Great clean, awesome gain, small amp, tube, combo or head, does this amp exist?

E

edsdds

New member
First of all I am looking for a small amp around 5 watts or less because I am not gigging or playing in front of a crowd. If I am going to play with a buddy of mine at his place I am plugging in to his DRRI with bass and drums.

So here is what I am looking for. Small tube, combo or head, 5 watts or less, reverb would be nice, and of course who doesn’t love Fender clean and Marshall gain. Effects that I use are only delay and chorus so I can throw a pedal in front.

Here is what I have been hearing and watching so far from reviews and users.
This isn’t an easy thing to fit in one tiny box and I get that so I don’t expect perfection
You can get nice Fender clean like in a Vibro Champ XD but the gain is not all that great
You can get nice gain sound but not going to get Federish clean like with a Vox AC4 or Blackstar etc
I thought I found the perfect setup with a HT1R head and 1x10 combo but everyone says you cannot really get any clean out of a 1 watt amp.

Any advice would be great. My local GCs usually have only one or two of these types of amps around and they are always wanting me to order one so not thanks. Plus I am open to amps that are discontinued so that means probably buying used online without having the chance to test it first, I am ok with that. I play my 20 year old Epi LP standard with Duncan 59s and a Strat.

Thanks SD Forum
 
Re: Great clean, awesome gain, small amp, tube, combo or head, does this amp exist?

Those marshall 1 watt amps are pretty sweet. JVM or DSL might work for you. FX loops, but no reverb.
 
Re: Great clean, awesome gain, small amp, tube, combo or head, does this amp exist?

With cleans, I think the main thing you don't get with a 1W amp is the headroom. If you like the clean sound of a certain 1W or 5W amp and you keep it within its limitations, there's no reason you can't use it. I use an H&K Tubemeister 18 head, usually into a couple of V30's, always on the 1W setting, and at home it's so loud by the time I get the clean channel to get a little gooey, I'm pretty sure it's too loud for the setting.
 
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Re: Great clean, awesome gain, small amp, tube, combo or head, does this amp exist?

One of the Vox Valvetronix +30

Get the 5 button footpedal
Switch from fender clean to any other preset

Hybrid amp

Wattage knob goes from 1 watt to 40 watt

Built in tuner

I want one

*(Sent from my durned phone!)*
 
Re: Great clean, awesome gain, small amp, tube, combo or head, does this amp exist?

+1 To the Hybrid Amp recommendation. I really like the Vox Valvetronix. As mentioned by ehdwuld, it has an adjustable Wattage knob that helps keep the power low but can still get cranked for such a small amp. I mainly use it for practice and even used it in a gig before; however, I was pushing it pretty hard for a smaller venue.

You can pick them up pretty cheap on Craigslist and it can get some great tones, IMO, for the price.
 
Re: Great clean, awesome gain, small amp, tube, combo or head, does this amp exist?

Hmmmm....that Vox edition I have not even heard of or given a chance. I will have to checkout GC they must have one of these in stock. How does compare to the DSP Fender I wonder?
 
Re: Great clean, awesome gain, small amp, tube, combo or head, does this amp exist?

Forgot to say, THANKS for the recommendation. Looking into them now.
 
Re: Great clean, awesome gain, small amp, tube, combo or head, does this amp exist?

Look at GC used
They have some with the footswitch at amazing prices

*(Sent from my durned phone!)*
 
Re: Great clean, awesome gain, small amp, tube, combo or head, does this amp exist?

Wow looking at the owners manual now. Anyone out there sometimes get overwhelmed when you amp has this many features? Like how cool would this thing be with just the wattage knob and 2 channels but then again I am also noticing you can get one of these for $100??????
 
Re: Great clean, awesome gain, small amp, tube, combo or head, does this amp exist?

Even when you have an amp with many options, you'll probably dial in pretty quickly on the few you find most useful. When I had a Vox ToneLab, I probably used three or four models most of the time -- and it wasn't because the other ones weren't good.
 
Re: Great clean, awesome gain, small amp, tube, combo or head, does this amp exist?

Blackstar HT-5RH. You'll love it.
 
Re: Great clean, awesome gain, small amp, tube, combo or head, does this amp exist?

wattage does not equal volume.
Check out a fender supersonic.
 
Re: Great clean, awesome gain, small amp, tube, combo or head, does this amp exist?

I tried a vox sounded soso to me. I think the super sonic might be overkill. How can 22watts at volume 3 not be louder than a 5 watt at 3?

I have to try a blackstar I guess.
 
Re: Great clean, awesome gain, small amp, tube, combo or head, does this amp exist?

See if you can find a Picovalve used. I use a custom cab with mine, closed back (convertible) with an 12" Eminence Cannibis Rex. I'll keep up with a drummer in a modest room. Best thing being you can change the power and preamp tubes to just about any combination that suits you tone wise. I'm currently running a JJ's ECC83MG (medium gain 12AX7) in V1, a JJ's ECC832 (12AX7 on the left side, 12AU7 on the right side) in V2 and a JJ's KT-88 as the power tube. You can run the pre amp up to 3 and the master to about 6 and just start to get breakup when you dig in. Then, if you hit it with dirt, it just stays loud, deep and clear. Heavy by any other name.
Here's mine 100_5142.jpg
 
Re: Great clean, awesome gain, small amp, tube, combo or head, does this amp exist?

I know you want to keep it under 5 watts, but I would take a hard look at a Boogie Mark V:25. There's a wattage switch for each channel, so you can have the full 25 watts for plenty of headroom on the clean channel, and 10 watts for the Distortion channel so the poweramp breaks up a little sooner. And if you do want to cut the wattage, you can run a set of JJ EL-844 power tubes, which are half power versions of the EL-84 tubes that the Mark V:25 comes with. Just make sure that the place you order the 844s from can and will select tubes in the proper bias range for the amp.

You can also attenuate percieved volume by either running a lower efficientcy speaker, or one of Eminence's FDM speakers (Maverick or Reignmaker).
 
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Re: Great clean, awesome gain, small amp, tube, combo or head, does this amp exist?

Yes the Mark V 25 or Mini Recto are great too. He was saying under 5 watts, so I didn't recommend them. But for great cleans to great gain at low wattage, I don't know if you can beat those amps. They don't have to be cranked either and sound good at lower volumes, even with the 25 watt setting.
 
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