Good amp for a Les Paul

Well, the classic combination is Les Paul and Marshall amp. Preferably a tube amp. But Marshall's are expensive.

I would recommend the amp I own, a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe to anybody. It has only been out since 1996, but has fast built a reputation as a great amp. It is 40W tube. It has an outstanding clean sound and reverb. It has 2 overdrives, Drive and More Drive. They are great, will give you classic sound like Bad Company. It will not give you the modern hyper-distortion. For that I use a Danelectro Fab Tone and it sounds great through the HRD. So I can get any sound I want.

It is an extremely loud amp. If you're just gonna play around the house, get a 10 or 15W tube amp. You'll be able to crank it up a bit and enjoy the tube amp sound. But if you plan on playing out, the HRD will handle any club. When it's cranked up a little, it sings!

It is also $300-400 less than an equal Marshall amp. It is very well built. I have not had the slightest trouble with mine. I have had trouble with Marshall's. In my opinion, they are not as durable as Fenders.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/sid=040226145832167172208001546018/g=home/search/detail/base_pid/480862/

You should take your guitar to a music shop and try out different amps. Make sure you get the sound you're looking for. Make sure to try the Hot Rod!

Hey Wes, that's cool you got the HRD.  As a generalization, I've read opinions that Marshalls will sound dirtier on clean channels than Fender amp.  True?  False?  Do you thing the HRD sounds cleaner than most Marshalls on the clean channel?  Cleaner on the dirty/overdrive channel?

I'll have to agree with with Wes about All tube amps.
The new Gibson tube amps look promising.

"Marshalls will sound dirtier on clean channels than Fender amp"

I would say it would depend on a couple of things, how loud and type of guitar. it would be one of those iffy answers for me. Being I like and have both types of amps. I have a modified 59 bassmen (not a reissue) thats pure tone from ground zero,  the marshalls are run at saturation with attenuators.

As you figured I don't play much real clean sound, even that has a touch of overdrive. I love the sustain of a note for days while its talking.

joe

I have an old Marshall in storage I'm gonna fix someday, and it was a great amp. But my HRD has a MUCH better clean sound. HOWEVER, the Marshall distortion will kick Fender's you know what when it comes to heavy distortion.

Fender's are best for Classic Rock and Blues. Fender amps are very popular with Blues players.

Marshall's are better for Heavy Metal. You see Rock bands with them everyday.

Many claim Mesa/Boogie is the best for Metal.

There are many other great amps. I heard a guy playing through Ampeg's 30W tube amp. It was awesome. Similar to my HRD. I heard another guy playing through a Johnson and it sounded as good as any Marshall I've ever heard. Maybe better.

You're just gonna have to try a few and see what you like.

I agree with the HRD recommendation.  I own one.  However, if this is for home only, it's probably a little overkill.  Mine certainly is.  My wife likes to say it sounds like a Kiss concert she attended in her youth (there, that dates us!) when I get it cranking.  And she's normally outside the house when I crank it.

Two other great options are the Peavey Classic 20 and Peavey Classic 30.  I own a 20 and it's great for practicing.  No reverb, but it breaks up nicely.  It's 15 watts, but gets very loud.  The Classic 30 is very comparable to the HRD, with 30 watts, reverb and footswithable drive.  It's clean is almost as good as the HRD (can't say that for the 20, though).  You can pick up a 20 on eBay for around $220 shipped and a 30 for about $330 shipped.  A HRD will run about $455 shipped on eBay.  I've been tracking all three amps on eBay for about 6 weeks and those are the average prices.  Your mileage may vary.

BTW, the Classic 30 and HRD are both available new.   The Classic 20 was discontinued a few years back.  

Oh, I've got a Gibson Les Paul Studio and Fender Stratocater Plus and, although the Strat/HRD is a match made in Heaven, the Les Paul sounds great on both of my amps.  Good luck!

    For an amp that distorts early and at a reasoable volume, try the Fender pro junior.  It's a 15 watt tube amp that is useful for recording sweet distortion without blowing the roof off and your ears out.  Live (depending on how big the room was) you would probably need to mike it and send it through a PA.  Which you would probably do with most any amp in a band situation, if only to be able to control the levels.
    Anyone ever tried one with a Les Paul?

o often I see Gibson's played through Marshalls and Fenders through Fender amps.  I imagine the type of music you play would dictate or at least steer one toward one type of amp as opposed to another.  It was noted that Mesa amps tend to go for the metal player as opposed to say a country/western.

Joe, when I asked which would be cleaner or dirtier could we plug in my Gibson SG A/B'ed to a Fender amp and a Marshall.  I don't know what specific amps so that makes the questions hard to answer.  Plug in your own specific Fender/Marshall amp if you wish.  Here we go:

1.      If I played classic rock (overdrive I'd guess) which would sound dirtier/cleaner?
2.      If I played distorted metal which would sound dirtier/cleaner?
3.      If I played Beatles tunes which would sound dirtier/cleaner?
4.      If I played blues which would sound dirtier/cleaner?

(As an aside, I went to the music store Friday night and was in awe at the number of tubes in the back of some Mesa amp.  The entire back of the amp had tubes running from left to right.  Must have had at least 14 tubes.  It was a $1,500.  And, no, I did not play it.)

Everyone's description and settings would be different. Where as the sound I would think to be clean any very well be dirty for someone else. That SG would sound great being played with either amp,  this would also come down to what you wanted it to sound like.

Speaking for myself, I would be using a rack Mounted tube pre-amp and either amp would be set to get a clean transparent sound as I could get with output saturation point of the power amp settings. I also may very well be using some type of power attenuator.

All the different sounds and tones you suggested would be created by the different pre-sets of the rack mount pre-amp. This would allow me to change for clean to metal and everything in between with just a step of the Midi pedal.

Hope I answered your question.

Joe