# Octaves, Zouks, Citterns, Tenors and Electrics > Four, Five and Eight-String Electrics >  I need an Amp

## Jacksonmando

I recently bought a Ryder EM-45, but don't have a great amp for it. I want a tube amp for sure, but not sure about much else. I am getting a tube amp made for harmonica (harpgear), and wonder if that will work alright. I also wondered about everybody's favorite effects to use, since I just started playing electricly. Thanks

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## mandroid

un tube though it is, I just got a 'roland' AC-60,avec ,2 separate chanels , aka stereo, one is condenser mic supporting phantom power switchable channel, that I use my Schertler pickup with its XLR jack into {though the phantom juice isnt needed for that, and the other channel for my humbucking pickup equipped 4 string mandola. tone seems fine...
Theres lots of extra ways to hook it up ,effects loop..out/in and including run a bigger poweramp and a powered subwoofer, Woof! 
I like that its small.

a DSP which has a bundle of effects packages a variety to try out relatively cheap 
[given individual efx boxes, like 'Boss' pedals now start at a hundred each and go UP from there].. 


 a Selenium co-ax speaker, here, is wanting a cabinet to be built for it. Cone is 15" ,
 Horn Ti compression tweeter is hidden behind a mesh center dome.

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## FlawLaw

I tried some amps recently and thought that the following tube amps were good: 

1. Fender Bassman 59 LTD - pros: great crunch, versatile (can handle harmonica, bass, and mandolin), wonderful tweedy vintage sound, and handles pedals, great quality, all tube. Cons: no reverb, heavy, and may be over-kill as it gets really loud. 

2. Fender Blues Jr. Tweed LTD - pros: easy to haul around, upgraded Jensen speakers, has a nice tweedy blues sound, surprisingly loud, handles pedals pretty well, and easily modified. Cons: has SS components, reverb is not great, not USA made (if that matters - older ones were made in USA more recent ones made in Mexico).

3. Fender Pro Junior - pros - very light and has some Bassman qualities and has a very decent sound, very reasonably priced. cons - no reverb, has SS components, #not USA made (if that matters - older ones were made in USA more recent ones made in Mexico).

You can certainly find the above amps at ebay for reasonable prices - between $200 and $1000. #I got mine locally so I could try it.

Other amps: Crate V series and Peavy. #These are also very good amps that should be looked at. #Both are surprisingly good quality and good price. #If you are looking for awesome amps - the Fender 57 Twin amplifier is pretty much perfect, hand wired, beautiful, wonderful clean sounds, and expensive. #Then there are great tube amps from Victoria, Carr, Tophat, Rivera, etc. The list goes on and on!!!

In the end, for me the two that caught my attention were the Blues Jr and the Bassman. #I got the Blues Jr. #I liked its small size and find it plenty loud enough. #The Jensen speaker is really nice (the same speaker as the Bassman) and I like the way the Tweed looks. #Ultimately, I will someday purchase a Bassman. #It was just a great blues amp with an unbelievable sound.

As far as effects, I am presently using an English Muffin pedal that really brings my amp closer to the bassman sound and makes it richer sounding. #I am now looking at an Analogman chorus and a some octave pedals as well. #I probably won't use more than three or four pedals all together. #

I will say that the electric mandolin is a blast to play and has ended my MAS but has increased my GAS.

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## clem

Depending on your harp rig (8" or 10" inch speaker, circuit, etc.) it could work fine. I am partial to the smaller Fender black top amplifiers, both for tone and ease of transport. Try finding a Super Champ (circa early 80's). THis amp has it all in a small package--clean, overdrive, reverb, etc.; designed by Paul Rivera when he briefly came to work for Fender. 

The ultimate amp is a pre-CBS black top deluxe reverb. But it'll cost you.

I have been having A LOT of fun (and using it for all gigs) with the Line 6 POD XT live. It is a digital floor box with numerous amp models, effects, etc. You should definitely check it out!! It is light weight, and with some tweaking (which is VERY easy) it can get great sounds. Everything fdrom a Fender Champ amp to a Marshall stack and beyond. Plus you get numerous fuzz, chorus, delays, reverbs, octave dividers, etc. I run it straight into the house P.A. for gigs; it has a great headphone out for "silent practice" and it retails for $360! I never thought I'd be into this (I am an old school guy) but IT ROCKS. Best bang for the buck of any electronic device I've ever owned (and I've had a lot of them!!)

Good luck  

Clem

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## Christian McKee

Effects! In order I run:

Mandolin &gt; Boss tuner &gt; Boss OD1 (overdrive) &gt; Boss OC3 octave divider &gt; Danelectro Dan-O-Wah &gt; Q-Tron &gt; Digitech DigiDelay &gt; Holy Grail Reverb &gt; Fender Pro Jr. 

That said, I can't really recommend the Dan-o-Wah, but it's what I've got, and I don't need it for gigs much at the moment. When I replace it, it'll be with a Buddah Wah, those things are killer for mandolins. The Q-Tron is more fun than I could tell you here, drippy, chewy psychedelic sounds, and the DigiDelay is a pretty flexible tool which offers everything from Bill Frisell subtlety, to hillbilly slapback. The OC3 I don't actually use as much as I thought I was going to, but it does have lots of flexibility that I really like: it has two octave settings, one mono- and the other polyphonic, and can also be switched over for use as a drive pedal with or without octave. When I flip on both the dedicated drive pedal, and the drive-plus-octave function on the OC3, I can get some pretty great Neil Youngian tones, and that's a lot of fun. The only reason I have the Holy Grail is that my amp doesn't have a reverb tank, but I love it too much to want to switch it for something else. I've considered adding chorus or phasing to this rig, but nothing in the works immediately...

Christian

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## EdSherry

The answer really depends on what sound you want out of your electric mandolin. #I use mine mostly for Western Swing. #In my experience, the sound that people want for amplified harmonica (and thus the amps that work well for such applications) doesn't work very well for Western Swing electric mandolin. #I'm a big fan of Fender Twin Reverbs for Tele and electric mandolin. #If, on the other hand, you're trying to get a bluesy sound out of your EM, then a harp-type mike could work just fine. #

I agree with Clem about the Pod XT Live. #Great unit.

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## testore

I have a 1965 Fender Champ and I run a BOSS blues driver through it sometimes. I have two Kent Armstrong mini-hums and they are the biggest little picups in the world. Here are two pics of my "Tiny Caster".

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## testore

One more

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## jmcgann

> The ultimate amp is a pre-CBS black top deluxe reverb. #But it'll cost you.


Or you can do what i did and get a Silver Face Deluxe Reverb (cheaper than BF but going up in price) and have it "de-CBS'ed" to BF specs by a good tech. Should cost about $35-$50 for the job. Really great all-around amp.

If you can, hang out while the tech does the work. He/she can sculpt the voice of the amp to suit your mando if you are plugged in and play while the tech tries different value caps, etc. That's be a nice way to get your sound tweaked to your liking-at least as a starting point...whatever good tone you get in your room will totally change in a club or rehearsal space with other instruments...

Now, the silver face (original) amps stay cleaner longer (louder) which may be a good thing for you depending on what style you are playing.

There are re-issues of the Black face, I haven't tried them and my picky friends are unimpressed by them- but who knows, go to a store and plug in, you never know. It's getting hard to find original Fenders for low $ anymore.
Boutique tube amps are expensive, but life is too short for bad tone, as they say #

YIKES_ I just saw a '79 Silverfaced Vibrolux Reverb for $1200 on eBay...my '69 was $75 in 1991...

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## John Rosett

whatever sam bush is using.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkwVB...sam%20bushever

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## dillo

If you like a twin, the Peavey Classic 50 hangs pretty well for a lot less $. I have the 4-10 version and it is NOT for sale! Err...well... I might consider SOME trades. This guys has some mods so you can make it sound more like a tweed bassman (what it resembles cosmetically): http://blueguitar.org/new/articles/blue_gtr/amps/peavey/c50twdbm.pdf

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## hotclub

My favorite new amp is a Carvin "vintage 15" It comes with a 12" celestion vintage 30 speaker and a switch in the back to change from 15 watts pentode to 5 watts triode. In the 5 watt mode it has that really sweet, clean, saturated tube sound and is still loud enough for most gigs; even the outdoor one I played last nite! (believe it or not) As with any amp,I still find it necessary to go through a para eq preamp to tweak it properly. Nice sounding reverb too. I think they're around $350.

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## Lee

A good handmade tube amp starts with the B1uesboy. A very minimal 5-watts, on-off toggle with LED, and a volume knob. #Ya don't need no stinking tone controls. 
Without mods you can experiment with different pre-amp and octal power tubes.

Yikes, his website disappeared.

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## Mandobar

i have a whole bunch of amps (some vintage)from my rock and roll days that i am selling. anyone interested can pm me. personally, i am using a top hat cadet for my mandocaster.

i love my little blues jr's too. tweed. classic tone.

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## Lee

Mandobar, tell me more about the Cadet. My favorite amps are either a Club Royale or the Club Deluxe. I was curious about the little bro' Cadet. What're the tubes? Any clean headroom? Stock speaker? etc

Well, it seems the B1uesboy isn't in production anymore. It was a 5Y3 circuit clone apparently.

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## jmkatcher

Bringing this back to life, I just bought a new Fender Jazzmaster Ultralight SS head and enclosure. They're extremely portable and sound really great with electric mandolin. I think I actually prefer it to my tube amps for this purpose.

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## johnsmusic

Crate has a LTD run of the V1215 with the Tone Tubby Hempcone speaker in it. It screams and works well with the harp. I use a converted Astatic JT30 or an Arggone mic converted for the harp. J

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## plunkett5

Try to find a used Princeton Reverb. 30 years into mine and I have seldom heard a better tube sound for strings. Just my $.02.

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## Al in PT

What's the thought on the Genz-Benz Stereo 60? There is one at the local acoustic shop, I plugged in and it was very sweet. Nice balance. Stereo 60 Watts, two channels w/3 band eq and sweepable mids. Seems like more of a "high end" kind of amp, but it's "on sale" for $550. Is it too much amp for typical sit in play?

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## Ed Goist

> My favorite new amp is a Carvin "vintage 15" It comes with a 12" celestion vintage 30 speaker and a switch in the back to change from 15 watts pentode to 5 watts triode. In the 5 watt mode it has that really sweet, clean, saturated tube sound and is still loud enough for most gigs; even the outdoor one I played last nite! (believe it or not) As with any amp,I still find it necessary to go through a para eq preamp to tweak it properly. Nice sounding reverb too. I think they're around $350.


Has anyone else owned/played through a "Carvin Vintage 16" amp?
The Carvin website and what I've seen/heard of demos really has me intrigued.
Thanks.

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## Ben Lyman

> The ultimate amp is a pre-CBS black top deluxe reverb. But it'll cost you.




Yeah baby, you know it!  :Cool:

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## CelticDude

I don't see where anyone said it, so I will - take your mando to your local guitar supermart and start pluggin' into whatever amps they have.  They will likely have the Fenders mentioned, plus some others worth trying.  Find the sound you like.

Having said that, I will second the Fender Blues Jr.  I have the NOS (tweed), and think it sounds great, plus the reverb is absolutely wonderful.  I have to say that the quality on it has been iffy; it's been in the shop twice for repairs in the past 2 months, including for a new reverb tank.  I also have a Vox Night Train, which also works well for my electric octave.  I will confess that I've been playing more electric guitar than mandolin lately, and both amps work very well for this.  I was thinking of selling one of them, but they both sound really good, and rather different.  The perfect amp really is 2 or 3 amps...

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## JMUSIC

I have been playing the Robert Schmidt Fender through my seafoam green LTD Edition Blues Jr. that has been modified for my harp (harmonica) playing. 5751 tube in first pre-amp stage and a Cannibas Rex Eminence speaker, Accutronics reverb tank. It sounds great! Schmidt plays through a Vibrolux.

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## Lee

What's the "Soak" knob do electronically on the Carvin Vintage 15?

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## Ben Milne

Soak function is usually to attenuate the volume of a speaker while retaining the load on the amplifier output. This allows you you run your output valves hard to break up the way you want without having the ear bleeding volumes usually associated with going to eleven.

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## Ed Goist

> What's the "Soak" knob do electronically on the Carvin Vintage 15?


Here's the best descriptive review I've found of the Carvin Vintage 16.

According to it, the 'Soak' is basically the _"gain control - turn this up and the master down for the most drive, or the other way around for the clean tones."_

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## Ben Milne

in that case it's strange for them to call it soak, instead of gain. Usually _soak_ implies the opposite end of the circuitry.

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## Ed Goist

And here's the description of the soak control from the Carvin website (under "product overview" of the Vintage 16):

_"The SOAK control goes from stout clean tones with rich midrange body to a filling upper-midrange snarl defining its tweed sound."_

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## Ed Goist

> And here's the description of the soak control from the Carvin website (under "product overview" of the Vintage 16):
> 
> _"The SOAK control goes from stout clean tones with rich midrange body to a filling upper-midrange snarl defining its tweed sound."_


I agree that the use of the word 'soak' for the gain knob is confusing. I'm thinking this is mostly a matter of tradition and marketing on Carvin's part (to be a little different from everyone else, and to get folks talking about the product - Like we are right here!  :Smile:  )

_(sorry about the extra post, I meant to add this with 'edit' and hit the reply button instead...need more coffee!  )_

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## Lee

Seems to me the Carvin's "soak" knob provides the same thing as the Blues Jr.'s "master" knob. I've grown to like amps with just one volume knob. Effects pedals do more when needed.

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## Tom Wright

If simplicity is a goal the Electro-Harmonix 44 Magnum Power Amp pedal is an answer. I find its tone very tube-like, mellow distortion when driven into clipping. 30W RMS estimated, they recommend that speaker rating. I have used it several times for small gigs; it is a big sound into a 12" speaker. 

I'm too old to schlep a tube amp with heavy power and speaker transformers, and this thing only draws power as needed so my AC demand is probably only 50 watts, making this a greener choice. Great travel amp with a small speaker.

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## MikeEdgerton

That's actually interesting, *here's* a link to the item. Get yourself an efficient enclosure with a 12" speaker and go to town.  :Cool:

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## Tom Wright

Just played a school show today, tried my tiny speaker with my Crate PowerBlock head. Instead of tiny amp and efficient speaker, I had efficient amp and tiny speaker. (Using Buchanan with pickup.)

I am growing very fond of the tone of the 6.5" Eminence AlphaLite, with its clean high end. With enough power it was more than enough to achieve a clean tone with (tasteful) drums and bass. A cab with two would be a knockout. 

The head is a decent sound, with useful crunch tone when you use the master volume. The high end is not limited, and is fine for acoustic instruments. Mainly, it's a low-cost lightweight solution (4.5 lbs.). I use it at the full-power setting for the little speaker, since that is rated 100W RMS. The amp is called 150W but that is at 10% distortion, so closer to 100W is honest.

I've been trying it out with the Ryder and my King of Tone overdrive pedal, great sound with smooth highs and plenty of bottom after a little EQ. Total weight of this rig is also around 10 lbs, like my 12" speaker/amp pedal combo.

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## Terry Allan Hall

I've found my "slightly modified" Red Line Peavy Envoy and Bandit (I've replaced the stock spkrs. w/ Jensen Mods) are perfect for both my Tele and electric mandolin playing...I generally go for a slightly cleaner sound for playing background and chords via the Clean channel, while the Lead Channel gives me all the "raunch" I require...and then there's my pedal board, for adding more sounds (test out a wah pedal and a good dig. delay for your mandolin playing.  :Wink: )

These are both "Transtube models", which really do sound like tube amps w/o the hassle of tubes...well-worth looking into!

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## Lee

I just learned about modifying the Carvin Vintage 16 amp from www.hasserl.com   Seems to be an interesting website. I've no clue yet how much it'll cost to modifiy an amp.

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## Dfyngravity

> If simplicity is a goal the Electro-Harmonix 44 Magnum Power Amp pedal is an answer. I find its tone very tube-like, mellow distortion when driven into clipping. 30W RMS estimated, they recommend that speaker rating. I have used it several times for small gigs; it is a big sound into a 12" speaker. 
> 
> I'm too old to schlep a tube amp with heavy power and speaker transformers, and this thing only draws power as needed so my AC demand is probably only 50 watts, making this a greener choice. Great travel amp with a small speaker.


I too use a 44 mag and it's awesome...and really loud. But the tone is fantastic. I use it along with an AMT R1 preamp/pedal which turns the amp into a Messa Triple Rectifier basically. Used it in a gig a month ago with a drumer, two electric guitar and keyboard player....it cut throught the mix without a problem. I also play bass and you can actually play bass through it and it sounds great.

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## JonK331

I have a older Peavey Classic 50, a Deluxe Reverb Reissue, and a '79 Princeton Reverb (model with the pull boost that you should never pull).  The Princeton is by far the best, a bit warmer than the DRRI and breaks up a bit earlier.  I replaced the stock speaker with a Jenson MOD which is a huge improvement.  The DRRI is still very nice but the Peavey is just too darn loud.  The late '70's model Princetons are a bit cheaper than the earlier ones and are absolutely beautiful sounding amps once the speaker is replaced.  Just don't bother pulling the boost.  I found mine on Craigslist for $650.

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## Sam Bush Fan!

I've been looking around at amps in the $100ish range, and I happened upon the Fender Frontman 25R. Have any of y'all tried this one out? From the videos/reviews, it seems like a decent amp for the money. Just wondering if any of y'all have played an emando trough it.

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## Terry Allan Hall

> I've been looking around at amps in the $100ish range, and I happened upon the Fender Frontman 25R. Have any of y'all tried this one out? From the videos/reviews, it seems like a decent amp for the money. Just wondering if any of y'all have played an emando trough it.


Decent for the $$$...not terribly clean when cranked, so test before you buy.

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## padawan

Need a low bucks alternative? 

 I picked up a Fender Mustang I for my Mandobird and I challenge anyone to find a better amp for the price ($109 new at GC).
It has built in amp modeling for 8 amps with 3 variations of each.  You can also modify each on the fly and either save it that way or revert when you change to a different model.

 Three of the amps models it emulates are '57 Deluxe, '59 Bassman and a '65 Twin reverb.  ...and it does a pretty darn good job of it too (a buddy of mine has a Twin and it really does sound similar).  It will even accept a footswitch so you can change from a lead to a rhythm channel on the fly.  Pretty cool. 

 It is supposedly programmable through the software that comes with it but so far my PC doesn't like the drivers so I can't tell you anything there.  BUT... even with that it is still a really sweet amp for the price.  Pfft!  I've spent more taking the wife to a nice dinner.

  For a practice or small gig amp I think its a pretty sweet deal. While I don't really love Guitar Center they have a 30 day return policy... you can get your money back if you disagree with me.

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## Terry Allan Hall

> Need a low bucks alternative? 
> 
>  I picked up a Fender Mustang I for my Mandobird and I challenge anyone to find a better amp for the price ($109 new at GC).
> It has built in amp modeling for 8 amps with 3 variations of each.  You can also modify each on the fly and either save it that way or revert when you change to a different model.
> 
>  Three of the amps models it emulates are '57 Deluxe, '59 Bassman and a '65 Twin reverb.  ...and it does a pretty darn good job of it too (a buddy of mine has a Twin and it really does sound similar).  It will even accept a footswitch so you can change from a lead to a rhythm channel on the fly.  Pretty cool. 
> 
>  It is supposedly programmable through the software that comes with it but so far my PC doesn't like the drivers so I can't tell you anything there.  BUT... even with that it is still a really sweet amp for the price.  Pfft!  I've spent more taking the wife to a nice dinner.
> 
>   For a practice or small gig amp I think its a pretty sweet deal. While I don't really love Guitar Center they have a 30 day return policy... you can get your money back if you disagree with me.


Good for home use...if you're going to gig with it, though, the Mustang II, with 40 watts, a 12" speaker, and all the bells and whistles of the Mustang I would be a better option...about $200.

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## John Soper

If you don't have to get super loud, a silverface Champ or, for a bit more umph, Princeton Reverb would float my boat for just about anything that doesn't have to be super "clean".  Beautimous amps.

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## Marty Jacobson

+1 for the Carvin Vintage 16. What a great 1x12 amp for $300 (or so, from Craig's List). Sounds especially great with some of the built-in spring reverb and a touch of tremolo.

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## Ed Goist

I discovered tonight that ALL of my instruments (tenor guitar, mandolin & bass) sound great through my new *Hartke Kickback 12* bass amp. The combination of the Hartke's outstanding 12" aluminum-cone speaker, 120 watts, tone shaping control, and 3-band EQ allow the user to dial in a great tone regardless of the instrument's range.

Even though I'm generally a "tube man", I'd have to say that the Hartke out performs both my Fender Super Champ and my Hughes & Kettner Edition tube on the non-bass instruments (especially the Ovation mandolin).

This is a very welcome surprise! 

What a great amp. Highly recommended.

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## mandroid

That Power Supply, above it, part of the 44 Magnum amp package?

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## JonK331

I have a Peavey Classic 50, Fender Deluxe Reverb Reissue, and a vintage silverface Fender Princeton Reverb.  The Princeton is by far the best with mando.   IMO the best anyway.

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## Terry Allan Hall

> I have a Peavey Classic 50, Fender Deluxe Reverb Reissue, and a vintage silverface Fender Princeton Reverb.  The Princeton is by far the best with mando.   IMO the best anyway.


Agreed that, if you can get by with a lower volume amp (like if you have a drummer who comprehends dynamics), a SF Princeton Reverb, mic'd into the PA, sounds great!  :Cool:

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## Dfyngravity

> That Power Supply, above it, part of the 44 Magnum amp package?


Yes it is included. That is the only "negative" thing I can think of as far as the amp is concerned...and that is that it does not have a on/off switch. So you just have to pull the power supply out to turn it off or do what I do and plug it into a power strip and I just hit the switch on the power strip. But the tone is super nice and with a preamp you can get whatever sound you can dream of out of it.

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## Barry Wilson

I use a mustang III. if you add the 4 button pedal from the mustang 5 (it has plugs in back for the incl 2 button and the 4 button) you have lots of choices.

I use a 57 deluxe for clean button 1, deluxe with chorus button 2 and swap between a champ, bassman and princeton for my 3rd choice for overdriven leads. once you update the firmware and setup the individual volume levels it is a great setup and only $300 for 100 watts of clean sound

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