which amp?

so, I'm looking around at amps, which will probably be my next purchase. I want something I can use as a recording/practice amp... I don't want it to be very loud. but yet I still want great tone... I was looking at the peavey classic 30, but according to everyone else on here (I've never owned a tube amp) 30 tube watts is alot louder then 30 solid state watts. so I'm wondering if that'll be too loud. another one I was looking at was the marshall micro stack, the one with the 2 1x10 cabinets. but I don't know about solid state marshalls. I want a good distortion for hard rock and metal, yet still with a good clean channel. I was hoping it would be under $500 but I can stretch that to an extent, I would like there to be a headphone jack for when I need absolutely no volume (after midnight and the like) and a line out jack so I can skip the whole microphone thing when recording. (unless you can use a headphone jack as a line out.. I'm not sure...) I know I don't want a modeling amp, I would much rather have an amp that creates it's own sound rather then try to recreate others. and I'm open to pretty much anything, suggestions please!

Why not a multi-effects board? I have the Digitech GNX4 and it can produce any sound you're looking for, as well as recording direct via USB. If it's just for practicing, there's a headphone jack for those purposes. I couldn't live without mine, and the recording quality is great. I bought mine for $469, but I think they're a lot cheaper now. Plus, you can use it with your gigging amp.

I've got a song in the works at the moment that I recorded solely with the GNX4 that will be posted hopefully within the next week or two. I couldn't live without it for recording.

But I know you said you want an amp, but with recording that means you'll need a good mic as well. Another good thing about the GNX4 is it also has a microphone preamp for recording vocals :). Ok, Ok, seriously, I don't work for them, just enjoy the product very much.

Feel free to ask away. As far as practice amps, I don't know, I just have a little 10w amp for that. And I don't use it for recording so....

What kind of Amp do you have now?

for gigging, I've got a fender fm212r, but for practice, well, I did have a cheap $50 johnson 15 watt practice amp, but I sold it cause I needed the money. now, I just plug into my multi-effects and plug some headphones into that. which is ok, but I would like to have an amp.

If you are recording on your PC I would go with the Roland Micro cube. I have one I use for that very purpose. I just run my line out straight to my sound card and it works great. Very portable, runs on six AA's or the power cord that comes with it. It has several different COSM models of various amps also has chorus, reverb, and other effects. Very versatile and souds great! Don't let it's small size fool you. This thing gets loud. Produces any tone you want from clean to heavy distortion! Check it out on Rolands website. I think you can get one on EBAY for around 100 bones. I also own a B52 halfstack with the AT100 head and I would rather record with my micro cube. I own a GNX4 too and yeah they are awesome, but one will set you back about 350 bones and it's not an amp. Also, check out Harmony Central's website. They have reviews of tons of amps.

The Classic 30 can pretty damn loud, but it's totally manageable.

It's clean channel is pretty good (as is that of the Classic 50), and I like it's distortion; especially when I go for an overdrive with the mids turned up and the Pre and Post nearly equal in value.

Everything else you want to do with it...

Your guitar --> Multi-effects --> Amp; clean channel.

so your saying that the classic 30 would be ok volume-wise to use at home in a small room without disturbing my family immensely? well, at least, before my dad gets home, he seems a little too sensitive to noise, he once came in and told me to be quiet because I was typing on the computer too loud... (his room is right next to the computer room, but still!) and told me that I was playing my guitar too loud when I was playing through my 15 watt amp on the clean channel with the volume at a little less then halfway. (my room is at the other end of the hallway, maybe 20 or more feet away, and I had my door closed, and it's a really thick door that cuts out plenty of noise) but during the day, it won't be insanely loud? and also, does it have a headphone and/or line out jack for evening/nightime playing?

If you're dad is that sensitive to noise, you're probably going to end up practicing with headphones on when he's around no matter what.

You can play it as quietly as you want; it's just that the tone doesn't get "enjoyable" until it's turned up a bit (and then improves with volume). That said, a small tube amp hits that threshold at much lower volume than a large one does. I think for daytime jamming, a Classic 30 can be totally reasonable and still have enough sauce to practice with a band, play small gigs (or be miced for lager ones).

hmm, I'll probably go with the classic 30 then, thanks.

You'll be hard pressed to find a tube amp with a headphones jack. I have the Classic 50, which would be way too much for your needs. It would make that Fender 212R of yours sound like a little 10 watt practice/play amp. It sounds pretty good at low volumes, but really opens up with the volumes set like this: clean 5, dirty pre 8-9, dirty post 11, master 5 (amp goes from 1-12). That is rediculously loud though. But bring the master down to 2, and you've got a decent tone for practicing. The C30 would be much more suited for your situation, and still be plenty loud when you need it. I'd be willing to bet it can be as loud if not louder (especially witha 1x12 extention cab added) than your Fender. Also, don't you have some kind of modeler? If you find you aren't getting quite the tone you want at the lower volumes, run your guitar into the modeler and the modelers output into the FX return of the amp. On another note, I play all kinds of styles on my C50, everything from blues, classic rock, hard rock, and metal. If you're more into the high gain thing, you might want to look into getting a Digitech Bad Monkey overdrive pedal and run it along with the amps overdrive. I do this with an MXR Zakk Wylde overdrive and can get some really crushing tones. If you can, please go play the amp first. I would suggest starting with all tone controls at 12 o'clock. I usually run my C50 as follow's: bass 1-2 o'clock, mid 2-3 o'clock, trebel 4-5 o'clock, and presence depends on what room I'm playing in.

Good luck with your search for great tone!