I have a student looking for a practice amp -

gigawatt

Experienced
So far she's looked at the Blackstar ID Core 10 V2 and the Fender Champion 20 and (leaning towards the 20). She'll be playing a Squier Standard Tele through it. Anything else she should look at for under $130?

Mucho thanks :blush:
 
I should have mentioned she's 67 years old and has no tech savvy, she's even a little worried that the above mentioned maybe too much for her. The Fender Mustang V2 has come up as well, I had a Fender Frontman 25 that sounded really good. Bought it at GC for 80 bucks 10 years ago, now they are more than double that, wth?

Thanks for all the suggestions. :)
 
I should have mentioned she's 67 years old and has no tech savvy, she's even a little worried that the above mentioned maybe too much for her. The Fender Mustang V2 has come up as well, I had a Fender Frontman 25 that sounded really good. Bought it at GC for 80 bucks 10 years ago, now they are more than double that, wth?

Thanks for all the suggestions. :)
Buy something used on Reverb?
 
The weak spot in most cheap practice amps is usually the speaker. They typically put the cheapest crap speaker in them with a tiny magnet about 2 inches in diameter. Find a cheap used 1x12 practice combo and spend a few bucks on a decent replacement speaker for it. You will be surprised at the difference it will make. Eminence and Celestion both have good speakers in the sub $100 range. Even less if you find a used one.
 
The weak spot in most cheap practice amps is usually the speaker. They typically put the cheapest crap speaker in them with a tiny magnet about 2 inches in diameter. Find a cheap used 1x12 practice combo and spend a few bucks on a decent replacement speaker for it. You will be surprised at the difference it will make. Eminence and Celestion both have good speakers in the sub $100 range. Even less if you find a used one.

I owned the Fender Frontman 25R for several years and while primitive, no modeling or digital effect just reverb. It was a great sounding amp and VERY LOUD with a 10 inch stock speaker. I bought it for $80 in 2010 and now I'm seeing them used for $200 - $250! Simple no frills 2 channel amp, that I was able to use my old Mesa single button footswitch.

I can't say for certain but I'm going to guess a 10" speaker sounds much better than an 8, and of course an 8 much better than two 5's like in the Black Star. Price being the main deciding point however... I also have a battery powered Peavey Vypyr, 5 watts with an 8" speaker. I took a chance on this one and lost. Hard to say if it's the speaker or the models but it mostly sounds like shit. Maybe it'll sound better once I take it to the beach where the waves can drown it out.
 
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