HELP choosing an AMP!

[J M Fahey]

Cool !!!
Love those situations where brain saves what's lacking in "muscle".  :dbtu:
Plus I bet joecool will love stories about 20W amps kicking ass. 

[mexicanyella]

Yeah, if I was a better bass player maybe I'd have a story about how I pulled off a bass-playing gig using my Dean Markley K-20 miked and DI'ed...or something. But I've got some practicing and learning to do before that happens!

Roly, can you describe the music you're playing in that ensemble and the sort of tones you're going for from the Mustang I?

For one thing, I have a friend who isn't gigging at the moment and has a couple of small children in a small house, and his Peavey Classic 30 is clearly not the best amp for that situation. The volume it sounds best at is waaaay to loud. He's been thinking about something like a Super Champ XD, and more recently, a Mustang amp. He likes Fender-style bright, ringing cleans and wants to be able to get tones he likes at very low volumes in the house and also be loud enough to jam with friends once in awhile.

For another, I'm just interested in what kind of sounds you go for for my own comparison. At the time of my story, I was getting sort of a medium-gain snarly distortion...I thought of it as Marshall JCM800 with the gain up about 1/3 or 1/2 of the way. It would pretty much clean up if I played softly and it would go nuts if I stepped on the boost pedal. Almost all of that gain manipulation happened in the three pedals I mentioned and the amps were just there to be as loud and clean as they could go, so I wasn't really asking that much of the amps from a tonal perspective.

In my next band I switched to actually using the Peavey as my "tone generator" instead of the Rat II and BBE DI/speaker simulator combination. I would shoot for a pretty clean sound there too, with just a little dirt, and step on the boost for solos and make the amp circuit itself go nuts. Sometimes I'd kick on a tremolo pedal, but not too often, and since I wasn't trying to reproduce a bunch of effects or a really distorted sound, I felt like the small wattage amps were ideal for me...I could push them hard and the volume was just about right for the basement or small gigs. So I'm interested in what kind of tones you get from that Mustang at a volume of 3 or 4...are you using pretty effected-out patches, or bare tones, lots of distortion or mostly clean, or what?

[daozen]

Hey! I never updated on the matter. Well, I went to the store a few weeks ago, they had brought in a new 65r (which has been discontinued by fender for quite some time now) from another city, the last one left! As I was walking into the guitars and amps rooms, I heard a beautiful sound coming out of a grey grilled amp, on closer inspection a frontman 212! I talked to the guy playing a bit as I enjoyed the sounds and went to test the 65r. It sounded ok, but I wasnt really getting inspred by it at all, I played for about an hour and started noticing some buzzing and cracking and the amp was eventually diagnosed as malfunctioning, no wonder it was the only one left. Anyway, I had tought I had to "settle for the 212" and pay the "unecesary" extra cash! but all that dissapeared as I started playing through it! It was not only better than the 65r but just waaaaay, way better. I was really loving the sound. The second speaker in it gives it, sooooo much more, body and presence, I got really inspired and played for about another hour until they shut me up, lol.

So I'm going for it, they will save one for me until my guitar arrives who knoiws when (I ordered it half a year ago) so that I can test and finally get my gear!

I was playing with my johnson yesterday and thought about the linking trick. I wonder how the frontman would sound plugin the johnson in...

I'll update when the stuff is home, laterz!

Oh! quick question! Do you think I could change the plastics on my guitar? the pickup covers, etc. They are chargin a 100 bucks just for that!!! bastards! I know nothing about opening a guitar up though, thanks!

[joecool85]

Hey! I never updated on the matter. Well, I went to the store a few weeks ago, they had brought in a new 65r (which has been discontinued by fender for quite some time now) from another city, the last one left! As I was walking into the guitars and amps rooms, I heard a beautiful sound coming out of a grey grilled amp, on closer inspection a frontman 212! I talked to the guy playing a bit as I enjoyed the sounds and went to test the 65r. It sounded ok, but I wasnt really getting inspred by it at all, I played for about an hour and started noticing some buzzing and cracking and the amp was eventually diagnosed as malfunctioning, no wonder it was the only one left. Anyway, I had tought I had to "settle for the 212" and pay the "unecesary" extra cash! but all that dissapeared as I started playing through it! It was not only better than the 65r but just waaaaay, way better. I was really loving the sound. The second speaker in it gives it, sooooo much more, body and presence, I got really inspired and played for about another hour until they shut me up, lol.

So I'm going for it, they will save one for me until my guitar arrives who knoiws when (I ordered it half a year ago) so that I can test and finally get my gear!

I was playing with my johnson yesterday and thought about the linking trick. I wonder how the frontman would sound plugin the johnson in...

I'll update when the stuff is home, laterz!

Oh! quick question! Do you think I could change the plastics on my guitar? the pickup covers, etc. They are chargin a 100 bucks just for that!!! bastards! I know nothing about opening a guitar up though, thanks!

Thanks for the update.  I haven't played either the 65r or the 212, but it makes me feel better hearing how much better the 212 is since I was bummed when they discontinued the 65r.

As for the plastics, what type of guitar is it?  Plastics generally are pretty easy, I've done it on a Strat knockoff for instance.  Was it $100 for the plastics installed or $100 for labor plus the cost of the plastics?

[daozen]

Hey! I never updated on the matter. Well, I went to the store a few weeks ago, they had brought in a new 65r (which has been discontinued by fender for quite some time now) from another city, the last one left! As I was walking into the guitars and amps rooms, I heard a beautiful sound coming out of a grey grilled amp, on closer inspection a frontman 212! I talked to the guy playing a bit as I enjoyed the sounds and went to test the 65r. It sounded ok, but I wasnt really getting inspred by it at all, I played for about an hour and started noticing some buzzing and cracking and the amp was eventually diagnosed as malfunctioning, no wonder it was the only one left. Anyway, I had tought I had to "settle for the 212" and pay the "unecesary" extra cash! but all that dissapeared as I started playing through it! It was not only better than the 65r but just waaaaay, way better. I was really loving the sound. The second speaker in it gives it, sooooo much more, body and presence, I got really inspired and played for about another hour until they shut me up, lol.

So I'm going for it, they will save one for me until my guitar arrives who knoiws when (I ordered it half a year ago) so that I can test and finally get my gear!

I was playing with my johnson yesterday and thought about the linking trick. I wonder how the frontman would sound plugin the johnson in...

I'll update when the stuff is home, laterz!

Oh! quick question! Do you think I could change the plastics on my guitar? the pickup covers, etc. They are chargin a 100 bucks just for that!!! bastards! I know nothing about opening a guitar up though, thanks!

Thanks for the update.  I haven't played either the 65r or the 212, but it makes me feel better hearing how much better the 212 is since I was bummed when they discontinued the 65r.

As for the plastics, what type of guitar is it?  Plastics generally are pretty easy, I've done it on a Strat knockoff for instance.  Was it $100 for the plastics installed or $100 for labor plus the cost of the plastics?

Yeah there's absolutely no doubt in my mind the 212r is worth the extra, what was it? $100? absolutely! The 65r felt kind of... mmm... foggy. The 212 sounds clear. I had read that it's too big for practice at home but I'd say one could play it in the same room as someone sleeping without waking them up.

Anyway, yeah strat sorry, forgot to mention. Yeah 100 for the labor only, it's their minimum for any job. So no need for soldering stuff right?

thanks!

[joecool85]

Anyway, yeah strat sorry, forgot to mention. Yeah 100 for the labor only, it's their minimum for any job. So no need for soldering stuff right?

thanks!

Nope, no soldering that I recall.  It's pretty straight forward.  I'd buy the plastics and give it a go yourself.  Post pics and ask questions if you have trouble, but I highly doubt you will.

[daozen]

Thanks a lot man! I will!