Hey Sigforum guitarists....looking for advice on a decent guitar amp for my son for Christmas....my knowledge here is limited. I gave my son a guitar three Christmas ago and he loves playing and has become quite good. He is a finger picking type of player, drop tunes his guitar frequently for certain songs and has become quite good with inserting some well placed harmonics into his playing....he actually amazes me how quick he picks stuff up. His guitar is an Ibanez acoustic/electric and he wants to get an electric as well....he grabs my Les Paul occasionally.

I’m looking for a little advice, so many options and it can be overwhelming. Price point maybe up to 500....he’ll use it a lot I’m certain and will have it for years.....thanks in advance for any input.

Marshall DSL40. Maybe a few bucks more than 500, but worth it.

Or something in Orange

I'd buy a used Mesa/Boogie practice or studio amp. The sound, harmonics and feedback is out of this world.

Sweetwater has several Fender tube amps for $500 or less. At least one Vox tube amp, the AC-10, and many other brands in your price range. They’ve got some great people to help you make a good selection. If you’d like the contact info for my guy, let me know.

Confused. Are looking for an acoustic guitar amp or electric guitar amp?

This one here is amazingly versatile and feels like a tube amp.
They also have lower wattage and less expensive versions available. This will amp up his current axe as well as give him something to experiment with when he gets a hold of your Les Paul.

I've run the gamut of all types of guitar rigs for hard rock and metal.
I've owned many different tube amps from Marshall, Splawn, Mesa/Boogie, and Diezel. Mostly 100 watt heads with one or two 4x12 speaker cabinets. They were fum but most of my playing was practicing at home so they were complete overkill and were an incredible p.i.t.a. to transport to buddy's jam spaces and gigs.

Lower wattage tube combo amps are a lot of fun and sound great but are pretty spendy and you still have to crank it and get the speaker(s) moving to get the great sound and feel.

I tried modelers rack units and floor pedals and while I got a kick out of dialing them in and getting specific tones it seemed that I was messing with them more than playing. That and most have pretty poor quality sound unless you spend over a grand.

Now I'm using preamp and drive pedals through a Two Notes Cab M+ IR box direct into a mixer that splits off to my recording setup and outputs to either my studio monitors (big fancy computer speakers) or a pair of powered PA speakers for when I feel the neighbors need to enjoy my playing . I think this is my best sounding rig so far and the most versatile as I can play at tv volumes and get studio quality sound and then send the signal to a power amp or PA if I ever played a gig with it.

Let me know if I can be of any help pointing you in the right direction.

quote:

Originally posted by 6guns:
Confused. Are looking for an acoustic guitar amp or electric guitar amp?

Good question....I’m confused as well, is there a big difference? His current guitar is an acoustic which you can also plug in to an amp......he’ll be securing a solid body electric in the near future.

He’s a senior in high school and is low profile like me....he’s currently taking a senior class on the history of rock and roll.....he’s learned three Beatles songs in the past week just because he is on that subject now but won’t tell the teacher. Funny thing is, it’s the same teacher he has next semester for a “intro to guitar” class ... he said there are guitars lined up on the wall of the classroom and he hadn’t picked one up....said he doesn’t want the teacher see him play...I think he’s worried the teacher might not let him take the intro class even though I told him he may learn something....I’m pretty sure he’s just looking for “easy”......they will probably start with some basic open chords after they learn guitar nomenclature and such....he’s wayyy beyond d all that

I asked as you mentioned that he's playing an electrified acoustic guitar....but also picks up your Les Paul.

This amp is good for acoustic guitars:

https://www.sweetwater.com/sto...weeter-and-bluetooth

Maybe Ryan can offer his thoughts. Maybe the amp he's recommending is good for both.

quote:

Originally posted by Marcushoss:
Marshall DSL40. Maybe a few bucks more than 500, but worth it.

Or something in Orange

I came here to say that. The DSL40C is the one I have. Extremely versatile and it has that Marshall tone. The speaker is the weak point but an upgrade is easy. The Green Crunch channel is tops in my opinion. The new one DSL40CR has some issues with a delay during the channel switching but maybe they fixed it by now. You can probably pick up a used DSL40C for your budget.

You're not going to plug an acoustic into it though. You'll want a dedicated acoustic amp or something full range like a PA.

Another electric guitar opinion is the Boss Katana. Not a tube amp, but a pretty decent and inexpensive modeler type amp.

I don't know if you want to surprise him or not on Christmas but if possible take him to some stores and listen to a few amps. That's the only way to really know.

I had this same issue with my son last year and ended up with a Vox AC10. He’s played a lot of different amps since and still loves it. Second place was a Fender Blues Junior.

I’m usually not a big fan of big box stores over mom and pop places but I ordered the amp from Guitar Center because you could return up to 180 days at the time. Not sure if that’s still the case but it’s worth looking into since these things are very subjective.

You can get the DSL40Cs used for $400-$450 all day long. I got my first one for $399 new when Sweetwater was blowing them out. Killer amp, but they are not really practice amps. They need to be cranked to sing the Marshall tone. My main practice amp is a GK 250ML I bought when I was 16 in 1988. It still slays all others and they can be had on eBay for $300ish.

Thanks for the replies gentlemen, I really appreciate you taking your time to help....at least I have a starting point to investigate ...as usual, sigforum comes through...this place rocks! Pun-intended
If I have further need for assistance I’ll throw it in here....thanks again!

I've owned a couple of VOX amps, a Fender Dual Showman, a Fender Twin Reverve, a Fender Super Reverb and 2 Fender Ultimate Chorus amps. The Fender U/C were pretty nice at a decent price point. Both bought on ebay for about $200 shipped.

Wait - Amps appear to be in demand like lots of things during this KungFlu. Looks like $200 is now $400.

I still have a VOX AC15 Handwired with the Celestion Blues in it as well as an older Fender Vibro King. I also have a couple of small VOX amps but recently I picked up a Roland JC40. I'm impressed. It is really quite versatile and sounds great. Add an Analog Man Tube Screamer and a Keeley compressor and you can play just about any genre of music with it. I think it was around $600. It is easy to move around and doesn't take up too much space. It would be worthy of consideration for you. I also suggest Sweetwater. They were great to do business with.

WAIT!!!!!! The BEST amp for the dough at this time is a Boss Katana 50, it is not tube, so it’s light, 3 volume settings, .5 watts, 25 watts, 50 watts, pre-sets and it sounds KILLER!!!!! I think I payed $225. I at this time have no need to upgrade, I have friends here in Nashvegas that gig with them , I now understand!! Also an acoustic setting!

For acoustic around the house I say you could look into the Fender Acoustimas series.

Around the house anything over 15 watts is just a waste. You can almost break windows with 15 watts.

Bob

I also have a Boss Katana 100w head. It has a small internal speaker, so it's fine for a practice amp. And it can hang with my big Marshalls when run through a 4x12. Huge bang for the buck. I'm probably only using 1% of its capabilities, but it gets it done for me.

Ampeg will give excellent tone for the acoustic, can double for electric, bass, vocal, etc.

Recently I got my nephew a used TOA KD-1 4-channel mixer/amp. Engineered in Japan, made in Taiwan. Used it cost $200 I think. Excellent value. He can both plug in his Seagull Entourage acoustic-electric guitar (I also bought him) and get a mic on it (MXL 2003A Large Capsule Condenser Microphone, I gave him ... see a pattern? ).

An old-school Peavey 6-channel power / mixer plus a really nice monitor will give him loads of flexibility as he begins gigging out. A great monitor (the speaker) with extra-wide frequency response is something he'll be able to use for years and years.

I started on a Line6 and an Orange. Went to a Fender Blues Junior and gave the others away.

Nicest sounding amp I’ve ever played through.