i've been told the laney vc15 would fit the bill..i've been told i can give the amp a bit of a boost with my marshall overdrive pedal.....
and for not too much over my budget i could get the vc30.
the drummer isn't the hardest hitter around, as it goes..I'm definately leaning towards an all valve jobby

it's a 2 guitar, bass and drums set up, and the rehearsal room has a bit of a PA in it..! maybe i could plug the smaller valve amp into the desk, then...

i've even looked into valve amp kits... why do they cost so much when you have to do all the work yourself, and build a box for it, and provide your own speaker???? mind you, the one i looked at sounded awesome in the clips on the website. better than anything else i've heard so far... maybe that's why...hahaha...

cheers,
bob

p.s. i reckon i'm looking at a 300 quid budget... or thereabouts!