Wtf is wrong with all you complainers out there!?! We all know these amps will never sound like high end studio amps. A fender frontman 10g will never sound a boutique amp. This video is to help kids and beginners get the best out of what they have. Lighten up people!
Tip #1 instead of spending $150 on a reverb pedal just ad it to the $100 you were going to spend on the amp and get a $250 amp with reverb and a better speaker
The Peavey Rage in the video cost me $20, and I have bought a Danelectro Corned Beef Reverb used for $15 before. The instrument cable I used with that setup cost the same as the amp and pedal.
Maybe, but people already have these amps, and/or can only outlay the $100 now. If you buy a $150 reverb pedal, you can still use it later after you've upgraded amps. Plus, that pedal is likely to be better and more versatile than the reverb in a $350 amp. And maybe that strategy lets you get the better guitar now because you can add the reverb pedal later.
Converting a "baby amp", as I like to call em, into a head and plugging into a nice cab really stretches the lifetime out of a cheapo amp like the rage or frontman. It's super easy, as amp mods are concerned. Remove the speaker and head from the cab and chop the cabinet to a more manageable size and use the speaker cables to make a line out. Put the amp housing back and WAMMO! You got a cheap amp head! fender frontman tends to be 8 ohm peavey 158 will work with 4 ohm Just check the back of the amp for impedance as it SHOULD be listed somewhere near the power cable (though some manufacturers leave it out) Just a little money saving tip from your friendly neighborhood commenter!
This was fun to watch. One suggestion...and this goes for a lot of the demos I’ve seen. When you switch from setting to setting, and then amp to amp, I think it’s important that you play the SAME riffs at first. That way we can hear the changes you’ve made to the amp settings, in a more controlled way. Rocking through a different riff-while completely awesome!-makes it difficult to compare apples to apples. (I think you did do that that near the end when you picked up the Squire) Thanks!
A Squier Classic Vibe *is* a cheap guitar, dude. A brand new Strat model is only like $400, *maybe* even up to $500, depending on where you go. I've seen $600 but that's far too overpriced for any Squier lol. Buy used and be willing to shop around a bit and you can snag one for closer to $150ish. None of those figures is even close a high dollar amount for an instrument. ~$500 is what pretty much needs to be spent on a new guitar for a beginner if they're hoping to get something that doesn't require a lot of work to become playable.
Good points... roll EVERYTHING back (including the pots on your guitar) and bring it all in slowly and in very small increments. Quit diming everything!!
I used the rage as my gigging amp for 3 years. The only complaint I ever received was from the club owner saying the amp on a chair wasn't acceptable. The crowd didn't care. Those were my minimalist lazy days. Late I had a Deluxe Reverb. Then later a JCM 50w half stack. I've used cheap multifx, pro pedals, etc.. in the end no one seems to care but me. That Marshall sure sounded nice. Was it worth it to haul that big heavy rig to a local bar?......Hell yes! Could I have used a rage and a small zoom multistomp? Definately. Use what you have and don't let gear snobs dictate your life. Music is supposed to be fun!
I have an old, cheap Crate MX15R ($25-$50 on used market today,) and it sounded pretty bad no matter what you'd do to it. Perhaps it was just age, (it was from the late 90's,) but the generic 8" speaker in it just wasn't doing the job. I got a new Celestion Eight Fifteen (4 ohm) for like $29 and installed it in minutes, and the amp sounded WONDERFUL after that. Better overdrive, better clean, better bass, present mids and detailed highs -- made it sound better than most $300 new practice amps at the store. A friend had a CUBE-20X with the same speaker specs and got himself an 8 Fifteen as well, to pretty great results after. Before getting a new amp entirely, TRY putting a new speaker in it first because you'd be amazed at how fresh it can make an amp sound for a fraction of the cost of a whole new amp. Note: I probably wouldn't try this on Line 6 amps though. They put tweeters in there that may not match well to other brands of speakers.
I have that Rage 158 and an Envoy 110. Best two tones I own in solid state. Peavey is 90 miles away from me. $25-50 for any repair. It's nice. Except, I've never had a Peavey solid state crap out on me.
I'm learning to play black metal, thanks for letting me know exactly what I shouldn't do for good tone. Max gain, dont go for moderate anything, deal in extremes. Use thicc treble, go for diminishing returns.
I play hardcore music with a band and I think over time it’s crazy how much less gain I use. I love I heavy smashing tone but I need to to have mods and sound musical
5 maxed out metal zones minimum for black metal. It should sound thin and unbearably shrill. Remember the forest you record your album in will fix any sound issues.
On the line 6 I turn all my knobs to 12 and start at the first volume set and turn it 0 to 10 because there are at least one or two sweet spots in each affect you were here it's swell and descend and find a sweet spot in that position for the high and low. I found out that a lot of controls have sweet spots you can find usually between 3 to 5 and 6 1/2 to 9 this will give you the most power out of each knob and from there you can fine tune your amp adding pedals to your sound.
I bought a Marshall MG 15 about 10 years ago when I first started learning how to play after I retired. I play a Fender Tele , and a Washburn semi hollow through it. It has Gain and Reverb knobs, plus Bass, Mid, and Treble. It has yet to disappoint. I get every kind of sound out of it that anyone would want. Of course, it's not for a "larger" venue, but I'll never be asked to play at one anyway. Cheers!! :)
I literally GAVE my Marshall MG15 away to a friend who was learning to play. That thing sounded like absolute shit but we both figured free is free and better than nothing.
However indirectly or unintentional, you make the point that both jazz and melodic picking are both far more forgiving artforms that can be played on a cheap amp. That's probably why jazzers often gravitate toward solid state amps as do acoustic guitarists. Neither suffers greatly from the flatter sounding tonality of an inexpensive transistor amp.
In my experience, miced acoustic sounds far better on tubes; they don't have to be expensive. I've only used a few amps, but tube has always blown solid state out of the water. I even listen to TH-cam on my tube amp. You... tube..? I tube. Haha.
I like how I’m watching this video with my mini toy amplifier hoping that I might be able to get a good sound with it when it has like 3 knobs that are labeled “volume”, “gain” and “tone”.
Use your guitar's volume knob, that's pretty much the only tip you need. Max the volume on your tiny lil' thing and use your volume knob to control gain
An inexpensive pedal can make a huge difference, as demonstrated by the addition of a reverb pedal. A cheap equalizer pedal can help shape the tone, too. I owned a Music Man 112RD 50W amp years ago. It had a beautiful clean sound. I was a noob, and bought it to replace a Peavey Backstage 30W amp (which sounded pretty good). I traded it away because I couldn't get a good higher gain sound out of it. Since I was a noob, I didn't even think about throwing a gain pedal in front of it. If I had, I'd still own that amp.
I found that there is a point on the dails when you can start to hear a difference and a an end point, for example from 4 to 8 on bass. Remenber the spots and you might get a sort of mental preset lay out. Plus, don't put your speaker on the ground, your ears are not in your ankles, or at least aim it towards them ;)
I have the steps up from all these. Peavey Bandit 2/12 is the best in cheap amps with 4 /12 and DI box switch to cab/ added on, and cuts the Peavey quantum noise down, replacing it with thickness 6/12 style. The stage lights up for lead. I have the Bogner Line 6 2/12 spider. Would have been great in the real day 80's90's but loud to get what you want out of line 6 tube is not today's headphone mixes everyone expects to hear live.
I am an old sound engineer and there is always more than one way to accomplish a desired sound. Many people think if there's too much bass you crank the treble. You can also get there by turning the bass down. This two way approach widens the flexibility and varies the sounds you can get. This is especially on vocals. You can gain clarity and elevate mids and highs by cutting or "rolling off" the bass.
Get any one of those amps, get a Multi effects processor such as a zoom g1x four or something in similar range... And a good cable... Youre set for home practice and band jam session... For me its always better to avoid the gain/ OD on cheaper amps.. use the multi effects for that.. you'll enjoy it better
Good video but one thing to keep in mind, very often on Major label albums guitarists have tracked amazing and BIG guitar sounds using a small practice amp. So, I agree there are ways to make a not so great sounding amp sound better but just wanted to clarify that just because an amp is small and cheap doesn't mean it will always sound bad
@@ethanbilby9173 Somewhat correct. While often yes double tracking is definitely done, often it is done with a smaller amp. Regarding quadruple tracking or even more you will ironically end up with a smaller guitar sound. Regarding software trickery...well, yeah, that's kind of an open game ;)
I have the Peavey Rage 158. A Peavey Rage 108 was my very first amp and someone local was giving away a Peavey 158 transtube last month and so I snagged it. It’s a great sounding amp for its size an age. I plan to upgrade the speaker with an 8” Eminence 820H speaker. A tip for better tone on the Peavey Rage 158 is that if you want to use pedals then don’t use the clean channel! Especially distortion pedals will sound terrible through the clean channel with a harshness you won’t be able to dial out. Instead use the drive channel with the distortion on the amp (pre) turned down and the volume (post) turned up and your pedals will sound a million times better. I have a theory this is why so many Boss Metal Zones got a bad rap years ago. Every beginner guitarist plugged it in on the clean channel and it sounded like a can of bees.
This was a cool video to stumble on. I bought a Used Line 6 Spider IV for 50 bucks and was looking around to find out what it was costing on the market and reviews for it. I think it's been a great amp for what I needed. It's only issue which, I don't think is a big deal, I could probably easily get inside it and fix the problem, but when I use the Chan Vol. or the drive knobs the sound will flicker in and out it will turn on super loud then I will mess with a knob and it goes all of the way down, and vice versa sometimes it sounds perfect then I go to tweak something and the distortion or the volume jumps up or down. It sounds like a loose wire to me but I'm not an expert! Great Video! Keep up the good work!
I have used cheap small combo amps as a head into something like a 12 inch speaker cab and it is amazing what it does for the sound of the small amp. They suddenly sound large and lush. Much of the circuitry used in small combo amps is the same as used in mid sized amps, just with less features.
@@stephengolby7660 Make a patch cable with male spade connectors on one end (to plug your speaker wires into) and what ever type of connector/jack you need for the cab.
For your typical gigging situations, here the cardinal rules for great guitar tone: 1. Forget stacks! Use a combo amp. 12" speakers sound the best. 2. Don't aim it at your ass! You hear forward, not backward. Put it on the floor in front of you aimed up like a vocal monitor. Put a mic on it. You will _hear_ your tone even at lower wattage. 3. Don't dime out the guitar! Those volume/tone controls go up AND down. Learn to use them. 4. Corollary to #3: Turn your amp all the way up. That's right. Master volume all the way, but input volume at half (probably). Also all tone controls at half (definitely).
I have a Marshall MG30gfx and honestly, once I cranked the treble and backed the bass of to like 2-3 and it sounds great despite everyone on the internet hating the MG series lol
6:30 +/- seconds in "Back in the day" LOL I'm 55 and "back in the day" means something much different for me. I survived "Gorilla" amps and Sears Robuck amps. Thank you for this demo- valuable info for those that can hear
Great video and btw this video should also be a role model for most other guitar related channels when it comes to video audio level. One of the very few you can listen to where the audio level of the guitar playing parts don't throw you off the chair because of the volume level difference with narration. Well done.
The front man 10g was my first amp Honestly I still use it because I like the tone but it does kind of bring me to a point I’m not sure if they mention “How to make an amp sound good” depends ENTIRELY on the listener For example i always run all the knobs at 10 on that amp (besides volume) because that’s the sound I like but that’s directly against what they said So it’s more important that you play your amp and see what you like instead of just listening to people tell you what sounds good
Thanks for the video! I'm a beginner and have a amp that is cheaper than anything you had in the video... BUT, I LEARNED A LOT!! I understand my amp a lot more now and can play with the adjustments to get a better sound. Many Thanks!!
Orange crush 12 has a 6.5” speaker and it sounds massive! It’s also a ported box which probably helps. I once played a fender champion 20 that sounded huge for what it is. I suspect for recording performances, many of these smaller combos would be fine in a mix once you add drums and bass. A Vox Pathfinder 15R with its 8” speaker has a thunderous low end. Some amplifier companies just know how to make small combos sound great - others fail tremendously.
I use 2 of the tiny Squier SP-10 amps and drive them with a Digitech RP pedal. These little amps originally came in boxed sets with Squier guitars that were marketed for beginners. Looking at reviews online, most are extremely negative and many even regard them among the worst amps ever made. These are usually the opinions of players who simply plug straight in and try to play metal, etc.
I admit that the distortion mode sounds absolutely awful, but these little gems sound pretty good in “clean” mode - even with the 6 inch speaker. They're really LOUD too! The “trick” is, like you explain in your video, is to “shape” the sound with pedals and/or pre-amps and let the amplifiers simply amplify your sound. You'll never be able to plug straight in and sound like you're using a Mesa Boogie or a Marshall or a Fender Twin, but you can get amazingly close to those kinds of sounds with the right gear up front! At any rate, when I plug in my RP into both of mine for stereo I get really rich and full and lush sounds galore. I set the volume a little over 1, treble on 2 and bass on 8 and then control everything else with the pedal. Even at this low setting, with the RP pushing it, it is plenty loud enough to fill the room with amazing sound. I can get ANY kind of tone I want - from blues to metal to country! Actually, this kind of setup would be great for small coffee house or restaurant gigs, etc.. Lightweight and portable with low power consumption requirements..... I have larger well known amplifiers - both tube and solid state types that are universally well regarded. But for doodling around at home, these little “cheapo” amps are the ones I seem to go to most often. They power on instantly, don't consume much electricity, are very quiet (no background noise), and seem to be super reliable and dependable. Never had a problem with any of them after years of daily use! Same excellent results with a little Drive CD100 amp, although I only have one of these so far and am looking for another for stereo use. These amps are a real bargain and seem to be plentiful at the moment. Newer, more fully featured amps with DSP effect, etc would probably be a better choice for someone just starting out, but if you are a savvy and seasoned player these tiny wonders are treasures waiting to be relished.........
Great lesson I’m constantly struggling to get the sounds I want for different songs and spend way to much time adjusting the settings ! No one really explains it so we know what setting to use but you guys did a great job letting us hear the difference when you changed settings! I have the Peavey Amp andnow im much more equipped to use it 👍❤️🎸🎶👌 Thanks for Helping with an area that a lot of ppl struggle with and Rock on I am now going to subscribe
For cheap amps I will always suggest any of the Peavey transtube amps. They sound great for the price (usually around $100 used). And instead of a reverb pedal I would suggest a delay. Something from joyo, aroma, or the danelectro Fab delay. They're super affordable and a have the ability to dial in reverb like effects or stupid long delays, so they're a best of both worlds kinda deal. Also, you could always invest in an extension cab later on for bigger sound.
You can find broken amp and grab reverb springs, and use it as separate reverb or install inside. Peavey is best choice but its hard to find that information.
What you said about the presets is so true! When I got my first electric guitar a few months ago I bought a fender lt25 and was seriously disappointed at first because I was using the presets and thought my guitar sounded horrible. Once I started dialing it in myself I was so happy!
Got the Peavey Rage for 30 bucks, tip on that is if you're using some super heavy distortion pedal, put it on the lead channel and back down the gain until it's clean before turning the pedal on. The lead channel with a clean tone deals with a distorted signal from a pedal much better than the clean one does.
Another trick to making a bad amp sound better is to replace the the cable connecting it to the guitar with a good quality cable. A lot of the guitar amp combos come with cheap cables. Sound terrible
Both the Fender Frontman and the Peavey Rage have versions with a buit in reverb. Frontman 15R and the Peavey Blazer. The Fender is a 2 spring and I think the Blazer is electronic rather than spring.
I'm listening tbrough my six inch Gorilla tuba amp; and that bit at the end, where Nate played the tube amp, sounded soo much better than the solid states. Tube is the only way to go for me. Jesus Christ bless us all.
Listening to the line 6 is like a reminiscent of my behringer combo amp. Lots of honk on the mid-range. Even if you put the mid-range at - 0, it still has too much honk. I eventually wound up getting rid of it.
This was a great video- but honestly- you both should just get a Boss Katana as your "cheap practice amp"- dial in amazing tones- play at home with crazy good feel at the .5 watt setting- gig with the exact same tone- only louder- at any gig- same rig. Seriously- I have some very expensive vintage gear from Marshall, Fender, Mesa and Friedman and my Katana gets all my home and gig time now. They're stupid good sounding, light weight and cheap as hell. Also- you're both great players- but the Fender guy on the right- now I have to go find more content from him- great touch- great tone! Loved what he was playing, not much here- but what was here was enough of a tone tease for me to want to hear more of that!
The Peavey Rage TransTube series are awesome little amps. U can get a Peavey Bandit for $150. Great amps. The small Marshall MG's are great also...Fender Champ ..thumbs up...
Sometimes, when I connected my tiny Marshall mg10 to a couple of 10" speakers, it sounds really good. To my ears, it sounds like a Dumble Overdrive amp that I heard reviewed on TH-cam.
The PV was the best! I had a Rage 158. GREAT sounding small amp, only thing that let it down it had a crap speaker! (Blue Marvel) Sounded great cold, but once warmed up it turned to MUSH! Plugged into a better, bigger speaker it was amazing. Recorded so well!
Unfortunately it had the worst sounding headphone socket I've ever heard, completely unusable. I bought a Boss Katana which thankfully sounds great from both speakers and headphones.
Basically the problem with these amps is they often have one tonal sweet spot, often everything around the mid position sounds best. Move much beyond that and they sound bad quickly. Likewise with the gain settings, too much gain and they quickly sound harsh. Another problem is the speakers are often cheap and you need some volume to drive them properly, at bedroom volumes they often lose tone. For practice a 4 inch speaker like in the Boss Katana or Yamaha TCR can sound great at low volumes because the speaker gets to move properly and you hear the guitar more accurately.
it's the SPEAKER...where the paper meets the air :-P You can have a nice amp with crappy speakers...it'll sound like crap I used to run my 15 watt practice create into my 4x12 cabinets with CELESTIONS. The damn cabinets cost more than the head. $600.... You can just get FREE AMP sims...if you dont have money for an amp.. REAPER is also FREE (DAWS)...it has FX...it's just not visually fancy...but dose evrything. Go into the MIC...then through the surround sound or your practice.. There's free amp sims or FX...up the wazooo....
@It's Jemmy set your master volume to ~4 to 5. Modeling amps have a tendency to behave as you're describing and it's not s problem unique to the Mustang. That amp does suck ass, though. I had one and absolutely hated it.
Since you're not going to go to any show with a Fender 10G anyway, I'd recommend just buying an audio interface and run the sound through your computer. A pair of headphone and you'll get a nice sound with simulated amps and even be able to easily record yourself. I think that's the solution I'd recommend to a beginner for the same price as a crappy amp. On top of that, it allows to experiment with multiple effects without breaking the bank. If you really wanna go for a crappy amp, then the reverb pedal is a must...and depending on your guitar, a noise gate will probably help as well but same here, don't break the bank...there's no point in pairing a crappy $60 amp with a $200 reverb pedal. Just get a $30 one and practice your playing until YOU can make it sound good (or decent at least)...having the most expensive equipment won't be of any help if you're the one making it sound bad. Don't be that guy why blame their sloppy playstyle on the equipment ^^'
i know it is an old comment but I feel I have to add a thing or two. Since I got a guitar a year ago, I did exactly as you suggest. I was playing it only through simulated amps and tons of pedals. While it is nice to have all this at your disposal, there are a few problems. You don't have physical contact with the knobs and can't really tell how things affect each other. furthermore, there is such an overwhelming variety of amps, pedals, and settings you end up using a few of them anyway. Also, starting with a simple analogue amp and just tone/volume on your guitar, will help you to understand better how the instrument works and reacts to different settings. After all that, and it is a part of the process of learning guitar, you will be able to better utilise all the digital plug-ins. can't wait to get that pathfinder in my mail :D
an amp with presets always sounds over trebbly an gets that washed out effect. If you use a multi Fx unit use a good one that will let you select effect order in the chain as putting things in the proper place makes a huge improvement in the overall sound. for example compression should go before the gain and time based effects like delay should go through the effects loop if you have one. less is more every control has a sweet spot whether on the amp , effects, or guitar. it's more important how present an effect in the mix than it is how much you use of it.in other words the volume of the effect can effect clarity. just because my chorus pedal vilume can go to 10 doesn't mean that's where it should be. most of my effects are generally lower in volume than my distortion or the amps master volume! also note that using to much of an effect or putting pedals in the wrong order creates unwanted distortions an the wash out effect!
I'm glad you mentioned the 25R. I'm a beginner and needed an inexpensive amp for practice. I found a Frontman 25R on ebay and got it for a $37 bid. Had a guitar tech check it out and he was amazed at the punch it had for a 10" speaker. The 25R has 2 volumes (main + drive instead of OD switch), a middle range and built in reverb plus 2 aux in (stereo?) and footswitch jack the 10G doesn't have. As my dearly departed spousal unit used to say, "Blind hog found an acorn."
Thanks useful information Only caveat is I would have liked to hear it with you both playing more entry level instruments which are usually the kind played through this level amp...Video Part 2 ?
You like that Peavy hum, do you? My first amp was a Peavy. It hummed like that, too. I got rid of it, got a Fender Roc Pro 1000 head and hooked it up to a Crate speaker cabinet. It plays great. I am about to build a 4x8 combo cab with luggage wheels and an extending handle on it to use when I play out.
See what happens when you thumb your nose at a WH visit, opt instead to take a House of Representative Congress visit. By the end of the week after winning the World Cup you're doing a budget used amp demo on TH-cam. ;-)
Amazing ... when does the Amazing bit mentioned in the title come into it ? It became ‘Great’ , in the second sentence. A cheap amp has about 3 controls .. do you think anyone who has saved up 100 bucks to buy amp is not going to mess around with all the settings. An amazing sound for what Country? Metal? Jazz? Blues ? Any “great” player could pick up any of what you have there and sound pretty. Fekin good , Cos the main part of the sound ...it comes from you ... Now you know what to practice if you want a cheap rig to truly sound AMAZING
@@willroland9811 everyone talks about the sound mainly coming from the fingers 🙄 It's true for the most part, but pretending it's the *only* factor is straight up ridiculous and delusional lol. Amps and pickups do actually matter when it comes to sound/tone.
@@RC-bs6eb I played guitar in highschool, but didn't bother with it for many years until recently. A few pedals to play around with and a cheap amp are fine for practicing.
Some of the cheapest amps can be improved with the cheapest delay. Guys a cheap delay should really be the 1st to help make an amp & it’s player sound better, it will immediately help, a little delay can give the illusion of reverb. Also the delay is used in thousands Of songs . Once this beginner try’s even the smallest amount delay. They will realize that it is vastly used in all Types of music.
I own and gig with a Fender mustang iii. Love it. Can be bought second hand for 100 euros over here. 12 inch speaker, effects loop and 100 watts. I wouldnt really call it a 'practice amp', totally gigable. You probably wont need to feel the need to upgrade for quite some time. But indeed... don't use the presets.
I make my cheap amps sound great by choosing them carefully. I compared the tones of fourty bass amps before chosing my Ampeg. Listened to all the sound bytes in Thomann's site, and several TH-cam videos for each amp, the obviously poor ones were quickly discarded, and comparing the better ones made for a great deal of ear training. Did the same for my metal Peavey Envoy amp, and the Frontman 15 that I couldn't chose separately because it came in a pack with a great Tele, I'm making a larger cabinet with better resonant wood.
Funny that's exactly where I'm at at the moment Iv played acoustic for yrs till recently I got an SG which is ace and I got a 5 pound one lol still get a sound but I'm looking at scnd hand amps and these r the names popping up in my price range. I was holding out to get a black star but I have to say that peavey one sounded pretty good at doing a bit of everything. They dnt let u try them in the shops either so this really did help thanks guys good vid!
Usually I get better overdriven tones by dialling a decent clean tone on the amp and use an overdrive pedal. Usually those inexpensive practice amps are showing their limitations on the overdrive channel. But at some point, you really have to think about how much you spend on pedals vs how much you spend on the amp. There’s no point having a $1500 pedal board plugged in a $100 amp.
A shitty cheap 15w or 30w solid state amp will sound badass if you'll do a speaker out mod. Hook it up to an 8ohm or 16ohm speaker cab and you'll be in tone heaven. It'll never sound like a boutique amp but it's a great way to get awesome tones on the cheap (although speaker amps aren't exactly cheap). Most of these cheap amps have great circuitry in them but come with shit potentiometers and shit speakers. Don't give up on that 15w cheapo yet!
I wont even lie the frontman 10g is not in any sense bad in my opinion. I could walk over to my neighbors and probably get one for free, i had one hooked up to a semi decent 6 inch speaker i found in a broken klipsche speaker system. Turned out to be a really nice sounding clean amp, weighed nothing and i spent nothing on it. Ive now got a jtm45 clone and a 5f1 clone but i still like the sound of the frontman.
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Wtf is wrong with all you complainers out there!?! We all know these amps will never sound like high end studio amps. A fender frontman 10g will never sound a boutique amp. This video is to help kids and beginners get the best out of what they have. Lighten up people!
A man brother
@@lickmyfuckinnuts Men.
@@lickmyfuckinnuts bone apple tea
But dude, peddles cost more than these amps. Is that good advice over upgrading to an amp you can hear over drums first??
@@butthole4185 I’m not saying don’t upgrade your amp. I’m saying make the best of what you have while you have it lol
Tip #1 instead of spending $150 on a reverb pedal just ad it to the $100 you were going to spend on the amp and get a $250 amp with reverb and a better speaker
You can get a reverb pedal for $30-$40 new.
@@orlock20 ..and you can get bulk toilet paper for $30 - $40 too.
If you gonna be working with shit, get toilet paper!
The Peavey Rage in the video cost me $20, and I have bought a Danelectro Corned Beef Reverb used for $15 before. The instrument cable I used with that setup cost the same as the amp and pedal.
Maybe, but people already have these amps, and/or can only outlay the $100 now. If you buy a $150 reverb pedal, you can still use it later after you've upgraded amps. Plus, that pedal is likely to be better and more versatile than the reverb in a $350 amp. And maybe that strategy lets you get the better guitar now because you can add the reverb pedal later.
@@Caged63Man NAILED IT! get out of my head bro
Not everyone is lucky enough to own an expensive amp. So here's how to get the most out of something more affordable! Hope you enjoy the video. :)
GuitarLessons and not everyone is able to own a fender or a custom PRS use a squire or an epiphone on this
Good job man..
@@allthework9812 why do you sound so bitter?
Damn the boy on the right is cute
Thank you
Converting a "baby amp", as I like to call em, into a head and plugging into a nice cab really stretches the lifetime out of a cheapo amp like the rage or frontman.
It's super easy, as amp mods are concerned. Remove the speaker and head from the cab and chop the cabinet to a more manageable size and use the speaker cables to make a line out. Put the amp housing back and WAMMO! You got a cheap amp head!
fender frontman tends to be 8 ohm
peavey 158 will work with 4 ohm
Just check the back of the amp for impedance as it SHOULD be listed somewhere near the power cable (though some manufacturers leave it out)
Just a little money saving tip from your friendly neighborhood commenter!
This was fun to watch. One suggestion...and this goes for a lot of the demos I’ve seen. When you switch from setting to setting, and then amp to amp, I think it’s important that you play the SAME riffs at first. That way we can hear the changes you’ve made to the amp settings, in a more controlled way. Rocking through a different riff-while completely awesome!-makes it difficult to compare apples to apples. (I think you did do that that near the end when you picked up the Squire) Thanks!
"Lemme grab a cheap squier guitar" ...Grabs a squier classic vibe
Ultimate Reality well compared to that suhr he’s playing that is a cheap guitar.
A Squier Classic Vibe *is* a cheap guitar, dude. A brand new Strat model is only like $400, *maybe* even up to $500, depending on where you go. I've seen $600 but that's far too overpriced for any Squier lol. Buy used and be willing to shop around a bit and you can snag one for closer to $150ish. None of those figures is even close a high dollar amount for an instrument. ~$500 is what pretty much needs to be spent on a new guitar for a beginner if they're hoping to get something that doesn't require a lot of work to become playable.
@@danill4381 you’re a kook or a bum.
@@cladoxylopsida568 I D I O T 🖕🏼
Squiers are fucking garbage, dude. Literal fucking garbage.
Good points... roll EVERYTHING back (including the pots on your guitar) and bring it all in slowly and in very small increments.
Quit diming everything!!
I used the rage as my gigging amp for 3 years. The only complaint I ever received was from the club owner saying the amp on a chair wasn't acceptable. The crowd didn't care. Those were my minimalist lazy days. Late I had a Deluxe Reverb. Then later a JCM 50w half stack. I've used cheap multifx, pro pedals, etc.. in the end no one seems to care but me. That Marshall sure sounded nice. Was it worth it to haul that big heavy rig to a local bar?......Hell yes! Could I have used a rage and a small zoom multistomp? Definately. Use what you have and don't let gear snobs dictate your life. Music is supposed to be fun!
"no one seems to care but me" You can say that again. :D
I had that exact peavey rage amp during my youth and it kicked ass. Good reliable amp.
I have an old, cheap Crate MX15R ($25-$50 on used market today,) and it sounded pretty bad no matter what you'd do to it. Perhaps it was just age, (it was from the late 90's,) but the generic 8" speaker in it just wasn't doing the job. I got a new Celestion Eight Fifteen (4 ohm) for like $29 and installed it in minutes, and the amp sounded WONDERFUL after that. Better overdrive, better clean, better bass, present mids and detailed highs -- made it sound better than most $300 new practice amps at the store. A friend had a CUBE-20X with the same speaker specs and got himself an 8 Fifteen as well, to pretty great results after. Before getting a new amp entirely, TRY putting a new speaker in it first because you'd be amazed at how fresh it can make an amp sound for a fraction of the cost of a whole new amp.
Note: I probably wouldn't try this on Line 6 amps though. They put tweeters in there that may not match well to other brands of speakers.
I have that Rage 158 and an Envoy 110. Best two tones I own in solid state. Peavey is 90 miles away from me. $25-50 for any repair. It's nice. Except, I've never had a Peavey solid state crap out on me.
Best mod you can make to any small practice amp (especially solid state) is to fit a "speaker out" jack and run the signal to a speaker cab.
I'm learning to play black metal, thanks for letting me know exactly what I shouldn't do for good tone. Max gain, dont go for moderate anything, deal in extremes. Use thicc treble, go for diminishing returns.
I play hardcore music with a band and I think over time it’s crazy how much less gain I use. I love I heavy smashing tone but I need to to have mods and sound musical
5 maxed out metal zones minimum for black metal. It should sound thin and unbearably shrill. Remember the forest you record your album in will fix any sound issues.
On the line 6 I turn all my knobs to 12 and start at the first volume set and turn it 0 to 10 because there are at least one or two sweet spots in each affect you were here it's swell and descend and find a sweet spot in that position for the high and low. I found out that a lot of controls have sweet spots you can find usually between 3 to 5 and 6 1/2 to 9 this will give you the most power out of each knob and from there you can fine tune your amp adding pedals to your sound.
I bought a Marshall MG 15 about 10 years ago when I first started learning how to play after I retired. I play a Fender Tele , and a Washburn semi hollow through it. It has Gain and Reverb knobs, plus Bass, Mid, and Treble. It has yet to disappoint. I get every kind of sound out of it that anyone would want. Of course, it's not for a "larger" venue, but I'll never be asked to play at one anyway. Cheers!! :)
I literally GAVE my Marshall MG15 away to a friend who was learning to play. That thing sounded like absolute shit but we both figured free is free and better than nothing.
@@RC-bs6eb I must have been lucky...mine has no problems for over ten years...yet! :)
However indirectly or unintentional, you make the point that both jazz and melodic picking are both far more forgiving artforms that can be played on a cheap amp. That's probably why jazzers often gravitate toward solid state amps as do acoustic guitarists. Neither suffers greatly from the flatter sounding tonality of an inexpensive transistor amp.
In my experience, miced acoustic sounds far better on tubes; they don't have to be expensive. I've only used a few amps, but tube has always blown solid state out of the water. I even listen to TH-cam on my tube amp.
You... tube..? I tube. Haha.
I like how I’m watching this video with my mini toy amplifier hoping that I might be able to get a good sound with it when it has like 3 knobs that are labeled “volume”, “gain” and “tone”.
Lol same 😂
Use your guitar's volume knob, that's pretty much the only tip you need. Max the volume on your tiny lil' thing and use your volume knob to control gain
That works for me
An inexpensive pedal can make a huge difference, as demonstrated by the addition of a reverb pedal. A cheap equalizer pedal can help shape the tone, too. I owned a Music Man 112RD 50W amp years ago. It had a beautiful clean sound. I was a noob, and bought it to replace a Peavey Backstage 30W amp (which sounded pretty good). I traded it away because I couldn't get a good higher gain sound out of it. Since I was a noob, I didn't even think about throwing a gain pedal in front of it. If I had, I'd still own that amp.
I found that there is a point on the dails when you can start to hear a difference and a an end point, for example from 4 to 8 on bass. Remenber the spots and you might get a sort of mental preset lay out.
Plus, don't put your speaker on the ground, your ears are not in your ankles, or at least aim it towards them ;)
Sorry , sorry .., Randi 6:53 did you say ‘back in the day ?’
When was ‘ back in the day for you ? Like ,, Thursday 2 weeks ago ?
Patrick Caldwell can't get past the stupid looking hair either
@@mad4669 hes fresh off the womans world cup win
I have the steps up from all these. Peavey Bandit 2/12 is the best in cheap amps with 4 /12 and DI box switch to cab/ added on, and cuts the Peavey quantum noise down, replacing it with thickness 6/12 style. The stage lights up for lead. I have the Bogner Line 6 2/12 spider. Would have been great in the real day 80's90's but loud to get what you want out of line 6 tube is not today's headphone mixes everyone expects to hear live.
He clearly stated he was referring to 1999-2000. You tried to choke his wiener didn’t you? 😂
I am an old sound engineer and there is always more than one way to accomplish a desired sound. Many people think if there's too much bass you crank the treble. You can also get there by turning the bass down. This two way approach widens the flexibility and varies the sounds you can get. This is especially on vocals. You can gain clarity and elevate mids and highs by cutting or "rolling off" the bass.
Just picked up a Peavy Rage 158 for $30 at Goodwill. Like new condition. So fun to play.
Damn that's a deal
Get any one of those amps, get a Multi effects processor such as a zoom g1x four or something in similar range... And a good cable... Youre set for home practice and band jam session... For me its always better to avoid the gain/ OD on cheaper amps.. use the multi effects for that.. you'll enjoy it better
Good video but one thing to keep in mind, very often on Major label albums guitarists have tracked amazing and BIG guitar sounds using a small practice amp. So, I agree there are ways to make a not so great sounding amp sound better but just wanted to clarify that just because an amp is small and cheap doesn't mean it will always sound bad
Not in most cases. They also double track guitars or even quadruple track, and most of the time they just use software.
@@ethanbilby9173 Somewhat correct. While often yes double tracking is definitely done, often it is done with a smaller amp. Regarding quadruple tracking or even more you will ironically end up with a smaller guitar sound. Regarding software trickery...well, yeah, that's kind of an open game ;)
@@chrisdunnettmusic most bands ive seen use a kemper live and in the studio. Trivium comes to mind first and foremost
@@ethanbilby9173 Yes...those Kempers are amazing!
I like the bit where it says even a $50 solid state amp can sound better than a $500 tube amp. I love my little portable 10g amp!
Just seeing these two in videos together reminds me of a father and son talking about Guitars, I love it!
I have the Peavey Rage 158. A Peavey Rage 108 was my very first amp and someone local was giving away a Peavey 158 transtube last month and so I snagged it. It’s a great sounding amp for its size an age. I plan to upgrade the speaker with an 8” Eminence 820H speaker. A tip for better tone on the Peavey Rage 158 is that if you want to use pedals then don’t use the clean channel! Especially distortion pedals will sound terrible through the clean channel with a harshness you won’t be able to dial out. Instead use the drive channel with the distortion on the amp (pre) turned down and the volume (post) turned up and your pedals will sound a million times better. I have a theory this is why so many Boss Metal Zones got a bad rap years ago. Every beginner guitarist plugged it in on the clean channel and it sounded like a can of bees.
This was a cool video to stumble on. I bought a Used Line 6 Spider IV for 50 bucks and was looking around to find out what it was costing on the market and reviews for it. I think it's been a great amp for what I needed. It's only issue which, I don't think is a big deal, I could probably easily get inside it and fix the problem, but when I use the Chan Vol. or the drive knobs the sound will flicker in and out it will turn on super loud then I will mess with a knob and it goes all of the way down, and vice versa sometimes it sounds perfect then I go to tweak something and the distortion or the volume jumps up or down. It sounds like a loose wire to me but I'm not an expert! Great Video! Keep up the good work!
I have used cheap small combo amps as a head into something like a 12 inch speaker cab and it is amazing what it does for the sound of the small amp. They suddenly sound large and lush. Much of the circuitry used in small combo amps is the same as used in mid sized amps, just with less features.
I've got a 4x12 cab and a line 6 IV 15.. can you explain how I connect the two and I'll have a go at it ? Cheers 🎸
@@stephengolby7660 Make a patch cable with male spade connectors on one end (to plug your speaker wires into) and what ever type of connector/jack you need for the cab.
For your typical gigging situations, here the cardinal rules for great guitar tone:
1. Forget stacks! Use a combo amp. 12" speakers sound the best.
2. Don't aim it at your ass! You hear forward, not backward. Put it on the floor in front of you aimed up like a vocal monitor. Put a mic on it. You will _hear_ your tone even at lower wattage.
3. Don't dime out the guitar! Those volume/tone controls go up AND down. Learn to use them.
4. Corollary to #3: Turn your amp all the way up. That's right. Master volume all the way, but input volume at half (probably). Also all tone controls at half (definitely).
Weber signature alnico replacement speakers in 6.5" & 8" sizes are great upgrades too. I put one in my Vox mini 5. Highly recommend :)
Thanks for the tip.
I just bought an old Peavey KB/A 15 for ny acoustic guitars, and I love it. Peavey actually goes back to the 70ties.
I actually have a fender frontman 10g and a stereo system if you plug an aux from the amp to the stereo system it gives it a more clear tone
I have a Marshall MG30gfx and honestly, once I cranked the treble and backed the bass of to like 2-3 and it sounds great despite everyone on the internet hating the MG series lol
Almost sold my Squire Amp. The right settings make a huge difference! 🤯
6:30 +/- seconds in "Back in the day" LOL I'm 55 and "back in the day" means something much different for me. I survived "Gorilla" amps and Sears Robuck amps. Thank you for this demo- valuable info for those that can hear
Hey I still play through a Silvertone 1484!
I wanted to buy marshal 15 or orange 12-20 after some research I decided to buy Peavey 158, it was great choice.
Great video and btw this video should also be a role model for most other guitar related channels when it comes to video audio level.
One of the very few you can listen to where the audio level of the guitar playing parts don't throw you off the chair because of the volume level difference with narration.
Well done.
I spend 95% of the time playing my electric unplugged anyway .
Me too bruh
So...maybe you shoulda just bought an acoustic. :)
@@mmccartney6579 i play electric guitar, it's just that sometimes I'm too lazy to plug in the amp...
@@dandeviant Ha!! Gotcha!! :)
Me too.
Putting reverb,delays in front of an amp😕 These amps don't have fx loop. Will it sound good?
The front man 10g was my first amp
Honestly I still use it because I like the tone but it does kind of bring me to a point I’m not sure if they mention
“How to make an amp sound good” depends ENTIRELY on the listener
For example i always run all the knobs at 10 on that amp (besides volume) because that’s the sound I like but that’s directly against what they said
So it’s more important that you play your amp and see what you like instead of just listening to people tell you what sounds good
that 25 frontman is an amazing amp .i had it when i first started going electric and i often find myself thinking of it's sound.
Thanks for the video! I'm a beginner and have a amp that is cheaper than anything you had in the video... BUT, I LEARNED A LOT!!
I understand my amp a lot more now and can play with the adjustments to get a better sound.
Many Thanks!!
Orange crush 12 has a 6.5” speaker and it sounds massive! It’s also a ported box which probably helps. I once played a fender champion 20 that sounded huge for what it is. I suspect for recording performances, many of these smaller combos would be fine in a mix once you add drums and bass. A Vox Pathfinder 15R with its 8” speaker has a thunderous low end. Some amplifier companies just know how to make small combos sound great - others fail tremendously.
Yep, Paevey rules here. I miss my 'red stripe' SP112 every day.
Me too...me too..
I use 2 of the tiny Squier SP-10 amps and drive them with a Digitech RP pedal. These little amps originally came in boxed sets with Squier guitars that were marketed for beginners. Looking at reviews online, most are extremely negative and many even regard them among the worst amps ever made. These are usually the opinions of players who simply plug straight in and try to play metal, etc.
I admit that the distortion mode sounds absolutely awful, but these little gems sound pretty good in “clean” mode - even with the 6 inch speaker. They're really LOUD too! The “trick” is, like you explain in your video, is to “shape” the sound with pedals and/or pre-amps and let the amplifiers simply amplify your sound. You'll never be able to plug straight in and sound like you're using a Mesa Boogie or a Marshall or a Fender Twin, but you can get amazingly close to those kinds of sounds with the right gear up front!
At any rate, when I plug in my RP into both of mine for stereo I get really rich and full and lush sounds galore. I set the volume a little over 1, treble on 2 and bass on 8 and then control everything else with the pedal. Even at this low setting, with the RP pushing it, it is plenty loud enough to fill the room with amazing sound. I can get ANY kind of tone I want - from blues to metal to country! Actually, this kind of setup would be great for small coffee house or restaurant gigs, etc.. Lightweight and portable with low power consumption requirements.....
I have larger well known amplifiers - both tube and solid state types that are universally well regarded. But for doodling around at home, these little “cheapo” amps are the ones I seem to go to most often. They power on instantly, don't consume much electricity, are very quiet (no background noise), and seem to be super reliable and dependable. Never had a problem with any of them after years of daily use!
Same excellent results with a little Drive CD100 amp, although I only have one of these so far and am looking for another for stereo use. These amps are a real bargain and seem to be plentiful at the moment. Newer, more fully featured amps with DSP effect, etc would probably be a better choice for someone just starting out, but if you are a savvy and seasoned player these tiny wonders are treasures waiting to be relished.........
Great lesson I’m constantly struggling to get the sounds I want for different songs and spend way to much time adjusting the settings ! No one really explains it so we know what setting to use but you guys did a great job letting us hear the difference when you changed settings! I have the Peavey Amp andnow im much more equipped to use it 👍❤️🎸🎶👌 Thanks for Helping with an area that a lot of ppl struggle with and Rock on I am now going to subscribe
For cheap amps I will always suggest any of the Peavey transtube amps. They sound great for the price (usually around $100 used). And instead of a reverb pedal I would suggest a delay. Something from joyo, aroma, or the danelectro Fab delay. They're super affordable and a have the ability to dial in reverb like effects or stupid long delays, so they're a best of both worlds kinda deal.
Also, you could always invest in an extension cab later on for bigger sound.
You can find broken amp and grab reverb springs, and use it as separate reverb or install inside. Peavey is best choice but its hard to find that information.
What you said about the presets is so true! When I got my first electric guitar a few months ago I bought a fender lt25 and was seriously disappointed at first because I was using the presets and thought my guitar sounded horrible. Once I started dialing it in myself I was so happy!
Got the Peavey Rage for 30 bucks, tip on that is if you're using some super heavy distortion pedal, put it on the lead channel and back down the gain until it's clean before turning the pedal on. The lead channel with a clean tone deals with a distorted signal from a pedal much better than the clean one does.
Another trick to making a bad amp sound better is to replace the the cable connecting it to the guitar with a good quality cable. A lot of the guitar amp combos come with cheap cables. Sound terrible
Nah.
Y A S
Preferably an instrument cable that’s almost twice as expensive as the amp itself lol
Good clip
Even with better amps this is still solid advice
gain is just a pre amp like so if you got stomp pedals or fx board set up keep this in mind
Both the Fender Frontman and the Peavey Rage have versions with a buit in reverb. Frontman 15R and the Peavey Blazer. The Fender is a 2 spring and I think the Blazer is electronic rather than spring.
I'm listening tbrough my six inch Gorilla tuba amp; and that bit at the end, where Nate played the tube amp, sounded soo much better than the solid states. Tube is the only way to go for me.
Jesus Christ bless us all.
Listening to the line 6 is like a reminiscent of my behringer combo amp.
Lots of honk on the mid-range. Even if you put the mid-range at - 0, it still has too much honk. I eventually wound up getting rid of it.
Got a boss fender 59' bassman pedal $40 (pawn shop) made my $29 crate 15 (gc used) sound great.
This was a great video- but honestly- you both should just get a Boss Katana as your "cheap practice amp"- dial in amazing tones- play at home with crazy good feel at the .5 watt setting- gig with the exact same tone- only louder- at any gig- same rig. Seriously- I have some very expensive vintage gear from Marshall, Fender, Mesa and Friedman and my Katana gets all my home and gig time now. They're stupid good sounding, light weight and cheap as hell. Also- you're both great players- but the Fender guy on the right- now I have to go find more content from him- great touch- great tone! Loved what he was playing, not much here- but what was here was enough of a tone tease for me to want to hear more of that!
I have an older Line6 15! Amazing amp! Bring it to school as well.
The Peavey Rage TransTube series are awesome little amps. U can get a Peavey Bandit for $150. Great amps. The small Marshall MG's are great also...Fender Champ ..thumbs up...
Sometimes, when I connected my tiny Marshall mg10 to a couple of 10" speakers, it sounds really good.
To my ears, it sounds like a Dumble Overdrive amp that I heard reviewed on TH-cam.
Very cool how a few adjustments can make a big difference in tone. Not to be confused with Tone Loc
The PV was the best! I had a Rage 158. GREAT sounding small amp, only thing that let it down it had a crap speaker! (Blue Marvel) Sounded great cold, but once warmed up it turned to MUSH! Plugged into a better, bigger speaker it was amazing. Recorded so well!
Unfortunately it had the worst sounding headphone socket I've ever heard, completely unusable. I bought a Boss Katana which thankfully sounds great from both speakers and headphones.
@@bikeman123 Ok, I'll TAKE your word for it as I never used the headphone socket!
(WHY would I? )
@@DMSProduktions night time practice, kids in bed, neighbours etc. I use headphones a lot.
@@bikeman123 Ok, fair enough! I tried it once or twice and it didn't work for me. I HAD to have the sound IN the room!
Basically the problem with these amps is they often have one tonal sweet spot, often everything around the mid position sounds best. Move much beyond that and they sound bad quickly. Likewise with the gain settings, too much gain and they quickly sound harsh. Another problem is the speakers are often cheap and you need some volume to drive them properly, at bedroom volumes they often lose tone. For practice a 4 inch speaker like in the Boss Katana or Yamaha TCR can sound great at low volumes because the speaker gets to move properly and you hear the guitar more accurately.
get a ssa
it's the SPEAKER...where the paper meets the air :-P
You can have a nice amp with crappy speakers...it'll sound like crap
I used to run my 15 watt practice create into my 4x12 cabinets with CELESTIONS.
The damn cabinets cost more than the head. $600....
You can just get FREE AMP sims...if you dont have money for an amp..
REAPER is also FREE (DAWS)...it has FX...it's just not visually fancy...but dose evrything.
Go into the MIC...then through the surround sound or your practice..
There's free amp sims or FX...up the wazooo....
Sourceforge...more free software than I care to sort thru...
Haha funny, these "cheap ones" are still amazing compared to mine
Same here. Got a yamaha Ga15ii that sounded pretty terrible. Have to crank up the Treble, middle, and bass, and mess around with the gain.
@Kurt Cobain woah that sounds interesting, what's the guitar like?
@It's Jemmy set your master volume to ~4 to 5. Modeling amps have a tendency to behave as you're describing and it's not s problem unique to the Mustang.
That amp does suck ass, though. I had one and absolutely hated it.
4:40 thats just amazing crunchy distortish tone for death metal
Jeez 6 inches isn’t that small 🙄
;)
Bahaha this just warmed my soul🤣🤣🤣
9 year old channel no subs wtf
@@Exploshi yeah damn, like i have 28 subs and I only make dumb jokes like this
I subscribed now
Is it possible to get the sound at 4:18 with the frontman 10g and a fender squier strat? I'm trying to play the Top Gun Anthem.
Since you're not going to go to any show with a Fender 10G anyway, I'd recommend just buying an audio interface and run the sound through your computer.
A pair of headphone and you'll get a nice sound with simulated amps and even be able to easily record yourself.
I think that's the solution I'd recommend to a beginner for the same price as a crappy amp.
On top of that, it allows to experiment with multiple effects without breaking the bank.
If you really wanna go for a crappy amp, then the reverb pedal is a must...and depending on your guitar, a noise gate will probably help as well but same here, don't break the bank...there's no point in pairing a crappy $60 amp with a $200 reverb pedal. Just get a $30 one and practice your playing until YOU can make it sound good (or decent at least)...having the most expensive equipment won't be of any help if you're the one making it sound bad.
Don't be that guy why blame their sloppy playstyle on the equipment ^^'
i know it is an old comment but I feel I have to add a thing or two. Since I got a guitar a year ago, I did exactly as you suggest. I was playing it only through simulated amps and tons of pedals. While it is nice to have all this at your disposal, there are a few problems.
You don't have physical contact with the knobs and can't really tell how things affect each other. furthermore, there is such an overwhelming variety of amps, pedals, and settings you end up using a few of them anyway. Also, starting with a simple analogue amp and just tone/volume on your guitar, will help you to understand better how the instrument works and reacts to different settings. After all that, and it is a part of the process of learning guitar, you will be able to better utilise all the digital plug-ins.
can't wait to get that pathfinder in my mail :D
If clean : Mask with effects.
If Gain : Bone Dry with just sufficient distortion and not too much bass or treble.
an amp with presets always sounds over trebbly an gets that washed out effect. If you use a multi Fx unit use a good one that will let you select effect order in the chain as putting things in the proper place makes a huge improvement in the overall sound. for example compression should go before the gain and time based effects like delay should go through the effects loop if you have one. less is more every control has a sweet spot whether on the amp , effects, or guitar. it's more important how present an effect in the mix than it is how much you use of it.in other words the volume of the effect can effect clarity. just because my chorus pedal vilume can go to 10 doesn't mean that's where it should be. most of my effects are generally lower in volume than my distortion or the amps master volume! also note that using to much of an effect or putting pedals in the wrong order creates unwanted distortions an the wash out effect!
Great point! But obviously it all depends on personal preference and style.
What's that echo sound that happens when u plug ur guitar in ?
I'm glad you mentioned the 25R. I'm a beginner and needed an inexpensive amp for practice. I found a Frontman 25R on ebay and got it for a $37 bid. Had a guitar tech check it out and he was amazed at the punch it had for a 10" speaker. The 25R has 2 volumes (main + drive instead of OD switch), a middle range and built in reverb plus 2 aux in (stereo?) and footswitch jack the 10G doesn't have. As my dearly departed spousal unit used to say, "Blind hog found an acorn."
I think the pedal/foot switch goes into the Input jacks the same way it would a dedicated jack ?
Thanks useful information Only caveat is I would have liked to hear it with you both playing more entry level instruments which are usually the kind played through this level amp...Video Part 2 ?
You like that Peavy hum, do you? My first amp was a Peavy. It hummed like that, too. I got rid of it, got a Fender Roc Pro 1000 head and hooked it up to a Crate speaker cabinet. It plays great. I am about to build a 4x8 combo cab with luggage wheels and an extending handle on it to use when I play out.
Pro tip: you can gain some very respectable results by upgrading the speaker in a cheap used amp.
Fender Frontman 25r switch to a Supro cr10 -75watt speaker, whole new kool
Is the one on the right Megan Rapinoe?...
She had a full schedule, so we had to get a substitute.
See what happens when you thumb your nose at a WH visit, opt instead to take a House of Representative Congress visit. By the end of the week after winning the World Cup you're doing a budget used amp demo on TH-cam. ;-)
A good affordable amp are marshall mg30gfx and the marshall mg15gfx the 30 is like 230 and the 15 is 100
This is sound advice. Thanks guys.
Probably better to buy a cheap amp and use the savings for more guitar lessons
Amazing ... when does the Amazing bit mentioned in the title come into it ?
It became ‘Great’ , in the second sentence.
A cheap amp has about 3 controls .. do you think anyone who has saved up 100 bucks to buy amp is not going to mess around with all the settings.
An amazing sound for what
Country? Metal? Jazz? Blues ?
Any “great” player could pick up any of what you have there and sound pretty. Fekin good , Cos the main part of the sound ...it comes from you ...
Now you know what to practice if you want a cheap rig to truly sound AMAZING
It really is in the fingers. Nobody likes to talk about that...and the reason some say all amps sound alike...
@@willroland9811 everyone talks about the sound mainly coming from the fingers 🙄 It's true for the most part, but pretending it's the *only* factor is straight up ridiculous and delusional lol. Amps and pickups do actually matter when it comes to sound/tone.
If you add a $100 Tube Screamer to that $150 reverb pedal you’d really be onto something!
A tube screamer through a little solid state amp is gonna be a buzzy nightmare.
@@MonkyMonk729 It sounds fine to me. If you are practicing in bedroom or an apartment.
@@Magnulus76 how long have you been playing?
@@RC-bs6eb I played guitar in highschool, but didn't bother with it for many years until recently.
A few pedals to play around with and a cheap amp are fine for practicing.
@@MonkyMonk729 That’s perfectly fine for people who want a Melvins type tone, others beware..
If you want less MID from the Fender, turn the BASS and TREBLE up and VOLUME down.
Some of the cheapest amps can be improved with the cheapest delay.
Guys a cheap delay should really be the 1st to help make an amp & it’s player sound better, it
will immediately help, a little delay can give the illusion of reverb. Also the delay is used in thousands
Of songs . Once this beginner try’s even the smallest amount delay. They will realize that it is vastly used in all
Types of music.
My biggest shock: A decent EQ pedal made every amp I had sound great. Add reverb and everything I want no matter which amp I use.
I gig with practice amp called mustang iii v2
Flex on this to someone with xfx kemper n helix
I own and gig with a Fender mustang iii. Love it. Can be bought second hand for 100 euros over here. 12 inch speaker, effects loop and 100 watts. I wouldnt really call it a 'practice amp', totally gigable. You probably wont need to feel the need to upgrade for quite some time.
But indeed... don't use the presets.
@ i actually went back to my old school setup
A Jazz chorus and few pedal.
I make my cheap amps sound great by choosing them carefully. I compared the tones of fourty bass amps before chosing my Ampeg. Listened to all the sound bytes in Thomann's site, and several TH-cam videos for each amp, the obviously poor ones were quickly discarded, and comparing the better ones made for a great deal of ear training. Did the same for my metal Peavey Envoy amp, and the Frontman 15 that I couldn't chose separately because it came in a pack with a great Tele, I'm making a larger cabinet with better resonant wood.
Its really hard to find any info, I bought peavey rage almost same way.
The peavey 158 sounds amazing if you dial it in a bit.
What are your guitar volume and tone settings for this demo?
Great content. Sorry about the haters. Looking to upgrade my speaker in my frontman 15G. Can you list some of your favorite reverb petals?
I've got Fender Bullet 150..sounds quite good.
Funny that's exactly where I'm at at the moment Iv played acoustic for yrs till recently I got an SG which is ace and I got a 5 pound one lol still get a sound but I'm looking at scnd hand amps and these r the names popping up in my price range. I was holding out to get a black star but I have to say that peavey one sounded pretty good at doing a bit of everything. They dnt let u try them in the shops either so this really did help thanks guys good vid!
Where do you live that shops won't let you test amps before purchasing?
Usually I get better overdriven tones by dialling a decent clean tone on the amp and use an overdrive pedal. Usually those inexpensive practice amps are showing their limitations on the overdrive channel. But at some point, you really have to think about how much you spend on pedals vs how much you spend on the amp. There’s no point having a $1500 pedal board plugged in a $100 amp.
Out of these 3, which is the best for punk and metal?
The goal went from “Amazing” to “pretty decent” before playing the first note.
Because click bait!
Would you settle for "fair to middling?"
A shitty cheap 15w or 30w solid state amp will sound badass if you'll do a speaker out mod. Hook it up to an 8ohm or 16ohm speaker cab and you'll be in tone heaven. It'll never sound like a boutique amp but it's a great way to get awesome tones on the cheap (although speaker amps aren't exactly cheap). Most of these cheap amps have great circuitry in them but come with shit potentiometers and shit speakers. Don't give up on that 15w cheapo yet!
Or just save up for a real amp?
I've had the Line 6 in my garage for over 10 years. Now I know how to use it! lol.
I wont even lie the frontman 10g is not in any sense bad in my opinion. I could walk over to my neighbors and probably get one for free, i had one hooked up to a semi decent 6 inch speaker i found in a broken klipsche speaker system. Turned out to be a really nice sounding clean amp, weighed nothing and i spent nothing on it. Ive now got a jtm45 clone and a 5f1 clone but i still like the sound of the frontman.
The Frontman gets great reviews every time. Every model.
@@garyreidmusic Im not surprised they do. Simple analog transistor stuff, just sounds good.