Conference napalm::guitar

    
    Last weekend I went to Mr. Music, and tryed out a couple old
    Fender Princetons, a Polytone Mini-Brute II, and a recent
    Fender Princeton Chorus.  I was trying them with a Gibson 175.  
    
    I decided that for my purposes, basicly for home practice, 
    at pretty low volume, the Princeton Chorus was my favorite.  
    I didn't try the overdrive stuff.  The reverb and chorus seemed 
    fine to me, but I haven't tryed many.  Its got a 
    headphone out and effects loop, and is solid state. 
    
    This one was used, with no documentation.  Anyone know
    what all the nobs do? I'll enter a future note listing
    all the nob names.  One drawback is this is not a really light amp.  
    
    As an aside, I went to see Joe Pass last Thursday and Friday nights
    at Scullers.  The first night they gave him a Roland JC120, which
    he spent half the time adjusting.  Friday night he had a Mini-Brute, 
    which he appeared to be more satisfied with.
    
    Dave
       
    

    The Dean Markley 35w I got from Blair_unit meets most of your
    requirements.....they are very affordable, too!
    
    dawg

>My question is: What's the *best* practice amp (in the world) ?
>I prefer tubes, but I wouldn't rule anything out without hearing it first. 
>(FET's may actually be the best bet for sound per pound.)
>Portable operation from (rechargeable) batteries would be a plus.
>Low cost is a plus.
    
    OK, you just made your search impossible! 8^)  8^)
    
    More to the point, vacuum tubes and batteries don't mix.  I have never
    seen a battery-powered tube guitar amp, but I remember owning a tube AM
    radio that took like twelve D batteries and played for about three
    hours before the batteries died...you can figure out the rest.
    
    In general, practice amp = small + cheap, and this seriously
    compromises sound.  Also, having lots of features (you mentioned good
    clean sound with a piezo pickup *plus* full shred *plus* chorus, etc.) 
    means more $$. 
    
    For my money, the best practice amps are the ones you find at tag
    sales or buried under piles of dust in the back of funky music       
    stores.  They usually have names you never heard of, but sell for
    super-cheap.  
    
    I admit that modern small amps are way beyond those of the past in
    terms of features.  Even the smallest pups nowadays have passable
    overdrives, multi-band EQs, even reverb and channel switching in some
    cases, all stuff notably absent from their predecessors. Still, finding
    an off-brand Champ-like tube amp for $15 may be a better deal than
    buying a Marshall Valvestate 10 for $150, even if it has fewer
    features.  Maybe I'm being a stuck record here, but I've bought many
    guitar amps over the years and the most I ever paid was $75 for one, in
    fact all but one were $25 or less (now for a *real* amp, like a bass
    amp, I'm willing to spend serious money...agagagagaga).
    
    Some features can be retrofitted: a headphone out is $1 in parts (a
    closed circuit jack and a resistor), you can add "overdrive" by putting
    a $7 L-pad from Radio Shack in series with the speaker (poor man's
    Power Soak), etc.  
    
    Oh yeah, the best practice amp in the world is an SVT with two cabs 
    8^)  8^)
    
    							Brian

    
    
    	I just bought the Fender Champ 25se at the Daddy's invitation sale.
    It listed for $479.00, tagged at $399.00, bought for $319.00.
    
    	In my opinion there is no better amp for the money in this class.
    It has an op-amp/12AX7 preamp, feeding into an all tube power amp. It
    has an effects loop, line out, footswitch, and a headphone jack. A 12"
    fender speaker and reverb. On the drive channel, it has a contour
    control that will take you from Sabbath to Metallica. I even played 
    through a Marshall 8080 side by side, and the Fender blew it away. At
    home I played through a Jackson Stealth and a tube screamer and knew
    immediately that I made the right choice. Also, the clean channel is
    great as well, but my playing style and taste doesn't have me using 
    it much :> !!
    
    	I also played through a peavey bravo, all tube, which was about
    $10.00 more. This amp has a Sheffield in it and sounded quite hot as
    well.
    
    John

I have a Marshall 4501 which fits most of the features you are looking for
from a sound prespective.  It falls short in that it is fairly heavy, it 
doesn't run on batteries (what does?) and is not low cost.  It will play 
clean and it will play with all the distorsion you could reasonably want.

Jim

    Thanks for the input.
    I played a smaller Dean Markley Once & it was not quite clean enough.
    Maybe the '35 has more guts.
    
    I recall liking the Fender Princeton Chorus a lot, but it was a bit
    pricey (new). I don't think it's too big or heavy, but almost.
    
    RE: Tubes/batteries ... Basically I'm partial to tubes, so I'd overlook
    the battery criterion for the right tube amp.
    
    I'm also real handy with "retrofits" (not to mention caniption fits
    ;-8), so the old beat up junker from a tag sale may be the ticket, as
    long as the basic sound is there. 
    
    I tried a Fender Champ 25SE, & it seemed nice & punchy, but the one I
    tried had knobs missing & everything was loose, so I couldn't really
    tell what was what with it.
    
    Is the Jackson Stealth called that because it's got a great sound that
    you just can't hear ?? ;-8
    
    I've never seen a Marshall 4501.
    
    I'm looking at the Mesa .22, but I expect it'll be too heavy &
    expensive (even used).
    
    Paul
     

    >>I played a smaller Dean Markley Once & it was not quite clean enough.
    >>Maybe the '35 has more guts.
    
    Most definitely; I've used it for gigs in small clubs; and it's light
    and great for around the house as well.  I prefer the distortion of my
    tube screamer to the DM on board clip, but the DM reverb is nice.
    
    Whatever!
    
    Steve

    My son just bought one of the mini-Marshall's....the  cute little baby
    $35.00 job. I was amazed at how well it performs and sounds. Jay plans
    on taking it with us on vacation to keep in practice. It also sports a 
    headphone jack...  he will be able to sit in the back of the van and 
    jam while I am tooling down the highway...and to keep from
    interfering in my "square music". Acceptable distortion, weighs less
    than a pound, runs on batteries, headphone jack, cheap.
    
    Grins
    Pc
    

I've got a little PT30 Laney 1x12 combo that I might be pursuaded to 
part with... It's all toob, weights about 40lbs, and has the sweetest
'verb and clean channel I've seen on a combo in it's price range.
...And it does killer death metal grunge too!

Anyway, Laney makes nice little combos!
jc

    I have a Marshall Lead 12 (without speakers), but it's fried to a
    crisp. It seems that the part numbers for all the transistors are
    manufacturer's in house codes, so they're not available anywhere except
    through Korg at outrageous prices. The schematics just have these bogus
    part numbers.
    
    When I get a chance I'm going to try the Dean Markley 35. The one I
    played was a 20 & it had *no* good sounds.
    
    That Laney sounds interesting, I'll play one around here if I get a
    chance. Like I said, I'm partial to tubes. Added grunge I can get from
    my TS-9 !
    
    I did try the Mesa .22+ but it's heavy, noisey, & way too expensive.
    (What a surprise !)
    
    Paul
    
     
    

    back in .4, at the end of the talk about the Champ 25se was a mention
    of the PV Bravo.  If the Champ price/size is acceptable, do not overlook
    this amp!  It gets my vote as best combo amp value on the market and
    might even be my choice for a desert island amp (i.e., if I could only
    have one).  The Bravo uses EL-84s in the power section and has lots
    of features, especially for an amp in it's price range.  I played
    around with one recently and was blown away; very versatile, great
    tones and cheap.  Check it out.
    
    /rick

    I've got a Peavey Bravo and can highly recommend it - my previous amp
    was the Marshall Valvestate 8080 - I don't gig, (not yet good enough!)
    so didn't need massive volume, but much prefer the sound of the Bravo
    (all-tube) to the Valvestate.  
    Its a two-channel effort with separate EQ for each channel and a
    brightness switch on the Clean(er) - the dirty channel sounds great on
    ten, but has a gain boost facility in the form of a push-pull pot which
    gives you extreme dirt - its a compressed/saturated sound, OK for
    thrash I guess, but for a bluesier feel its best to stick to the normal
    - there's more than enough distortion available on this amp.
    
    The Clean starts to break up around 7, and on 8 or 9 it gets to be a
    healthy crunch - I haven't played thru that many amps, but this one is
    perfect for someone who isn't too concerned about volume (although they
    have been seen in use in samller venues) - the tones are far superior
    to the Valvestate, and the thing is very, very solidly built.
    
    Over here in England they sell new for about 300 -330 pounds, which is
    a lot cheaper than the Fender Champ SE...
    
    
    Andy