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5 watt tube amps


Tim Plains

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Have a look at the Epiphone Valve Junior and Valve Special. I have a Special. Bloody loud for 5 watts. A proper creamy warm tube tone with both my 335 and Strat. Both are single channel.

 

Recommend you go to the Epiphone Forum. There's loads of stuff on these amps there. Apparently, modified to bypass the digital effects and/or speaker upgrade they become something special.

 

I haven't modified mine yet but hope to soon.

 

They are incredibily good value in the UK at the moment.

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Quite a few

 

Epi Valve Junior (Mod required)

Peavey Royal 8

Crate V5

Black Heart

 

Or if Money is no option

 

LANEY L5T-112

or

Goodsell 5/17 - killer dual mode switchable from you guessed it 5 watts to 17 watts

 

or really don't care about money

HiWatt makes a 7 watt head

 

or a Marshall 18 with earplugs.

 

 

Or go the sub one watt route like I have than you could do the

 

Zvex 1/2 watt head

Soundworks little Lanilei

BlackHeart killer Ant

 

fractionalamps.jpg

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Mesa Lone Star Special will do 5 watts.

 

And you get ALL THOSE OTHER OPTIONS TOO........................

 

15.

 

30.

 

Face it man. You NEED a Boogie to be legit........ Peavey, Crate, Chinese amps with YOUR guitars makes zero sense.

 

Hee, hee.........

 

Murph. (Blue Angel)

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Thanks guys, will definitely check those out.

 

To quote yourself' date=' "Google is your friend." ;-P[/quote']

Shut it...O:)

 

Edit: Forgot to mention a friend of mine bought a Fender Super Champ a month or so ago...5 watts, I think.

Pretty cool little amp. That's one I'm considering, but obviously won't buy until I try some others.

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Edit: Forgot to mention a friend of mine bought a Fender Super Champ a month or so ago...5 watts' date=' I think.

Pretty cool little amp. That's one I'm considering, but obviously won't buy until I try some others.[/quote']

 

The Super Champ is a 15 watt class A/b hybrid amp. I have one and love it. The Vibro Champ is a 5 watt class A hybrid and is also pretty damn good, the main reason I picked up the Super Champ over the Vibro Champ is that the SC can use a foot switch. I tried the Vibro Champ out at the store with an American Standard Strat (they aren't Gibson dealers) and it was great. I have two clips of the Super Champ on my YouTube channel.

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Obvious... I know, but;

Gibson GA-5,...... sounds great w/ an OD pedal.

 

Orange - Tiny Terror combo is 7/15 watts.

 

Fender Champ 600, ditto on pedal.

 

Not aware of any low watters w/ 2 channels.

To me, any amp benefits from an attenuator. Weber has some good info on their

site about these. Their products are pretty respected also. I'm not spam'n, I'm just say'n.

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I'm not much of a boogie fan but I am highly impressed by the express 5-25. Unique tone with a lot of sculpting options and sounds good with pedals. 5 or 25 watts with a 10" speaker and it cab move some air with a 2x12 extension. Could put a down payment on a house for the cost though.

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Bad cat amps makes 5 watter, I think Torres Engineering has one as well.

 

If you are looking for a lees boutique amp....I just bought a Champ 600 and it is quiet, true definition of a bedroom amp. I changed the tubes and sounds good. I like the mild break up, it does not have 2 channles but it does have a low and high input.

 

The cheap speaker at 6" is the weakest link but a replacement is easy and cheap...

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The Laney 5 watter definitely looks good, full features, even effects loop. Pricey though.

 

I use a BBE Sonic Maximizer pedal with my amps instead of a EQ Pedal. At 2 knobs the Sonic Maximizer makes anything sound better. Think of it as smart Bass and Treble controls.

 

So Tim are you lening towards an amp in particular yet?

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  • 2 weeks later...
So Tim are you lening towards an amp in particular yet?

No, nothing yet. The problem is there aren't that many around. I just came back from Long & McQuade. They've got a Vibro Champ in stock and are supposed to get a few Super Champs in a week or so. I'll go back then. I also asked the sales guy to see what 5 watt amps they carry. Off the top of his head, there weren't many.

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No' date=' nothing yet. The problem is there aren't that many around. I just came back from Long & McQuade. They've got a Vibro Champ in stock and are supposed to get a few Super Champs in a week or so. I'll go back then. I also asked the sales guy to see what 5 watt amps they carry. Off the top of his head, there weren't many.[/quote']

 

I almost bought a 5W Blackheart off Craigslist for $220. I looked some up and they don't seem too expensive new.

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What kind of sound are you looking for?

I'm not looking for a specific sound...not at this point, anyways.

I'd like a small amp with good distortion. I'm not looking for Marshall in a small box.

The Super Champ caught my eye at first, but honestly...I thought it was all tube.

I don't want a hybrid. Nothing wrong with that, but not what I'm looking for.

Maybe I'll change my tune when I try one out.

 

If I can't find something small, I'll look for something bigger.

I'll probably just end up with a Fender Hot Rod, or something...=D>

 

Boogie, eh? =D>

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The Fender Champ is very compact and quiet, a pedal is a must if you want full overdrive.

EDIT: I read in a bunch of places on the net that better tubes were a must for this amp so I bought a TungSol 12AX7

and a Electro-Harmonix 6V6GT. Well it turns out now Fender is using a Sovtek on the preamp and a Ruby on the output so after replacing the tubes the sound did not change significantly. IMO.

 

I have salivated over a Mesa-Boogie Express 5:25 since it came out a couple of years ago. This year they replaced the 10" speaker to 12". 5 watts or 25watts with reverb dual channel and plenty of different settings.

 

Look it up on youtube.

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