18 watt all tube amp, 6.5 lbs - Khan Pak

[stratguy23]

We had the lunchbox craze some years back; now comes the tiny amp revolution.

There's the Vox MV50 (50 watts at 4 ohms, 1 pound), the Orange Micros from a few years back, and pedalboard clean amps like the SD PowerStage 170 (2 lbs.), ISP Stealth Ultra-Lite (0.9 lbs), and the various Quilter Blocks.

Now here's an 18-watt all-tube head that's 9 inches wide, 7 inches deep, 2.5 inches tall, and about 6.5 lbs.



Specs:

(2) 6AQ5 Power tubes (2) 12AX7 Preamp tubes
Single channel and Dual channel models
18 watts or 9 watts switchable
Gain and Master controls
3 Band EQ with Bright and mid boost switches
Mid boost foot switchable
Buffered (pedal level) effects loop
16 and 8 ohm Impedance selector
Speaker Compensated line out
Internal Load resistor for silent use
Cooling fan with on/off switch

Evidently this head is British-voiced. The gold faceplate sort of matches Marshall cabs. Footswitchable mids boost is cool.

Made in USA, street price is $899 for Single Channel and $1199 for Dual Channel versions.

The initial reports from Gear Pages suggest plexi/Orange kind of sounds, which is intriguing. Sometimes I wish Marshall had cheaper low-watt plexi-voiced amps, so this may scratch that itch.

 

[Dusty.Rhoads]

Re: 18 watt all tube amp, 6.5 lbs - Khan Pak

Cool info, thanks but 6AQ5s are small inexpensive and have a definite EL84 sound. It may be conveniently small but instead of a grand for this you could get a Bassbreaker 15 head for 600 or less and have an amp that probably sounds better.

 

[BloodRose]

Re: 18 watt all tube amp, 6.5 lbs - Khan Pak

Cool it has tubes tho... Visually, looks like a gold painted crate power block

 

[Adieu]

Re: 18 watt all tube amp, 6.5 lbs - Khan Pak

Is it a fire hazard though?

 

[Golem]

I've tried one of these at Killer Vintage. It's not a fire hazard. Khan designs for Magnatone and worked for Ampeg, Crate, and had partnered with the dude from Stagecraft to do Reason amps. It definitely sounds way better than a Bassbreaker! You're literally getting an amp from one of the better builders out there. Of course, I'm a fan since I have a Reason Bambino which was a sort of like the first iteration of this idea but lunchbox sized and even lower output (2 to 8 watts). I'm considering buying two of these in the future now that there are more versions out.

 

[devastone]

Those have been out a few years now, they sound great in the videos, wouldn't mind trying one.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=khan+audio

https://khanaudio.com/pak-amp

 

[jeremy]

i met him a few times over the years, cool guy and makes some great amps. i got to play with bo diddley and johnny johnson with a "crate" that obeid built for billy gibbons years ago. like 15+ now that im thinking about it

 

[devastone]

i met him a few times over the years, cool guy and makes some great amps. i got to play with bo diddley and johnny johnson with a "crate" that obeid built for billy gibbons years ago. like 15+ now that im thinking about it

That's cool on about 3 different levels!

 

[jeremy]

oh it was a great night in st louis. hitting on billys gf for an hour before he showed up, not knowing who she was other than a tall hot older blonde who was into blues, rock, guitars, motorcycles and cars... good times