Lunch Report - June 30, 2022

Howdy Folks,

This brings back memories.

My last lunch report was in the late 2000's (2008 maybe?) when this was one of the only outlets for G&L fans to be found anywhere!

It was so long ago that Dave actually sent faithful lunch reporters a BBE pedal at the end of their term for providing content.
I still have my BBE Green Screamer!! Thanks Dave, I'm still grateful!

Today's lunch was left over peanut chicken, spinach and broccoli over rice. Quick and tasty.

Topic of the day, if anyone is interested in discussing, is 'best starter amp' currently available today.
I'll set an arbitrary price ceiling of US$200, mainly because that's what my new Orange Crush 20RT came in at.

The Orange 20RT is a great little solid state amp with clean and dirty channels, reverb and a built-in tuner.
With an 8" speaker it puts out plenty of sound for bedroom practice and wouldn't give anything up in a garage band situation.
With its size and flexibility it reminds me a lot of my old silverface Fender VibroChamp in being a portable, cheap (when I bought it) and handy practice amp.

Last time I looked however, the VibroChamp was going for seriously stupid money. Another piece of kit I should never have sold...

Until next time, bon appetit!

TJ

Sorry for not following the rules... It's not $200, but you could probably get one used for that. I love my Blackstar HT-1R. It's a 1W tube amp with 8" speaker, reverb, line out. It's great for playing in the house when you want tube breakup at reasonable volumes.

welcome back, texasjack! been awhile for a lunch report

lunch today was a tossed salad, 2 meatballs and a little pasta.

small amps are great. less is more. i have a few fav's:



Blackstar Fly 3. this one is battery powered, 3 watts thru a 3 inch speaker. has gain, vol, EQ, and delay speed and depth knobs, an overdrive button that kicks up the gain, mp3 in and 1/8 headphones out. can get a wall wart and an extension speaker if ya want. I got this for a trip to Jamaica a few years ago, and it travels and performs well, has amazing power! Paid about $70, worth every cent.




Carvin Vintage 16 tube amp. 16 watts via 2 EL84's and 3 12AX7's, or 5 watts in triode mode. soak(gain)/vol/treb/mid/bass/reverb (spring) thru a 12 in, 70 watt speaker. Kind of Carvin's answer to the Princeton, only better as this has a seperate gain, and mid control, no tremolo which i wouldn't use much. This is my go to amp for most things lately, i run my OCD pedal thru it, or anything else. Relatively light, surprisingly loud and clear. Gets dirty with the soak > 6.5.
Got it for $300. A decent Princeton will cost ya $1200.




Fender Mustang 1, V1. 20 watts, solid state, modelling amp, new in 2011, 8 amps on board (deluxe, bassman, twin, vox, marshall, and some other high gain things, a bunch of effects, can run it thru software or tweak it on the amp on the fly, and save patches (DSP). Love this thing. Cheap speaker, so replaced it with 8 inch GWS, sounds amazing. Loud. I bring iit to band rehearsal. Light. No need for most pedals re: onboard effects. single foot switch, toggles between 2 favorite patches out of 24 saved. best $99 i ever spent.

I think the biggest change in amps 'recently' has been the power you can get out of a tiny box.
The Blackstars, the Orange Micros - just amazing.

That Carvin is awesome. Nothing like vintage tweed and tubes!

TJ

I don't know what the lunch report rules are but I had hot dogs with mustard and onion.

I have read that some have a problem with burning up tubes but I picked up a Bugera Vintage 5, used for $176, and have had no problems with it in about a year and a half. They are .1 Watt, 1 Watt or 5 Watt. I keep mine on 1 Watt and it's a great 'bedroom' amp. I think new they are slightly over your price point at $250 but there are plenty on the used market at or under $200.

Never mind the dust and the Fender.