What Amp should I buy?

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BobK

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Hi Guys,

Play in a punk band and currently use either a Greco/Burny Les Paul (jap made!) through a Laney Tube Fusion Revolution Head with a Marshall cabinet. I like the sound, no problem. Its heavy lugging it around and im getting lazy.

Looking to get a combo to take to smaller gigs (ie small pubs). My Peavey revolution is getting a bit past it.

Looking to spend maybe ?250 - ?300 tops? and I do not want the hassle of worrying about an all tube amp secondhand amp as I am a technical dunce and the last one I used got damm hot and was a bit unreliable.

It seems the 'obvious' choices like Marshall MG/AVT, Line 6, Vipyr, cheap Hiwatts etc etc are not highly rated and my knowledge of current amps is not terribly good as my current ones have lasted a decade. The amps people rave about are usually big bucks, which is probably why they are raved about.

Do not use pedals any more, cant be arsed carrying them to gigs and they are not really needed for Pistols/Clash/Ramones. I just like to plug in and play. That said, I do not want (or need) hundreds of effects on the amp as I doubt I will ever use them and, from what I hear, they are normally lousy. Two o/d channels is a must though, one for the power chords, the other for my feeble solo's, (though I have mastered the solo in 'I Wanna Be Sedated'!

So...suggestions guys............what should I go for?

Bob
 
The Marshall MG/AVT, Line 6, Vipyr and cheap Hiwatts all sound awful IMO, if you like your current amp, why not just get a smaller cab?
 
250-300 will get you a decent enough combo, Orange, Marshall, Fender but it's all down to personal taste, if you kept your eyes peeled on ebay for a Laney Tube Fusion combo you could probably pick one up for peanuts as they are not hugely popular.

For the type of stuff you are doing an old JCM800 would be an ideal choice, but limited channel switching options you might need an overdrive pedal to go with it.
 
this one gets overlooked all the time but is in it's class a very decent amp and you get 3 channels footswitchable;
http://www.thomann.de/gb/randall_kh75_combox_series.htm
 
I've got a Laney VC-15 and it's sweet. It's loud as a mo'fo, and quite light too. Might be just the answer for you. The Tiny Terror Combo might be a good choice too but it's heavier and, from what I've read, doesn't clean up so well if you need that.

Seriously though, try to find a VC-15. They can be had pretty cheap.

Jason
 
Seconded on the Tiny Terror Combo, but if you want solid state then the 20W or 35W Orange Crush PiXes are lovely (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftXfLkDsxAI). Other than that... Tech21 Trademark 30 (added bonus of having an AMAZING XLR speaker sim output which goes straight into a PA with no pissing about micing it up - and sounds fantastic).

Edit: Ah, you want channel switching... I'd look at one of those attenuator pedals (EHX do one called the Signal Pad) which are like a pedal version of rolling off your guitar volume to a preset point, or a boost pedal of some sort (I use a Carl Martin Hydra) instead of trying to find a channel switching amp at that price with two channels that can be overdriven.
 
Thanks for the advice guys. For the first time in a decade I strolled down to the local shop and deafeaned the owner.

Secondhand 100w randall - sounded good, but very metal, tough trying to get the desired tone. Weighed a ton!!! Would have to go on a weightlifting course.

A Hiwatt 100 was unplayable. Tone was ok, but it made horrible microphonic noises even at low volume.

Marshall mg series had a nice crunch, but sounded brittle/tinny when cranked up.

The best was a fender frontman 212. Amazingly light, loud and close to the tone I want, (after a lot of fiddling around). Only snag was it just seemed to lack a little body, is that the word? Cheap though, only 200 new.

Suppose I will have to find a bigger store to try out a load more. Fussy so aren't -? But nothing came close to my laney tubefusion head.
 

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