Best apartment amp under $200

[The Honourable MOC]

need something to jam at home with. Are the modelers worth it with headphones? I need some thing that I can still run my effects through and not get kicked out of my home. That little epiphone looks cool.

[kishjor]

pro junior

[Wilbo26]

Pro Junior, or on teh cheap look at the Roland Microcube or the Vox DA5, both pretty solid little modeling amps that play nice with pedals for a modeling amp. The DA5 also doubles as a headphone amp for me when the GF is asleep. Its not as good as a tube amp but it gets the job done.

My Blues Jr. can be turned down pretty low but still have a pretty good and tone overall...its perfect for a house but for an apartment I still always thought it was a bit too loud.

[onbongos]

i'm getting a peavey royal 8. more to come

[PurpleStrat]

My Blues Jr. can be turned down pretty low but still have a pretty good and tone overall...its perfect for a house but for an apartment I still always thought it was a bit too loud.

You have to work with it but it's OK for aparments. Even my Laney that went down to 5 watts was to loud to get any good tone with though. Still a low leval Blues Jr. beats any SS amp I have tried.

[waveman]

Vox Pathfinder 15r

[trlkvsky]

need something to jam at home with. Are the modelers worth it with headphones? I need some thing that I can still run my effects through and not get kicked out of my home. That little epiphone looks cool.

I'm in the same situation - not to mention my upstairs neighbour is a crazy oversensitive complaining bitch - so in the mean time I've been playing through my Pod 2.0. It works fine, and I've yet to receive any complaints for the guitar playing (now the parties are another thing ;)). However, I do plan on getting a small tube amp. I've heard many good things about the Epiphone, but it's speaker is quite small and there's only one knob... There's also the Crate V58, 5watt tube amp with a lot more tweakability that might suit your needs a little better, but it's close to 300 iirc. At that price I'd go with the Fender Pro Junior. Less tweakabiliy but it is 15 watts with a 10 inch speaker... definitely worth checking it out.

[PurpleStrat]

I'm in the same situation - not to mention my upstairs neighbour is a crazy oversensitive complaining bitch - so in the mean time I've been playing through my Pod 2.0. It works fine, and I've yet to receive any complaints for the guitar playing (now the parties are another thing ;)). However, I do plan on getting a small tube amp. I've heard many good things about the Epiphone, but it's speaker is quite small and there's only one knob... There's also the Crate V58, 5watt tube amp with a lot more tweakability that might suit your needs a little better, but it's close to 300 iirc. At that price I'd go with the Fender Pro Junior. Less tweakabiliy but it is 15 watts with a 10 inch speaker... definitely worth checking it out.

The Crate sounds like garbage! I had one for about an hour then it went back.

[trlkvsky]

The Crate sounds like garbage! I had one for about an hour then it went back.

Really? I've never tried it, although it was among the options I was seriously considering at one point. I've since decided I would try to save up for a Peavey Classic 30, simply for the options i.e. fx loop, reverb, eq, etc.

EDIT: I'm only worried 30 watts will be too loud for my place...

[PurpleStrat]

Really? I've never tried it, although it was among the options I was seriously considering at one point. I've since decided I would try to save up for a Peavey Classic 30, simply for the options i.e. fx loop, reverb, eq, etc.

EDIT: I'm only worried 30 watts will be too loud for my place...


You should still try it. One mans garbage is another mans treasure. Classic 30's get some good tones even at low volumes and it only gets better on the way up!

[RelicJunky]

The Pro Junior sounds great at low volume and it absoulutely loves pedals. I would highly recommend it.


On the plus side you can use it like a head with any 8 Ohm cabinet. I have to say that with a 4x12 it is simply amazing. I have a coulple of old MIJ Boss Distortions that I use with it and I swear it sounds like a Marshall.

[trlkvsky]

The Pro Junior sounds great at low volume and it absoulutely loves pedals. I would highly recommend it.


On the plus side you can use it like a head with any 8 Ohm cabinet. I have to say that with a 4x12 it is simply amazing. I have a coulple of old MIJ Boss Distortions that I use with it and I swear it sounds like a Marshall.

Cool. Sounds like something I should be considering! And it's less than half the price of a Classic 30, I believe. :idea:

[StratAtak83]

The Pro Junior sounds great at low volume and it absoulutely loves pedals. I would highly recommend it.




Yeah .. its going to be my bedroom amp . And most pedals sound excellent with it ..

[RelicJunky]

Yeah .. its going to be my bedroom amp . And most pedals sound excellent with it ..


The versitility of the amp is what sold me. Its great for practice, with pedals you can just barely crack open the volume and play at wisper levels or you can take it out and plug it into a 4x12 and jam.

[Wilbo26]

The versitility of the amp is what sold me. Its great for practice, with pedals you can just barely crack open the volume and play at wisper levels or you can take it out and plug it into a 4x12 and jam.
Yeah as long as you don't need sparkling cleans those babies can jam no problem unless you're dealing with a balls out drummer with a huge kit. My bandmates were really surprised the first time I brought it to practice and it kept up with everyone.

[telemike]

Roland Cube15x, 20X or 30X

[FLYING V 83]

Gonna go against the flow here and recommend something bizarre.
Crate RFX15. Don't laugh. I have a C30 as well as my gigging Marshall 2x12, and the C30 is WAY too loud for "apartment use" as the OP states he wants. Everyone is recommending amps that can double for gigging, that's not what he asked for.
The little Crate has some nice choruses & delays, only an 8" speaker, and can sit on a coffee table. I don't bother running pedals into it. I use it for learning songs and it can be surprisingly loud if necessary. Has a nice clean to it too.

I think it would serve well as an "apartment" amp.

[PurpleStrat]

Or just wait for thr new Fender Champ.:thu:

[waveman]

Gonna go against the flow here and recommend something bizarre.
Crate RFX15. Don't laugh. I have a C30 as well as my gigging Marshall 2x12, and the C30 is WAY too loud for "apartment use" as the OP states he wants. Everyone is recommending amps that can double for gigging, that's not what he asked for.
The little Crate has some nice choruses & delays, only an 8" speaker, and can sit on a coffee table. I don't bother running pedals into it. I use it for learning songs and it can be surprisingly loud if necessary. Has a nice clean to it too.

I think it would serve well as an "apartment" amp.

Yeah, just about any amp with a tube power section would be too loud for most apartments (at least the ones I lived in). I have the Vox, and it sounds good from a whisper, to all out...at least for what it is, I am actually running the effects loop out from my tube head directly in, and have been quite surprised.

[Barrey78]

I just got one of these for 115 shipped.

http://members.cox.net/oasysco/bio/greg11.jpg

5 watts. I played it when I was in Arizona, sounded and I think it will be my apartment jamming/recording amp.

You can get a cool vintage 5-10 watt amp for under 200 on ebay.

I usually just play through my computer at home though. I have a line6 toneport UX2 and the gearbox software. I have a pair of M Audio reference monitors, but I also use headphones. THis is a good deal, especially if you dabble with recording at all.

You could get the line 6 ux 1 and an OK set of monitors for under 200.

[Wilbo26]

Gonna go against the flow here and recommend something bizarre.
Crate RFX15. Don't laugh. I have a C30 as well as my gigging Marshall 2x12, and the C30 is WAY too loud for "apartment use" as the OP states he wants. Everyone is recommending amps that can double for gigging, that's not what he asked for.
The little Crate has some nice choruses & delays, only an 8" speaker, and can sit on a coffee table. I don't bother running pedals into it. I use it for learning songs and it can be surprisingly loud if necessary. Has a nice clean to it too.

I think it would serve well as an "apartment" amp.
That's why I also suggested the Micro-Cube style amps. :thu: There are plenty of nights I'm VERY glad I have something I can play through with headphones, especially when I lived in apartments.

[The Honourable MOC]

cool... I like the headphones option. Do any of you use these for home recording?

[Wilbo26]

cool... I like the headphones option. Do any of you use these for home recording?
The Vox does ok for home recording, I could probably do a couple of complete crap clips for you later if you really wanted.

Unfortunately the MicroCube, as I understand it, doesn't sound very good through the headphone/line out jack. Which is a shame because it can sound REALLY good.