going back to toobs. what am i looking for? hot rod in a head?

[jorri]

Is there anything like a Hot Rod Deville in a head or small combo form? It would be for live use.

A little too backbreaking to carry the huge thing at the moment. Still have some residual chronic Lyme Disease. To put a spanner in the works even the wheels fell off my old Carlsboro and i've yet to find some more, but that's another story!

I tried one and it seemed nice, otherwise not entirely sure about what I am looking for as I've tended toward older solid states. What i like about it is it can remain a clean enough bed for pedals, but with saturation and optional grit. Another that i've tried is a MusicMan, which i liked too but it lacked the pre-amp tubes so met me in the middle between solid/valve. I was almost going to fork out for a Jazz Chorus/Yamaha style amp yet my style seems to be shifting away from the dead-clean into feeling it can improve with some saturation/compression (without dirt), but occasional actual shoegazey dirt after verbs. Nothing particularly in the form of a standard guitar dirt really, as its all about the pedals, clean with delay and making synth-like tones or ambient loops through.

[marqueemoon]

What is your budget, how loud does it need to be, what features are essential, and what is your tolerance level with dealing with something older that may need work?

[stevejamsecono]

Victory V40 The Duchess
Older Silverface Fender Bassman Heads (50, 75)
Fender Super Sonic 22 Head

All of those will do that thing but in a smaller head package.

[jorri]

What is your budget, how loud does it need to be, what features are essential, and what is your tolerance level with dealing with something older that may need work?

around £500 as per hot rods would be nice

well i want something easy but can fix things myself. I'd rather lower the hassle to be honest.

We are quite loud, but any larger gig tends to be micced up anyway. I don't want to have to buy an attenuator to use it at home but don't mind the effect of a master volume to be honest.

[Embenny]

You might want to keep an eye out for a used Peavey Classic head. The Classic 20 has an attenuator and a cabinet-emulated line out, so it would transition from practice to gigging pretty seamlessly. That's the current model. There are 30 and 50W heads out there if you need more clean headroom, as well. I find the Classics in general to very much be the equal of the Hot Rod series, though their tones are a little more toward the Tweed side of things.

[jorri]

You might want to keep an eye out for a used Peavey Classic head. The Classic 20 has an attenuator and a cabinet-emulated line out, so it would transition from practice to gigging pretty seamlessly. That's the current model. There are 30 and 50W heads out there if you need more clean headroom, as well. I find the Classics in general to very much be the equal of the Hot Rod series, though their tones are a little more toward the Tweed side of things.

Thanks, that's more in my range. I was back on the borrowed Hot Rod Deville last night, its been a while and didn't suit me quite as well. Wonder if my pedal gainstage and EQ were the problem there. I expect so as i have been using an Echorec with its internal gain. Luckily i know a guy who has a Musicman 65 head and i think it could work well if i compared them (or dread the thought: ran two amps in stereo )

[ShortyMedlock]

My vote us for a Bassman ....