Atten: Guitarist - need your opinion

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CudaFS1

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My 20yr. old son would like your opinion, I don't play so I don't have an opinion.

He just bought a 1980 hand built Mesa/Boogie Ltd. head 60/100 watts tube. With international transformer. He's running this through an Orange 2X12 cab 16 ohms Celestion speakers. He's had the cab for a while.

He has a friend that wants to buy this set-up. He's thinking he might sell if he can get close to enough money to go with one of 4 options.

1 - An original Vox ac30 2X12 combo
2 - Fender Deville 2X12 or 4X10
3 - Vox ac30 custom classic 2X12
4 - Orange ad30

What do you think he should do sell & switch to what or keep what he's got.
Thanks for the help

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He should do a live comparison, if possible with his guitar, all depends on a particular sound your after. Looks like a nice system, If those speakers were put in a larger cabnet, it would give a different sound. I prefer tube, anyday.8)
 
Tell him to keep it! He'd be crazy to sell that unless he gets top dollar and/or doesn't like the sound that amp/cabinet produces. The Boogie is a versatile amp, many tones can be achieved with it and that cabinet has Celestions in it - 'nuf said. Looks like a killer combo. The Boogie head is worth a lot if it's in good condition, which it looks like it is. Perhaps check Ebay and compare prices. The other choices won't sound anything like what he has now, for sure. The Vox amps have a more 'thin' tone, kinda OK for a specific sound like early British Invasion. Nowhere near the Boogie for overalll tone. The Deville is kind of a modern take on a tweed with overdirve. Not real great, good for small gigs or practice. The Orange is just a straight up hard rock amp like a Marshall, he'd be better off with the Boogie for overall tone. The Boogie is 100W it's got plenty of balls.
 
If he does get rid of it, the Hot Rod DeVille is a decent combo amp....I personally like either a Deluxe Reverb or Twin, but the Deville is nice...Depends on how you use it....For miking, a Deluxe is great...The Vox will have a little different tone, but one of those 2 you mentioned would be a pretty good amp.
 
That`s a tough one, it depends on his style and how much gear he wants to tote. At 20 I imagine he can carry most anything. Lol! If he likes the Boogie sound ,there`s also the Mesa Mark IV amp. It`s a small combo amp that has a compact size and tone for days.
 
It all depends on what he likes!!!If he doesn't like that amp he has. Get rid of it and get something else. What style of playing does he do??? Those other amps that you listed are not going to match what that set up he already has can do. No way!!! Those other amps that you listed are going to be less than what he already has. I'd say KEEP IT!!!! Figure out what you really want before you sell it and get something as old as those other ones.
 
I know that the Celestion speakers are the best from what I here so why get rid of the cabinet?.. change the head maybe to find the sound he is looking for maybe? I'm new to guitars myself so I'm learning really.
 
i personally like mesa's or marshalls. current rig is a mesa dual rectifier through a vintage marshall slant cap with the green back celestions. it really depends on what type of music he's wants to play. i also have a fender 4x10 deville, its got great clean tones but the distortion sucks for about everything but blues. whats he after? i wouldn't get rid of his current setup for fender or vox amps you have listed (IMO). And the best way to shop for amps is to take his own guitar to the store and play it through the amp he's looking at.
 
Thats tough,its all about the sound and what style music he plays,I would have him go to a music store and sample everything before he buys.I ended up using a line 6 floor pedal with a preamp and a marshall cab for the band and at home i have a little trace elliot combo.There are alot of options.
 
you will not find anything that gives you that kind of warm to crunch sound

line six amps give you a good processed variety of amp configs but just don't move air like the boogies tube amp do
 
MY68/6GT said:
you will not find anything that gives you that kind of warm to crunch sound

line six amps give you a good processed variety of amp configs but just don't move air like the boogies tube amp do
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Your right about tubes and the warm tone,but i gotta say the whole reason i bought the line 6 was its amp modes are dam good and dont sound anything like the proceesed boss effects,and I need the diversity since we play alot of styles.That being said if your after the warm crunch all the time then tubes the way and you wont do much better than the current rig,but I love alot of amps!.
 
Thanks for all the feedback!!

Now I know why he had me meet him halfway to St. Louis (where he lives) to bring his Orange cab to him so he could hear the head through his cab before he bought it.

He likes the British Invasion sound. He likes bright clean tone. He likes his distortion with some crunch. He has a Fulltone distortion pedal. He likes bands like U-2, All American Rejects, Fallout Boy, The Killers, etc.

The guy that bought this head new is one of his co-workers & sold it to him for $150.00 with a road case.

He brought it all back home this past weekend an was playing his Fender Telecaster thru it. It DOES SOUND GOOD!! He also has a Marshall amp in his apartment for practice.
 
Tubes have that great sound...it's like comparing Pink Floyd The Wall on 12" vinyl to a CD copy, vinyl wins hands down every time. It's just that sound!
 
mullinax95 said:
I have a Line 6 Spider Jam amp with Celestion speaker.

http://line6.com/spiderjam/index.html?utm_source=Index&utm_medium=DropDown&utm_campaign=Spider+Jam
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Cool,do you like it?,I really like the versatillity of my setup (power amp/line 6 board).The reason i like it so much is the problem with a single amp-especially tube-is they have a core sound that will shape every effect used.I like alot of amps and have played a ton of them (I think i hear wrong after the 5150)I had to narrow it down somewhat,so now i can copy alot of sounds,:toothy10:
 
lead69 said:
Cool,do you like it?,I really like the versatillity of my setup (power amp/line 6 board).The reason i like it so much is the problem with a single amp-especially tube-is they have a core sound that will shape every effect used.I like alot of amps and have played a ton of them (I think i hear wrong after the 5150)I had to narrow it down somewhat,so now i can copy alot of sounds,:toothy10:
Click to expand...


Yeah I like it very much. But I'm a beginner and can't make it scream like should. The presets are the coolest.. 50s,60,70s,LynSkn,led,acdc,ZZ top, etc... What I've been doing is turning to the ones that I pretty much know.. like Sweet Home Alabama. When I play the rhythm part (not to good at the lead yet) the amp sounds exactly like the real thing. I get the tabs from ultimateguitar.com and learn the songs like that. I have actually surprised myself. The first night I had the amp I was playing Hells Bells pretty good compared to not have ever played a note of the song. Another thing that is cool about the amp is I can record what I'm playing and dub over it again, again.. it's pretty wild. I have unplugged the amp and it still has the recordings on it after I plug it back up... so if I move my amp to a different location it still has the same recordings.
 
Thats cool,before you know it you will be doing some basic solos,thats when it was like a full blown crack addiction to me!.That amp is imo a great choice for beginning to play,gives you alot to work with.
 
i totally agree with rmchrgr. i have been playing for 8 years. if he cant get top dollar for the amps. KEEP THEM!!!!!! they will only increase in value. they are nice collector pieces.\
 
I have a Marshall MG250. I had a pleasant surprise when I found out it has Celestions.
 
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