need beginner amp idea

[Luthierwnc]

I have a tradition of making a guitar for my nephews and nieces when they get old enough. The latest is a Tele variant for a young man interested in country and AC/DC (yeah, I know).

He'll need an amp too but my herd has been thinned down to the keepers. He can probably afford something up to $500. I haven't kept up with the mass produced end of the market so I really don't know where the value lies. Let's assume he needs to keep things on the clean end with a little verb for the country and can get a pedal for the Angus chops. In order to stay on speaking terms with his mother, a pair of 6V6's or EL84's would be prudent -- maybe over a 12. If there is a sleeper out there or one that can be modded into something cool, that would be great.

Any ideas would help.

Thanks, Skip

[CaseyJones]

I have a tradition of making a guitar for my nephews and nieces when they get old enough. The latest is a Tele variant for a young man interested in country and AC/DC (yeah, I know).

Hayseed Dixie?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayseed_Dixie

He'll need an amp too but my herd has been thinned down to the keepers. He can probably afford something up to $500. I haven't kept up with the mass produced end of the market so I really don't know where the value lies. Let's assume he needs to keep things on the clean end with a little verb for the country and can get a pedal for the Angus chops. In order to stay on speaking terms with his mother, a pair of 6V6's or EL84's would be prudent -- maybe over a 12. If there is a sleeper out there or one that can be modded into something cool, that would be great.

Pedals suck. Build an amp that has a great distortion tone then roll off the guitar and amp volume to clean it up. Every kid needs to learn how to use the knobs and switches on their guitar IMHO.

My picks: How 'bout a tweed Deluxe? Great vintage distortion tone, nice cleans if you roll off the amp and guitar volumes.

If I could get my head around the pedal suck factor I might consider a Princeton Reverb. It will do the Fender thing at a reasonable volume. I don't like stock Fenders for distortion tones, IMHO there are better ways to get a thick aggressive distortion tone. Of course you can always mod it but I hate to lose that '60s black panel tone.

Ummm... two hole Trainwreck like a Rocket. You know it sounds good when Mother doesn't ask to turn it down!

[joebob]

Fender G-DEC; about $180 to $380, they have 3 models. Eric Johnson uses one, nice sounding amp.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCF267KHEPg

[Luthierwnc]

Thanks JoeBob;

CaseyJones; I'm just going to send him to the store. The kid's got cash plus I don't want to do a scratch build so it can sit under his bed. He might be able to pick up a Blues Jr cheap as well.

sh

[tonelab2]

Marshall 18watt clone
Norm channel for ACDshe, trem channel for country (rev pedal)

[gearhead]

I have one of these, except a red fang instead of a blue dog.

http://www.hamerfanclub.com/forums/inde ... opic=28555

Teefus modded a couple dozen by replacing a number of the stock, cheap passive components (mostly caps) with much better quality ones.

It's just an outstanding, affordable amp that sounds great. Brewies a good guy too; not sure if he's back from his surgical adventures.

[skyboltone]

Yup. Classic thirty is a pretty good deal but will angrify the folks. And there's no way in the world to keep a kid off a pedal. It's like keeping them from trying dope and sex. Can't be done. 99.9% of sub debutants don't know tone from shoe polish.

[gearhead]

Well, yeah, if you want a kid-proof amp that CAN'T be loud, then that C30 won't do. That leaves out 98% of the amps out there. Unfortunately, imho, with mass production amps, the lower the volume the crappier the quality.

So either a) go with a crappy high production amp or b) seek out a boutique-y amp that fits the budget.

Hold on, where is that Epi Junior mod guy again? LOL.

[Tubetwang]

for double-ing up on Pete Anderson's tracks...in the comfort of my home... none better than Princeton Reverb clone.

For Golden Smog, Lucinda Williams, Buddy Miller, Derailers, Lynyrd, Santo and Johny, Peter Green, Dylan or anything you may want to throw spinning...a Liverpool/Express/VVR2 will do the job.

Just tell the kid to play when he's alone in the house...

[kindred]

build him a ruby from rog. about 1/4 watt solid state and 15 bucks in parts. sounds quite decent through a 412. for portability i have a speaker out of a fener amp i nabbed from the local guitar junk pile for free. easy build, and gets you those ACDCish tones. it even has a clean sound... but at 1/4 watt you need a fairly efficent speaker to use it.

[tomrasdf]

This might be a streach for the budget, but I think it's worth throwing out there. One of the first amps I got was one of Vox's valvetronix amps. It's got good built in effects and the amp models, though not perfect, did a lot to introduce me to the virtues of and differences between the classic amps (it was actually playing their dumble model that got me interested them in the first place). It's got a headphones jack and plenty of volume when it's needed. And it'll bring him up with the idea that if you want to sound like AC/DC, you use a Marshall, not a BOSS pedal through your solid state fender. Not only is it fun to use, it's an educaiton tool. The kid's won't even realize they're learning!

[theundeadelvis]

Fender Blues Junior, Black Heart, then get him into mods. I've been building high end (relatively) tube amps for a few years now, but a few weeks ago I had a solid state crate in to repair for a friend and I had so much fun playing cheesy metal riffs! I want one for when I need to blow off some steam now. Very few of us understood good tube tone when we started (unless that's all there was when you started) and we had fun playing. I think it's something that comes with time.

[selloutrr]

TRY A SOUNDCITY 50PLUS or 120 they both far exceed the 12watt limit but really 12 watts is enough to piss off a mom i was able to due that with 5watts. The soundcity is a sleeper it was made by dallas arbitor and later helped pave the way to hiwatt. both units can produce shimmering cleans or earth shaving volume with lush distorttions when held back it's very easy to mod them with a master volume and they take effect pedals with very little congestion. not to mention they sell all day for $450-$550 they are all tube and feature the amazing partridge transformers for hiwatt and orange. another great plus is that they will both grow with him as he grows and with a pedal on the front can play any style and if he gives up or out grows the amp for trendy reasons he can get his FULL investment back!

[Wayne]

Something old and Traynor with EL84s might fit the bill. It'll probably be something-"mate" (Guitar Mate, Bass Mate, Reverb Mate, etc.)

They don't command the high prices like a lot of "name brand" vintage amps do, and I never met one I didn't like!

W

[Luthierwnc]

Thanks guys.

There are lots of options to choose from. I forgot about a derailment I made a while back. If he ever plays the thing, he'll be working on cowboy chords. All it has to do is make noise and not die. Only one of the four kids has stuck with it so they can show up in 20 years on Ebay as true closet classics.

sh