Decent Solid State Practice Amps.

[Puddleglum]

Originally Posted by edward993

Not to beat a dead horse as I had already recommended the Vox and Boss Cubes earlier, but if headphones are a real-use thing (as opposed to folks who think about using headphones but rarely do in practice), a superb amp is the Katana Mini.

It sounds great, and is intentionally "features simple" so I focus on playing and not playing with settings. Legitimately good tone and wholly usable gain knob and tone stack. Fits on a desk but sounds bigger than many of this size, some of which strike me more as toys. Great for bedroom volume and superb with headphones. That you can grab one new for a benjamin makes for an easy solution for home, travel, or jammin with friends.

Edward

I had a Boss Katana 50 for a while. Absolutely killer on the “brown” setting but almost unissued for clean tones in my experience.

[Puddleglum]

Originally Posted by JackC1

Have you considered an multi-effects pedal? They usually come with presets and all you have to do is adjust volume. I've yet to change anything on my Boss GX-100 except volume in the years I've owned it. Once in a while, I'd accidentally change its setting and I just need to do a factory reset.

Also, like you, I've avoided Positive Grid for years because I thought they needed a phone app. But turns out, it's got some built-in presets too and all you have to do is volume adjustments too.

The good thing about these vs solid-state is that these sound much better than solid-states and also allows you to record on computer.

I’ve not thought of that but it’s a good idea for sole headphone use. For some reason—I’m probably old-fashioned—I just like regular amps. I was unaware of the Vox Parhfinder till this thread and I’m glad it was recommended. In all likelihood I’ll be buying one. It looks to be about perfect for my needs.

[rokdog49]

Originally Posted by Puddleglum

I’ve not thought of that but it’s a good idea for sole headphone use. For some reason—I’m probably old-fashioned—I just like regular amps. I was unaware of the Vox Parhfinder till this thread and I’m glad it was recommended. In all likelihood I’ll be buying one. It looks to be about perfect for my needs.

Good luck finding one. You may find a Pathfinder, but the Patfinder R’s (reverb)
are scarce.

[Puddleglum]

Originally Posted by rokdog49

Good luck finding one. You may find a Pathfinder, but the Patfinder R’s (reverb)
are scarce.

I looked on the GC app the other day and saw several. Are they really that rare?

[phcorrigan]

Originally Posted by rokdog49

Good luck finding one. You may find a Pathfinder, but the Patfinder R’s (reverb)
are scarce.

They are out there. There are a couple on Reverb, and there were two listed on Craigslist here in Portland, and I bought one. The other is still there, but listed for $200 (firm).

[j3ffr0]

Yamaha THR5 is the definition of a small, modern, solid state practice amp for bedroom levels. There are few options, but I mostly don't use any of that stuff. Just get a good clean, semi-hairy, or dirty tone and go.

[gmr]

I’d second the THR 5. I have the acoustic version, and the Electric Clean mode gets me pretty much right where I like to be with my electric guitars…. Nice cleans, and when pushed, just enough hair to make it sound cool..
I don’t own one, but the Blackstar 50r is impressive and simple.

[Puddleglum]

I read through this thread again and there were lots of really good recommendations. I ended up buying one of the new Vox Pathfinder 10 amps in cream, a GC exclusive. See it here:

https://www.guitarcenter.com/VOX/Pat...%20Amp%20Cream

It's a "dry" amp so I'm going to get a nice reverb pedal to go along with it. It should be just the simple setup I'm looking for. We shall see.

[Brent Hutto]

Late to the thread but I recently hooked up an acquaintance who was starting out on the electric guitar guitar with an Ibanez S-type guitar and a little practice amp I wasn't using. The amp was an Orange Crush 12, that's the 8" speaker model the Orange Crush range (no reverb or other effects).

As I was demoing it before handing it over, I was really struck by how, at living room volume levels, it's got a sweet, slightly mids-forward basic clean tone that can be heavily sculpted with the three-knob EQ controls. And for a modest overdrive grind, the separate "Overdrive" control works a treat as long as you don't turn it all the way up.

For the kinds of volume levels that type of amp is built to produce, it's really amazing what a nice piece of kit you can get for 100 bucks nowadays. And the inexpensive guitar (that cost $250 when I bought it new) was also a heck of a bang for the buck. I'm addicted to stereo amps and all kinds of delay and other pedal effects but for just sitting down and making electric guitar music, a little 8" solid state amp, a decently set up S-type guitar and some sort of delay or reverb pedal will do it beautifully.

[Dirk Hofman]

Anyone try the Katana Go headphone amp? I just ordered one, should be here tomorrow. Seems perfect for my use case, tons of sounds, easy to use, comes with a tuner, can plug into cabs and combos, all kinda seems crazy for $120.