good practice amp

[emperor_black]

For my nighttime playing, i use a guitar port. I reckon'd, i am near a laptop all the time. Why not combine both guitar and laptop into the guitarport? its very responsive and has all the effects you want. Its tone library can be expanded if someone like it a lot. Using Audacity which is free, you can record with the guitarport too.

[El_Kabong]

The Roland Cubes are good, as are the Tech 21, 'Trademark' series amps.

[Robert Burns]

You cant beat the FENDER G-Dec 30 watt ! Drum machine, CD input//
about 30 different sounds, amp mods, and 12 effects! Killer practice
amp for $375

[cbope]

If you need something small and portable, Roland Microcube. Limited but usable effects and modeling built-in, sounds great for it's size and can run on AA batteries if needed. Headphone jack/line out and CD in.

[Carbophos]

Digital stuff is handy for home recording or for sobgwriting, but not for practicing. At least for someone who had such a big break. All these modelling units are too forgving in terms of tone. The best thing for practising is a tube amp set at mid gain. This makes you really work out your tone.
And tone is everything.

[Sinistas]

And the tone you get out of the modeling amps is the best you're going to get at a "practice amp" price point.

[horns666]

I have a Spider II..... excellent amp. I bought my son a Vox Valvetronix AD30VT to use during our recent move........ excellent amp as well. For variety of tones, I'd go with the Spider. For better tone, the Vox. It blew me away when I first plugged into it.

Yep, a friend just bought a a 30wt like the one I have brand new (old stock) for 150 bucks..a fun amp.

Wassup Mark!

[Robert Burns]

I love my Cube 30....got it for $135 from MF when the new version came out.

Man! At least i got the new version...but i still paid $255.00 for it!
You Scored!! :-)

[jgcable]

Cube 30 is great bang for the buck. Actually though.. I did find a modeling combo that I declare as the best cheap 1 x 12 modeling combo I have ever owned, heard or played. This combo is suitable for recording, home practicing, jamming with friends and gigging. The factory presets are outstanding and if you don't like to tweak to find good patches.. you won't have to.
The Behringer V-Ampire LX112

Its a 60w-120w combo. How?? Easy.
When you use the internal speaker the amp has 1 60w power section running. When you plug in an extension cab for stereo an additional 60w power amp kicks on so you have 60w per side true stereo operation.
Whats cooler than that?
Oh yea.. it also comes with a nice quality Jensen 12" speaker and it doesn't fart out at all.

[thetroy]

+1 on the Behringer I have the V-Ampire head that I run through my stereo bookshelf speakers with cab sims and it sounds good for cheap.

[Carbophos]

And the tone you get out of the modeling amps is the best you're going to get at a "practice amp" price point.

To me the practice amp is something that is honest enough to my playing. All these cheap modelling combos are intended to sound nice however you play. Because they are targeted at kids, who just want to be instantly able to sound like "the real thing".

So, to me it's like the difference between studio montiors and hi-fi speakers. You either want to hear all the mixing/performance fuck-ups or enjoy the music.

So there'are small practicing amps and there're small bedroom amps, a bit of difference.

For me a cool practice amp is Ibanez ValBee

[Texas Heat]

Line 6's are JUNK and I would not waste my money! For a practice amp, look at the Roland Cube's. The cube 60 has plenty of punch and the best high gain solid state amp I have ever heard!

[Ralph E.]

Tech 21 Trademark 10.

[markD]

HAHAHAHA - this isn't gonna help, but i use a rivera M100 combo for my practice amp.

if i was just starting out (again) i'd say i would be REALLY tempted by the line 6 stuff. it depends on what you wanna accomplish...

if you just wanna jam and have fun go with a modeling amp.

if you wanna actually get good technique and become a STRONG player, get a small tube amp like:

an old fender princeton, champ, blues junior, OR a peavey classic 20.

if it doesn't have enough gain for those times you want to rock out, buy a nice pedal.

i say this because, as a player, a modelling amp is going to make you think you are WAY better than you are. you can layer reverbs, delays, etc, and really sound smooth. all that stuff will cover your mistakes. BUT playing through a small tube combo with lower gain will actually improve your techniques because you won't have a bunch of effects to marinate your "tone" and to hide your mistakes.

when i was kid i used to play with a TON of effects. i had the massive BOSS pedal rig into my marshall. i sounded AWESOME!! not, i said i SOUNDED awesome - not PLAYED awesome.

one day i tried out for a band at a rehearsal studio and i didn't have all my toys. i sounded like ASS!!!! i didn't get the job. i went and traded my marshall for an old fender. i put the pedals away and i learned to play clean.

then i got my rivera and learned to play tube distortion, NOT over the top pedal distortion.

so, for what it is worth, a good practice amp depends on what you want to achieve.

[Ralph E.]

i say this because, as a player, a modelling amp is going to make you think you are WAY better than you are. you can layer reverbs, delays, etc, and really sound smooth. all that stuff will cover your mistakes. BUT playing through a small tube combo with lower gain will actually improve your techniques because you won't have a bunch of effects to marinate your "tone" and to hide your mistakes.

+1

Well said.