Looking for a new bedroom tube combo

Chuck_Norris

Chuck_Norris

New member
Hey guys

I'm looking for an affordable tube combo that I can use at home. The amp should deliver great blues tones and also be able to rock. Ideally, it should take me from a sweet breakup to Guns n' Roses territory but that's probably too much to ask for. I would be just as happy if i could play some Gary Moore stuff and still be able to drive it a little harder for some Slash noodling.

The amps I was looking at are those:

Blackstar HT-1R: This little monster seems to deliver the tones I'm looking for except for the sweet breakup
Blackstar HT Club 40: Looks like this one is extremely versatile and also very good sounding. Again, I'm not sure wether it can deliver some sweet bluesy breakup
Bogner Alchemist 212: Great versatility. Not sure about the sound though.
Bugera V22: I watched some clips and was quite impressed. Not a bad tone. Not at all.
Egnater Tweaker 15 112: Sounds really nice though it's more on the expensive side and not as versatile as the Blackstars.
Fender Blues Junior III: Perfect for blues but hardly enough gain and bite for GnR stuff
Laney Lionheart L5T: Very sweet tone. Nice bluesy breakup but the overdriven channel sounds really crappy according to most YouTube vids

That's about it. What do you guys think?
 
Re: Looking for a new bedroom tube combo

You could probably just add a boost to blues level of drive to take it to cranked marshall. Blues like Gary Moore's tone is about what you want for GnR anyhow.

The Egnater is much more versatile than the blackstar.....I've had both. Its not really high gain from what I remember.
 
Re: Looking for a new bedroom tube combo

My only suggestion is to find a Lionheart and try one yourself - my experience of trying them is anything other than crappy.
 
Re: Looking for a new bedroom tube combo

What about a Traynor YCV20 or YCV40? Add an OD pedal in front of the drive channel and you'll get the heavier tones. In my neck of the woods you can get used ones for around $300-$350. Great build quality. Made in Canada. I've got the YCV40 and use it at home all the time.
 
Re: Looking for a new bedroom tube combo

The V22 and Alchemist are both really great sounding amps. I've got both and love the tone to death. You need a better speaker to get the best out of them (my fav is the Swamp Thang). Makes a BIG difference. Good solid lows, rich mids and sparkly highs. Adds about $800 to the tone.
 
Re: Looking for a new bedroom tube combo

Blackstar will get you what you want I own the 40 and its great. If you just want it for home use maybe get the 20w or the 5w or 1w the 40w may be a lil bit much unless you plan on gigging with it or just having it as a back up. I cant speak for the rest but I have heard a lot of people praise the Egnater but there up their in price. You can get anything from classic crunch and break up to all out distortion you might need a boost pedal if you want the super high gain stuff but Blackstar has been good for me. Good cleans as well they have a very unique clean sound.
 
Re: Looking for a new bedroom tube combo

I would recommend the Blackstar HT-1. I played one at a friend's house and it was great...perfect for HOME use. It also has direct out w/speaker sim so you can record or go to a PA...which is really cool and I haven't found on another amp at that price. It sounded killer.

If you feel you need more volume for live situations, then I would go with the HT-5. Again, they sound great, all tube, 2 channels, effects loop, and line out w/speaker sim...where else will you find that in an amp at that price? They look cool, too. Egnater looks too vintage for me. I listened to a Tweaker and it sounded good, but all those switches didn't seem to do much and nothing sounded great (to me). And it didn't have all the features of the Blackstar.

My 2 cents.
 
Re: Looking for a new bedroom tube combo

FWIW . . . for bedroom/house playing, I LOVE my Marshall Class 5 !

And it has headphone out ;-)
 
Re: Looking for a new bedroom tube combo

Chuck_Norris said:
Hey guys

I'm looking for an affordable tube combo that I can use at home. The amp should deliver great blues tones and also be able to rock. Ideally, it should take me from a sweet breakup to Guns n' Roses territory but that's probably too much to ask for. I would be just as happy if i could play some Gary Moore stuff and still be able to drive it a little harder for some Slash noodling.

The amps I was looking at are those:

Blackstar HT-1R: This little monster seems to deliver the tones I'm looking for except for the sweet breakup
Blackstar HT Club 40: Looks like this one is extremely versatile and also very good sounding. Again, I'm not sure wether it can deliver some sweet bluesy breakup
Bogner Alchemist 212: Great versatility. Not sure about the sound though.
Bugera V22: I watched some clips and was quite impressed. Not a bad tone. Not at all.
Egnater Tweaker 15 112: Sounds really nice though it's more on the expensive side and not as versatile as the Blackstars.
Fender Blues Junior III: Perfect for blues but hardly enough gain and bite for GnR stuff
Laney Lionheart L5T: Very sweet tone. Nice bluesy breakup but the overdriven channel sounds really crappy according to most YouTube vids

That's about it. What do you guys think?
Click to expand...

What about Night Train or Lil Night Train?

Seriously, I don't think there is a tube amp that works at dorm volumes. Even 1W is too much and, it will all depends on the efficiency of your speakers.
You would need low efficiency speakers to lower the projected energy as much as possible.
 
Re: Looking for a new bedroom tube combo

That did ZERO to reduce my GAS for an HT1R, thanks loads... :omg:
 
Re: Looking for a new bedroom tube combo

Thanks for the advice. As soon as I have the time I will go to a music store (which is quite far away from my place) and try out the suggested amps. GuitarDoc, the speaker you mentioned costs around 120-140 bucks (incl. shipping costs). It's an investment I would consider only for an amp I would gig or record with which is not the case at the moment. I also have a Fulltone Fulldrive II Mosfet pedal that could help me to get a bit more drive. As for now, I'm kinda leaning towards the Blackstar HT-1R. It's minimalistic but the sound it produces comes really close to the tone in my head. Plus it's really cheap :)
 
Re: Looking for a new bedroom tube combo

BrianS. said:
What about a Traynor YCV20 or YCV40? Add an OD pedal in front of the drive channel and you'll get the heavier tones. In my neck of the woods you can get used ones for around $300-$350. Great build quality. Made in Canada. I've got the YCV40 and use it at home all the time.
Click to expand...

Those are great amps when paired with Super Distortion-equipped Les Pauls!
 
Re: Looking for a new bedroom tube combo

The words "bedroom" and "tube combo" don't really belong in the same sentence, IMO. In that setting I think it's easier to get pleasing tones with a modeler. Tube amps under 5 watts still get plenty loud when cranked, especially if you run them through a 1x12" or larger cab. The small cabs (1x8, etc) that some of these micro amp combos use sound pretty awful in my experience.
 
Re: Looking for a new bedroom tube combo

Look at the Fender Super Champ XD or X2. They let you get very passable tones at very low volumes for practicing, and then you still get to crank them like any good tube amp live. The X2 has the same FUSE software that comes in the Mustang amps, which lets you change and/or tweak the amp models themselves in real time while you play and hear the results. You can choose to set up your own models, or use ones tweaked by other users.
 
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Re: Looking for a new bedroom tube combo

FretFire said:
The words "bedroom" and "tube combo" don't really belong in the same sentence, IMO. In that setting I think it's easier to get pleasing tones with a modeler. Tube amps under 5 watts still get plenty loud when cranked, especially if you run them through a 1x12" or larger cab. The small cabs (1x8, etc) that some of these micro amp combos use sound pretty awful in my experience.
Click to expand...

+1

I have a epiphone valve junior combo, 5 watts and 8" speaker. way too loud for a normal apartment, and sounds really bad at low volumes. I like my computer modelers a lot better.
 
Re: Looking for a new bedroom tube combo

The new Marshall slash AfD 5 watter is out this week isnt it???
 
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