Vox DA5
The vox da5 is an awesome practice amp with lots of effects; three blues amp effects, three crunch amp effects, overdrive amp, tweed amp, two clean amps.
An assortment of good effects incldg; autowah, reverb, tremolo, flanger, etc., editable in three parameters. It has a small speaker but is LOUD.
It switches from .5 to 1.5 to 5 watts but is more powerful than any solid state 5 watt amp I'v played.
Plus you can put six C cell batteries in it and take it to the park, trolling.
It also has a mic input with volume control.
This is an awesome amp that is really neat and costs 129 US +/-.
The Valve Jr. head is awesome for 129 or so and the cabinet fr Epiphone also is about the same price with a 1 by 12 Emminence speaker in it and it sounds really good. I think you can buy the half stack Epiphone Valve Jr. for about 250 US. It is a tube amp at 5 tube watts which is roughly equivalent to 15 solid state watts but is VERY loud with the 16 ohm matching cabinet that comes with the half stack. It is also highly modable and has a strong cult following of serious belivers. it has one control knob.
I also have a Blackheart Little Giant head that is switchable between 3 and 5 tube watts and I play it thru the Epiphone cabinet. It has a three band equalizer and volume knob and is really classy looking and is supposed to be the closest thing to a boutique quality amp of this size that you can get without actually getting a boutique amp. It costs around the same price at MF as the Epi Valve Jr.
I bought a Crate Flexwave 15R for 99 US about a year ago and it has a 12 inch speaker and sounds really good clean, has a three band eq and drive knob and vol knob and reverb, no other effects. Sounds really clean on the clean channel, two channels. This is an excellent value amp.
Also at audioallies.com, no affiliation, they sell a great Behringer amp, believe it, a GM110 for 98 US. Maybe they ship to you. This has analog amp modelling and analog cabinet modelling and effects, a DI out for going to a mixing board or PA and a host of other neat features plus a ten inch Bugera speaker and puts out some serious tone all the way from clean to overdriven and it is a highly rated amp on harmonycentral.com. A lot of people like this 30 watt solid state amp and find it very dependable, unlike some Behringer items. This is a great value amp. Built solid.
But the Vox DA5 is incredible for what it is. You won't get up to a drummer with it like you will a Behringer GM110, but you will have tone city and effects city and fun. Plus it has the "chrome" metal speaker grate, expanded metal look, that really protects the speaker from being damaged. It is a little amp that sounds big and has a very big following of very happy users. 129 US and where you are it is probably readily available. Everything from super clean to heavy metal. Plus battery power. AC pwr or bat pwr.
There are some great amps options out there. I heard that little marshall you have is a nice little amp, but I had a marshall Valvestate 2, 30 watt that was really nice, Eric Clapton used one, but it didn't have a great clean channel at all.
I hope these ideas help you. Don't discount that DA5 because of the small speaker. It is a great little amp.
Also, think about the Vox Pathfinder 15R, about 129 US. This is one channel though and very neat. You might find some useable clean values on the volume knob and it has a very vintage style tremolo like the AC15, speed and intensitiy controls plus an eq section and reverb. But not the variety of sounds you get from a DA5. Both of these are completely solid state as well.
Any of the above amps sound great and you can get some great clean tones out of them and bluesy tones. That 30 watt Behringer might be the best deal for the money if they ship to you reasonably, check them out. That amp sounds great and loud clean.
The DA5 lets you dial in heavy overdrive and then switch it to 0.5 watts and it retains the driven tone of the 5 watt setting at a much reduced volume for bedroom playing, which of course can come in handy. None of these other amps above have this ability to switch down the power.
Hope it helps,
Duffy
Winfield, Pa
