What is you favorite practice amp.

[Crimsontider]

What is you favorite practice amp?

Mine is a Fender Squire Champ 25R. Nice and warm, 2 gains and reverb. $85 and it's loud enough to jam with. All it needs is a little delay and you have a great raw, woody, brown sounding rock or blues sound. Has a better sound at low volume than my stronger dual Ampeg's.

I would like to hear what you guys use for practicing. And what effects you use.

[TBP]

I either use a version of a 5F1 tweed Champ made by an independent builder or a Vox Pathfinder 15R. I typically use an OCD pedal in front of the 5F1 as the pairing can go from a little grit to full blown stack-like sound at conversation volume. I typically plug straight into Pathfinder, particularly late at night, but I'll occasionally also use a Korg Pandora to play with a rhythm track.

[Crimsontider]

I either use a version of a 5F1 tweed Champ made by an independent builder or a Vox Pathfinder 15R. I typically use an OCD pedal in front of the 5F1 as the pairing can go from a little grit to full blown stack-like sound at conversation volume. I typically plug straight into Pathfinder, particularly late at night, but I'll occasionally also use a Korg Pandora to play with a rhythm track.

Bet that tweed gives a nice spectrum, with a great bottom end. I am obsessive compulsive and prefer overdrive to metal pedals, might need to snag a OCD pedal. Always good to have at all volumes.

[diablo175]

Kustom HV/30. Built in effects, nice tube pre amp to give the solid state some serious balls, excellent gain settings and a jack for external audio input like a CD/MP3 player or a drum machine so you can jam along with.

[TBP]

I either use a version of a 5F1 tweed Champ made by an independent builder or a Vox Pathfinder 15R. I typically use an OCD pedal in front of the 5F1 as the pairing can go from a little grit to full blown stack-like sound at conversation volume. I typically plug straight into Pathfinder, particularly late at night, but I'll occasionally also use a Korg Pandora to play with a rhythm track.

Bet that tweed gives a nice spectrum, with a great bottom end. I am obsessive compulsive and prefer overdrive to metal pedals, might need to snag a OCD pedal. Always good to have at all volumes.

It does. It's one of the things I'd wish I'd sprung for earlier. I had to wait a couple months after ordering, but it was worth it. At some point I'd like to get the time and try building one, but until then there are some great builders around. I also highly recommend the OCD. I don't have a vast amount of pedal experience, but it's more responsive to touch and dynamics than other pedals I've tried.

[RobB]

I've got a rackmount PodPro with the 2-pedal controller tied to a Mackie Onyx 801i firewire mixer and JBL powered monitors. I've tweaked ALL of the presets to sounds that are more usable and less over-the-top. Sounds pretty good "for what it is."

Even though it's digital, the front end takes pedals well. Currently, my favorite sound is a Golden Cello pedal into the "plexi" patch.

Might be upgrading to an HD500X soon if I can get the "good guy" price. I've demoed the floorboard model and the models are MUCH improved compared to my obsolete PodPro.

[tomteriffic]

Fender SuperChamp XD. Tube power, some good models and digital FX, a lot to like in there. Goes to small gigs, too.

[Crimsontider]

Great gear. Far cry from my 1st amp, THE Peavey Bandit. A friend had a Fender Champ, same size, that blew it's socks off. One of the reason's I bought the Squire Champ, for old time sake. My Bandit sounded like distorted mud.

[bruce919]

Roland Micro Cube. It works great for late night hack playing & doesn't disturb the wife too much.

[polara]

Am I the only one here who only practices unplugged? At home I practice unplugged on on an acoustic guitar. Then for band rehearsals and gigs it's the Valvetech turned up good 'n' loud.

[MCChris]

Mesa Tremoverb into a 4x12. Seriously.

[Hamerhack]

Microcube in one room

Vox Valvetronix VT 30 in the living room

Tempted by the Yamaha THR 10

[diablo175]

Mesa Tremoverb into a 4x12. Seriously.

I believe it.

Technically, I have two practice amps- the Kustom and my Marshall JVM into a M412A. I practice on the Kustom up in my office (in front of the computer) using iTunes, YouTube and the like to fine-tune songs in our set list. But I actually spend more time down in the Pit of Despair going thru my Marshall set up for band rehearsals and to wank away on my own material.

[sixesandsevens]

Either nothing or a modeler (11R for the last year or two).

[Steve Haynie]

When it was more convenient, practice was always done through the big amp. For practice through a small amp, my little Fender Pro Jr. is just right. It can get loud, it breaks up nicely, and it is the most portable amp in my collection.

Am I the only one here who only practices unplugged? At home I practice unplugged on on an acoustic guitar. Then for band rehearsals and gigs it's the Valvetech turned up good 'n' loud.

Practicing unplugged has hurt my playing. Without hearing the interaction with the amp, notes come out sloppy or the palm muting is all wrong. For someone who plays all the time that might not be a problem, but it is for me.

[polara]

Funny, I sort of feel like it helps me to not plug in. I don't get caught up in "yeah, man ROCK" and can focus on scales and picking cleanly. I think we all grow into our routines

[Nathan of Brainfertilizer Fame]

I have a Roland Microcube and a Line6 Spider IV 75.

I've found I like the Microcube for checking out/learning what a guitar *really* sounds like. It's also simpler than the Spider: twist a knob and I have clean tones, another twist and I have British tone, another twist and I have 80s high-gain distortion.

Much harder to find the right sounds on the Spider, and I feel like it layers so much more modeling on top of the guitar sound that you lose some of the guitar's character. With a few guitars, or for some sounds I want to get, that's not a bad thing. But although the guitar's character gets more hidden than on the Microcube! it is still there....like one setting, Swamp Throat, sounds great with p-90 guitars, okay with single coils, but muddy with a humbucker.

Another complaint (?) I have about the Spider is that with all the different distortion settings, 80% sound almost the same. So as I learn to use the amp better and get the different sounds I want, I will enjoy the amp better.

My next move will be to choose a random song (from a pre-determined list of songs that have sounds I want to emulate) and play with the Spider until I find the sound.

After that, I will take my most favorite guitars and set the User banks for the four tones I like best for that guitar (the user banks have an a,b,c,d setting for each number...easier to cycle through the letters for each number than the numbers for each letter). As I get more proficient at tweaking the settings, those four choices may end up being base tones I can tweak.

But until then, the Microcube works very well, very satisfactory. But like hamerhack, the thr10 is tempting, too.

[Hamerhack]

Funny, I sort of feel like it helps me to not plug in. I don't get caught up in "yeah, man ROCK" and can focus on scales and picking cleanly. I think we all grow into our routines

Sometimes I practice without plugging in too. Definitely helps!

[hamerhead]

The Microcube is great for practicing wherever whenever. I drag it all over the house. Or outside. Or the shed. I've even recorded with it (not it's strong suit).

Otherwise it's a SuperChamp X2. You guys probably haven't heard how I feel about those.

But mostly it's unplugged in front of the TV with whatever guitar is handy. Lately it's a Jay Turser electric dobro POS tuned in open G (I think?) and a slide. Rattles and buzzes and sounds nasty. I dig it.

[Steve Haynie]

Funny, I sort of feel like it helps me to not plug in. I don't get caught up in "yeah, man ROCK" and can focus on scales and picking cleanly. I think we all grow into our routines

Funny, I sort of feel like it helps me to not plug in. I don't get caught up in "yeah, man ROCK" and can focus on scales and picking cleanly. I think we all grow into our routines

Sometimes I practice without plugging in too. Definitely helps!

There is something to having clean tones with no compression or added sustain when you practice. You learn to play the notes right. What has gotten lost in my own playing is that ability to play with an amp. When plugged in, all the sloppiness shows up.

In another thread it was mentioned that in order to get certain tones one ought to try practice instead of new gear. We each have our own approach to getting to that point where we can play the way we want. Whichever practice methods get us where we need to be are the right ones. For me, it is playing through a clean amp. For you guys, it is playing unplugged every now and then.

[Feynman]

When I want to use a real amplifier, I am in love with Princeton Reverbs (and Super Champ XD/2).

This is one of the best practice setups I've ever had though. Great sounding amps and effects, built in multitrack recorder, tuner, backing track loader/slowerdowner/pitchchanger...available on every iOS device in the house or on the go...for $8 (plus a digital interface if you don't already have one).

Not counting the iPad/iPhone, the whole rig comes in under $100 (the Line 6 Sonic Port works beautifully for $87 Amazon Prime).

[mudshark]

Fender Frontman 15W Reverb, Roland Minicube, Pignose.

[carfish7]

Another Micro Cube fan here, but I also like to go "unplugged" with the electrics a lot. If I still had my Super Champ I'd use that every day,but alas, no longer mine.

[Never2Late]

1995 Fender USA Blues DeVille 4x10 combo, am thinking of swapping it for a USA ProSonic....

[mark_tampa]

Lexicon Signature 284 5 watt stereo tube amp, old G-Major for a 'bit of 'verb and chorus as needed mounted into a 2X10 cab. Great sounding setup that doesn't wake up the dead.