Amps for Bedroom + Small Gigs??

[Mincer]

Congrats on the new amp! A Deluxe (and amps based on it) is about as perfect of an amp as it can get for me. It sounds great with pedals or without, and responds to your playing with really great tone. The reissues are the best tube amps Fender makes these days.

 

[jeremy]

glad you like the amp! you could swap the reverb driver tube to something with less gain, like a 12au7, to reduce the amount of reverb if you want

 

[Ascension]

Thank you for the suggestion. Will need to try one of these out. Unfortunately there are no Mezzbarba retailers in my city

I understand. They are very rare here also, however I still regret not buying that amp on the spot. Have owned a number of Fender small combos, including a real 1965 Deluxe. The little M 18 floored me at just how good it was. Will bury any of the Fenders, and you have to experience one first hand to really get just how good they are.

 

[esandes]

100W marshall head and 4x12 cabinet

 

[SirJackdeFuzz II]

5E3 clone . . . is my go-to for playing in the house.
Neil Young (if i remember correctly) recorded his ''Le Noise'' album with two 5E3's.

 

[Securb]

Bruce
that classic 20 has an attenuation on back to lower the wattage to 5 and 1 watt does it not?

That sounds like the way to go

Yes, it does, and does lose its character when knocked down.

 

[Securb]

Hello all! Just a quick update.

Today I took home a reissue 65' Deluxe Reverb. I

Perfect choice, portable but loud enough to get overthe drums. My first gigging amp was a Deluxe. It takes pedals very well also. I think the Deluxe is almost perfect in sound and design.

 

[Chistopher]

Yes, it does, and does lose its character when knocked down.

Ain't that just the way. I find for home playing, you want an underpowered amp. My Badcat Mini Cat (modded) is just loud enough to where it might be able to keep up with a drummer, but I can dime every knob and not be a nuisance.

 

[misterwhizzy]

Yes, it does, and does lose its character when knocked down.

Same with my Origin 50. Lowering the wattage kills the thump and headroom, not the volume.

 

[Ascension]

Yes, it does, and does lose its character when knocked down.

Two of the best sounding low volume amps I have found are my pair of US built 50 watt PRS heads. My first gen Archon 50 and my Custom 24. Both will absolutely kill at a whisper. The Custom 50 cleans in particular are amazing at super low volumes, but the crunch is not shabby at all either. Much better low volume bedroom tones with ether than almost any small low wattage amp I have ever used. Don't know how the did it, but they did.
Check this out my Custom 50 head on my Mesa Widebody 1/12 cab. There is no PA of any kind, 2 acoustic players and a young guy running the internal speakers in his Casio keyboard plus me with the Custom 50. Check out how this sounds in the room and this was recorded with my Zoom Q3 HD. That Custom 50 is a very loud all tube amp with 6L6's when cranked BTW and the Mesa cab is loaded with a 90 watt Celestian Black Shadow. Yet can still sound like this at a whisper.

 

[Sam SG]

Just get a Marshall Major and piss off the neighbors

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[ehdwuld]

I got a Stage Right 15
That knocks down to one watt
It has a nice growl at one watt
You can goose the gain a bit more at the lower volume

At 15 Watt it comes alive
The reverb has more body and everything
But that's just a function of loud
Its plenty of that

It is very responsive to guitar volume as well

My H&K Tonemiester goes from 20/5/1/0
At 0 and 1 it is excellent for practice
But it is alive at 5 and 20
Rich and aggressive



Again I think it may just be a function of volume

We are accustomed to our amps moving air and our heros using big impressive rigs

There were a lot of the massive sounds made by cranked small wattage amps that were struggling. Most of these weren't tracked live with a drummer to compete with but processed to compete in the studio

 

[Gold star]

Hey everyone,

I'm looking to invest im a tube amp. I use the amp mainly clean and the main type of sound i go for is inspired by John Mayer, Philip Sayce, SRV.

I'm playing 50% of the time in a bedroom, 30% in rehearsals and the other 20% in small bar gigs.

The main amps I'm considering are:

- Fender Deluxe Reverb Reissue
- Fender Blues Junior
- Fender PRinceton
- FFender Hot Rod Deluxe
- Vox AC15

The DRRI is my favourite for now but I'm slightly worried about not being able to use it to its full potential volume-wise.

Budget is around 1300 euros.

Any opinions / suggestions / recommendations?

Solid state for the 50% bedroom time, of which there are many good ones to choose from.

 

[Snake Aces]

Like Securb, I'm all about HK. I've got the HK GrandMeister 40 Deluxe which can operate at 40w, 20w, 5w, and 1w. Now I need to start a thread about buying an attenuator for my Traynor YCV50 Blue so I can match bedroom volume with my HK for dual amp operation

I also need to get a barebones iPad running iOS 12.0 or higher for my HK. It's never ending. Guitarist quests are more intense than anything Frodo encountered.

 

[AdrianSD]

The EVH 5150iii 50w 6l6 sounds great at low volume - imagine 0.25 out of 10, the fscker is stupid loud haha - into either 4x12 or 2x12 Laney cabs. Or attenuated into the DSL 40CR Creamback speaker. Very flexible amp, it can do a few tones very well at any volume, I think Peavey got it damn right from the beginning.
But you got me interested in the Tube Meister 40w

 

[Snake Aces]

Dude, the HK is a beast. When I first got it, I thought it was okay. Almost 6 years later, I love it more than any guitar amp I've ever owned or played through. It is so versatile. More importantly, once you dial in, it sounds top shelf.

That being said, I've always liked some Peavey amps. The guitarist in my second band rocked an old Peavey. I dont remember which model it was, but it sounded good. We were a 3-piece around 2000 to 2002, he was the only guitar player in the band and he filled the space using a lot of low gain guitar tone from a Strat for punk rock.

Then, I also played with that same player in a youth worship band at our old church. His clean tone was awesome.

The EVH 5150iii 50w 6l6 sounds great at low volume - imagine 0.25 out of 10, the fscker is stupid loud haha - into either 4x12 or 2x12 Laney cabs. Or attenuated into the DSL 40CR Creamback speaker. Very flexible amp, it can do a few tones very well at any volume, I think Peavey got it damn right from the beginning.
But you got me interested in the Tube Meister 40

 

[Gold star]

If 50% of your playing is in a bedroom, get something solid state for that. As things are you don't need a tube amp to play in a bedroom-IMO. .

 

[Ascension]

The EVH 5150iii 50w 6l6 sounds great at low volume - imagine 0.25 out of 10, the fscker is stupid loud haha - into either 4x12 or 2x12 Laney cabs. Or attenuated into the DSL 40CR Creamback speaker. Very flexible amp, it can do a few tones very well at any volume, I think Peavey got it damn right from the beginning.
But you got me interested in the Tube Meister 40w

My 50 watt PRS first gen real Archon and my US built Custom 50 heads both sound fantastic at a whisper. Will destroy 98% of the low wattage amp that folks talk about for bedroom amps at low volume. It's all about the amp design. I just sold my Boogie F 30 combos because it was absolutely unusable at low volumes.

I have successfully used 100 watt tube amps in low volume situations, it's all in the amp design wattage doesn't matter in low volume tones. Franky most low wattage tube amps sound like crap at low volumes and lack any clean headroom. I am seriously considering finding a 25 watt first gen Archon combo for my grab and go small gig amp. They run a pair of 6L6's and in reality are not 25 watt amps.
This is my PRS Custom 50 head on my Mesa wide body 1/12 open back cab playing with a couple acoustic players a guy running the internal speakers in a Casio keyboard in a room with no PA and running only a little delay and verb in the loop. How's this for a solid bedroom volume tone? Recorded with the mics in my Zoom Q3HD.

 

[NotDemanic]

I'm a fan of the Jet City Picovalve. Only 5W but you can mike it if need be.

 

[Solarflares]

The Sequis Motherload Elemental is the only attenuator/load-box that retains tone right down to zero.
Available for direct order from the UK. The filters are also very good for recording your amp direct.
Then you could use any amp you like.



A Victory Baron Combo can achieve 18W, and sounds real good using just the EL84 at low-levels.
A Laney Ironheart Studio 15W/1W, fitted with Mullards - this would possibly do, with an efficient speaker.

But yes, I’d recommend either the Hot Rod Deluxe or the Deville.
You can buy a jumper with two jacks and a pot, to link fx send/return.
This allows you to have the master on 7 and saturate the splitter - rounding the tone.
Overall volume controlled by the jumper pot.
Close enough to bedroom levels, and with 40W - enough headroom for most small gigs within reason.