I've decided I need a small practice amp for tinkering on as I'm often too lazy to set up the big rig for playing with. I'm looking for something that's light, simple, solid state, preferably all analog, and must have a great clean tone. Not looking to spend huge money either, and it doesn't need to have that much power. If I need distortion I'll plug a pedal in, but it'll just be small noodling for the most part. Any suggestions? Thanks

I've had a Park G10R, a Fender Frontman 15R, and a Peavey Transtube Blazer 158. *I like the Peavey by a good margin. *All are/were $120-ish 10-15W amps with 8" speaker. *The Peavey & Park have equal sound quality, but the Peavey has a better reverb & a CD input to jam along with tracks. *I don't care for the Fender as much.

I'm pretty impressed with the Peavey's fuzz noise, too. *Not bad for a cheapo. *I've heard the earlier (non-"transtube") Blazer isn't as good; I dunno. *But my old Peavey Backstage 110 fuzz was definitely inferior. *Oh, yeah - I had that Backstage 110, too. *Nicely built, good clean sound. *Terrible fuzz.

The best practice amp in my opinion is the Crate GFX-15. *It has a great clean suond, its all solid state, and it has digital effects that can make the clean sound even better(chorus, reverb, and delay). *The distortion channel is great but can take some eq-ing to get a good dual recto sound (if you even want that in a practice amp). *Second to that is the GX-15R (I am not sure if they make them anymore), basically its the same as the GFX but it doesnt have digital effects, though it has a better distortion channel (sounds a little more smooth.) *Oh, and the best part is you can pick up the GFX-15 for I think $130-140 and the GX-15R for about $100. *

Thanks, I'll head over to the guitar shop and check those ones out if I can a little later. I'm finally now regretting selling my little Peavey Backstage Plus..

I'd suggest one of them Tech21 amps

Best solid state clean amp on earth???? *Roland Jazz Chorus, hands down. *Comes in 120 and 60 watt versions. *They are old amps, been around forever, but they are legendary for clean tone. *Not sure where you can find one.

I assumed he was looking for something smaller than that. *But yeah, a JC120 is as sparkley as they come...

I have had a Squier practice amp since I was was 14 (nearly 29 now) and it has never so much as glitched.
The clean tone is fine, the Overdrive is fantastic - just chuck everything on 10 and away you go - so much so I have used it for some studio recordings. And it cost about £65 ($100 ish )

Pete

Well I ended up getting a dinky little Peavey Rage 158. Mediocre tone.. but I got it and a great stand for $111 Canadian before GST (about $70 US). With the POD, it sounds ok, nothing fantastic, but does what I want it to do

Play it so loud you blow up the speaker. *Then replace it with Carvin's 8" $30 replacement. ;-)