Best electric guitar amps under $500 USD?

Doug · Post by **Doug** » Mon Nov 02, 2015 11:28 pm

My brother wants an amp for his Les Paul. He plays 1960s Blues-Folk-Rock like Crosby, Stills & Nash; Neal Young; Jesse Colin Young. He plays mainly at home and sometimes jams with friends. No gigs.

What do you recommend for under $500 USD?

Freethenoise · Post by **Freethenoise** » Mon Nov 02, 2015 11:37 pm

Doug wrote:My brother wants an amp for his Les Paul. He plays 1960s Blues-Folk-Rock like Crosby, Stills & Nash; Neal Young; Jesse Colin Young. He plays mainly at home and sometimes jams with friends. No gigs.

What do you recommend for under $500 USD?

I always give the same recommendation for amps around that price.
Hit up a Roland Cube. It'll keep him covered for pretty much any tone he'd want for now. They're wicked portable if he wants to take it to friends houses for jams and stuff too.

Josh · Post by **Josh** » Mon Nov 02, 2015 11:59 pm

Around that price range for an amp I wouldn't gig with id probably try out a small fender tube amp like a blues jr. I know you can snag silverface champs at that price range too.

71Smallbox · Post by **71Smallbox** » Tue Nov 03, 2015 8:09 pm

http://atlanta.craigslist.org/nat/msg/5285762938.html
http://atlanta.craigslist.org/nat/msg/5266734366.html
http://atlanta.craigslist.org/atl/msg/5261115803.html
http://atlanta.craigslist.org/sat/msd/5286684435.html
http://atlanta.craigslist.org/nat/msg/5224911047.html
Lots of good options where you live. Check craigslist, you can filter by price and brand.
cheers.

Nick · Post by **Nick** » Tue Nov 03, 2015 11:58 pm

You can get either a new Vox AC10 or Nightrain combo, or a used AC15 which might be overkill.

Fender Super Champ or blues jr are in that budget too.

I think I'd say Night train comboin this situation. Loud enough for small gigs and practice, small, lightweight, lots of tonal variety and all tube. I think they're $400 at GC.

Fakir Mustache · Post by **Fakir Mustache** » Wed Nov 04, 2015 7:57 am

I've heard good things about VHT amps, they're point-to-point, hand wired in China and good prices.

robroe · Post by **robroe** » Wed Nov 04, 2015 1:21 pm

Favorite amp I have ever owned

[youtube][/youtube]

Two 6V6 power tubes, 13 watts; two 12AX7 preamp tubes
15" Special Design speaker
Guitar, Mic, and Accordion inputs (each with individually optimized circuitry)
Volume, Tremolo knobs; Bright/Dark switch
1/4" internal speaker disconnect for driving an external speaker

here it is A/B with an Eric Clapton Tremelux amp that costs $2,000.00. The Excelsior is $300 new. with the $200 left over you can buy yourself a very very nice 2 channel overdrive and have the perfect amp
[youtube][/youtube]

Nick · Post by **Nick** » Wed Nov 04, 2015 3:04 pm

On that note Rob when I saw this thread I couldn't help but think of my Fender Vapirizer that I picked up some months ago for $220 new. Great amp (aside from the unfortunate design flaw with a buzzy reverb) for the money, I often find myself preferring it to my deluxe reverb when I don't need loud cleans. I've thought about buying a Ramparte as well while they're available.

robroe · Post by **robroe** » Wed Nov 04, 2015 3:53 pm

Nick wrote:On that note Rob when I saw this thread I couldn't help but think of my Fender Vapirizer that I picked up some months ago for $220 new. Great amp (aside from the unfortunate design flaw with a buzzy reverb) for the money, I often find myself preferring it to my deluxe reverb when I don't need loud cleans. I've thought about buying a Ramparte as well while they're available.

after a quick search on fenders site it looks like they quit making all these amps? including excelsior and vapirizer.

isn't the Ramparte super fucking expensive though? or is that a different one?

robroe · Post by **robroe** » Wed Nov 04, 2015 3:56 pm

nevermind im thinking of the Machete
it looks like a pawnshop thing

Josh · Post by **Josh** » Wed Nov 04, 2015 4:40 pm

The machete and the ramparte are fucking ugly. The vaporizer and excelsior look sweet though.
Love the sound of those amps, not too big, sounds great, cheap as hell for a tube amp too that doesn't say peavey or crate.

sunshiner · Post by **sunshiner** » Wed Nov 04, 2015 4:47 pm

For home use VOX AC4 can be just wonderful

Nick · Post by **Nick** » Wed Nov 04, 2015 5:30 pm

robroe wrote:

isn't the Ramparte super fucking expensive though? or is that a different one?

Nah, I find Rampartes all day for between $200-$300. And yes all these amps I believe are discontinued. Not sure about machette. Think all the pawn shop run are meant for a 1-2 year production.

Post by **dots** » Wed Nov 04, 2015 6:59 pm

does he want/need/care about tube?

jagsonic · Post by **jagsonic** » Thu Nov 05, 2015 8:15 am

I love my excelsior. Great amp for at home, jams and little gigs. But if it doesn't need to be a tubeamp, what about a fender mustangs or the blackstar id core series? Also great cheap amps with a lot of good sounds.

Nick · Post by **Nick** » Thu Nov 05, 2015 12:07 pm

Guitar Center are selling Orange tiny terror combos for $500 if theres any left. Similarly if Solid State is more his thing you can get a loud Orange Crush amp for that price as well.

markleton · Post by **markleton** » Fri Nov 06, 2015 8:47 pm

Nick wrote:You can get either a new Vox AC10 or Nightrain combo, or a used AC15 which might be overkill.

The Ac10 is loud as balls. I have one and it's good for small gigs and rehersals but for home use the volume barely hits 1 with the gain right down and it's louder than a loud tv.

Doug · Post by **Doug** » Sat Nov 07, 2015 10:03 pm

71Smallbox wrote:http://atlanta.craigslist.org/nat/msg/5285762938.html
http://atlanta.craigslist.org/nat/msg/5266734366.html
http://atlanta.craigslist.org/atl/msg/5261115803.html
http://atlanta.craigslist.org/sat/msd/5286684435.html
http://atlanta.craigslist.org/nat/msg/5224911047.html
Lots of good options where you live. Check craigslist, you can filter by price and brand.
cheers.

Thanks for the research, 71. I may run over to Kennesaw and test that Excelsior for my bro.

Doug · Post by **Doug** » Sat Nov 07, 2015 10:05 pm

robroe wrote:Favorite amp I have ever owned

[youtube][/youtube]

Two 6V6 power tubes, 13 watts; two 12AX7 preamp tubes
15" Special Design speaker
Guitar, Mic, and Accordion inputs (each with individually optimized circuitry)
Volume, Tremolo knobs; Bright/Dark switch
1/4" internal speaker disconnect for driving an external speaker
here it is A/B with an Eric Clapton Tremelux amp that costs $2,000.00. The Excelsior is $300 new. with the $200 left over you can buy yourself a very very nice 2 channel overdrive and have the perfect amp
[youtube][/youtube]

Thanks for this. I forwarded the links to my bro. Looks closest to what he's lookin for so far.

robroe · Post by **robroe** » Sat Nov 07, 2015 10:43 pm

Shortscale win

Best electric guitar amps under $500 USD?

Best electric guitar amps under $500 USD?

Re: Best electric guitar amps under $500 USD?