Which Moddeling amp?

metropolis4 · 08-04-2011, 06:53 AM

Alright, this is fun. I don't think I've ever done this on here before

I'm thinking about picking up a small moddeling amp for personal use and practice at home. I also want something that is legit enough to take with me to rehearsals and such when I'm feeling too lazy to lug my AC30 around

So, here goes

-Price Range - Not more than $500

-Necessity - Small second amp to occasionally use in place of my AC30 and for home practice. If I need more volume I will of course take the AC30, so micing and such isn't really a consideration. Any small 1x12 combo will do

-Frequency - Daily use for practice, occasional rehearsal, possibly even gigs

-Musical Style - Very diverse. Rock, new country, classic country, pop, R&B, jazz, fusion, prog, indie, classic rock, oldies, music theater, folk, americana, hard rock, metal...Versatility is important but I'm most interested in harmonic complexity and the slightly dirty/edge of breakup tones from an amp.

-Current Setup - Strat/Tele, AC30HW2, lots of pedals. Just looking for something to give me tones I'm missing from my Vox for practice and other purposes (sometimes you just need a Fender or Marshall sound you know?). Also something smaller and more portable than the AC30 for small gigs and times when I'm feeling lazy

-Experience - Playing guitar for 16 years now (wow...). Played almost every amp imagineable. I always like the idea of moddeling amps, but I'm big on simplicity, ease of tweaking on the fly and responsiveness and I always find those three things lacking in digital gear.

-Personal Research - I've played a Vox VT80+ that I thought sounded really good. I've also checked out the Fender Mustang, but had a harder time getting a good sound out of it. I'm still interested in checking it out more though. Been a while since I looked at any of Line 6's offerings

-Shopping - willing to shop for a good deal, but the used market is pretty dead right now

-Timeline - No hurry; whenever

I think the key things for me are: responsiveness, simplicity and ease of tweaking on the fly in that order. I want something that responds as realistically and close to my tube amps as possible and something that responds to pedals similar to what I would expect from a tube amp. I want something as simple as possible. When it comes to gear less is more for me. I prefer having more knobs and switches and less menus. I also would like something that is easy to make my own presets; something that I can quickly call up just an amp model and then tweak the controlls rather than having a whole preset that i have to change to just get a plain amp moddel if that makes sense.

Stratopastor · 08-04-2011, 10:04 AM

Fender Mustangs are well spoken of ... they look pretty 'grab and go' to me, they come in a range of sizes, and the ability to edit models or load new ones via USB must count for something....

gopats1479 · 08-04-2011, 12:38 PM

A Vox VT80+ might work, although I've had problems with tinny preamps on the previous models. I would personally go with the L6 Spider IV 30 for the best models all-around, the Fender for the best American sounds, and the Vox for the best Vox sounds.

gtrdave · 08-04-2011, 02:09 PM

It's not a modeling amp, but I'm still digging my Vox AC15VR.
It's simple and yet diverse without being complicated and I don't have to spend too much time tweaking it to get a variety of decent sounds.

That said, my limited experience with a new Fender Mustang II has me giving it a much higher opinion than any Line 6 Spider that I've ever tried or owned.

Ax · 08-04-2011, 05:59 PM

Peavey Bandit, can't speak for the quality of the newer ones but the ones they were releasing circa 99 were fantastic.

DropKick74 · 08-04-2011, 08:13 PM

I really enjoy my cousin's and my brother in law's peavey vypyr. It's pretty grab n go and intuitive and the tones were pretty darn good. They both have the 1x8 version so I imagine the 1x12 versions are probably that much better. These were the ss versions not the tube ones so I imagine those are even better.

***BillSPrestonEsq*** · 08-06-2011, 12:05 AM

For lowish budget I keep hearing good stuff about the fender mustang series. Not my bag as I am a one or two core tone sort of guys for the most part. I would also look into perhaps some low weight old tube amps if those are your thing. For me, for grab and go I keep an old fender musicmaster bass. I am not sure how much it weighs with it's aftermarket speaker. (weber signature 12 alnico) but my guess would be less than 10 lbs. For me it is a logical throw anywhere amp that I got for real cheap, cheaper than a modelling amp. I have an old Gibson that cost $120 that is a bit smaller and heavier that is same deal, (though a 1x10). I also have a couple mini heads that are tiny and were inexpensive as well. One of them is remarkably versatile, but alas, a hair over budget @650.

I don't know. Mostly I have been all about small wattage push/pull design little tube amps recently. But that is just if you think you could get the tones you need from your other gear.

metropolis4 · 08-07-2011, 03:09 PM

Well, I had a chance to play around with the Mustang III and a Vox VT80+.

On the Mustang I found that the Deluxe Reverb model is really good! The Vox and Bassman models though are horrible! Painfully horrible. The 70s Marshall thing is pretty good too. The '57 Deluxe wasn't so good either. It didn't sound like a 57 deluxe to me, more like what someone who's never played a 57 deluxe might think one should sound like.

I was impressed with the overdrive and fuzz stomps, they were a lot better than I expected. I think I could be happy with that amp just using the Deluxe model all the time and those stomps. I didn't like how much you have to go into edit menus to change settings with the effects. Then it's really a pain to have to scroll over to the parameter you want to change before you can do it. It wasn't as responsive as my AC30, but still not bad. I could make it clean up fairly well by backing off the volume. I also like the way Fender set up the 4-button footswitch.

The Vox Models on the VT80+ were much better, but I wasn't crazy about the Fender tones and as I already have some pretty good Vox tones covered in my AC30HW2 I figure the Mustang would probably be a better fit for me. I'm not so crazy about how the footswitch works. I think the Vox sounded great, but I'm not sure I like the way it works as well.

I'm gonna see if I can try out a Line 6 and a Peavey Vypyr to compare. I'm kinda torn also between getting a small modelling amp, and getting another Pro Junior... I love those little amps

Dark Helmet · 08-18-2011, 11:36 AM

alternately, get a decent cheap solid state without all the modeling and then get a POD XT? that plus one of many less-fancy but decent powered amps could be had at/under $500 at GC on the right weekend.

Fenderdigitech · 08-29-2011, 09:08 AM

Roland makes some great modeling amps called the Roland cube. I have the 15x and it has a great clean and metal tone. I highly recommend it.

daddyo · 09-14-2011, 03:25 PM

I have a Blackstar HT5 that has a mid scoop Fendery to more mids Marshally tones With it's ISF control. It isn't powerful enough to play live though. Great living room 2 channel amp.

metropolis4 · 09-14-2011, 08:09 PM

I've decided I really want this to be a moddeling amp. For simplicity sake, I want something that is just an all-in-one deal with effects and such so it's just a one cable from the guitar to the amp setup.

I played the Mustang III again and I am very very impressed with that amp! The only other contender I'm curious about is the Super Champ XD, which seems interesting, but I can't find one to try out

**bravesfan007** · 09-14-2011, 08:37 PM

I believe the Super Champ XD has a tube in it if that matters to you. If I remember correctly, it's in the post amp portion. Of course, I have heard good things about both of the Fenders you are considering. I actually tried out a Mustang one day at a local music store when I had nothing else to do and was pretty impressed for such a small budget. Plus, it would save you some cash.

Stratopastor · 09-15-2011, 02:37 AM

yep, the Super Champ XD has a pair of 6V6 tubes as as the output stage. Presumably you can crank it to the point where they break up (I love the sound of 6V6s doing that), which might be a satisfying, organic thing to do and must combine nicely with some of the built-in fx and models. On the other hand, if the models in the Mustang range are good enough then they're going to get you (think of a number? 95%?) of the way there without the care-and-feeding that tube amps do call for. And for most of us, that last 5% really isn't going to matter outside of a recording studio. As usual it's down to your ears and your wallet, but if you do get a chance to compare the 2 I'd be interested to know what you thought.

metropolis4 · 09-16-2011, 07:28 PM

Yeah, the tube's don't really matter too much to me; I'm more concerned with which one sounds the best. The thing that interests me in the Super Champ is that it's all right there on the front panel. No menus and settings to worry about, just a few knobs to turn on the front and what you see is what you get. I like that kind of simplicity. But I don't know what it really sounds like... I'm gonna have to search and see if I can find one around here.