Electric Guitar Amp

[NDA]

I bought my son a decent electric guitar for Christmas and he has a Fender Princeton amplifier to go with it. He's a Grade 5 musician, 17 years old and actually quite good on guitar, trumpet and piano. Guitar is definitely his chosen instrument - I am a pianist and know absolutely nothing about guitars.

I'd like to get him a small practice amplifier with a headphone socket - but this type of product is a mystery to me. I don't want to spend a fortune, but would like something that is of moderate quality.

Any suggestions?

[Pothole]

Most practice amps sound shocking.

This one gets good reviews, looks cool and has some good modelling and effects built in.

[SamR380]

If it's just for practising with headphones, a Line 6 POD could be a good choice.

[NDA]

Pothole said:

Most practice amps sound shocking.

This one gets good reviews, looks cool and has some good modelling and effects built in.

That looks good but is a little more than I want to spend.... is that the sort of price (around £200) I should expect to pay for a practice amp?

Thanks

[NDA]

SamR380 said:

If it's just for practising with headphones, a Line 6 POD could be a good choice.

That looks good.... I wouldn't have ever heard of that gadget normally. Could be the answer. Thanks.

It looks good as an effects system on it's own too....

[rsbmw]

Any of the little digital practice amps should be pretty good these days, and around £100, a line6 pod can only be used with headphones which is a negative.

I have one of these for example - https://www.andertons.co.uk/fender-mustang-i-v2-am... - Nice sounds and you can plug them into a PC to piss around further

Yamaha THR is a good shout, but I would be looking at the 10 rather than the 5

[E34-3.2]

have a look at "Code Marshall" . Blue tooth, headphone, and Marshall app on you phone which gives you so many option without even touching your Amplifier.

[NDA]

rsbmw said:

Any of the little digital practice amps should be pretty good these days, and around £100, a line6 pod can only be used with headphones which is a negative.

I have one of these for example - https://www.andertons.co.uk/fender-mustang-i-v2-am... - Nice sounds and you can plug them into a PC to piss around further

Yamaha THR is a good shout, but I would be looking at the 10 rather than the 5

It looks like the Line 6 Pod can go to an amplifier too - it has an amp out socket. Or have I read that wrong?

[SamR380]

It can do, but that's not really what it's for. It's a headphone amp really, although I have seen them used plugged into a PA system at a gig before (with poor results).

If you want something with a speaker, get something with a speaker, don't get a POD and try to make it work.

The suggestions above are good, I'd add the Roland Cube as an option too.

[Fat Wolfie]

Yes, Line 6 Pod can be put between guitar and amp, so you can get the amp modelling and other features coming out of the amp. Or you play through headphones. Either way it’s a great bit of kit.

(Output side of line 6 can also be plugged into home recording desk too, just for even more fun!)

[NDA]

I am looking at all suggestions, thanks very much everyone.

The Pod is probably the solution - he has an amp, the problem we needed to solve was to enable him to play his guitar without making too much noise. The Pod is useful because it's for headphones but can also be used with his amp when he wants to play more loudly.

[rsbmw]

The issue with a Princeton is that it's a big powerful valve amp, and needs some volume. Pod will be great through headphones, but there is no option to play it 'aloud' without an external speaker. Plug it into the princeton, and you're back to volume issues. Almost certainly he will want to play it without headphones at some point, these little amps (combos) are designed to be played at low volume. They can all be played with headphones just the same as the Pod, but have the speaker built in for when you want it.

[oddball1313]

The Boss Katana range seem to get a universal thumbs up as well, my mate who regularly gigs has had one for the last 3 months and is really impressed with it

https://www.boss.info/us/products/katana-50/

[franki68]

oddball1313 said:

The Boss Katana range seem to get a universal thumbs up as well, my mate who regularly gigs has had one for the last 3 months and is really impressed with it

https://www.boss.info/us/products/katana-50/

Remarkable reviews,so much so I had to try one .I must be missing something because to me it sounded very harsh and digital.
I am not a snob either ,I am open minded to a lot of the new modellers ,but the katana was a big let down to me.
Very popular though,retailers have sold millions of them.

[dojo]

A Fender Princeton?? Thats an AMAZING amp - well over £1k!! If you want something better than that I'd be looking at a ToneKing Imperial, a Two Rock or Victory??

Assuming its a typo


Basically you have two routes either a digital modelling amp or a traditional style amp
The best entry level modelling amps as mentioned before are the Boss Katana - £180
Traditional amps the best one is Orange Crush 35RT - £220

I'd go for Crush (if he has a Princeton I'd be doing that also) and start building up a nice collection of pedals over time (gives a nice option for future Birthday and Xmas presents)

Maybe you could also consider an iRig to plug into his iPad and he can practise with that??!
If he has a decent rig and you want him to practise quietly I'd say you're better off getting him an interface so he can plug into his laptop and start playing around and recording music - or get him an isolation cab to put his current amp in??

Edited by dojo on Monday 7th January 14:55

Edited by dojo on Monday 7th January 15:05

[NDA]

dojo said:

A Fender Princeton?? Thats an AMAZING amp

Yes, he's lucky to have it.... his uncle was a successful recording artist and it's been given to my son. It was locked in a room for over 25 years, untouched - turned on first time on Christmas Day and worked faultlessly.

Really good suggestions and tips from everyone.... I am following up all of them.

Cheers.

[FredClogs]

I've got a Roland Micro Cube as all I do these days is noodle around in my bedroom, it's fine, better than fine, and only £100.

[Elysium]

I have a line 6 pod and a Yamaha THR10C amp. They are actually quite different options.

The pod is an amp emulator, which lets you access a huge variety of tones with a single pedal. The purists would argue that it's not as good as dedicated effects pedals and a really nice amp - and they are probably right - but it does let you create some really overdriven high gain sounds without needing massive volume.

The Yamaha is a practice amp, very small, with more limited, good quality emulation options. It also has a line input with clean amp settings, so you can play backing tracks through it to jam along to.

If you think he would like to experiment with multi-effects, using his main amp or headphones then get the pod.

If you think he would prefer a simple small format practice amp for more casual playing then something like the THR would be better. There are cheaper options, but the Yamaha kit is worth the extra.

It's worth noting that you can also get some fairly acceptable amp modelling for home use via an ipad / iphone and a digital interface like this:

https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/irig2/

I use the free tonebridge app and rarely bother with the line 6 pod these days.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkZcscqCrKU

[Stan the Bat]

Another vote here for the Yamaha THR 10 series.

There are 3 of them, so which ever one suits his type of music.

[cherryowen]

Boo-urns said:

I'm going to cast a vote for the Orange Micro Terror

After reading the OP, I was going to suggest exactly that.

I remember Lee Anderton & Rob Chapman giving it a very good review on one of their vids.