Low Wattage Amps

  • Thread starter Thread starter HillbillyDeluxe
  • Start date Start date
HillbillyDeluxe":2l9296h8 said:
BrokenFusion":2l9296h8 said:
In all honesty, I've been checking out that Ibanez Tube Screamer amp out. Lol.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

I LOVED that amp when I tried it at NAMM, and I mean I LOVED IT. the cleans the dirty tones, it's amazing.
 
Buy a used pre 1980 Fender Deluxe or Princeton, Tweed or well built boutique clon which, is always better than a factory model produced today..., as marshall the quality of parts has declined resulting in flat and harsh sounding amps....

Kai
 
Rash":3sy1wvbp said:
Buy a used pre 1980 Fender Deluxe or Princeton, Tweed or well built boutique clon which, is always better than a factory model produced today...
Click to expand...
I tend to disagree with that. Though the old classics and well built boutique amps tend to be higher quality, there are some gems out there that are dirt cheap and brand new. Just like back 50 years ago, Fender and Marahall had no idea that some of their amps would be some of the most sought after amps today, I am sure that 50 years from now, there will be amps that are brand new now, that will be extremely sought after 50 years into the future.

For example, my uncle was showing me some paperwork from the mid 60's. He bought his Fender Princeton brand new back then, for about 75 bucks on sale. That's equal to about 400-450 bucks today. I've seen mint Princetons sell for upwards of 1200 bucks depending on the year. Just goes to show you that perhaps, a 400 dollar amp today could be worth many times its value in the future.
 
All the low wattage amps I have are EL 84's. While I like the sound of them, I don't think they'd be ideal for blues and country dirt. I think they might be too raw and ratty sounding. An 18 watt 1974X clone maybe one I would recommend in that category. You could find them used within your budget.

Better yet I think would be the VHT 12/20 or anything else with bigger tubes (6L6, 6V6, EL34).
 
Re: Tubemeister 18 - sounds good but the Tubemeister 36 which has 3 12 AX7 s instead of 2 I feel will probably be a better sounding Amp.

And people mentioned the Egnator Amps- also the Jet city 22 Head is pretty versatile but needs a Mod to get real clean on the "clean"
channel.

ENGL Gigmeisters only have 1 12AX7 so there's a lot of solid state stuff going on there
 
Hit up Brian at BFG he does some outstanding work on the jetcity stuff. I have a double duce mod with the a depth knob and holy shit does it rip. Very nice cleans as well. He is top notch when it comes to amp mods.
 
I don't know... but I played a mini rectifier today and LOVED IT.
 
HillbillyDeluxe":23otwsw0 said:
Rash":23otwsw0 said:
Buy a used pre 1980 Fender Deluxe or Princeton, Tweed or well built boutique clon which, is always better than a factory model produced today...
Click to expand...
I tend to disagree with that. Though the old classics and well built boutique amps tend to be higher quality, there are some gems out there that are dirt cheap and brand new. Just like back 50 years ago, Fender and Marahall had no idea that some of their amps would be some of the most sought after amps today, I am sure that 50 years from now, there will be amps that are brand new now, that will be extremely sought after 50 years into the future.

For example, my uncle was showing me some paperwork from the mid 60's. He bought his Fender Princeton brand new back then, for about 75 bucks on sale. That's equal to about 400-450 bucks today. I've seen mint Princetons sell for upwards of 1200 bucks depending on the year. Just goes to show you that perhaps, a 400 dollar amp today could be worth many times its value in the future.
Click to expand...

Cheap boutique: the frentzel is cool.....

My experience:
No, there are some factory things which are ok.....koch studiotone is quite cool....but if you are aiming for the last 10-20 percent sound (speaking about classic amps not high gain) you have to buy old things around pre 1980 or good! boutique, old speakers (CTS, JBL) are even superior built and sounding. Fortunately there are scumbacks and webers around.

If you are living in the states, old fender amps are dirt cheap over there, absolutely no reason to buy new factory things.....

My favourite small el84 amp, Cornell 18/20 with scumback m75, Siemens NOS and Telam NOS El84 tubes, incredible, but likely too expensive in the states.
Here around 1200 Euro used, I really liked the ugly 18 in the Lugo shoot out, never tried one myself. Both kill the marshall reissue in every way.

If you look for a tweed sound, all parts are available in the states and quite cheap to contruct, Mojo cabs, weber speakers, mercury magnetics ot......or buy a used victoria, clark.....

My advice for best small club amp setup, pre 1980 Vibrolux, with Analogman KOT (most dynamic! ts voiced pedal) or moollon (the most beautiful sounding/behaving classic! ts sound, boxier than the KOT) overdrive tubescreamers (2.channel), keeler pull for crunch (2. channel) and carl martin plexitone for marshall gain (1. channel).
The carl martin is feeding the normal channel (I would consult a technician to voice the vibrolux normal channel a bit more marshallesque ánd darker, the ts device is feeding the the second vibrolux channel.....taking it to the extreme :-) changing one 10 inch vib speaker to a 12 inch scumback m75....there you go! You could use a sm57 for the scumback speaker (crunch and gainy sounds) and a md421 for the 10 inch speaker (clean sounds) to make it even more perfect.....

Best of both worlds, very appropriate sounding when low volume is needed killing all dual channel amps by far (if you need no brutal metal or high gain sounds)......

Fender Amps (Princeton, Vibrolux, Pro, Twin) feature spankiness, great stable twangy clean tone, distortion is quite harsh, sizzly
Fender Tweed (Deluxe, Bandmaster, Bassmann) feature woodiness, great clean tone, a bit muddiness, often dark when no presence and treble control is available (smaller models), the most natural amplification of an instrument, lacks the sparkle, twang of the 60ties/70ties Fenders, gets muddy early
Vox very early slight breakup, with much compression, a bit honk (other midrange) due to the blue bulldog, very even sound diffusion (anti beaming) in the room, not annoying, best subtle crunch
Tweed and Vox like Treble Boosters as old Marshalls....
Early marshall (tube rectifier) more stable and more aggressive (midrange) than a similar tweed, the clean lacks vs the tweed IMHO
later marshalls>68 chunky, less cool and less dynamic clean tones, very stable, more grind and clear distortion, stay chunky on the bass strings

Kai
 
Rash":1m7aik2b said:
HillbillyDeluxe":1m7aik2b said:
Rash":1m7aik2b said:
Buy a used pre 1980 Fender Deluxe or Princeton, Tweed or well built boutique clon which, is always better than a factory model produced today...
Click to expand...
I tend to disagree with that. Though the old classics and well built boutique amps tend to be higher quality, there are some gems out there that are dirt cheap and brand new. Just like back 50 years ago, Fender and Marahall had no idea that some of their amps would be some of the most sought after amps today, I am sure that 50 years from now, there will be amps that are brand new now, that will be extremely sought after 50 years into the future.

For example, my uncle was showing me some paperwork from the mid 60's. He bought his Fender Princeton brand new back then, for about 75 bucks on sale. That's equal to about 400-450 bucks today. I've seen mint Princetons sell for upwards of 1200 bucks depending on the year. Just goes to show you that perhaps, a 400 dollar amp today could be worth many times its value in the future.
Click to expand...

Cheap boutique: the frentzel is cool.....

My experience:
No, there are some factory things which are ok.....koch studiotone is quite cool....but if you are aiming for the last 10-20 percent sound (speaking about classic amps not high gain) you have to buy old things around pre 1980 or good! boutique, old speakers (CTS, JBL) are even superior built and sounding. Fortunately there are scumbacks and webers around.

If you are living in the states, old fender amps are dirt cheap over there, absolutely no reason to buy new factory things.....

My favourite small el84 amp, Cornell 18/20 with scumback m75, Siemens NOS and Telam NOS El84 tubes, incredible, but likely too expensive in the states.
Here around 1200 Euro used, I really liked the ugly 18 in the Lugo shoot out, never tried one myself. Both kill the marshall reissue in every way.

If you look for a tweed sound, all parts are available in the states and quite cheap to contruct, Mojo cabs, weber speakers, mercury magnetics ot......or buy a used victoria, clark.....

My advice for best small club amp setup, pre 1980 Vibrolux, with Analogman KOT (most dynamic! ts voiced pedal) or moollon (the most beautiful sounding/behaving classic! ts sound, boxier than the KOT) overdrive tubescreamers (2.channel), keeler pull for crunch (2. channel) and carl martin plexitone for marshall gain (1. channel).
The carl martin is feeding the normal channel (I would consult a technician to voice the vibrolux normal channel a bit more marshallesque ánd darker, the ts device is feeding the the second vibrolux channel.....taking it to the extreme :-) changing one 10 inch vib speaker to a 12 inch scumback m75....there you go! You could use a sm57 for the scumback speaker (crunch and gainy sounds) and a md421 for the 10 inch speaker (clean sounds) to make it even more perfect.....

Best of both worlds, very appropriate sounding when low volume is needed killing all dual channel amps by far (if you need no brutal metal or high gain sounds)......

Fender Amps (Princeton, Vibrolux, Pro, Twin) feature spankiness, great stable twangy clean tone, distortion is quite harsh, sizzly
Fender Tweed (Deluxe, Bandmaster, Bassmann) feature woodiness, great clean tone, a bit muddiness, often dark when no presence and treble control is available (smaller models), the most natural amplification of an instrument, lacks the sparkle, twang of the 60ties/70ties Fenders, gets muddy early
Vox very early slight breakup, with much compression, a bit honk (other midrange) due to the blue bulldog, very even sound diffusion (anti beaming) in the room, not annoying, best subtle crunch
Tweed and Vox like Treble Boosters as old Marshalls....
Early marshall (tube rectifier) more stable and more aggressive (midrange) than a similar tweed, the clean lacks vs the tweed IMHO
later marshalls>68 chunky, less cool and less dynamic clean tones, very stable, more grind and clear distortion, stay chunky on the bass strings

Kai
Click to expand...
 
Oh thank you!

Very nice indeed!
:D

I wrote this because there is a lot of misconception especially in hair metal and cock rock, red neck dominated forums....kind of setting the record straight without logo and gear blah blah, you know these guys wearing marshall, paiste.......t-shirts

My absolute hero and role model is martin prince
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7tn9lSERpA

How about talking hippest gender defying European electro music....no problem....

also cool
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hG5o8hXvZic


Kai
 
Splawn just released a 22-watt combo, 6V6-powered 1x12. Called the Super Sport. Sounds bad-@$$. Little more than you're looking to spend though...
 
Anyone try or a fan of the Orange Tiny Terror 1x12 (Hellomusic has one today for $300 off @ $598)

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/TinyTerr112/

1600-TinyTerr112_tipped.jpg


Or the Vox AC4HW1

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/AC4HW1/

AC4HW1-xlarge.jpg


Both low watt 1x12 combos. I've been eyeing them for awhile and am curious if anyone has tried and liked either of them.

The Orange seems to be a better amp based on reviews.

Both of these are kind of close to OP's price range.
 
^ The Vox AC4HW1 is still not shipping yet. :( Vox keeps pushing back the ship date, I am really curious about the AC4HW1, but am having to wait even for some early reviews.

I didn't know Orange made the tiny terror in a combo, pretty cool. Never been much of a fan of the 'lunchbox' look that seems to be popular now.
 
I think a used Transatlantic 15 would be a great blues/country amp for under 750 if you can live without an effects loop.
 
blackba":2ip9w1e2 said:
^ The Vox AC4HW1 is still not shipping yet. :( Vox keeps pushing back the ship date, I am really curious about the AC4HW1, but am having to wait even for some early reviews.

I didn't know Orange made the tiny terror in a combo, pretty cool. Never been much of a fan of the 'lunchbox' look that seems to be popular now.
Click to expand...

I'm a Marshall stack kind of guy too but the older I get the idea of moving that thing, even just the half stack, is less and less appealing. And I know damn well if I ever played out anywhere the house just puts a mic in front of one speaker and tells you to keep the volume down to bedroom levels because everything is coming out of the PA and the stage monitors.

So a 7-15 watt Orange with a 12" Celestion Heritage or a 4 watt Vox with a Celestion Greenback are becoming pretty damn appealing. (and from what I can tell sound awesome, at least the Orange). Didn't know the Vox wasn't shipping anywhere yet.



 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top