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JAC

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Right now people are realizing that low watt amps are king. I'm a big fan of them. By low watt I'm refering to around 5 watts or under. I've been a fan of big sound in small package for some time now. Here are some of the ones I've managed to track down so far: Silverface Fender Vibro Champ 6 watts, Marshall Class5 5 watts, Marshall JTM1 1 Watt. Vox AC4TV 4 Watts, Vox Lil' Night Train 2 watts and Blackstar HT-1 1 watt.

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I have huge fun with a Roland StreetCube...

 

A low wattage twin channel suitable for home use and busking to boot...

 

Dedicated guitar channel with some great models...Vocal/line channel for voice...

 

Currently playing a 12 str electro through it... [thumbup]

 

V

 

:-({|=

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Right now people are realizing that low watt amps are king. I'm a big fan of them. By low watt I'm refering to around 5 watts or under. I've been a fan of big sound in small package for some time now. Here are some of the ones I've managed to track down so far: Silverface Fender Vibro Champ 6 watts, Marshall Class5 5 watts, Marshall JTM1 1 Watt. Vox AC4TV 4 Watts, Vox Lil' Night Train 2 watts and Blackstar HT-1 1 watt.

 

I have an AC4. It has great tube sound at low price.

 

The only defect i've found : It doesn't have gain knob so if you want it to have some 'grain' you should set the volume at noon, where it sounds 'overdrive' and really loud for appartement playing.

 

You can split tube power up to 0.25W but it stills really loud for getting saturation in appartement.

 

For playing little gigs you should need to put at high volume, where you can only get (really) overdriven sound, plugin effects didn't have any effect, all you have is homogenic tube saturated sound. I've done et and it was fun.

 

So if you want clean warm saound for playing a raisonable volumes in appartement an highly overdriven sond for playing in small gigs or rehearsal this is your amp.

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What Oscar said is all true. I too have an AC4TV and love it. And I know this other one is already on your list but I just scored a 1973 Silverface Champ and It sounds incredible with my Tele and LP at moderate volume (Pristine Fender cleans). You can also dime it with a Tele. The LP is a little too much output when the amp is cranked. It pushes the little guy over the edge. But with the Telecaster all the way up it's full-tilt power tube Blackface (same circuit) overdrive. If I want real overdrive with my LP, I plug into the Vox which has no trouble handling the output of the Humbuckers.

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HI,

 

I'm using a Roland MicroCube. About 2watt with emulation of some famous amps.

Very nice at low level, it's work with both ac & battery (6 AA cells), has input for cd or pod and output for headphones or pa..

As guitar teacher I got two of them one for me and another for my students in a small music school of a friend of mine.

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It's a band without the fights!

 

That is a hilarious quote!!

 

I have a mustang III, and it's perfect for both parlor/BR practice and small jams/gigs.

 

the big tube amps I have em (3) I love em, they are impossible to beat tone wise, they sound tremendous.

 

But they are heavy and you gotta turn em up to get em singing.

 

I use the mustang just as much as I do my tube combos,

 

it does everything but cook mirco-wave popcorn, well no "band without the fights" but that's what the iPod's and backing tracks be for!

 

/KB

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Whatever you do, do NOT use an early 70s Ampeg GT-10. UUGGGHHHHH they are HORRIBLE!!! Oh they're terrible! If you find any, do society a favor by buying it and send it to me. I'll dispose of it and take it out of circulation. My address is....

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As for low power amps I use a 5 watt Blackstar HT5 with two Blackstar 10inch Celestion cabs. However, I have a "front end" which enables me to effectively run a multi-channel set up via a Seymour Duncan twin tube classic and my Mesa V-Twin.

 

But a low power amp I nearly bought was one of these RAT "hot-rodded" Bugera's:

 

http://www.ratvalveamps.com/

 

Sound pretty tasty to me but I am happy with my Blackstar.

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well if you want all the goodies at a inexpensive package, and are PC literate,

the POD Farm 2.5 system from line 6 is a great way to get almost every guitar sound possible.

can be used with your PC speakers, or, headphones from your USB on the PC / laptop.

no pedals or amps cluttering up your Bedroom, all ya need is a guitar cable.

you can sample sounds on youtube, or here at the home site. http://line6.com/podfarm/

 

or if money is no object, then you can go with a Axe FX 2.

this is used by many top recording artist, and sounds amazing.

you can get any sounds you like with the best studio quality fx built in.

many youtube videos with run down of the product, but not cheap.

if i had the cash, this is what i would have..

 

http://fractalaudio.com/p-axe-fx-ii-preamp-fx-processor.php

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or if money is no object, then you can go with a Axe FX 2.

this is used by many top recording artist, and sounds amazing.

you can get any sounds you like with the best studio quality fx built in.

many youtube videos with run down of the product, but not cheap.

if i had the cash, this is what i would have..

 

http://fractalaudio.com/p-axe-fx-ii-preamp-fx-processor.php

 

Surely the Kemper Profiling Amp is the way to go with money no object. By all accounts (and the proof is out there on YouTube) - far better than the Axe-Fx.

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Thanks for the heads up on the Kemper, as i know there are a few out there,

although, IMO I think the Kemper is a hideous design, they should have made it more streamline, and rack mountable.

looks like some combo type stereo system from the 80's or Boom Box... msp_biggrin.gif

but i must say it really sounds great, just a few hundred cheaper than the Axe FX 2

i'm doing research on it more now..

 

all in all, they seem to be quite close, as the Kemper seems to be easier to use straight from the box.

but with a few tweaks, most people agree that they both are outstanding units,

it's like the Gibson / Fender thing, you'll never please everybody.

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I have owned and tried just about all the 1 & 5 watt amps. My fav is the VHT Special 6 Ultra Combo. Hand wired class A, made in China, plywood, uses 2 12AX7's and a 6V6 which can be switched to other tubes like a KT66 or EL84 and with the adapter an EL84 too. 2 channels normal and gain, foot switchable boost, tone, high and low cut, pentode/triode, and a varible watt control which lets you dial in the really low bedroom sound as 5 watts can be loud so can 1 watt. Plus it sounds great. It also has an effects loop. Only downer is the 2 channels are not switchable. I also like the Blackstar HT5 because of it's Class A/B power section, maybe the only low watter with one, it gives a different sound to the distortion.

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Right now people are realizing that low watt amps are king. I'm a big fan of them. By low watt I'm refering to around 5 watts or under. I've been a fan of big sound in small package for some time now. Here are some of the ones I've managed to track down so far: Silverface Fender Vibro Champ 6 watts, Marshall Class5 5 watts, Marshall JTM1 1 Watt. Vox AC4TV 4 Watts, Vox Lil' Night Train 2 watts and Blackstar HT-1 1 watt.

 

nobody's mentioned the Fender Champion 600 (or did I miss it)? Old school reissue of the 50's champ, brown on blonde, suede grill cloth tv front, rear panel has volume only (but goes to 12) and high and low inputs. also nice ruby jewel. One 6v6 and one 12ax7. Even though the Fender ships with cheapo stock tubes, like a chinese 6v6 and i got a sovtek 12ax7, it's easy to upgrade. oh yeah, there is an external speaker out and i used to run it to a 1x12" cab with a 30watt alnico Weber (perfect fit for this model). although i am gassed at the moment, seeking more power, not content with what i have .... ahhhh more power. i also upgraded the 6" speaker with a Jensen MOD, but when the amp fried (after about a year and a half) the replacement was a refurb. model and I haven't played with mods because you have to pull out the electronics to get the speaker in. I would also suggest changing the suede grill cloth because I had problems with vibration at higher volumes. You can't beat the Fender 5-year warranty, mine was just replaced, no questions. This amp has some nice touches like leather dog bone handle and looks good. The 5 watts of tube power is loud, but a thinner, harsher loud compared with higher wattage amps, less saturation. This one's a keeper, keep it in the closet for another thirty years until it appreciates. :)

There was the Epiphone Valve series with a 5 watt head and 12" cab. Some low wattage amps, for example, my Ibanez TSA15 watt head can switch from 15 to 5 watts. more on the performance upgrades on the champ 600 ... the amp ships with a stock 15 watt speaker. that's a good rule to follow power wise with tube amps, at least three times the speaker to amp wattage. With 15 watt speaker breakup occurs around 9 or 10 and flatulates on 12 with the 6" 15 watter. you could even run a 4x12" cab, i've tried! the champ is a 4 ohm amp with a 4 ohm speaker ... i've run the amp through 8 ohm speaker cab (which fender recommends) and also 16 ohms. at 8ohms half of the power gets through, so you can imagine 4 ohms is full and at 16 ohm speaker a quarter power gets through. never run a 2 ohm speaker into the 4 ohm amp, but safely 8 and 16 ohm are fine.

You are looking for tube amp right? not considered solid state? I keep an old Danville 10 watt ss amp just to kick around, because frankly it cost me thirty dollars and i could throw it off a bridge and wouldn't care. it is good for a bench amp when i don't need tone, just a sound. by power comparison i'd estimate somewhere in the range of 4:1 when comparing tube power to solid state amps, in other words, a 5 watt tube amp is as loud (or louder) than a 20 or 25 watt solid state amp. now there's a rule somewhere in here about loudness, 10 watts is not twice as loud as 5 watts. i think you would have to double the power to only get a small audible increase in power. i think 5 watt tube amps are loud, but a thin, harsh loud (not altogether as desireable as a greasy fat creamy saturation you get with more power tubes). but hey, the little 5 watt champ 600 records well.

you can mic up these small amps successfully with a full pa and they are loud, but thin at higher volumes. might sound harsh.

oh yeah, i'm curious why the amp builder would build a toy 1 watt amp, they get expensive! is there a use for these i am not seeing?

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i remember back in the early 80's that a few guitar techs were using these tiny tube amps as preamps.

i forgot what they were doing as it's hard to remember my name some times..

but were replacing the speaker with a dummy load, and was able to run a signal out to another amp.

they sounded great

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oh yeah, i'm curious why the amp builder would build a toy 1 watt amp, they get expensive! is there a use for these i am not seeing?

 

Leaving aside the bedroom practice angle, I think a lot of guys use them for recording. I had both practice and recording in mind when I got my Blackstar HT5.

 

The Kemper Profiling Amp, for example, is a pre-amp rather than an amp per se and it seems to be very popular in the home recording / midi fraternity. I have thought long and hard about a Kemper but the cost defeats me at the moment.

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Right now people are realizing that low watt amps are king. I'm a big fan of them. By low watt I'm refering to around 5 watts or under. I've been a fan of big sound in small package for some time now. Here are some of the ones I've managed to track down so far: Silverface Fender Vibro Champ 6 watts, Marshall Class5 5 watts, Marshall JTM1 1 Watt. Vox AC4TV 4 Watts, Vox Lil' Night Train 2 watts and Blackstar HT-1 1 watt.

 

Ibanez has a tsa5 watt combo now. the tsa's are neat because they have the tubescreamer built into the front end. it's reasonably priced too. don't discount higher wattage amps that have switchable wattage, like 15w to 5w.

for warranty you can't beat the fender five year coverage. oh while on topic there's a gretch electromatic 5 w combo similar to the fender champion 600. fender also has some weird little guys like the greta (it's more of an ipod dock). hey if you gots da' bucks Fender Eric Clapton EC Signature Vibro-Champ 5W 1x8, that's tube rectifier. heh, heh i did my homework before purchasing a Fender Champion 600!

have a look on musician's friend, there's bound to be tons of micro watt amps now, as you say, they are popular.

Reference Guitar Player Magazine June 2012 Review: 11 micro tube amps; Blackstar ht5r 1X12; fender greta; hughes & Kettner tubemeister 5; jet city amp picovalve; kustom defender 5h ministack; laney cub 8; vintage 47 oahu suitcase; vox ac4hw1; marshall(s) jtm1h, jmp1h, jcm1h 50th anniversary 1 watt amps. THE EDITOR'S PICK: THE MARSHALLS!

cheers :)

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What do you think about the 7.5W power?

The Orange Tiny Terror Combo and Marshall DSL15C also have 7.5W power when reduced (from 15W).

My question is that if this 7.5W proper for "bedroom" playing?

(Help me I may get one of these amps.)

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