OK, maybe I'm crazy, I have a Sheraton ii pro, (first electric in 50 years) and based on a lot of reviews I bought a Bugera V5 tube amp, I also own a Fishman Loud Box Mini. I like the Loud box a lot better, am I nuts? I hear a lot of praise for tube amps, but I'm not impressed with this one, I even upgraded the speaker to a Jensen C8R. I'm thinking of trying out a Fender champion 100 that I found used at a great price. I only play at home, so I know this is a lot of amp, but, if the price is right, would this be a bad choice? All suggestions will be appreciated.......
The Fishman is voiced for an acoustic guitar and it's quite possible you may prefer it if all you ever do is play clean. The Bugera v5 is built to give you some tube driven overdrive ranging from slight to nasty at somewhat lower volumes. Tough to compare the two on that basis alone. I might suggest the 50w BOSS Katana. Perfect home amp that will allow you to get some higher gain voicings for overdrive, has a gorgeous clean channel, and also an acoustic guitar setting in addition to a ton of internal effects; reverb, delay, chorus, phaser, wah, overdrive, etc. It could easily replace both of your current amps and costs about half the price of a new Champion 100. IMHO there isn't a better $200 amp value than a Katana.
Yup. 100% agree. Even has power scaling. 0.5W, 25W, and 50W settings. I love my MK1 the MK2 is just more goodness. OTOH, the Katana 100 adds an effects loop, which is something I missed out on with the 50.
Did we mention that they also has an acoustic voicing or two*? *The MK2 has additional "variations" for each of it's amp voices.
I have a Fishman Loud Box, and a Fender Super Champ Tube amp. For clean clarity I think the Fishman is a great electric guitar amp, even though it's made for acoustic guitar. My Fender responds better to distortion/overdrive pedals, but for jazz or plain ballads, etc. I go with the Fishman... it's an awesome audio monitor as well.
If you only play at home then the Champion 100 is a overkill. I have one that is in mint condition that I don't use because it is far too much for me. I also play at home and use my Bugera g5 and g20.
An electric guitar and the amplifier are not separate devices. They are two parts of a whole. If you are going to play a good humbucker equipped guitar clean, you need the best tone you can get with enough headroom to not be pushed into overdrive by the pickups. For a Sheraton, I would recommend a 15 to 20 watt quality tube amp. A Fender Blues junior, a Vox AC15 or a Marshall Studio Vintage. Plenty of headroom to remain clean at any home volume level up to window rattling.
