cjh wrote:Could I hijack the thread for a moment? It's almost on topic - it's my birthday next week and I've really been enjoying playing my guitar again (recently enhanced with new tuners courtesy Nico and Adam, and DR strings c. another thread) and thinking about buying a nice practice amp. I had thought about an Orange Tiny Terror but I think even that will be too much for my bedroom. Ideally, I'd like to be able to push it to overdrive without being too loud and it will just be for home use. Any thoughts about these little dudes? I'm starting to feel smitten just looking at it:

http://www.matamp.co.uk/minimat.htm

Get it! Make me very jealous!

Matamp are a fantastic company.

I'g go for a Matamp, but maybe try one first. My maye is going up to the factory soon to speak to the guys and try the amps out.

I'd sooner eat me own shit than own a digital modelling amp (sorry Adam, I just don't like them).

I had the combo Epiphone Junior (with a Jensen speaker and better valves) and it was crap. It was thin and raggedy sounding (a little like the guitar in Communication Breakdown by Led Zep). Perhaps the newer models are better though - I've not heard them yet.

Other little bedroom combos to try are the Laney LC15 and maybe the Marshall DSL 201/401 models (maybe a bit big).

Rodabod wrote:I'd sooner eat me own shit than own a digital modelling amp (sorry Adam, I just don't like them).

I know what you mean, but when I see those tiny Orange or Matamp or Zfex (?) heads I'm always immediately put in mind of suited lawyers with a Harley in the garage and a Les Paul Custom in the corner of the lounge, right next to the bazillionophonic Sony 'entertainment centre' (or whatever they're calling them these days).

You just know that 99% of them end up atop some insanely expensive, hand-built mahogany cab with a panda-skin grill.

You just know that if they had ears, 99% of the time they'd hear:

*Pop amp powers up*

Lawyer: "While the little ladies are talking health-farms, listen to this..."

*Grang! Grang-grang-grang!*

Lawyer's buddy: "Woah, nice tone dude!"

Lawyer: "Did I show you the entertainment centre? It's bazillionophonic..."

*Pop amp powers down*

Rat Bastard from To Live and Shave in L.A. and the Squelchers has a pair of 12" Peavey solid-state amps that are louder than all hell and sound great for guitar. I was skeptical at first, but they have a pretty rad dirty sound when you crank 'em all the way up. The clean sound is pretty good, too. Rat had put Scorpions in them (200W Peavey speakers; they go for about $100, according to the google).

They are truly, truly loud. Really loud. By "really loud," I mean that one of them was every bit as loud as my (well-maintained, freshly retubed) 135-watt Fender Twin.

I've seen Thurston Moore gig with a similar Peavey when he does smaller gigs around NYC.

Adam CR wrote:

Rodabod wrote:I'd sooner eat me own shit than own a digital modelling amp (sorry Adam, I just don't like them).

I know what you mean, but when I see those tiny Orange or Matamp or Zfex (?) heads I'm always immediately put in mind of suited lawyers with a Harley in the garage and a Les Paul Custom in the corner of the lounge, right next to the bazillionophonic Sony 'entertainment centre' (or whatever they're calling them these days).

You just know that 99% of them end up atop some insanely expensive, hand-built mahogany cab with a panda-skin grill.

You just know that if they had ears, 99% of the time they'd hear:

*Pop amp powers up*

Lawyer: "While the little ladies are talking health-farms, listen to this..."

*Grang! Grang-grang-grang!*

Lawyer's buddy: "Woah, nice tone dude!"

Lawyer: "Did I show you the entertainment centre? It's bazillionophonic..."

*Pop amp powers down*

you never met CJH then???

Hey, I'm not dissing the C!

My point is part inverted snobbery and part...scepticism.

Seems a little strange that people are willing to recommend the Matamp when (as I understand it) nobody who has contributed to this thread has played through one...

I'm willing to bet that every cheap and cheerful 20 watt Line 6 combo sold sees about 1000 times as much use as your average esoteric, 5-15 watt class A furniture-amp.

*swishes ponytail*

Thanks for the help you twonks! Update: my buddy Fred says I can borrow a spare Marshall 1912 cab off him indefinitely ('it sounds a bit dark but you'll like it'), weirdly enough he works in sales for Line6 and everyone there are raving about how good Matamp are - they'll 'voice' the amps for you if you pay them a visit oop north, super friendly and reliable etc. I'm not entering into this lightly and deadly cautious about acquiring stuff I don't need so rest assured whatever I end up with isn't going to sit gathering dust. So I am *still* tempted by the little Minimat!