This my first entry in this category which I see as a general, 'this is good - I've bought it or would' service. I guess the motivation is that I've used a lot of equipment over the years and been in and out of a lot of music stores in a lot of places. A decent recommendation can really help navigation through the buying process so here goes. These will come out as they come to me in no particular order.

15watt valve/tube 1x12 amplifiers/combos:
This size of amplifier is IMO the ideal. The sweetspot - around 4 to 6 or 7 on the volume - is loud enough for club gigs and you can still get good tube saturation and tone in the house without stripping the paint from your walls. Even at 1 or 2 these amps all sound good. You can use a booster pedal to thicken up the sound a touch if required. I use two of these amps in a stereo which is always an option for more volume. Plus, if you're using delays, you get that lovely stereo spread. They also all have 12inch speakers. It's definitely possible to get good tone from a 10inch speaker and plenty of classic combos have used that size of speaker successfully - I personally prefer the 12". I feel that 10's can get a bit 'nasally' sound. Below that to 8 and then 6" speaker combos you're going to need a speaker out to a 12" cabinet to achieve an open tone. Or at the very least upgrading the 8" speaker to a more expensive and better Weber or Jensen.

Once, when the Commotions were playing in Edinburgh, we were visited backstage by Frank Gallagher - a Scot who living in N.Y. got the job of Talking Heads soundman. He told us he'd been listening and that we were too loud on stage. 'Use smaller combos for better tone and rely on them plus your onstage wedges and sidefills for your stage sound' he said. He was right of course.


Traynor YCV20
1x12 combo. 2xEL84s and 3x12AXs. Made right here in Toronto but available worldwide. I own the silver version of this and changed the stock budget Celestion speaker to a better Celestion Greenback. This and a change of tubes to JJ's brought the amp to life. Says it's two channel but most players just use the lovely sounding clean channel and get their lead tone from their pedals. The version pictured here is the one still made. It has the Greenback as stock. The silver version can be picked up, often quite cheaply ($300-350 CDN) used.

Crate V15
1x12 combo. 2xEL84s and 2x12AXs. Crate in their infinite wisdom have stopped making this but if you can find one used with the ToneTubby Hempcore speaker as stock snap it up. I can't recommend the newer tube combos that Crate are making they look a bit cheap and have been getting mixed reviews. These are made in St Louis and say so on the back. Really good sounding, well made, single channel combo. Pretty good reverb as well. A bit of a tone machine. Should be around the same price as the Traynor used. I also own this.

Orange Tiny Terror
1x12 combo. 2xEL84s and 2x12AXs. I don't own this but but a friend, Alisdair, has the head version and it's really good. I would safely assume the combo version is also. Similar in scope to the previous two amps but with the addition of a 7 or 15 watt switch which is a very useful feature. You won't see many used. In the $700 range new.

Vox AC15
1x12 combo. 2xEL84s and 2x12AXs. Famous combo. Now made in China with no ill effects. The cheaper version with the wharfdale speaker is actually fine - and a lot cheaper than the version with the Alnico Blue - you could buy that version and swap out the wharfdale for a Celestion Greenback.