How Much Have You Spent on Your Amps?

jrockbridge

Stealing Your Riffs
When I look at the prices of boutique amps, I have not spent much on amps. It seems like I have not bought that many. I’ve kept most.

What have you paid for your most recent amps?

My first amp was a used SS Crate 110 combo for less than $100. Sold it.

My next, a used, SS Sunn 112 combo with spring reverb. Less than $100. I gave it away.

My next amp was a new, 60 watt, Fender Blues Deville 410. I seem to recall $700. I still have it.

My next amp was a 5 watt, Blackstar head and matching 112 cab purchased during a sale for a little more than $400. They became popular and I was able to sell them both for a bit more than I paid.

Next, a 5 watt Blackheart head plus matching 112 cab. I think I paid over $400. I still own both but swapped out the speaker.

Then, I bought a Valvetech Amplifier Company Hayseed 15, hand-wired head for about $950. Years later, bought an oversized cab to pair with it from Weber for about $300. Then, I found a scratch ‘n’ dent Celestion Alnico Blue speaker for about $180. So, that’s my most expensive amp rig at about $1430. Still own it.

Next, a First Act, 50 watt, all SS, 112 on closeout for about $150. They sent two by mistake. I called and they said not to bother sending the extra one back. I still have both.

My favorite deal was a 50 watt, Fryette Power Station PS2 amp/attenuator (works with amps or preamps). Guitar Center online had a floor model for $399. I think they were $799 new. The latest 50 watt model is now $899. Still own it.

The last amp I bought was a used 100 watt, Peavey Windsor head paired with a new Harley Benton 212 cab loaded with Celestion V30’s. The total was $565. I still have both.
 
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I don’t know.

Jet City 333 2112R was a gift.
Trinity Tramp was a kit build. So, rough guess is about $1000.
Fender Mustang III was about $400
Pignose? $100?
Traynor QuarterHorse was $100
Spark 40 What did they go for at crowd sourcing? $299
REVV Generator 120 was a contest win.

I think that’s it.
Unless modellers count.
Then add the Tonex Pedal and the software. What was it $500.
AmpliTube 5 software. No idea.

And I picked up an old ARC floor thing for $120. Tons of fun.
 
I bought my HT-20 for $447.19. The Katana 50 was $229.
Those Katana amps sound great! Versatile too.

I’ve got a Katana Go headphone amp. I keep meaning to try it through an amplified speaker.
I don’t know.

Jet City 333 2112R was a gift.
Trinity Tramp was a kit build. So, rough guess is about $1000.
Fender Mustang III was about $400
Pignose? $100?
Traynor QuarterHorse was $100
Spark 40 What did they go for at crowd sourcing? $299
REVV Generator 120 was a contest win.

I think that’s it.
Unless modellers count.
Then add the Tonex Pedal and the software. What was it $500.
AmpliTube 5 software. No idea.

And I picked up an old ARC floor thing for $120. Tons of fun.
Some nice amps. I came close to getting a Jet City amp.

That Tonex pedal is awesome! I love my ToneX One.

I don’t know anything about the ARC. Is it digital?
 
I forgot that I bought a 5 watt Epiphone Valve Junior amp head. It was dirt cheap but I cannot recall the exact price. I’m guessing over $100 but less than $200. I learned what can happen with an impedance mismatch when I cranked it up and burned up the output transformer.

That means I’ve only purchased a total of 10 amps. And, I’ve kept and still own 7 of those amps.
 
Those Katana amps sound great! Versatile too.

I’ve got a Katana Go headphone amp. I keep meaning to try it through an amplified speaker.

Some nice amps. I came close to getting a Jet City amp.

That Tonex pedal is awesome! I love my ToneX One.

I don’t know anything about the ARC. Is it digital?
Oops typo.

ART.

It’s really more of a mult-effects platform., and it needs an amp.
In my head, I equated it to something of a modeller because the feel of some of the effects is very much like a real amp.
 
I forgot that I bought a 5 watt Epiphone Valve Junior amp head. It was dirt cheap but I cannot recall the exact price. I’m guessing over $100 but less than $200. I learned what can happen with an impedance mismatch when I cranked it up and burned up the output transformer.

That means I’ve only purchased a total of 10 amps. And, I’ve kept and still own 7 of those amps.
Nice.

That reminds me. I bought one of those Vox mini amps on clearance.
Can’t recall the price, but it was literally a “Cool. For that much, I’ll throw in my cart.” Kinda deal.
Now, if only I knew where it was.
 
Nice.

That reminds me. I bought one of those Vox mini amps on clearance.
Can’t recall the price, but it was literally a “Cool. For that much, I’ll throw in my cart.” Kinda deal.
Now, if only I knew where it was.
Modelers…
Line 6 Bean POD
Line 6 POD XT Live
Digitech RP……….
Line 6 HD500
Avid Eleven Rack w/expansion
Zoom MS50G
Zoom MS100BT
Zoom MS70CDR
Line 6 HX Stomp

I still own all those Zoom pedals, the 11R and HX Stomp. I gave the RP to my brother.

I can’t recall the exact model RP but it was relatively the size of an oversized Wah pedal. I loved that RP because it had an expression pedal, multi fx and it could work like a stomp box. I had it on a big board with other pedals for a long time. My brother still uses it as an fx unit.

Those Zoom pedals are great because they have good tuners and are small.
 
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Peavey Artist 240-$200 at a pawn shop in the eighties. Over the years its been thru a couple of speakers and a cap job.
72' 50w Bassman head-free 30 yrs ago was abandoned at rehearsal studio. Couple hundred for a cap job and couple hundred for a speaker and a homemade cab.
Crate Vintage Club 2110R-around $300 back in the 90s.
Carr Rambler-$2000-my wife bought it for me as a present a few yrs ago.
I recently bought a Marshall DSL20 head and the matching vertical 2-12 cab, just cause I never had a Marshall-prob around a grand total.
 
Kustom 12 Guage 95€
Boss Katana 50 189€
Blackstar fly 59€
Pearl G2 39€
Some great deals! Another Katana player. Boss really hit it out of the park with the Katana line.
Peavey Artist 240-$200 at a pawn shop in the eighties. Over the years it’s been thru a couple of speakers and a cap job.
72' 50w Bassman head-free 30 yrs ago was abandoned at rehearsal studio. Couple hundred for a cap job and couple hundred for a speaker and a homemade cab.
Crate Vintage Club 2110R-around $300 back in the 90s.
Carr Rambler-$2000-my wife bought it for me as a present a few yrs ago.
I recently bought a Marshall DSL20 head and the matching vertical 2-12 cab, just cause I never had a Marshall-prob around a grand total.
That Bassman story had quite the happy ending. Congrats!

I saw Jorma Kaukonen with Hot Tuna at a medium sized club. He was playing Epiphone guitars and Carr amps. I can’t recall the exact models. His guitar tones were tasty! Some of my favorite live guitar tones of all time. Of course, it helps that he’s mastered the fretboard.

Congrats on the Marshall. Some day, I may get there.
 
I realized, I forgot about a Marshall Valvestate 110 combo that I bought just before getting the Fender. I don’t recall the amount paid but I sold it to my brother in law cheap.
 
In the late 70's I built a clone of some sort of Fender 50W amp using a schematic I found in my TV repair class Sam's Photofacts. I cribbed a lot of the parts from scrap TVs in the class. I think I ended up with maybe $50 in it.

A few years later, the output transformer failed, so I bought a Peavey Deuce amp for, I think, $200. It ended up being a horrid POS - I hated that amp. Shortly after that the bass player sold me his Marshall 100W combo amp for $250. Fantastic amp - I still have it.

I let the drummer borrow the Peavey (but refused to sell it to him because it was such a turd). He loved it. He eventually asked me if he could sell it and I said sure, just give me my $200 out of the sale and keep whatever he got on top of that. I think he ended up getting $400 out of it.
 
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Bass:
Markbass MiniMark 350watt, 2x6" - $45 at a pawn shop. They told me it was broken. The internal speaker switch was shut off. It works well and is a great amp.

Phil Jones Bass Double Four 2 x 4-inch 70-watt Bass Combo Amp - $479 new. I needed something very small for jam sessions.

Guitar:
5e3 kit amp from StewMac. About $900 at the time.
Vox MV-50 Rock - $150? It was a STOTD a few years ago. Great little amp that's loud AF.
Joyo Bantamp XL Marshall JCM II copy. Another great little amp that's loud AF.

At the moment, that's it.
 
Right now I have the Origin 50, Peavey 6505MH and Blackstar HT20 mkII combo. So about 1500 I suppose. And sold the Kemper for about 900. Good deal imo.

In the late 70's I built a clone of some sort of Fender 50W amp using a schematic I found in my TV repair class Sam's Photofacts. I cribbed a lot of the parts from scrap TVs in the class. I think I ended up with may $50 in it.

A few years later, the output transformer failed, so I bought a Peavey Deuce amp for, I think, $200. It ended up being a horrid POS - I hated that amp. Shortly after that the bass player sold me his Marshall 100W combo amp for $250. Fantastic amp - I still have it.

I let the drummer borrow the Peavey (but refused to sell it to him because it was such a turd). He loved it. He eventually asked me if he could sell it and I said sure, just give me my $200 out of the sale and keep whatever he got on top of that. I think he ended up getting $400 out of it.

Bass:
Markbass MiniMark 350watt, 2x6" - $45 at a pawn shop. They told me it was broken. The internal speaker switch was shut off. It works well and is a great amp.

Phil Jones Bass Double Four 2 x 4-inch 70-watt Bass Combo Amp - $479 new. I needed something very small for jam sessions.

Guitar:
5e3 kit amp from StewMac. About $900 at the time.
Vox MV-50 Rock - $150? It was a STOTD a few years ago. Great little amp that's loud AF.
Joyo Bantamp XL Marshall JCM II copy. Another great little amp that's loud AF.

At the moment, that's it.
Some good deals. Many excellent amps!
 
Fender Frontman 25R (blackface with speaker output ) $160. 19 years ago. Still have it.

Crate 120 2x12 $329. 17 years ago play it everyday almost for the last 17 years.

Crate 30 watt acoustic amp $170. 17 years ago, still have it and use it almost everyday.

Crate 4x12 cab 200. Use it with my Fender Frontman amp. 17 years ago.

Epiphone 5 watt head and cab. $125 each. Sold them 5 years later for $125 each. In the original box.

Line 6 Spider 4 $275. Gave it away.

That’s it.
 
My first recognisable amp after plugging into my old Realistic Radio Cassette player's microphone input for the first month of owning an electric guitar was a Hohner Panther 20 solid state practice amp for £80 back in 1988. Sounded just about beareable on the clean sound and a damn site worse when you switched in the gain. Long gone now thankfully, part exchanged for...

Fender Bassman 135 head and a home built closed back 2x12" cab. From memory the Fender was £100 and the cab was a straight swap for my Hohner Panther. My parents were most impressed with my new practice amp!

The Fender needed a service so I took to the old radio repair guy down the road who serviced it and revalved it. It would go all the way up and stay clean and was a great pedal platform but was heavier than a small car. Years later and rigs later I had it serviced again by a guitar shop and the tonality changed to break up a bit but that made it less useful as a pedal platform for me so I sold it on ebay to a guy in Norway for £300ish.

The 2x12" came with a pair of knackered Goodmans speakers which got changed out for a pair of 100w 16ohm Celestions fairly rapidly along with making the cab half open back. When I later started using a stereo rack system, I swapped the Celestions for 100w 8ohm ones. Still have the cabinet and was using it recently with my rack gear when both my combo amps were out of service.

I did have a little no-name valve head I found in a second hand junk shop for about £20 for a few years and ran it with one of the original Goodman speakers from the 2x12" in a chipboard frame I knocked up. No idea what happened to that rig now unfortunately, suspect I traded it somewhere along the line but can't remember when or what for.

In 1994, I went rack. Alesis Quadraverb GT processor (£350) and a Marshall Valvestate 8008 power amp (£250). Quickly added a second hand Yamaha Q100 half rack EQ as the practical way to adjust overall tone quickly in different venues and provide more control. Also got a Rolls RFX Midi Buddy pedal and had a custom built from a local firm called Orchid Electronics which phantom power the midi pedal, had a tuner built in and provided power to all the other units in the rack. Effectively meant I put the guitar lead and midi footswitch lead in the front, connected the 2 speaker leads and mains lead stored in the back and I had a 100 channel head ready to go. Still got all of this kit and a few other processors collected along the way. The Q100 and Marshall Valvestate along with a Yamaha FX550 provided me with a decent gigging rig recently while getting at least one of my combo amps repaired.

Trace Elliot Super Tramp 1x12" 100w Combo. Bought this at the tail end of 96, start of 97. 3 channels, switchable master volume and reverb. Cost me £325 from memory with a second footswitch thrown free in so I could access all the features. Been my favourite amp ever since.

Big gap then until the Boss Microcube. Bought around 2009 (I think) for my son to use when he asked to try learning guitar. He had some lessons but didn't really take to it so it was inherited from child to parent and still used as my practice amp at home when I get a chance.

Second Trace Elliot Super Tramp Combo. Tail end of 2013, I spotted a twin to my main amp on ebay for £35 plus £14 courier collection. Needed a new Neutrik on the speaker lead as the original had got bent (probably in transit) and a new badge for the grill that my bass player found on ebay and gifted to me. For quite a while I used both amps in my 3 piece covers band so we had guitar sounds spread across both sides of the stage. Still have.

Vox Amplug2 and extension cab. Bought in 2019 principally for practicing in hotel rooms as I was doing a lot of travelling then. Still have.

Cube Baby mini modeller, Nov 2023, for £36 on ebay. Great little bit of kit, I use it as my practice rig at home running through the Aux input of my Boss Microcube, Also take it to gigs as my back up, in case the main rig goes done, it'll give me three usable sounds I can plug into the PA and get through the gig with.
 
5153 - i think like 800 but it was already kruse modded so not stock
6505 - i think like 450. used from GC pre covid
quilter tone block 200s - i think i got each one for around 200 bucks
 
I currently own a Spark and a Monoprice 12" tube combo. I think I'm out less than $700 all told.
Edit: looked up prices. I know I bought both on sale. Probably only $500 all told.
 
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