Good amp to pair with Stratocaster?

K

Kraku

Member
What would be a nice sounding amp to pair with my Stratocaster American Pro for practicing purposes AND for actual recording of nice clean and semi-clean guitars? Finger picking + riffs is probably what I would be playing/practicing/recording with that setup. I wouldn't be playing metal or any high gain guitars on this setup. Just lower level crunch tones at most.

Is the most obvious option "just buy any of the Fender amps and be done with it", or are there better options?

My expectation is to sit down on my sofa, grab my Strat, turn on my amp and in just a few seconds be able to tweak nice sounds out of my amp and start practising what ever my inspiration is pointing me towards to at that moment.

I don't want to be paying more than about 1500 dollars/euros for the amp/cab setup.
 
Most Fender amps are going to stay clean unless you push the power section which will be loud.

In general, I'd look for a 1x12 combo, so probably stay away from the Fender Princeton. Maybe a Deluxe Reverb if you want a Fender?

To get clean, and edge-of-breakup for not a lot of money, I recommend the Marshall Origin combos; I have the 50W but the power scaling works very well, and you can set it very clean; they have a 20W but you won't have the same clean headroom as the 50W. FWIW, I have the Origin 50C combo, and the 50H head. New, the 50C is $800. Also, the 50W can get to lower volumes and still sound the same/good with the power scaling.
 
Call me crazy, but I always liked those Crate Palominos when I worked at Guitar Center. It's an amp I wouldn't mind having to play my Tele or a future Strat through.
 
Kraku said:
What would be a nice sounding amp to pair with my Stratocaster American Pro for practicing purposes AND for actual recording of nice clean and semi-clean guitars? Finger picking + riffs is probably what I would be playing/practicing/recording with that setup. I wouldn't be playing metal or any high gain guitars on this setup. Just lower level crunch tones at most.

Is the most obvious option "just buy any of the Fender amps and be done with it", or are there better options?

My expectation is to sit down on my sofa, grab my Strat, turn on my amp and in just a few seconds be able to tweak nice sounds out of my amp and start practising what ever my inspiration is pointing me towards to at that moment.

I don't want to be paying more than about 1500 dollars/euros for the amp/cab setup.
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Marshall Vintage Modern is great to pair with strats.

 
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A Deluxe Reverb
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Kraku said:
This sounds pretty nice:

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They probably offer that in a combo too and can be found used. When you mentioned the couch, the first thing that popped into my head if you don’t need dirt was a Princeton. It will get dirt but will be fairly loud.
 
If you can find one used, Mesa stumbled onto something years ago with the Maverick and Blue Angel. Absolutely killer clean tones. I have the Maverick, and I don't think you get better clean tones short of boutique amps.
 
There are a fair amount of newer Princeton Reverbs that have 12 inch speakers in them. I'd try one of those. That or a Deluxe Reverb. Tone magic with those two and a strat.
 
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