Gear Gurus: Which Guitar Amp for £500

[Gokartmozart]

Started learning/playing around 12 months ago and have been using
a Roland Micro cube Amp.

I would now like to "move up" to something a little better and have set myself a budget of £500. I would be looking for 60's blues and rock tone/sound.

So far I have been considering something like :-

Fender Blues Junior III or Vox AC15C

Out of the two I have a leaning to the Vox as it has a few more practical features
and to my ears on youtube vids both have a similar tone.

Of the two which would you plump for ?.

More importantly is there another Make/model I should be looking at

Blackstar, Marshall etc.

[Justin Cyder]

With that budget, you'll have a huge choice. Blackstar are great, the blues junior will be lovely. Best thing to do would be to trek along to your local guitar emporium & plug in to a few - see what takes your fancy. Remembering the hoodoo that crossing the threshold of a guitar shop with a plectrum in hand instantly removes any musical talent you may possess. Does for me anyway.

[andySC]

If you can find one an Engl Thunder 50 may be worth a look. They are an amazing sounding amp with fantastic build quality. A used one would be well within budget & worth a look I reckon.

[davepoth]

Another consideration is what you want to do with it. If you want to go gigging you may need a different amp than if it's going to stay in the bedroom.

The Blues Jr. is a lovely little amp and sounds awesome when it's running wide open, however it's only one channel, and runs out of puff a little on big stages. I had a similar problem a few years back and went for a used Hot Rod Deluxe, which makes a similar noise but is a lot louder and has three channels.

Edited by davepoth on Friday 27th July 20:48

[gazza285]

Does it have to be new? £500 will buy you a vast range of quality second hand stuff, I've just bought a Fender Deville 2x12 for £299 including a flightcase.

[Gokartmozart]

Thanks for the replys.

After some humming and harring I'm going for a Blackstar HT5R

[gbbird]

Blackstar is a good choice. Will def be my next amp

[Justin Cyder]

Definitely a smart buy, I like Black Star enormously - Marshall old boys run that company.

[Xandski]

Good choice

Would have said the HT20 personally but tried the 20, HT5, Orange Tiny Terror, the Hughes and Kettner 18 watt thing and a few low wattage solid state monstrosities and have to say that the Blackstars were simply beautiful to listen to. Especially through a nice 2x12.

Has anyone tried the DI on them?

[franki68]

The black star stuff is great,on my third one now,another one worth a listen would be egnater .

[Turn7]

Gokartmozart said:

Thanks for the replys.

After some humming and harring I'm going for a Blackstar HT5R

Hows the amp OP ?