Can anyone reccomend me a good clean amp?

[bluelime]

hi to all. I'm looking for a low wattage good clean amp.
Efx are not really needed. But with reverb also can. Pherhaps u guys can intro with and without reverb amps.
Budget wise ard $200.
I'm not sure if i really wasted my chance on getting the fender frontman from sound alchemy.
Btw i wld use the amp for blues and jazz.
i've got a vox ad30vtxl but the i dun feel sastified withe the clean tone. pherhaps its just tht i suck at dialling the eq.
Much Thanks!

Cheers!

 

[subversion]

LANEY CUB 8. it's a tube amp, strictly cleans only. after disct, it'd be $280+/-...

 

[Jumpin'Jellybean]

Pathfinder 15R.

 

[the_insomniac]

Second hand Roland Cube series (preferably a Cube 30 and above), solid reliable SS amp, and no need to muck about with tubes. They are everywhere and can be bought for cheap.. inbuilt effects include reverb

 

[funktastic]

ive heard the vox cleans. not really sure of the model, but if vox cleans aren't doing it for you...
i'm pretty sure a $200 amp wont be sufficient for you as well. probably you might wanna look into your eq settings?

 

[bluelime]

Second hand Roland Cube series (preferably a Cube 30 and above), solid reliable SS amp, and no need to muck about with tubes. They are everywhere and can be bought for cheap.. inbuilt effects include reverb

Hahas i dun get wad u mean by tubes tubes.
Care to explain? PS
I heard about them too. Seems great!

 

[bluelime]

ive heard the vox cleans. not really sure of the model, but if vox cleans aren't doing it for you...
i'm pretty sure a $200 amp wont be sufficient for you as well. probably you might wanna look into your eq settings?

Pherhaps the prob really lies with me ):
Anyone has preferred eq to intro ? for bluey sound.

 

[bluelime]

Another prefered choice is to sell my current amp. But in tht case i might nid an amp Tht handles good cleans, and sounds ok with effect pedals or inbuilt efx for distortion or heavier tone.
Any to intro ?

 

[junhao405]

Frontman 15R is good but sometimes too treble for playing Jazz.. Jus play with the EQ and solve everything..

 

[the_insomniac]

Actually your Vox AD30 XL VT is already a pretty decent amp... 30W + 10inch speaker with built in effects and hybrid tube circuit is pretty good for bedroom practice for most guys here. Why don't you try to play around w the amp first? Or see if someone else can get a good sound out of it. Otherwise you'll go on an unnecessary tone chase or gear chase... trust me this can be VERY expensive and pointless. But if money is not a problem then by all means go experiment.. a Roland Cube 30 or an SS equivalent won't exactly be an upgrade. From here on you prob will be thinking abt mid-size tube amps or amps with a 12inch speaker.

As for tube amps, the short story is that amps originally came with tube circuits. Tube amps can sound great cos of natural drive, typically they can sound warmer and rounder. But decent 30w tube amps are pretty expensive (anywhere from $900-$1500 to boutique prices) , need maintenance and are really heavy. So solid state amps are much cheaper. Many SS amps emulate tube effects, like your Vox Valvetronix series or the Roland Cube series. It won't be as convincing but you get what you pay for.

Finally you have low wattage entry-level tube amps like the Vox AC4TV or the Epi Valve Jr. These are decent intros to tube amps but they are very one-dimensional. i.e. they are voiced in a certain way and there is no EQ to tweak. If you want reverb then you need to buy a pedal. You can go mod them, but in the end they still have 10inch speakers and no EQ..

 

[naviros]

Finally you have low wattage entry-level tube amps like the Vox AC4TV or the Epi Valve Jr. These are decent intros to tube amps but they are very one-dimensional. i.e. they are voiced in a certain way and there is no EQ to tweak. If you want reverb then you need to buy a pedal. You can go mod them, but in the end they still have 10inch speakers and no EQ..

... unless you go with head / cab version, in which the cab comes with 12 inch celestions, and you can get other heads to plug-in... ^.^

Going single-ended class A is the way for pedal effects meddlers. If you want an amp to play straight off... these small tubes won't satisfy you due to the lack of tweakability (for goodness sake, there is only a tone knob to do that, and it doesn't even have that wide a sweep!!!).

Blues wise, all you need is a decent drive, tubescreamer or otherwise to push small tube amps. For Jazz, you might need a few more stuff, delay and all that... Overall it will cost alot more than having an amp that has a effects modeler built in, and the tone search will leave you tired too... Maybe tell us more specific / in depth what you don't like about your current amp? We'll get it from there..

 

[bluelime]

Thanks for all the comments guys.
>naviros wad i dun like abt the amp is tht i have to turn it real loud to feel the tube feeling. IMO
and the eq are far to much for me to handle. i guess i really need much more time to experiment it..
i think i own it for abt 2-3 years alrdy. :x

 

[naviros]

Easy solution would then be to get an overdrive pedal. Nothing expensive, just to push the amp into saturation. I'm assuming you like the sound of your speaker drivers being pushed, an overdrive pedal can do that without getting too loud.

Don't really need to get too expensive an overdrive too... Can start experimenting with something cheap, like the daneletro overdrive or biyang od-7 or od-8... Check out the buy / sell for great deals, don't like can always sell away again.

 

[bluelime]

Thanks man. i will keep a look out for them. But for a budget of $100 wad other pedals are good ?

 

[naviros]

Hmmm... Can try the Boss line, SD-1... Can always mod it later if you're looking for a better tone... Go look around youtube for clips, but first know what you want to achieve.

 

[bluelime]

Will u reccomend to get a modded or the stock one first ?
Or the randall mod which has a switch to switch between stock and modded.
And also will the boss blues driver be suitable to push my amp to a nice overdriven sound ?
Soz for the nub questions :X

 

[naviros]

Personally, I haven't tried your amp, so I wouldn't be so clear.

Get the one with more options, if you can afford it I guess..?

 

[bluelime]

hahahs okok i'm gonna save $ first! Thanks a lot.

 

[bluelime]

Sorry guys but my amp is not the ad30 vtxl. its the ad15vt xl. my bad..
Btw I already found it too loud to use at times to theres no need for something bigger.
currently just finding pedals.
Btw anyone heard about the marshall class 5 ?