Official Blackstaramps Forum

I'm unsure whether to go for the 15 or the 30. I need it to play in a live band and stay clean whilst keeping up with the volume of a drummer. I'd prefer the 15 because it's smaller, but I'm thinking I might have to get the 30 for it to be loud enough whilst staying clean?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

You'll most likely want to go for the 30...and test it out before you buy. The Artisan series are true Class A amps, which do not have a lot of clean headroom to begin with. It's going to be very difficult to keep pristine clean tones at volume....or put another way, it going to be very easy to get it to break up as you dig in.

For clean tones you might want to stick with a Class AB amp, like the Series One or a Venue. I have an HT-20 that can keep up with a drummer all day long with pristine clean tones.

I agree with thephantom. I highly doubt a 15 watt amp could keep up with a drummer. I'm not even sure the 30 watt clean has enough headroom. I'm a big fan of Series One amps as well as the HT series amps. They both have very good clean channels.