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This is probably well trodden territory, but I have a MandoStrat with bridge and pickup upgrades, and a Crate Palamino 8 - 5 watt tube amp. I just play for fun but just don't find the tone quite satisfying. I'm staying with the Strat but am thinking of an amp change... like sub $300. What do you electric players use and why? Thanks....
Have you tried a tube modeling preamp?
There are lots of options in a wide price range but I get pretty surprising results with a cheap Behringer that probably cost me $20.
I used the fishman loudbox ( 50watt) for a long time and it was @ $300 but plenty of amp for electric mando, but they are really for "a clean acoustic sound" and don't do much for distortion or intentional feedback ect..
I now use the fender champ, 100 watt about the same price ( 4 times the physical size), but that is more than enough.
What tone are you looking for?
I've heard great things about the Boss Katana 50 modeling amp, it's in your budget and, being a modeling amp, it can recreate lots of sounds of classic amps. 50 watts is more than enough for most situations too.
I use a Bugera V5 tube amp; love it - but the new price is now creeping to the top of your range. Depending on the sound you are trying to get, you might want to try a pedal or two rather than a new amp
A 5 watt amp is going to distort quite easily. You may change the preamp tube from a 12AX7 to a 12AY7 and see if you like the sound better. It will still distort easily, but will be warmer. It is also a cheap thing to try. I prefer the 12AY7 in amps and usually change them all if there are more than one.
clean sound, - Roland's mobile amps are fine .. Mobile AC with AA batteries or the wall wart is good, IMO.
I have an 80’s Fender champ that I like for tone. I am sure that there are similar tube amps out there by Fender and others for that sweet electric tone.
Mandolin, Amps and tone...
I ran into the same problem about 30 years ago - the thing is that guitar amplifiers are designed and voiced for guitars, bass amps for basses, acoustic amps for instruments with (mostly) piezo pickups and so on. There is no commercially available mandolin amp. My solution, after establishing that asking a tech. to modify a Fender super sixty would be prohibitively expensive was to learn sufficient about tube technology and build my own 15W amp. All in all (this was pre-internet) it took me about six months. I have never built another amp, though I've bought, repaired and modded a few over the years since then, and have forgotten most of what I learned.
If you trust yourself with a soldering iron and a multimeter, I would encourage you to consider playing around with your Palomino 8. The printed circuit board looks quite generously laid out so replacing components should not present much of a challenge - interestingly, Verne Andru did just this and wrote an article about it here: http://www.verneandru.com/WebApp/Pag...VerneAndru.com . It is hard to break a valve amp as long as you're sensible, it is more likely that you will damage yourself, hence the following caveat: VALVE AMPLIFIERS OPERATE IN PART WITH HIGH, POTENTIALLY LIFE-THREATENING VOLTAGES. Before you do anything, make sure that you are familiar with basic safe practice, and always stick to it. You might even have fun - I certainly did.
Princeton Reverb or Deluxe Reverb
Princeton will be clean, Deluxe usually starts distorting with volume about 2 1/2. If you want a clean mandolin sound use an amp that is designed for that. The Princeton is a clean amp. Then again if you want distortion, the Deluxe is great.Quote:
Originally Posted by musicofanatic
Consider a modeler. You're not going find a tube amp in that budget that will make you happy. Modelers are also chock full of effects these days. Ampless rigs are increasingly common.
I use an acoustic image combo that was designed for bass, but works very well for mandolin or guitar because it is very flat and clean. But you haven’t said what you’re looking for. What do you want the amp to do?