If you had access to $4k for guitar stuff, what would you buy?

[Mustela]

If you had access to $4k for guitar stuff, what would you buy?

Backstory -

So far, all of my personal guitar gear purchases have been for fairly modest money. My most expensive guitar is a Taylor GS Mini 50th Anniversary edition that I really love (that small body size is so comfortable). I currently have an Epiphone LP Modern for my electric, which I enjoy. Technically, its new price is pretty close to the MSRP of my Taylor, though I bought it used.

I have a Fender Champion 40 amp that I use with it and it’s not bad, but I find myself wanting a better amp, probably a tube amp.

Budget is a modest concern, but not a serious one. If I want something really expensive, I just have to take the time to save for it. More expensive means saving for longer.

I lust after an amp from a local guy who builds them by hand one at a time. He claims that he wants his amps to be on par with (though not a replica of) 80’s Dumbles and such. He certainly has set a high bar for himself.

Blue Ridge Audio

He posted a sound sample from one the other day and it made me want one even more.

Looking Glass serial # 1 with modern preamp/ headroom power amp topography...

I priced one out and it’d be just shy of $4k for a combo amp with one or two personalization options. That’s getting into notable money range.

My wife made the comment of why I wanted to spend that on an amp and not a guitar. No doubt I could spend that on a guitar. While $4k is pretty big money for an amp, it really isn’t for a guitar. It can get you a whole lot of different Gibsons, Fenders, PRS, etc. Usually their nicer ones but certainly not their custom shop stuff. Acoustics, too. Definitely nicer ones, but not the fanciest. It wouldn’t get me a handmade guitar from the local luthier. It would get me one of the less expensive models from one of the two local electric guitar luthiers.

That said, there are a lot of tube amps I could buy for a lot less than this one. So yeah, I’m definitely into the diminishing returns range. With that said, I’ve always heard it said that with electric guitars, you should always spend more on your amp. This amp should be a lifetime amp. Sounds like it can be adjusted to handle just about anything from bedroom playing to the stage.

Blues (and rock with a heavy blues influence) has always been what has drawn me to guitar, so that’s what I’ll be playing most. Those of you who play similar styles of music and are familiar with a wider variety of tube amps, what are your thoughts? Are you happy with some other model of tube amp? I went to see a local bluesy band on Friday night and as an example, 3 of the 4 amps on stage were Fender Blues/Hot Rod (prob the Deluxe?) amps. The guy on electric guitar had one, the guy on harmonica was going through one. Even the guy on fiddle was amped up through one (that was real interesting - the guy on fiddle was essentially playing the lead guitar parts). Only guy not going through that model of amp was the guy on upright bass. Quick search shows me that I could get either one new for about $1k or maybe a bit less. Def less used.

I’m pretty far off from even those guys I saw Friday. So spending all that extra would be simply for supporting a local building amps by hand and knowing I got a handmade amp versus getting something more widely available.

So after my rambling thoughts and the gear I currently have, what would y’all do assuming you had access to the sort of money involved? Go all-in and buy the handmade amp? Buy a production tube amp for ~$1k and have $3k left over for other things (may include pedals, another guitar, other instruments, etc)? buy a nicer production guitar? continue saving to get a special guitar?

[HappyCat]

@Mustela

With that said, I’ve always heard it said that with electric guitars, you should always spend more on your amp. This amp should be a lifetime amp.

I agree with that.

I kinda went on your quest, but I didn’t have 4k to spend.

I think your on the right track with wanting a tube amp. But that’s me.

I got three amps. I progressed through these three over time. Each time I thought this is better for sure.

I started with a silver stripe peavy bandit (transtube). I liked it a lot and it was my first real amp. I got this amp new in 1999.

Then I decided I wanted the red stripe bandit. The red stripe one aint’ been available for years so I had to get a used one ($200). I like that amp better than the silver stripe, but not by much. The red stripe is a bit warmer sounding.

Then I decided I needed a tube amp. Searched the www and decided I liked the blues jr. by fender and the blues king 12 by supro. The blues king had only been on the market for a year or so when I got it. Found one used for $400. I liked it better than the peaveys and the blues jr. This is when I discovered that I probably like clean, edge of breakup better than high gain tones. The supro seems to accel at both clean and high gain. However the high gain is a shade to much gain for most of my playing. So I’m still on the search. fwiw, the supro is a class 1 amp w/only 2 tubes. 1 pre amp, 1 power amp. Typical tube amp tubes. Preamp tube 12ax7 and power amp is 6L6.

Then I decided that I still wasn’t there yet. Back one the hunt.
Last amp I got was most expensive @ $1.2K.
I was searching 2500-3000 amps. Tone King mkII, boogie california tweed mostly. I played the tk mkII and wasn’t quite impressed. I never got to play the california tweed so coundn’t compare it.
So I moved over to thinking fender reissues. Either the 65 deluxe reverb or the 65 princeton.
I tried both. The drri was pretty loud at 2-3 on the volume dial. It also has the optical tremolo. Tried out the princeton and was pretty taken back by that. 3-4 on the volume was about right. Bias tremolo which I found smoother than the optical of the drri.

So the Fender Princeton Reverb reissue is my last amp and I’ve not had gas since. Perhaps if I had your 4k in funds I might have went the 64 hand wired prri. The music store had one, but I didn’t play it as it was out of my price range. I would have guessed I’d have liked it, but maybe not at over twice the price better. Also the prri is a class A/B amp and has 6V6 power tubes. I think there is a difference between 6L6 and 6V6. To me 6v6 being warmer. I think there’s a difference between class A single ended and the class A/B of the fender too. The class A being more lo-fi. The tones of the supro are unique I believe too. To me, it sounds like a supro, if ya dig that kinda tones.

Be aware that if ya should go the route I went, The drri and prri are not master volume amps. They got one volume control on them. Ya gotta get it too loud to get breakup. The 65 prri I got starts to break up at about 4 playing the guitar hard (4 is too loud for my wife and I wouldn’t consider it to be bedroom vol at that point. More like starting to bother the neighbors volume). Back off on hard playing and it cleans up at that volume. There is a large volume jump between 4 and 5 on this amp. By 5 on the volume control and it’s in breakup but is quite loud at that point. 6 seems like great breakup and distortion. It’s just very loud and I don’t play it there often.
If I really want distortion from my 65 prri, I turn on a overdrive pedal.

So that’s my take and where my journey took me.
I’m really pretty much satisfied though at times I think I maybe should have gotten the drri. Why I think that way, I don’t know considering I’m a home player and really don’t need loud. drri is loud.

Above that price I don’t know if ya get return on your money or not.

The amps that still could interest me would be the drri, california tweed and perhaps them new falcon’s by gibson.
All more expensive than the prri though.

fwiw, so far, the blues king 12 is now going on 4 years w/o service. The 65 prri is now 2 years old and w/o service. I assume they will need something in the future, but for now, I’m still good to go and jammin out daily.
I also play all 3 amps throughout the week depending on what I want to hear ‘today’. They are all different sounding and I like all three.

A happy 65 prri owner.
fwiw, my guitars are lower to mid priced and I only got two to choose from.

If I had to choose which amp to keep and only have one amp. It’d be pretty close between the prri and the blues king but I’d likely do the prri. It just has great tone to it. Especially considering it’s my only 10’’ speaker combo amp. I was a bit worried about that when I got it (both my supro and peaveys are 12’’ speaker amps). In the end. It’s of no concern for how and what I play.

Good luck in your hunt. imho, your on the right track. There is something about playing a tube amp that even my transtube peaveys just don’t do.

Get yourself a tube amp!

[mathsjunky]

A couple of thoughts …

Have you played a lot of tube amps? If not, then I’d suggest you get out and play as many as you can. 4k is a lot to spend on your first serious amp, and there’s an awful lot of very good and boutique options at that price, if you’re willing to go second hand (and I would!) then there’s very little out of budget.

You might think this is a lifetime amp, but like all gear theres a good chance that at some point you’ll be lusting after something else. One issue with very small boutique builders is that it may not be easy to resell and you might lose quite a bit, this is why I buy second hand whenever I can.

[mattswain]

In my case specifically, today, I wouldn’t buy the expensive amp mostly because my playing doesn’t warrant it, and in fact doesn’t warrant a nice tube amp either. I’d say the same about guitars and amps, I don’t think I’ve played enough to have any idea of what my BIG purchase amp or guitar would be.

And to be clear, I’m not saying no one should buy expensive guitars / amps or anything like that, just that if I was given a nice sum to spend specifically on guitars / amps, I’d have no idea what to do with it. I hope I could resist the urge to spend until I could answer that question (although history suggests I’d cave in)!

[dlemire60]

I’ve never owned a tube amp so I don’t have any direct advice. I do think @mathsjunky’s thinking that you should play some amps before making a decision is sensible. A research resource that might be helpful is a series of YT videos by Rhett Shull exploring “What is the XYZ sound?” It includes amps, guitars, pickups, etc., and the episodes on amps might give you some perspective on the range of possibilities out there.

[Libitina]

I’ve read some of these replies, to be perfectly honest.

Get a guitar. With the miriad of videos you watch of anyone, most people will change Amps n pedals. Less so their guitars. Take Justin as an example, I’ve only see him USE a few and always uses a kemper profiler for tones.

If there was a poll asking people how many guitar people have most will say a few, maybe even more. They will certainly have more guitars than Amps. Would I spend 4k on an Amp.? Absolutely not.

I would and have spent more than that on guitar.

I don’t regret it for a second, Ive not played on my Faith nor my Gibson Les Paul since.
But small with amps, go big with guitars.

R

[TheMadman_tobyjenner]

Can you make your post titles a little more specific please. An interesting topic but the title smacks of click bait. Not quite JGC culture IMHO,

[Fast-Eddie]

With $4k, I’d buy a nice Friedman amp, a Tri-Cone resonator, an affordable Bass guitar, and a decent compressor pedal.

I’d save any leftover for strings, etc.

And, I agree, this post is definitely “click-baity” and should be moved to the “Just Chatting” section.

[BurnsRhythm]

Yeah, the title is a bit misleading, so I’ll just answer the question.
What would I do?
Well none of the above.

I’ve got a good guitar - Fender Ultra II Strat.
I’ve got a good amp - Katana Artist Gen3.

What I’m short of is playing ability, so I’d be more inclined to spend money on lessons with a good local teacher.

[roger_holland]

Hi Nate

I can spend it if I want, but I am now happy with what I have (voxAC15C1) and try to improve my guitar playing every day what help me for now to sound better , and maybe …just maybe I should buy that Profiler from Justin when I get back in time (+/- 1500 euro`s then when I was looking for an amp), but I really couldn’t justify that after a year+ of playing and still well uh …maybe …and now I have something to improve in terms of sound at a later time when I grow up (first my trio + just sort out the one I’ve had for a few years )…

so the local catering industry sees me again every week with a big one. smile cheerfully

Have fun looking for stuff

Ps:any midrange guitar at our level would do the trick enough

Greetings

[Mustela]

don’t like my post title? fine. changed it for you.

no, I haven’t gone playing different amps yet. I’m not at that point in shopping. I don’t even know for sure that I’ll be spending the money anytime soon.

if I am serious enough about the handmade amp, since the guy’s local, I’m sure I could reach out to try one.

I forgot to mention in my original post that one thing that has me nudging in the amp direction is the fact that my current amp is louder than it needs to be. I play it at about vol level 2. Below that is a HUGE dropoff in volume to the extent that at 1.5, I might as well not even plug in. Or use my NUX battery powered practice amp.

So one thing I’m looking for in particular is better volume control at the lower end without losing quality. I like that “edge of breakup” sound and would like to get it at home. sounds like something with master volume control is where I ought to be looking.

[stitch]

@Mustela

So one thing I’m looking for in particular is better volume control at the lower end without losing quality

Then don’t buy a tube amp. Tube amp need power to sound good so if you play mostly at low volume don’t waste your money.

[Majik]

I tend to agree with @stitch,. especially if you are looking at a large tube amp, which the Looking Glass appears to be.

Yes, it has master volume and can be turned down to “bedroom levels” but you will be missing something when you do this. It won’t sound at its best unless cranked.

You see a master volume isn’t the same as a reactive load. When you turn down a master volume you really are turning off the tube tone from the power section.

In that case, it probably won’t sound.much better than a cheap 5W Monoprice tube amp, or something like the Blackstar HT-5.

Or, frankly, a lot of solid-state or even modelling amps.

Not that those things sound bad, on the contrary, they sound great, but you can get those tones from a unit costing 1/2 the price and which is much more set up to be used that way.

Cheers

Keith

[mathsjunky]

@stitch

Then don’t buy a tube amp. Tube amp need power to sound good so if you play mostly at low volume don’t waste your money.

Got to agree with this. I only use my tube amps when I can get over 90 dB or so.

[sclay]

Whoa $4k for an amp. Different universe to me.

If money’s not really an issue, you’re a home player, and you can afford to experiment a little with gear, have you ever considered trying the amp sim/studio monitor route, if you’ve not experienced that before?
I went this way a couple of years ago, with S-Gear amp sim - absolutely wicked, analogue vibe to it. Never looked back. Depends on your goals/ situation/ preferences I suppose.
For me, with leftover $$, I’d invest in a quality ‘face-to-face’ teacher for a while to help really drive me forward.

Cheers, Shane

[Jozsef]

As others said, if volume is a concern, tube amps are not the ideal choice.

As a sidenote and not aimed at OP personally, what’s with these money-spendin’ threads lately? I mean, I’m happy some of you guys have the dough for gear costing thousands of bucks, but these discussions feel more like thinly-veiled attempts to seek others’ approval of the OPs spending a certain amount of money on something. Feels like watching Wall Street sometimes. Am I just too idealistic to think that it’s not the best way to approach art and entertainment? As Toby stated above, it’s not really the Justinguitar vibe most of us are used to.

[jkahn]

@Mustela

my current amp is louder than it needs to be

Like others have said, you need to crank tube amps for them to sound good.

What I would do if you want good tones at home-friendly levels is get a good modeller and a FRFR speaker cab. Then you can get cranked tube amp edge of break up tones at friendly volume levels, or even use headphones.

Fender Tone Master Pro + FR10 or 12 - mmmm!

[Mustela]

I dunno about other people, but I can budget for expensive things if I really want them. The more expensive, the more I have to plan though. If a high-quality tube amp will get me where I want, then I’d need to start budgeting asap if I want to put down a deposit anytime within the next decade.

I don’t particularly want to rely on a computer to play. I know there are amp sim pedals (that’s about all I know about them) and I know that you can go the amp sim software route. DEFINITELY not interested in the software route. At least an amp is self-contained (so long as I avoid the ones with a companion app).

and yes, I’ve spent a good bit of money on instruction. Taking a bit of a break at the moment to play songs (and really spend time refining little details while playing them) and consolidate as much material as I can before dumping more new stuff on my plate.

[jkahn]

@Jozsef

what’s with these money-spendin’ threads lately?

What, all two of them? Like many hobbies, guitar involves buying gear. Some people here have 20 guitars, some have 1.

There is nothing wrong with asking peoples opinions and experiences before parting with your cash.

I would suggest that your comment is the one not in line with forum etiquette, Jozsef.

[Fast-Eddie]

@Mustela

I like that “edge of breakup” sound and would like to get it at home. sounds like something with master volume control is where I ought to be looking.

I get this with an inexpensive Monoprice amp: https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=611815