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Tube amp for home use?


Juke50

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The Fender Blues Junior and Pro Junior are fantastic amps. 15 watt all tube. Check one of those out.

 

Indeed. You can get good tones at a low volume for home use, but they're also loud enough for most gigs with a decent PA(and if the drummer isn't too heavy of a hitter). Takes pedals well too!

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  • 3 weeks later...

I had a Blues Jr a Long Time Ago. I loved the sound but the volume went from zero to window rattle with a touch of the volume control.

 

Have later versions changed this?

 

Not sure. I've had mine for several years, and never had that issue.

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I had a Blues Jr a Long Time Ago. I loved the sound but the volume went from zero to window rattle with a touch of the volume control.

 

Have later versions changed this?

 

 

Not sure. I've had mine for several years, and never had that issue.

 

I had mine in the early '00s. Might be there was a problem with it and I just assumed that's the way it was.

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  • 1 month later...

Hi, I currently use a Blackstar HT1R tube amp for home use, are there any other small tube amps that are suitable to play at low volumes, or do I already own the best solution?

 

Thank you.

 

 

Blackstar are certainly fine sounding amps IMHO. Depends what volume you want 'at home'. I use a Blackstar HT5R and love it. Good at low volume and you can crank it a bit now and again when the neighbours are out.

I also have a Peavey 20 micro head with a 2x12 Celestion vintage 30 cab. Sounds 'different' to the Blackstar (not as warm somehow) but still good. It can be switched for either 20, 5 or 1 amp output so you can get tube distortion at lower volumes if that is what you are after. If I had only one amp I think this would be it (but sometimes I prefer the sweeter sounding Blackstar).

 

Before I understood tube amps, I bought a Marshal Haze 40w tube amp for home practice - Jeez I could barely turn the volume knob above 1, it was so loud. But the tone and sound were fantastic. Very reluctantly it had to go in exchange for a lower output amp.........very sad.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi, I currently use a Blackstar HT1R tube amp for home use, are there any other small tube amps that are suitable to play at low volumes, or do I already own the best solution?

 

Thank you.

 

 

Yeah, you could also get a Blackstar HT20 Studio, or a Marshall Haze40 Combo + some pedals ;)

Nice for home use, and also gigable!

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I'd like to add the Palmer DREI.

I just started playing with this amp. It's been around for a few years but was too pricey for my bedroom. Recent exchange rates with the euro made it cheap enough to try.

It is a fun little bedroom amp. Runs 3 different power tubes, EL84,6V6,6L6. Runs about 5 watts per tube total or 15w when all run together. Manageable volume with just a bunch of nice tones.

Check this video as I can't describe it as well as he does.

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I only have low watt amps at home.

 

At the moment I have:

 

Fender Greta

Works best with single coil pickups or humbuckers that are not hot.

Uses only pre-amp tubes so you can mix and match. At the moment I have 2 12AX7 in it to get the most saturation at low volume.

Sound good when broken in and you can connect a cabinet if you want more volume and headroom. The clean is typical fender voiced, the overdrive is a bit tweedy.

 

Marshall JMP1C 1 watt amp.

This is my favourite amp with my Les Paul. It's like they were made for each other.

I have the combo but there is a head you can get as well together with the others in the one watt series.

Highly recommended for home and studio use. I get AC/DC and Slash tones easily.

 

Vox Lil'Night Train

If you prefer the Vox jangle and the May roar, you might opt for this head and cab.

 

I can also recommend the Palmer Eins which is a nice little head, ut since I opt for tone diversity it has not yet found a place in my home (since I already have some amps).

It is almost always a good idea to change the tubes for something else. All of these amps uses preamp tubes. This means you can swap them around as you please and not worry about bias and so on.

 

So these gives you pure tube sounds. No digital stuff at all.

But I have also tested the Yamaha range of smaller speakers with builtin effects. So these are basically good hifi/bluetooth speakers that have a guitar input and some effects and modelling. Great for practice or playing along with your pre-recorded tracks. But it's not a tube amp.

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  • 3 months later...

JUke50,

 

By home-use, do you mean to describe a smaller (low wattage) amplifier that is never likely to see service on stage?

There are tons of options available, and you can never go wrong with a name brand like Fender, Marshall, Vox, Orange, or Peavey.

 

Here are my opinions on guitar amps, in no particular order of importance.

 

a. Don't ever order one online that you haven't personally plugged into and played.

Take the time to listen with your own ear what an amp delivers before you put your money down.

 

b. Small, low-watt amplifiers aren't just for home use.

With proper microphone placement and a decent PA system, you can get really great (loud) guitar tones onstage, even with the smaller amps.

My mic of choice for this purpose is a Shure 57.

 

c. An amp is just one small component of your guitar sound.

The players hands and phrasing are the largest pieces of the tone puzzle, followed by the guitar itself, the volume and tone settings on the guitar, the pickups, stomp-box effects, and then finally the amp.

If you don't believe me, just ask any veteran player. Billy Gibbons could pick up a Walmart First Act guitar, plug it into any amp, mixer, or PA in the world, and he would make that guitar sound like, well, Billy Gibbons.

 

d. Take care of your amps.

Keep them clean and dust-free.

Spritz some electrical contact cleaner/lubricant in the pots once a year.

Unplug them from the wall whenever a thunderstorm passes thru the area.

 

e. Never turn down an opportunity to plug into somebody else's amplifier.

It can be beneficial and enlightening to listen to what comes out, and to learn how much of your sound is in your hands, and how much is affected by the brand and model of amp.

 

That's all I have for now.

Happy playing!!

 

Pretty good advice neighbor

 

4H

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I love the Marshall DSL 15 head, or Combo if you can get along with the speaker, but the Orange Tiny Terror 15W can be had for fairly reasonable $ and seems to really sound great with the ability to switch to the 7 watt mode that pushes the power stage without the ear-piercing (hence the name tiny terror) volume that has no problem pushing my ppc 212 cabs on full monty.

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  • 6 months later...

I realize this is an old thread...

 

I second the recommendation of the Yamaha THR's... I love my THR-10c.

 

But if you want an actual, conventional tube amp, then you might wanna at least think about the Monoprice 15-Watt, 1x12 Guitar Combo Tube Amplifier with Celestion Speaker & Spring Reverb. Apparently, it's a store-branded Laney CUB-12R for a lot less than $400. Std price is $227 plus non-cheap shipping... but if you watch Monoprice sales, you can do way better. I recently got one for $176 delivered when I got it with some other stuff.

 

They also have a 5-watt, 8" version, normally $112 plus shipping, and often cheaper via Monoprice sales. When on sale, it's less than half the cost of the apparently identical Laney CUB 8...

 

ps: The spring reverb on the 15W amp gets rightly panned... but there's really nothing wrong with it except it got mounted in a goofy way. It's mounted on foam, and the lack of snugness means it starts dancing around and clanging. This is fixed by simply remounting it to the cabinet using some rubber grommets instead of the foam.

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