that's a zappatastic story... you drew a portrait of bobby brown with your 4 year old.... far out man...

I have a lot of Zappa stuff.. Joe's Garage...and Thingfish.. but always seemed his earlier stuff Freak Out and Absolutely Free,
We're only in it for the Money, Uncle Meat..were more comical and socially relevant without the scatology,
darkness and extreme weirdness.. but.. ah to each their own..

 

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@Montgent... yes as always let the buyer beware.. I usually want to try out any equipment I buy used especially for that reason.
it may have some quirks... but thanks for the input.. I would probably still plunk down for a vintage twin.. just paying somewhat extra.. Since I am in a big city..there are guitar and electronics techs to be found.. hell we even have a Rhodes tech here...

How do you feel about boutique amps? They are a little out of my price range..but some of them sound pretty nice..
and on the lower end.. how about Bugeras?

 

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I never tried Bugera, but I live near Victoria Amps in Naperville IL and they sound beautiful. The amp market is way better than it was when I started out. Exciting times.

 

@Herr Durr, depending on your intended use of it, an amp is much more than a function of sound. If you intend to use it live, it should else suit your effects connection-wise, versatility in playing, and the size of audiences you play to etc. If it's just for studio use, that's a different matter (and personally I think current ampsims can function as a replacement if you only need it for recording). But you should specify more.

 

@PopstarKiller agree some of the amp sims are really top notch, but I'm sort of old school at times.. I have had nothing but transistor amps, and they seem to get more stale as the years go by.. maybe only in my mind ? But I'm just over them..and want that warm and gritty sound you can get with tube.. especially after I started using some tube mics.. it renewed my interest..
But then on hearing a variety of tube amps.. you can really tell a difference from the low to high end...
so a bit of a quandary for me.

I don't play live..so I do not need a massive stack in my house.. just enough to get some volume, and the best tone I can
in a reasonable price range. So maybe combo is the way to go... such as a Vox or something similar.

thanks for the input

 

I have to agree.

 

I may have been a little hasty, they're alright. To be honest though, I don't care for the sound of anything less than a 2x12. When I tried it using some Ownhammer IR's, the amps themselves sounded alright.

 

https://orangeamps.com/products/guitar-amp-heads/tiny-terror-series/micro-terror/

A guitar player buddy of mine has one of these, and they sound incredible. Pretty versatile also.

 

I think I perused a review of these on youtube earlier this year... was not terribly impressed.. but worth a second look to make sure..
thanks for the reminder... Also checked the Vox Night Train.. seemed to have a little more umph

 

@Herr Durr, I think the best thing I liked about the Tiny Terror was that it was LOUD, even at only 30 watts, but when you put it next to a Marshall half stack, you realized that it wasn't that loud, it just sounded that way because it was driven. I regarded it as being a nice amp to mic up and record not bothering the neighbors since you could hit the sweet spot much much lower than a typical 50-100 watt tube amp. Honestly, though, I haven't recorded one.
Can't speak for the VOX's, the only one's I've heard were modeling amps like the Line 6's that I don't particularly care for because they sound plastic (to me) Used to play in a band with a guy that had a Vox, and I felt my Mode 4 blew it away. Of course we were doing heavier rock, so they may be useful for other styles.

 

Well, I've tried TH3 and Guilty Pleasure, and I don't like them either. Maybe there's something wrong from with my ears from so many years of gigging and using Carvin. I still like Amplitube with Ownhammer IR's.

 

Greg Koch does a great demo here. I think it sounds great. I'd prefer different IR's, but yeah.

 

They do sound good...with every combination of guitars and pickups Koch gave us. Nice.

 

Greg would sound great with the cheapest guitar and amp, regardless.

 

did a little demo with the new fender bassman 53 amp . sounds very 50's southern bluesy imo.
turn on hd on the right of the player.

 

Relatively true, isn't it? I once saw Satch play Chinese axe, it was ok, but he sounds so much better on his JS's. Safest bet why he's using them too, instead of, you know, some Soviet made "Ural" firewood from the times our folks could still do a chunk of that "boom chicka wah wah" thing, you know what I'm sayin'.

Skill comes first, but good sound never hurt a player.