Advice on buying a tube amp

[coolvinny]

A sleeper tube amp that ventures into Princeton territory is the Laney LC15R, with reverb, that can often be found for around $100-150. 2x EL84 tubes, around 15 watts.

In my first band (blues) the other guitarist used one of these and it sounded pretty sweet - he'd picked it up for pretty cheap on the used market. I played through it a few times and liked it. Good value. We had sort of reunion concert 10 years later and he was still using it and still happy with it. However, I thought my Fender Pro Junior sounded better.

[lawson-stone]

I believe that basically the Monoprice Stage Right 15 watt is the same amp. I've seen photos of the PCB of the Monoprice with the "Laney" name stamped on it.

Attachment 66319

I have to make a correction. This Monoprice 15 watt is typically said to be a clone of the Laney Cub 12r. Maybe not a clone, but simply a re-packaged version.

[Strbender]

My Peavey Classic 30 is holding up well twenty years in. Paid $300 new. Think they’re closer to $500 now and made in China instead of St. Louis. Look for a used one.

I'll second that. Nice sounding amp for the money. I would also advise looking at a used made in USA model.

[John A.]

If I were looking for an amp that "can maintain tone at all volumes", I would not consider a sub-$500 tube amp. At that price point, there are really only tube amps that are designed to have overdriven tones at relatively low volumes. A DV Mark Jazz (either size) is better for that

As others mention above the Peavey Classic 30 and Fender blues Deluxe or Hot Rod Deluxe mentioned up thread are the best bet for those requirements if the OP is willing to go for a used amp (they're all $700-ish new, $500-ish used) or spend a little more. I really like all of those.

However, I think the OP needs to be a little clearer about requirements - i.e., how loud he needs to be and how clean he actually wants to be. It's very hard to know that without some experimentation, and very hard to make recommendations without knowing what the OP has tried.

FWIW, I have a 78 Princeton Reverb, which I find plenty loud and clean for small clubs. But others' idea of clean/loud can be different.

John

[Dave T]

My Peavey Classic 30 is holding up well twenty years in. Paid $300 new. Think they’re closer to $500 now and made in China instead of St. Louis. Look for a used one.

I was going to suggest the Classic 30 as well. Bullet proof. At one time I had a Boogie MarkIII 60 watt 1x12 - basic amp with no reverb or simul-class. With a Black Shadow it wasn't all that heavy, and I could dial in a great clean tone. Enough power for any situation. I bought it used in great shape for $500 in 1987. Boogies get the rep for high gain, but if you dedicate it to clean it can do quite nicely.

[Greentone]

Well...I took both the tweed Deluxe and my Polytone MiniBrute II to the gig on Sunday. At the last minute, I plugged the MB into the wall outlet and set it up on stage. The tweed went behind stage as a spare. D'oh!

The MB shone through with distinction, however. I didn't miss the tubes at all, as it turned out. No one else did, as it happened. I think that everyone dug the sound of the Stratocaster through the MiniBrute. We did Hendrix...Rodgers and Hart...Jobim...Sade...you name it. It's all good with the Polytone.

Of course, had I plugged in the tweed, it would have worked just as well.

[ccroft]

My advice on buying a tube amp: don't :)

With that out of the way, just wanted to mention that Mesa has made a whole bunch of smaller amps like the subway series, or the 22 Caliber+. I have that one and I like it a lot. It's a loud 20 watts at just under 30 lbs with Cannabis Rex 12. There's a number of Mesa's in this range that will generally go for under $500 used. Well built amps. I got mine in '91 ish and it's still going strong.

But I don't play it much now that I have Quilter ToneBlock 202.

[Little Jay]

They have a 45 watts version also. These watts sound just as loud a ‘tube watts’, not like 200 whimpy ‘solid state watts’ (scientifically very incorrect of course.) You can thank me later :-D