[Geege]

I'm getting into playing electric guitar again after 3 years. I've decided what guitar to get, it is just the amp I'm thinking about now.

I live in a terraced house with a young family so intend to play at low levels and with headphones. Money is not really important so my budget is flexible.

• 30 watts or less
• Must have headphone input jack
• Good sound for rock & metal
• Range of digital modelling with be nice, although happy to invest in a Line 6 POD or effects pedals if need be.
• Must sound good at low volume levels, (2-3)
• Having a footswitch option would be good too

Some I have considered both in the 15 watt and 30 watt versions:

Marshall MG DFX series
Line 6 Spider series
Peavy Vyrper series

[Bill Hicks]

I used to have a 30watt Line6 SpiderIII amp but I recently swapped it for a Roland Cube 15watt amp and to be honest it's a lot better sounding than the Line6 one I had.

They have bigger beefier cousins as well.

YouTube - Roland Cube 30 amplifier review

[Geege]

Thanks! I did think about even a basic 15w or 30w (without digital modeling) and get a Line 6 POD 2.0. I may prefer the sound of Marshall for example compared to Line 6 Spider as some people have state Line 6 Spider sound too "digital"

[RockStrongo]

I've just been given one of these for my birthday. It seems very impressive - hundreds of different amps and effects available plus software to record your own playing. Or hacking away in my case. Only managed to try it out last night for the first time but I do like it alot.

I've also got a line 6 spider III amp and it's very good. Couldn't comment on the "too digital" bit as I'm no expert, but it sounds good to me and is very loud.

EDIT: Nice review of it here

[Crocodile]

The DFX is a decent little amp.

Space & time constraints mean I only ever use a little 2W Roland MicroCube (on batteries!) hence:

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[scottish nutter]

the mg is crap avoid it, i hear the same about the spider, id go for either a vox ad15-30, marshall avt or a marshall dsl401
id say the 401 was by far the best and can be had for about £300 2nd hand (think they jumped up to about £600 new) and will hold that value if you want to sell in a few years
but avoid the mg and spider, just look through the net and you will find 98% of the people say the same thing

[tinribs]

the roland cube 30 is a great amp for the money, you can get loads of sounds out of it, have a google. IMO better than the top brands for the price.

[Geege]

Being relistic I'm now thinking perhaps even a 30 watt amp is too powerful for playing at low levels at home. Although I would like to be able to jam with friends, surely a smaller 15 watt would be powrful enough, lighter and a better option ??

Importantly, it needs to sound good at very low levels, so perhaps a Marshall is not a good choice as I've heard they need to be cranked up to get tone out of them.

I like the look of Roland, perhaps getting a 15 watt one. Oh decisions, decisions!!

[Crocodile]

I think you need to get to a store & demo a few. Bear in mind that what seems like low volume in the ambient noise of a shop may well be too loud in a domestic setting.

Valve amps or those with a valve front end will need a bit of volume to get them singing but that's not so much the case with all solid state.

[scottish nutter]

15w is still loud, as crocodile says get to a shop and try some, try the cube 15w and vox ad15 and see what one sounds best for what you want, i own the vox and it is good

[eatstatic]

Originally Posted by Geege

I'm getting into playing electric guitar again after 3 years. I've decided what guitar to get, it is just the amp I'm thinking about now.

I live in a terraced house with a young family so intend to play at low levels and with headphones. Money is not really important so my budget is flexible.

• 30 watts or less
• Must have headphone input jack
• Good sound for rock & metal
• Range of digital modelling with be nice, although happy to invest in a Line 6 POD or effects pedals if need be.
• Must sound good at low volume levels, (2-3)
• Having a footswitch option would be good too

Some I have considered both in the 15 watt and 30 watt versions:

Marshall MG DFX series
Line 6 Spider series
Peavy Vyrper series

I can only comment on what I have got but I bought recently (as it seems I am in a position similar to yourself, house & family & picking up playing after a long break) a VOX Valvetronix AD30VT-XL. It was between this and a cube for me at the time I bought it.

I made the purchase based on the following:
1 - The sound, I really liked the tone vs the more digital sound of the cube.
2 - It had to be able to sound good for metal & shredding even without footpedals.
3 - Had to sound good at low levels. This model has a dial at the back of the unit which effectively kills the watts which allows you to drive the amp but and keep the sound (and works for the most part).
4 - Needed a few effects, nice clean sound & as well as crunchy sounds. I am not too bothered for effects although it has quite a few.
5 - Needed to be cheapish as our lass was buying it for me as a present.

I have had the amp for 6 months approx at a guess and I am happy with it overall for the money.
I have played around with it and messed with the effects but only really use 2settings which is distorted setting & a clean one every now and then (so not often) found in the end I didn't like the results of the other settings for my personal taste.

I like to have a nice smooth tone as well as chucky bottom end for lead work which this can do quite well (at the price point £130ish) and also chucky riffing which it can do. I use the amp straight with no pedals although I have tried a boss DS1 & MZ2 with GE7 and still found best results came from the amp without.

If money wasn't an option I would have shopped around some more but can say that the VOX does what I want well enough and I don't do the band think any more so that was not really considered.
I play mostly at night but I have found that when I have driven the sound (30watts) the sound changed at high volumes from what I have set it at and had to mess around to get a sound I liked again. This isn't an issue though for me as stated with the band thing and as I play on an evening with everyone in bed.

I think it is discontinued now but I have seen them on ebay going from £50 upwards. I don't think they were hugely successful. Plenty of clips on you tube for ideas of sounds. Has option for footswitch & headphones also (need to check the later never used any).

Info: http://www.voxamps.com/downloads/PDF/AD_VTXL_OM_E1.pdf
User review: AD30VT-XL Review | Vox | Guitar Amplifiers | Reviews @ Ultimate-Guitar.Com

Hope this helps.

eatstatic

[Crocodile]

Originally Posted by scottish nutter

the mg is crap avoid it

Some disagree:

Marshall MG15DFX Combo: Harmony Central User Reviews

MG15DFX Review | Marshall | Guitar Amplifiers | Reviews @ Ultimate-Guitar.Com

[scottish nutter]

Originally Posted by crocodile

Some disagree:

Marshall MG15DFX Combo: Harmony Central User Reviews

MG15DFX Review | Marshall | Guitar Amplifiers | Reviews @ Ultimate-Guitar.Com

most probably have never heard anything better, i owned one myself and though it sounded good for the in the shop and for the first few hours, then i relised it was crap, the vox is far better i also hear the cube is better aswell, if it didnt have the marshall logo on it i doubt anyone would buy it
saying that i do hear the head whith a decent cab sounds better than combo

[Geege]

Originally Posted by eatstatic

I can only comment on what I have got but I

Info: http://www.voxamps.com/downloads/PDF/AD_VTXL_OM_E1.pdf
User review: AD30VT-XL Review | Vox | Guitar Amplifiers | Reviews @ Ultimate-Guitar.Com

Hope this helps.

eatstatic

I like the sound of the VOX AD30VT-XL from what I've heard in online reviews (youtube etc..) but does it have a "CD/MP3 or iPod" input jack so that you can jam along with a backing track, CD song? (like the Line 6, Roland has)????????

Input/output jacks
Top panel: 1 x INPUT
Rear panel: 1 x FOOT SW jack, 1 x LINE/PHONE jack
(AD50VT-XL/AD100VT-XL only) EXTERNAL SPEAKER OUT jack x 1
(AD100VT-XL only) LOOP SEND jack x1, LOOP RETURN jack x 1

Good to see it has a footstwitch jack though and an essential headphone jack

[Hungrystu]

You could look out for a second hand Mesa Boogie F-30. Not gonna be cheap but it's a cracking amp!

[eatstatic]

Originally Posted by Geege

I like the sound of the VOX AD30VT-XL from what I've heard in online reviews (youtube etc..) but does it have a "CD/MP3 or iPod" input jack so that you can jam along with a backing track, CD song? (like the Line 6, Roland has)????????

Input/output jacks
Top panel: 1 x INPUT
Rear panel: 1 x FOOT SW jack, 1 x LINE/PHONE jack
(AD50VT-XL/AD100VT-XL only) EXTERNAL SPEAKER OUT jack x 1
(AD100VT-XL only) LOOP SEND jack x1, LOOP RETURN jack x 1

Good to see it has a footstwitch jack though and an essential headphone jack

Sorry for the delay in answering, must have missed it.

I don't think it does sorry....but will check to be sure, not a function I was looking for.

eatstatic

[Spooky]

Just me but out of the amps you suggest I notice none of em are valve amps. I know its for practice but I still think you should think about tone a bit.
A Blackstar HT5 is a 5 watt valve practice amp that IMHO beats anything mentioned here but unsure if it has the headphone socket etc.
If it was my money thats what I would buy.

[Geege]

Yeah, I prefer a valve amp for the good sound, and cost isn't really an issue, so I would be happy to buy value, although I was in the understanding that to get the best tone out of them you had to crank them up and really drive them hard, hence at lower volumes, I thought solid state were best. Having said this, if I can find a good value amp that sound good at low / bedroom levels then I would go for this one.

[Crocodile]

Originally Posted by Geege

Yeah, I prefer a valve amp for the good sound, and cost isn't really an issue, so I would be happy to buy value, although I was in the understanding that to get the best tone out of them you had to crank them up and really drive them hard, hence at lower volumes, I thought solid state were best. Having said this, if I can find a good value amp that sound good at low / bedroom levels then I would go for this one.

That's pretty much the way it is. I would suggest that even 5W of valve power is way too much for your intended use.

If you really want the hard driven valve sound at low volume & money really isn't an issue, look out for a Marshall Powerbrake. Although I believe they're now discontinued so it will have to be a used buy.

In fact there's one sitting on Ebay finishing today.

[scottish nutter]

Originally Posted by crocodile

That's pretty much the way it is. I would suggest that even 5W is way too much power for your intended use.

If you really want the hard driven valve sound at low volume & money really isn't an issue, look out for a Marshall Powerbrake. Although I believe they're now discontinued so it will have to be a used buy.

In fact there's one sitting on Ebay finishing today.

doesnt need ot be a marshall, i use a weber 100 mass, there is also a few others that make good ones

[Spooky]

Would be using HT5 (or similar) and an attenuator before I ever thought of a transistor amp.
Personal choice though.