Amp hunt today small tube heads

[Ascension]

One of my local shops here has a pretty good selection of low wattage tube heads in the shop so spent some time today playing a few. The one head I have been wanting to get my hands on is the PRS MT-15 and one finally arrived at that shop.
They had the Marshall JCM 800, Anniversary, and Origin 20's, Boogie Mark 5 and the Mini Rec, 5150, the PRS MT-15 and the Peavey 6505 all in the same shop.
The litte Marshall's are all 3 killers the JCM 800 was the one I liked the best of the 3 but all 3 are just outstanding little heads. Limited however with all 3 being single channel amps but really good tones.
The boogies are also nice but to me the EL 84's were killers as am EL 84 overloaded with 3 84 amps. Liked the Mk5 in particular but was overly complicated and pricey + already own 2 Boogies so--.
5150 was not my thing can't put my finger on it just some thing about the feel I can't live with. LOVE the big 100 wat 5150 head but there is just something thet doesn't feel right with the little head. Good sounding amp but just not what I was looking for + had no real clean.
The biggest surprise was the MT -15. Cleans are really nice big round and Fender like was not expecting the cleans to be that good. The Red channel was also really nice big round warm and very smooth. Gain was pretty high even at the bottom on the range however the amp was very touch sensitive and cleaned up well even at higher gains with the guitar volume and touch.I was expecting the amp to be louder than what it was from the reviews. It's not lacking in power but is also not as loud and uncontrollable as some of the reviews lead me to believe it would be. Seemed to be spot on what you would need to play small to mid size clubs with enough volume and clean head room to get over a drummer but still not overbearing like a big 100 watt head is when you get it up enough to sound right. Thought the same about all 3 of the little Marshalls also BTW.
The most expressive and biggest sounding of the small amps I played by far were interestingly enough the ones running the big bottle tubes at low grid voltage in the 3 Marshals and the PRS. To my ear there was just a character to those 4 that set them apart for the rest. The Marshall's are straight up stellar rock amps but all 3 are single channel amps so that knocks them out for what I need.
That leaves the PRS which was surprising to say the least. At the price point of $650 thought it was the best bang for the $ by far of all of the amps I tried today. Great cleans big fat round and articulate crunches tones of gain but still articulate and clear with fantastic touch sensitivity really a great little rig. Biggest surprise however was the one I played was dead quiet even at high gain. That is the one thing that had been a fight with my Jet city head that the Over Drive side even at low gain it just is going to be noisy. Seeing that I am running it at Church with a mic on a cab in the back that has been a problem, I have wound up running a Tube Screamer on the clean side most of the time and only using the high gain channel as a lead boost because of this. The PRS MT-15 is the amp i thought the little Jet City JCA 22H head was but just doesn't quite make it.
Now got to come up with a plan on selling a couple things because after today I will at some point own a PRS MT-15!

 

[dystrust]

Re: Amp hunt today small tube heads

They had the Marshall JCM 800, Anniversary, and Origin 20's, Boogie Mark 5 and the Mini Rec, 5150, the PRS MT-15 and the Peavey 6505 all in the same shop.
The little Marshall's are all 3 killers the JCM 800 was the one I liked the best of the 3 but all 3 are just outstanding little heads. Limited however with all 3 being single channel amps but really good tones.

The JCM800 and Plexi are single channel, but the Studio Jubilee (assuming that's what you mean by Anniversary) is like a 1 1/2 channel amp. The output master and input gain knobs are both push-pull pots; the output master switches between the rhythm and lead channels while the input gain activates the LED clipping circuit on the rhythm channel. Contrary to popular opinion, the rhythm clip doesn't do anything on the lead channel. The channels are foot-switchable while the rhythm clip is not; IMO there's too big of a volume drop when engaging the rhythm clip to make that a useful feature. Personally I never use the rhythm clip, but it works OK if you want to set the amp up for dirty rhythm & boosted lead. If you use it like a two channel amp, it works very similarly to a Boogie Mark II or Mark III where they share EQ and the input gain feeds both channels. I run the input gain on about 7 which is kind of Plexi-ish but still clean on the rhythm mode while the lead has plenty of gain for rhythm. I use a Wampler Tumnus for a bit of extra drive when playing leads. The lead master control is only active on the lead channel and is used to balance volume between the channels.

 

[Ascension]

Re: Amp hunt today small tube heads

The JCM800 and Plexi are single channel, but the Studio Jubilee (assuming that's what you mean by Anniversary) is like a 1 1/2 channel amp. The output master and input gain knobs are both push-pull pots; the output master switches between the rhythm and lead channels while the input gain activates the LED clipping circuit on the rhythm channel. Contrary to popular opinion, the rhythm clip doesn't do anything on the lead channel. The channels are foot-switchable while the rhythm clip is not; IMO there's too big of a volume drop when engaging the rhythm clip to make that a useful feature. Personally I never use the rhythm clip, but it works OK if you want to set the amp up for dirty rhythm & boosted lead. If you use it like a two channel amp, it works very similarly to a Boogie Mark II or Mark III where they share EQ and the input gain feeds both channels. I run the input gain on about 7 which is kind of Plexi-ish but still clean on the rhythm mode while the lead has plenty of gain for rhythm. I use a Wampler Tumnus for a bit of extra drive when playing leads. The lead master control is only active on the lead channel and is used to balance volume between the channels.

First off yes it was the silver Jubilee head I played.
I REALLY liked the little Marshall's as straight up rock amps but they are not what need right now. I need an amp that will give me really nice cleans and a modern expressive Crunch. I also have 2 Boogies and a total of 3 amp's with EL 84's. Channel switching and bigger bottle power tubes [6V6, 6L6 or EL 34's ]running under 30 watts + a solid pedal friendly effects loop were requirements.
IMO the real standout amps were the 3 Marshalls and the PRS.
For me the PRS is a winner great tones with both a 5150 2/12 and a small tweed open back Peavey 1/12 with a Vin 30. At the $650 price point it IMO is a great bang for the $ rig but even removing anything about $ was very impressive and stood tall head to head with every thing I played yesterday. If $ was no object and could take 2 home would have taken the JCM 800 Marshall and the PRS out of everything I played yesterday

 

[Lake Placid Blues]

Re: Amp hunt today small tube heads

The shared eq and input gain on Jubilees have never been a problem for me. What works for the lead channel seams to work for the clean channel, at least for me. With the mini I like to run the clean channel up to the edge of natural breakup and clean up with the guitar.

The MT sounds like a great amp. It runs 6L6s am I right?

 

[Van Noord]

Re: Amp hunt today small tube heads

The MT15 is a great amp, I've owned one since they were first released. It's really big and thick sounding. It can benefit and responds well to some choice preamp tube rolling too. I wanted about more brightness out of the gain channel since it's modeled after the darker sounding Uber and Recto sound, so I put a few EH preamps in the gain spots.
The issue with the volume is only in the initial taper. Makes it harder to get bedroom volumes because it goes from zero to LOUD quickly. No big deal, just need a steady hand. At band/jam volumes, it kills. More like a 30,40 or 50w amp instead of a 15 IMO.

 

[Ascension]

Re: Amp hunt today small tube heads

The MT15 is a great amp, I've owned one since they were first released. It's really big and thick sounding. It can benefit and responds well to some choice preamp tube rolling too. I wanted about more brightness out of the gain channel since it's modeled after the darker sounding Uber and Recto sound, so I put a few EH preamps in the gain spots.
The issue with the volume is only in the initial taper. Makes it harder to get bedroom volumes because it goes from zero to LOUD quickly. No big deal, just need a steady hand. At band/jam volumes, it kills. More like a 30,40 or 50w amp instead of a 15 IMO.

I wonder if they might have changed the taper of the volume pot as I didn't see a big jump in volume with the one I played. That was one thing that confused me was every review had talked about the amp being so LOUD and unable to get low volume tones. The one I played was very controllable so??
That big fat smooth Rec type tone is kind of what I was after with this amp so your assessment is dead on. I agree that once you get the amp cranking it does sound much bigger than a normal 30 watt amp. Suspect that is the 6L6's as see the same thing with the little 20 watt Marshalls running the EL34's the same way on low grid voltage.

 

[Coma]

Re: Amp hunt today small tube heads

I had my eyes on the MT15 and finally got to try it last weekend. On paper, it's cool as, has everything you'd want in a small amp. Sells for a damn decent price too. Way too dark and gainy for my tastes though.

OP, did you try it through its matching cab or something else? I suspect better matched speakers would sort out the muffled sounds.

I didn't experience any issues with jumps in volume either, on the contrary that taper was very smooth.

 

[Ascension]

Re: Amp hunt today small tube heads

I had my eyes on the MT15 and finally got to try it last weekend. On paper, it's cool as, has everything you'd want in a small amp. Sells for a damn decent price too. Way too dark and gainy for my tastes though.

OP, did you try it through its matching cab or something else? I suspect better matched speakers would sort out the muffled sounds.

I didn't experience any issues with jumps in volume either, on the contrary that taper was very smooth.

Ran 2 different cabs. The 5150 2/12 and a Peavey small tweed cab for the little classic 20 head with a Vintage 30. Head sounded fantastic through both cabs. Cleans were absolutely spectacular nice compression and feel reminded me of the cleans on a nice blackface Deluxe. Crunch had a lot of gain but was not harsh or buzzy cleaned up very well with touch or guitar volume in particular at 5 or below. Amp was voiced on the dark side but very articulate and defined and not muddy could dial in some nice bite with my old Carvin DC127 running the Hybrid and Sentient combo.
It felt a lot like my Zinky Velvet on the crunch side and I guess that is what makes it so attractive to me.

 

[Van Noord]

Re: Amp hunt today small tube heads

You aren't "unable" to get low volume tones, and there aren't volume "jumps" with the MT15.
I play mine predominantly at low volumes and get by just fine. The single volume jump is from zero to one, making TV volumes a slight challenge. But I have a pretty steady hand so no issue for me.
Hopefully the new batch has a better taper. Some guys have been adding a better taper on their own.

 

[BloodRose]

Re: Amp hunt today small tube heads

Id really like to try the MT 15. Id love to have a lower wattage amp that uses bigger tubes. Im not a huge fan of EL84s. I have a PV classic 30 and that covers El84s for me..
Plus , the price point on that amp is quite appealing!

Does the mini JCM800 sound like like a JCM 800 should?? Or does it lose anything being scaled down?
If it has all the tone, Id love to have one of those too.. However, $1200 is way out of my league

 

[Ascension]

Re: Amp hunt today small tube heads

Id really like to try the MT 15. Id love to have a lower wattage amp that uses bigger tubes. Im not a huge fan of EL84s. I have a PV classic 30 and that covers El84s for me..
Plus , the price point on that amp is quite appealing!

Does the mini JCM800 sound like like a JCM 800 should?? Or does it lose anything being scaled down?
If it has all the tone, Id love to have one of those too.. However, $1200 is way out of my league

The mini JCM 800 does indeed sound like a JCM 800 should. I was very impressed with that amp in particular. Had tons of punch sensitivity and that traditional Marshall tone in spades. The Origin also sounded good and it was at a lower price point of around $600. Less gain than the JCM 800 and more like the tone of an old JTM 45.
At some point I need to get back into a really good Marshall as played them on stage for years. This round am looking for a more modern channel switcher with a great clean punchy big Rec like crunch and a good loop. Saying that the little JCM 800 really felt a lot like my old JCM 900 Dual master when you cranked it. Really impressed with that amp in particular!!

 

[dystrust]

Re: Amp hunt today small tube heads

Does the mini JCM800 sound like like a JCM 800 should?? Or does it lose anything being scaled down?
If it has all the tone, Id love to have one of those too.. However, $1200 is way out of my league

If you're looking for a Mini JCM800 on a budget, get a Lead 12 Mini Stack and a Tube Screamer. As long as you're OK with black tolex, price of entry is only $300 or so.

This may sound like a joke, but I promise I'm not kidding. I bought the Lead 12 a couple years ago after wanting one for 15+ years. At first I was unimpressed; plugged straight in with the gain where you'd want, it honestly sounds like muddy s**t. Turning the bass down to 0 helps, but not enough. And then one day I decided to try boosting it with a TS, and I immediately found out why all of my heroes did. That little green box took a pretty lackluster and mediocre amp and turned it into the 80s Marshall sound I remember from all the records. Best of all it does so at a volume that doesn't require hearing protection. I know it isn't tube, and no it isn't a 100% faithful recreation of that tone. It also doesn't react exactly the same way to rolling down the volume knob though it still cleans up. That being said I now understand why so many people love these amps.

For anyone playing at home, here are my Lead 12 & OD-9 settings; they sound weird but again I promise I'm not kidding.
Lead 12:
Gain: 6.5
Master: Wherever you want
Treble: 7
Mid: 5
Bass: 0

OD-9:
Drive: 10-11 o'clock
Tone: 10-11 o'clock
Level: Max



More details on my living room rig here.

 

[BlueSnMettle]

Re: Amp hunt today small tube heads

You should give the DSL20HR a try.

 

[Ascension]

Re: Amp hunt today small tube heads

You should give the DSL20HR a try.

Played one not a bad amp. i really liked the DSL 100 in particular the cleans. The PRS however fits what i need better tone wise right now.

 

[BloodRose]

Re: Amp hunt today small tube heads

If you're looking for a Mini JCM800 on a budget, get a Lead 12 Mini Stack and a Tube Screamer. As long as you're OK with black tolex, price of entry is only $300 or so.

This may sound like a joke, but I promise I'm not kidding. I bought the Lead 12 a couple years ago after wanting one for 15+ years. At first I was unimpressed; plugged straight in with the gain where you'd want, it honestly sounds like muddy s**t. Turning the bass down to 0 helps, but not enough. And then one day I decided to try boosting it with a TS, and I immediately found out why all of my heroes did. That little green box took a pretty lackluster and mediocre amp and turned it into the 80s Marshall sound I remember from all the records. Best of all it does so at a volume that doesn't require hearing protection. I know it isn't tube, and no it isn't a 100% faithful recreation of that tone. It also doesn't react exactly the same way to rolling down the volume knob though it still cleans up. That being said I now understand why so many people love these amps.

For anyone playing at home, here are my Lead 12 & OD-9 settings; they sound weird but again I promise I'm not kidding.
Lead 12:
Gain: 6.5
Master: Wherever you want
Treble: 7
Mid: 5
Bass: 0

OD-9:
Drive: 10-11 o'clock
Tone: 10-11 o'clock
Level: Max



More details on my living room rig here.

Thanks for the info! I have a tubescreamer and no reason to Dystrust you.... haha
Sorry, had to Bro!!

 

[BloodRose]

Re: Amp hunt today small tube heads

Those little stacks look cool too!!!

 

[dystrust]

Re: Amp hunt today small tube heads

Thanks for the info! I have a tubescreamer and no reason to Dystrust you.... haha
Sorry, had to Bro!!

No worries, I get it.

Those little stacks look cool too!!!

I really think you'd like one, and they sound decent at a volume that the wife (hopefully) wouldn't complain about. You can get a black one for ~$300, a red or white one for ~$500, or a silver jubilee or plexi-style green one for ~$700-900. I lucked into mine for $200 about 3 1/2 years ago, though two of the pots were completely shot and needed to be replaced.

There are three versions of the Lead 12 1x10 combo; the very rare first version that is built around a fuzz circuit, and the later two revisions that use a LM1458. The stack is only available in the later two versions, and the only difference between the two is the earlier one has the headphone jack on the back.

If you're in the market now, I found this black one on reverb for $300, or this one for $350. If you want a custom color, I found a white one at a Guitar Center in MD for $429. All three of them are the earlier version of the mini stack with the headphone jack on the back and that white one is a great deal for a custom color.