Ive been playing my Acoustic lately but I got the cheap Epiphone SG Special bundle, It comes with an amp with very few options and I cant do much in the overdrive setting all it truely does is make the amp grumbly and adds a litle bit of edge to the sound, Ive seen amps at guitar center with many overdrive options on them can anyone recommend a affordable amp thats good quality?

Dr.bob7 wrote on Jul 31^st, 2009 at 6:21pm:


I would have thought that a solid-bodied Electric Guitar with multiple pick-ups (Fender Strat') would be more suitable for producing volume, overdrive, distortion, etc, together with a Valve Amp (Marshal, etc).

An Acoustic Guitar (steel strings?) normally only has one cheap Pick-up near the sound hole, mainly intended to just increase the Volume to the Audience, via any old Amp....!

Paul...Electric Strat', etc, and various Acoustic Guitars (nylon and steel strings)... ...!

I design and build my own Valve Amps... ..!

scalper_old wrote on Aug 6^th, 2009 at 6:08pm:



Agreed, look into a Zoom 505 on ebay, should be able to get one for around $20.

That combined with your guitar & amp, and you can make just about any sound you coud desire.

If you would rather just have an all in one type package, look into amps from Line-6, they feature a ton of sound fx built in, and software that models all of the great amps of the past, giving you virtually a ton of amps to play through all in one amp.

I've always found Fender amps to be reliable.  They've got a good price range, and for a couple hundred $'s you can get a decent one.

What you see on the floor is good quality.  Mega stores don't sell junk.

I was never satisfied with built in overdrive or distortion; you might want to get a pedal instead.

Volume is regulated by wattage and speaker size.  The higher the wattage, the more you're gonna pay.  I'd go for 30 watt minimum.  100 watts will blow you out of the room.  

Tube (valve) amps are usually pretty expensive.  If you want a really clean sound (it can still be modified by a good pedal), solid state.  If you want a dirtier, more blues-ie sound, tube amps.  

You gotta try before you buy to determine what you like best.  

I would NOT buy a used amp.  You don't know what it's been through.  Buy where you can easily return.

Boss has a multi pedal, the OD-20, which I swear by.  You can dial up all sorts of overdrive and distortion, and program them with different parameters to control the response.  It alone is worth the price of several pedals.

My current amp is a Fender Deluxe 900, 90w, 1 12", solid state, quite, quite good, very good for home use, but unfortunately no longer in production.  

Long ago I had a Fender Super Reverb, tube, 4-10", but only 40w. I used it for gigs.  Great volume for home, but for gigs needed a miked boost.  A really good amp, still in production, but very expensive.

My first personal choice today would be a Fender Twin Reverb, tube, 2-12", not sure of the wattage, maybe 100w?.  A friend has one and the volume aspect is tremendous.  THAT would have been my perfect gig amp in my gigging days.

Apex wrote on Aug 8^th, 2009 at 11:22am: