So I've recently started playing my electric guitars a lot more (fender tele elite and gibson sg) after being mostly a acoustic player, I've never really bothered with amps too much besides small practice amps.

But it's time now to get something half decent. I'm a rookie when it comes to this so suggestions and advice will be greatly appreciated.

Valve vs tube?
Half stack vs full stack vs combo?
Fender vs marshall vs orange vs roland vs whatever else?

Budget is around $1000aud so ~$8000usd. Mainly used for practicing around home and jamming. Predominantly old rock player, Eagles, Gunners, Led Zeppelin etc. Not in a band anymore although will be looking to join one again sometime

I'm not much of a gear snob, but I've been playing 8+ years so I'll give this a shot:

'stack' reffers to the speakers or can size and generally has nothing do with actual output power. That's where your head comes in. If you want to play live shows, you will need to get a tube amp. They have the best punch and good quality sound. I never liked combos because you can't change anything out and they don't have as much power as a head and cab. As you are figuring out, there are hundreds of amps out there.

Honestly you have 2 options:
Buy the one your favorite band uses, OR look into something like the Ax Fx.
For this example I'll use a Marshall JVM410H 100W (online about $1,200USD) vs the Ax Fx (~$2,400USD)

Advantages of the head:
'Out of the box ready' for the most part. Plug in, dial in the tone a little bit and your set.
Add a couple pedals as you progress or need them to get that perfect tone.
Decent resale value if you decide you want something different.

Advantages of the Ax Fx:
All-in-one package. Any sorts of effects you can dream of is in this box, no need to buy anything else ever.
You can change from a Marshall to a Peavy, BlackStar, Orange, Fender, Budda, or what have you with a turn of a dial.
Perfect if you have no clue what you want to sound like and don't t want to be trading in heads.

Disadvange of Ax Fx:
Stupid expensive. 2,400 for the unit, 150 for the power source, another 200 for the road case with a power strip. Then a foot board to switch channels will set you back 100-600 depending on what you get and how tech savvy you are, cause almost no third party supports it directly.
Takes some time to 'build' the tone and a bit of reading.

I've have my Account Fx for 4 years and wouldn't want anything else.

Now for the cab.....
Again I recommend to get whatever your favorite band has to start. Something with 4 speakers, like a 4x10 or 4x12 cab will do nicely. Orange cabs are great overall but are a bit more $$$.
And don't forget to get GOOD casters!!!!!!! Wheels make all the difference when hauling.
I have an Avatar 4x12 with vintage speakers, sounds good, but only from the front. Not the best sound from the sides......

Hope this helps for a starting place to look. Read many reviews and ambush musicians after the show and get their opinion.


Btw, Orange heads do have a very nice, crisp, clean tone to it. If you like light rock or clean, that might be the way to go.

This post was edited by D34dlycardz on Apr 1 2017 02:29pm

Thanks heaps for the reply mate. Won't be spending massively so that writes off the ax fx or whatever that is lol. Do love clean crisp tones as I play majority of clean stuff so will look into orange. I also like the look of their gear which is another good point I suppose lol

Entirely up to your playing style/tone/ budget you want.
I have a fender deville 2x12 the cleans can't be beat and it will shine any pedal you put up to it
it lacks on the distortion side and is way over powering at 60w though.
I added a Radial Plexitube pedal and i'm getting crazy vintage marshall tones, orange tones, anything really, and even new age metal sounds at any volume I want without losing tone.
Tube amps have always been the holy grail to professional guitar players.

This post was edited by 13375 on May 24 2017 06:58pm