What's your favorite practice amp?

[digitalbiker]

What's your favorite practice amp and why?

Right now I am using a little HoneyTone amp with a new Les Paul 2009 50th anniversary reissue.

It may be small and battery powered but it sounds much better than the crappy MG50FX I bought and that I am now going to sell.

I'm thinking about going with the new Marshall Haze 40 but I'm not sure as I like to practice at low to moderate volumes and I am wondering if this amp will be be too loud when driven at operating volumes. It doesn't have a master volume, so I suppose to get distortion the volume will be loud.

 

[Purgasound]

My favorite practice amp is my dual JCM800 full stack, a 2204 running the top cab and a 2203 running the bottom... I know that's a little extreme but that's how I practice. When I play at home I'm typically unplugged.

 

[MartyStrat54]

Ah ha! This thread again. Well as usual my answer would be one of my DSL401's. They are great practice amps and I like the way those NOS tubes sound in them. You can't beat a 401 with great tubes in it. I love the way an EL84 breaks up. So much creamier than an EL34 (but I like those too).

What more can I say? Two channel, smaller version of a DSL100. Chiming clean channel and a frickin' hot lead channel. I can get it sounding good at about 5 watts. That's practice territory isn't it? Well, not for Viking. He uses grass clippers to trim his fingernails. The guy is a Gothic Warlord beamed down to this planet to create havoc. "Listen to my 800's." "Listen to my cabs." "I will unleash a screaming lead that will turn your gray matter into slush!"

BTW-I've been thinking about buying a VOX Night Train 15/7.5 watt. Nice little unit. My buddy Joe has one. He loves it.

 

[dmnall]

Well I have a practice amp that I am going to sell soon because I wind up playing through my sl-x anyways.. Which is coming down to I am trying to decide between a Vox Night Train or a Marshall Haze 15 watt head, so I can practice through instead of using the sl-x! I guess I am anti-solid state since my sl-x has a better tone because it is all tube!

Cheers,

 

[Hayride13]

I know that's a little extreme but that's how I practice. When I play at home I'm typically unplugged.

Word! Practice with the guys is the whole rig at full volume and nothing less. Practice at home is woodshedding with an acoustic and a cocktail in my Lazy-Boy.

 

[carnada]

I commonly play with my classical guitar. I only use big amps and guitars for band practice.

 

[ptate]

WAS: Similar to American Viking: JCM800 2204 head running into a Celestion G12T loaded cab. Resigned to gigging gear now.

NOW: Haze 15 head into two hand made 1x12 Celestion G12 cabs (one loaded with a G12T, the other a 75th Anniversary). Fuck, that little amp is loud...... Bought it to mimic my 2204, which it does perfectly.

I use either my Gibson Les Paul Custom Shop Custom, one of my 1970 Gibson Les Paul Deluxes (2), Eastwood Hi-Flyer Ramone model, Keiper Les Paul Custom (see a pattern?) into them.........

 

[Dave666]

Seems like that little Haze amp is worth a try....

 

[Jesstaa]

You know what Viking, I like your style =P

I use my 100watt JCM 900 head, the only amp I own, so you know, not much choice, but I can have it sounding good at semi low volumes (Just a bit louder than talking volume, but my ears are blocked, so it sounds fairly quiet to me)

 

[Webslinger]

What's your favorite practice amp and why?

It may be small but it sounds much better than the crappy MG50FX I bought

You have to be very specific on this forum.
"Practice amp" is a term thats open to very different interprtation here...LOL I'll assume what you meant was, whats our favorite small-frame, low-wattage amp that can be used late at night without breaking the lease or waking the neighbors.

I like my MG15CD. Yeah It's just a 15w 1x6" solid. But it does what it was designed for and serves me well. The clean channel is nice, the distortion is a bit buzzy but FDD tube emulator feature puts just enough warmth on it to be tolerable. The reverb could be a bit deeper. It has a input for an outside source, and a headphone jack so no one else has to hear it at night.

It is LOUD though, for a 15w solid!
It held it's own at a few backyard parties & open jams with 50w 1x12 combos.
I installed a speaker-out jack and now it screams through my #1922 2x12.
I even tried it though a #1960 4x12 at the rehearsal studio and it although it didnt have enough low-end crunch to really utilize that cab, it still ran it and didnt sound bad.
So I use it for late-night, small gigs, backup amp, rehearsal room....Id say yeah, it's my favorite practice amp.

 

[ptate]

Aye, it certainly is Dave666.......It's a wee beasty.

I have an MG15CD as well Webslinger (nice little SS amp) and it was used until I realised my JCM sounded better at home (even with a couple of cushions in front of the speakers haha....). That's what rehearsals do for you though......D'oh....!

Since the Haze came along, the MG's resigned to the kids bedroom until they're old enough to hold a guitar (one's 3 and the other's 15 months; probably a year or so yet...!)

 

[Ken]

My favorite practice amp is my dual JCM800 full stack, a 2204 running the top cab and a 2203 running the bottom... I know that's a little extreme but that's how I practice. When I play at home I'm typically unplugged.

LOL I also practice through my stage rig: DSL 50 through a 1982 (G12H 80's) cabinet. If I'm screwing around playing Zeppelin I'll use the Music Man 65, but doing band songs requires the stage set-up if not quite stage volume.

Ken

 

[Webslinger]

LOL I also practice through my stage rig: If I'm screwing around playing Zeppelin I'll use the Music Man 65, but doing band songs requires the stage set-up if not quite stage volume.

I'd say there is a difference between individual home practice (trying to work-out a lick or a solo), and group rehearsal at the studio, garage or rec-room.
In group rehearsal, you need your own equipment (or very similar rig) at close to stage volume. But when you are trying to learn the basics of a new song at home, you dont really need your stage rig..thats when these little solids come in handy.

 

[Ken]

I'd say there is a difference between individual home practice (trying to work-out a lick or a solo), and group rehearsal at the studio, garage or rec-room.
In group rehearsal, you need your own equipment (or very similar rig) at close to stage volume. But when you are trying to learn the basics of a new song at home, you dont really need your stage rig..thats when these little solids come in handy.

This is true...but part of learning a song is the tone and distortion settings, not to mention any pedal effects I might use. If I don't use my DSL I'll have to do all that twice. I'd just assume learn the progressions and the settings that sound best at the same time. Especially since we do hardly any covers....I have to compose the sounds as opposed to copying a record.

Ken

 

[MonstersOfTheMidway]

wat up.
I for working on chops and parts to songs, I use a little line 6 15 watt amp with headphones if it's late or without if it's daytime and I feel like being heard. I also like using the digitech rp250 with headphones or through the L6 amp, depending on the same criteria.

I also like to practice with the big rig: jvm410h. It's good to get your rig out and practice with it so that you can work on your timing for switching channels, FX loop, reverb, and etc. You also need to learn how to control your rig to make it do what you want it to do (feedback, natural decay, sustain, etc.

 

[HOT TUBES 70]

does a 100watt head and a 4x12 cab count as a practice amp .......

 

[Birk]

I use a 5 watt all tube amp from Ampmaker. It came as a kit and I assambled it my self.
Or I'll practice on a '65 Univox 6 watts, or 1974x. It all depends on which sound I want.