Experience with off brand amps?

[iron_monkey]

There are a lot of random low wattage amps out there made by companies like Silvertone, Magnatone, Valco, Airline, etc. Has anyone found any of these to be worthwhile as practice amps? Seems like the low wattage and possibly cheap prices (ignoring crazy prices on eBay for some of these) make them worth a look.

[Twisteramps]

Re: Experience with off brand amps?

what are you wanting out of one - vintage tones? then yeah, they would be a great deal IF they were in good working condition. Plan on probably having to replace filter caps and maybe other minor touchups (socket retensioning, replacing or repairing speakers, etc) and you could have a decent vintagey amp.

Otherwise you're better off with a used Line6 spider or the like. Just my 2 cents.

Pete

[Riscchip]

Re: Experience with off brand amps?

I have a few Supros which, like many of those off brands, were made by Valco in Chicago. Valco amps are very cool, fun and nice sounding amps that can be had for cheap, but it's hard to know what to expect from model to model. Most of them tend to be fairly clean and dark. My Supros are clean almost all the way to 10 and fairly quiet for their wattage rating. I have a 40 watt S6698 that's not as loud as my 18 Watt Dr Z Carmen Ghia. They sound great with a drive pedal in front of them, however.

As Twisteramps points out, you need to make sure they are in good working order and you'll have to deal with the usual issues that spring up with vintage amps (filter caps, etc.). However, very good deals can be had on pretty clean examples.

[iron_monkey]

Re: Experience with off brand amps?

I'm looking for small with some character, and tubes. I don't have anything against the line6 stuff, but I'm not really into it either. I've only tried a few of the small vintage off-brand amps, and at least the one's I've tried, sound clean most of the way up and don't necessarily sound good with a boost pedal. I've got other amps, I was just hoping to find something small with some bite. Maybe I just haven't tried the right models yet.

[PowerTube]

Re: Experience with off brand amps?

Back in the Eighties, the Spectra amps sounded surprisingly good. They were made by JMF Electronics in Salina, Kansas, then were later bought out by Dean Markley, who discontinued the line.

There was a 120/60 watt tube head at Guitar Resurrection in Austin that had been tweaked by their amp tech for more gain and it sounded SWEET. That's one amp I've always regretted not buying.

[xsentrick]

Re: Experience with off brand amps?

I have an old 5-6 watt Silvertone amp in case thingy, my half brother has the guitar. It was my dad's. I had some maintanence done on it and it is a groovy little sounding amp. Get a real good blueS sound out of it.

[Kyle G]

Re: Experience with off brand amps?

Alot of those are great bargain amps but sometimes they need more in service than they are worth.