my friend needs amp recommendations under 250 euros

[fetidbrutaldeathenjoyer]

he says hes gonna play everything, so its gotta be versatile

 

[sonoftheoldnorth]

BOSS Katana

 

[Wiltonauer]

There are a lot of things that could work, and I own an embarrassing number of them. Is he leaning towards buying new, or used? What’s the setting? Home practice? Jamming with friends? Gigs? How comfortable would he be with having a phone, tablet, or computer involved in editing presets? Does he want something portable that can run a battery of some type?

 

[ATRguitar91]

For amps: Boss Katana or Peavey Vypyr are solid. Probably not gonna hang with a loud drummer though.

If he's okay with plugins and has a computer already: a Focusrite Scarlett interface, Presonus Eris 3.5 speakers, and some of the amazing free plugin options out there will get him really far. Neural Amp Modeler stuff especially sounds good, and I've always liked the Ignite Emissary.

As always, he'll get more bang for his buck going used and local if possible.

 

[Shask]

Boss Katana or Line 6 Catalyst.

 

[fetidbrutaldeathenjoyer]

pr

There are a lot of things that could work, and I own an embarrassing number of them. Is he leaning towards buying new, or used? What’s the setting? Home practice? Jamming with friends? Gigs? How comfortable would he be with having a phone, tablet, or computer involved in editing presets? Does he want something portable that can run a battery of some type?

gonna practice at home, has to be new. not gonna play concerts or gigs. i dont think he would want editing presets with devices

 

[fetidbrutaldeathenjoyer]

For amps: Boss Katana or Peavey Vypyr are solid. Probably not gonna hang with a loud drummer though.

If he's okay with plugins and has a computer already: a Focusrite Scarlett interface, Presonus Eris 3.5 speakers, and some of the amazing free plugin options out there will get him really far. Neural Amp Modeler stuff especially sounds good, and I've always liked the Ignite Emissary.

As always, he'll get more bang for his buck going used and local if possible.

he has a relative thats been playing guitar for like 3 years and he told my friend to get either a marshal mg15g, blackkstar id core40 v3 or orange crush 20rt, you think any of those 3 is good?

 

[Wiltonauer]

pr

gonna practice at home, has to be new. not gonna play concerts or gigs. i dont think he would want editing presets with devices

The most versatile amps in that general price range are those with apps that let you tinker with things that aren’t accessible otherwise — apps that require a device to run on. The Fender Mustangs provide more flexibility than most without connecting to an app, because they have little color LCD displays and controls to allow editing without an app. They have apps, to, if you want to use them, and those are very Spark-esque, I guess is fair to say.

 

[ATRguitar91]

he has a relative thats been playing guitar for like 3 years and he told my friend to get either a marshal mg15g, blackkstar id core40 v3 or orange crush 20rt, you think any of those 3 is good?

Out of those, the Blackstar looks the best since the others are pretty barebones, but the Boss Katana, Line 6 Catalyst, or Peavey Vypyr are probably better.

I used a Peavey Vypyr for a long time and was able to get great tones from it, and the Catalyst and Katana are both highly recommended and well reviewed.

 

[ATRguitar91]

has to be new

If his budget is only $250 and he's going to seriously pursue guitar, he should get over the concern about used gear.

You can get way more for your money, and if you get a good enough deal, you'll be able to sell it later and get your money back to parlay into other gear.

I almost exclusively buy used guitar equipment and in 20 years I've only got a dud once, and even then it was easy fix. Hell, I buy almost everything I can used if possible.

 

[Wiltonauer]

If his budget is only $250 and he's going to seriously pursue guitar, he should get over the concern about used gear.

You can get way more for your money, and if you get a good enough deal, you'll be able to sell it later and get your money back to parlay into other gear.

I almost exclusively buy used guitar equipment and in 20 years I've only got a dud once, and even then it was easy fix. Hell, I buy almost everything I can used if possible.

There are some downsides to buying used, and some things to look out for, but when you’re buying solid-state/digital gear that isn’t that old, there are fewer potential issues to worry about. While you often don’t get a warranty buying used, you probably wouldn’t have needed one anyway. These amps mostly either work or they don’t, and if they make it through a typical warranty period and don’t get run over by a truck or hit with a catastrophic power surge, they will likely continue to work fine for a long time. You just make sure they work, factory reset them, make sure the firmware is up to date, and you’re essentially in the same spot as someone who bought it new, but their warranty just expired.

Consider also that some of the best options for what he’s looking for aren’t that much more than the 250 Euros. Looking at used may take a little more work and patience, but can really help the same budget get him into a much better amp that he’ll use longer.

 

[fetidbrutaldeathenjoyer]

Out of those, the Blackstar looks the best since the others are pretty barebones, but the Boss Katana, Line 6 Catalyst, or Peavey Vypyr are probably better.

I used a Peavey Vypyr for a long time and was able to get great tones from it, and the Catalyst and Katana are both highly recommended and well reviewed.

problem is, Boss Katana, Line 6 Catalyst, or Peavey Vypyr are way over 250 eur with tax in my country. for example, the line 6 costs 515 eur

 

[Wiltonauer]

Out of those, the Blackstar looks the best since the others are pretty barebones, but the Boss Katana, Line 6 Catalyst, or Peavey Vypyr are probably better.

I used a Peavey Vypyr for a long time and was able to get great tones from it, and the Catalyst and Katana are both highly recommended and well reviewed.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but all of these require a device app to do the deep editing? I know the Katanas do. It’s really the way to do it; there is only so much you can do with a physical interface that you can build onto amps that sell at these competitive prices.

It’s worth getting over any hesitation about using an app. For people who’d “rather just play”, that’s still an option. Set up the presets you’ll use the most, load them into the amp, then you don’t have to connect or touch the amp again unless you want to change a setting you can’t access from the onboard interface. I know in the case of the Katanas, that’s a lot of settings, but the Katana also lets you access a surprising amount of options from the knobs and buttons, without even changing to another channel preset. Some amps, like the Sparks, sort of leaving stranded a bit by comparison if you’re unable to use the app for some reason. A layout like the Katanas and some of the others lets you preload way more sounds that you can access later without the app.

 

[ATRguitar91]

Correct me if I’m wrong, but all of these require a device app to do the deep editing?

Vypyr doesn't. Katana has one but it's not necessary, same with the Catalyst. You can do almost everything you need on the actual unit.

 

[Wiltonauer]

Vypyr doesn't. Katana has one but it's not necessary, same with the Catalyst. You can do almost everything you need on the actual unit.

I guess that depends on how much you think you actually “need” at the moment. With the Katana, if you decide you “need” a certain dirt pedal model that you don’t have loaded up under one of the presets, it might irk you some. Or if you want to tweak the parametric EQ, for example. Still, it is quite correct that you can access way more features without the app than most amps even have.

Are the Vypyrs more like the old Spiders or a Champion 100/100XL, where you mostly just turn knobs on the amp to access everything?

 

[ATRguitar91]

problem is, Boss Katana, Line 6 Catalyst, or Peavey Vypyr are way over 250 eur with tax in my country. for example, the line 6 costs 515 eur

All the more reason to go used.

 

[ATRguitar91]

Are the Vypyrs more like the old Spiders or a Champion 100/100XL, where you mostly just turn knobs on the amp to access everything?

As far as I know, yes. At least on the one I had, everything was accessible from the front panel

 

[ATRguitar91]

problem is, Boss Katana, Line 6 Catalyst, or Peavey Vypyr are way over 250 eur with tax in my country. for example, the line 6 costs 515 eur

I don't know what's available in that price range in your country, but anything cheaper than those 3 is likely to be pretty mediocre, and your friend will outgrow it pretty quickly and have to sell at a loss.

Maybe he could get a cheap modeler like the Mooer Prime P1 or the Mooer PE-100. He could play with headphones, and then eventually get a set of powered speakers to run those into.

Would be a better experience than some cheap combo with a tiny speakers and crappy sounds.

I started my amp journey on a Behringer bass combo with a Boss Mega Distortion pedal, which I would never recommend to anyone. There's so much better stuff for beginners these days.

 

[ATRguitar91]

Can you all order from Thomann?
This This Or this would all be pretty solid.

 

[Wiltonauer]

As far as I know, yes. At least on the one I had, everything was accessible from the front panel

The Champion 100XL was like a cheaper, dumber version of that. There were no LEDs or helpful descriptions at each to help you figure out what the amp was supposed to be doing. I could get some really good sounds out of it, especially with dirt pedals, but it as kind of a pain in the ass compared to the Katana or Mustang GTX.

Fender’s idea of selecting effects and amp models on a simple, intuitive, but highly flexible digital amp that people would love using without an app:




Peavey’s version of roughly the same thing, on a product that sells for about 1/3 less: