Which would you recommend?

I'm going to be buying my first decent amp and I'd appreciate some input. After browsing lots of threads here and reading lots of reviews, I've kind of narrowed it down to the following choices. The amp would be used primarily for blues and classic rock. Edit: This will not be used for gigging, but rather home and with friends. What would you guys choose?

1. Peavey Classic 30

2. Peavey Delta Blues 1x15

3. Fender Blues Junior

4. Fender Blues Deluxe

5. Vox AC15CC

6. Ampeg J12T

7. Crate V18 (edit)

8. Another? (please specify)

As you can see by my choices, I'd like a decent amp but I don't want to face the wrath of my pregnant wife and be sleeping on the sofa for the next month Any advice/thoughts/suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!!

Jason

P.S. Sorry for the double-post. Just saw and deleted the other one.

Seems like a decent shortlist. I've had a US tweed Blues Deluxe since 1993 (the newer ones are Mexican), and I still love it. Beautiful shimmering clear tones, and at 40w it will just start to "sing" on the clean channel with the volume half way up at typical small gig volume. Perfect, classic, deep Fender spring reverb, if that's important to you - it is to me. I had the original valves changed last year, & it's back to top form again now.

The overdrive channel is good for bluesy stuff, but some people find it lacking in gain, specially for rock stuff. This might be less of a problem if your guitar has humbuckers. I often tend to leave the gain control set on 12 (max), & I use a TS9 Tubescreamer for the few occasions when I need more gain. There is no effects loop, which doesn't much bother me. As you might know, although it's a "new" design, it's based on Bassman circuitry, which is no bad thing.

I have a Blues Junior too, and although most owners seem to love them, I'm not blown away by it. The gain available is similar the the BD, but it's much less flexible, and to me has less character.

I'm considering getting a Peavey Classic 30 as a backup amp - I know someone who has one, and it sounds good, though he does go for a rockier, more Dr. Feelgood sort of sound than I do. In the UK, you can pick these up relatively cheaply on eBay.

I can't comment on the others. One other possibility, if you can get one, is one of the rare early 90s re-issues of the 63 Fender Vibroverb. No overdrive channel, 40w 2 x 10 covered in brown Tolex, and they sound gorgeous. Because of their rarity, they tend to sell for around ?750, whereas you see Classic 30s selling for betweed ?175 and ?300.

Good luck, & let us know what you get.

Mike

You get a lot for your money with a Laney valve amp.
My VC30 was the best quality 30w Class A I could find for the price - around ?300 new (online). Same config as an AC30, but ?200 less than a AC30cc + made in England, not China like Vox.
Laneys don't hold value well so one can be found even cheaper 2nd hand.
Only problem I've had is that it's just too bloody loud for my purposes.
I ended up buying a 5w modded valve amp to play in the house, and since I don't gig at the moment, my Laney just sits in the box
So, is a good amp but if I was to buy again - even to gig - 15w (class A) would be plenty for me.
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I've got a Classic 30 and it's a very good sounding amp, especially for the price. I've heard the Delta Blues is nice as well and it's similar to the Classic 30 with the exception of the larger speaker and built in tremelo. The best advice I can give you is try some of them out when you have the chance.

Blues Deluxe has a really cool clean sound, but the overdrive channel doesn't really impress unless you want just little hair around the edges. I had almost identical short list three years ago and my choice was Crate V3112. The new ones have Tonetubby speakers (mine has a Celestion) that are supposed to be something special. I also liked the Laneys, but they had some cheap parts like plastic jacks. They sound nice, but the Crate seemed more classy.

Interesting. Hadn't come accross the Crate myself, so very quick search and I found a review which is appropriate for this thread as it compares the Crate to the Peavey classic 30:

http://acapella.harmony-central.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1362858
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Thanks scunny, very useful review. This has turned out to be a very interesting thread.

I'd think for home use you'll need to be looking at 5 Watts max for tube amps and even then you might want to look at attenuators if you intend to max it out for that cool classic rock overdrive.
Or look forward to a lot of time alone on the sofa!

I have the Crate Vintage Club 30 which is the white tolex predecessor of the V3112. I swear by this thing. Gain down, Master up. Class A all the way! Speaker is a Celestion made for Crate which has a cast basket (!).
I don't know what the current ones are like but hopefully they haven't changed the formula too much.

Decent speakers are at the top of my list for features on a mid priced combo. Steer clear of Chinese speakers where you can. If you like an amp with one (or two) consider dropping in a Vintage 30 or similar. I'm no speaker expert, but I'm sure others will have plenty of advice on aftermarket speakers.

...or get a Rockman X-100, if you can find one! :lol:

You should consider a Marshal JTM 30 if you want a little more edgy rocksounds (used in 1x12 or 2x10). If you want to go one class higher I can recommend the Rivera Clubster 25 or 45, both give you very impressing cleand and rocksounds.

I sold my Peavey Classic 30 and acquired a Clubster 25 and never had any regrets.

Well thanks a lot for all the input guys! I still don't really know which I'll be getting but I'm leaning hard toward the Delta Blues 115. I also stumbled across the Laney VC15 and the Epiphone Blues Custom which has been getting GREAT reviews. Hopefully eBay will serve up one of these for a good price soon! Thanks again

Jason

Okay, I don't want to crap in your cornflakes...
I've bought a couple of things online after reading good reviews which although often nice bits of kit, are not quite what I am looking for and would not have bought them had I tried them in person first.
Ebay is great for some things but we can all be quite personal in how we want guitars & amps to feel & sound. Have been disappointed & out of pocket when buying on the strength of 'good reviews', and even recommendations (like the ones in this thread! :wink
For what my opinion is worth, reviews and recommendation are great for pointing us in the right direction, but when parting with ??? I have learned to try before I buy.
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Ha thanks Scunny, point taken. How true it is that what some like, other despise. However, I'm not a very advanced player and have been stuck playing through my Roland Micro Cube or my Guitarport for too long. As this will be my first 'real' it will be both a world better for me, and a learning experience. Most of the amps on my shortlist have very few negative reviews so I hope to be failry safe with one of them. If I'm not happy with it, I'll simply sell it, chalk it up as a learning experience, and get another. Thanks for the input!

Jason

So I ended up finding a great deal on a Laney VC15 on eBay. Arrived the other day- what a great sounding little amp, and freakin' loud!!! I was surprised at how much smaller it is than the Vox AC15 and other similar amps. As I said before, this is my first tube amp and I'm really happy with it for the price. Now to break the news to the wife that I bought it....

Jason

I was gonna say get a marshall mg 15dfx! Cool sounds even clean is good as quiet as you need but plenty loud for you. It's what I usually plug into. My Classic 30 is way too big.

Just picked up a Crate VC-5212 (the Vintage Club 50) for ?215 - which is what I was going to pay for a 15W Laney earlier this week, so I'm glad I held off! Bargain!

Hope my neighbours go deaf some time between now and next week...