Recommend a new micro amp head

Franknfilms

Franknfilms

New member
I just sold my blackstar ht-5. It was a great amp, no doubt, but my music styles have changed lately. Drummers that I play with do not do metal, and that is cool, I need to expand my horizons. I have a xxx for ultra high gain and it sounds great for that. The reason I ditched the ht-5 is that when cranked with a drummer, the clean channel sounds more like a gain channel.

For my smaller, more portable amp, I want to have something with a bit of clean headroom so that I can play surf, prog, rock, but not necessarily metal unless I'm putting a fuzz in front for something slow and doomy. Here are my amp requirements:

Light and portable
clean and gain options, whether it be two channels or voice switching (footswitch not required)
effects loop (absolute must for my reverb pedal)
$500 is my budget, but I'm expecting to get something for less



My gear is listed in my signature if you want to see what cab and pedals I use. Here are the obvious choices:

-Egnater Tweaker 15W
-Jet City Amplification JCA20H
-Hughes & Kettner TubeMeister 18 (maybe find a used one for cheap)

Any feedback on the above amps, or any new amp suggestions?

Thanks!
 
Re: Recommend a new micro amp head

I'd recommend the Tubemeister. It has awesome cleans, a great crunch, and a very fluid lead tone. It also responds well to whatever guitar is plugged in.
 
Re: Recommend a new micro amp head

Tubemeister is no good IMO, check out the Traynor Darkhorse and Ironhorse if you need more power or the ampeg
 
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Re: Recommend a new micro amp head

Orange OR15H? Fx loop plus 7/15W output selection. It only has a single channel, but from what I've seen/heard it could be worth a try.
 
Re: Recommend a new micro amp head

The JCA20H has no loop, but it's upgrade, the JCA22H does, and it has two channels, one for crunch and the other for high gain.
 
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Re: Recommend a new micro amp head

Surprised I haven't got any tweaker fans to reply yet, that was my no 1 choice before the ampeg
 
Re: Recommend a new micro amp head

As much as I love my JCA20H, putting in a loop was a pretty big pain. Now that I put one in, I would never buy an amp without a loop again. And I don't think the cleans on it are all that great to begin with.
 
Re: Recommend a new micro amp head

Franknfilms said:
Surprised I haven't got any tweaker fans to reply yet, that was my no 1 choice before the ampeg
Click to expand...

Tweaker sounds really good but I keep hearing about its reliability... You should really give Traynor Darkhorse and the Ironhorse a look though, they are IMO the best lunch box amps. The Orange OR15 head is pretty nice too though !
 
Re: Recommend a new micro amp head

SongsForTheDeaf said:
Tweaker sounds really good but I keep hearing about its reliability... You should really give Traynor Darkhorse and the Ironhorse a look though, they are IMO the best lunch box amps. The Orange OR15 head is pretty nice too though !
Click to expand...

Thanks for reiterating those, I need to do some research, they look like good options. I love orange amps, and that or15 is pretty affordable.
 
Re: Recommend a new micro amp head

The Traynor Darkhorse does not have an FX loop, though the Ironhorse does.

Edit: have you considered the Engl Gigmaster 15? I guess it would be out of your budget new but maybe you could find one used...
 
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Re: Recommend a new micro amp head

That kind of wattage isn't going to offer considerably more head room at rehearsal/gigging/jamming with band levels.
You're still going to run into some issues with the clean sound if you need it to be very clean sounding.
That being said, the Jet City JCA has a great sounding high gain sound, not just for the price and size of the amp, but period.
 
Re: Recommend a new micro amp head

Petrovsk Mizinski said:
That kind of wattage isn't going to offer considerably more head room at rehearsal/gigging/jamming with band levels.
You're still going to run into some issues with the clean sound if you need it to be very clean sounding.
That being said, the Jet City JCA has a great sounding high gain sound, not just for the price and size of the amp, but period.
Click to expand...

That's cool, I don't mind some break up, I'm not a sparkling clean perfectionist just trying to avoid all out distortion. My xxx actually has plenty of clean headroom if I ever really need it, my smaller amp can feel free to drag some dirt in with the clean.

Traynor's ironhorse looks awesome, but I'd have to buy it on ebay, so I'm ruling it out. I'm now trying to decide between the ampeg or the tweaker 15, both of which can be had for around $400.
 
Re: Recommend a new micro amp head

Franknfilms said:
That's cool, I don't mind some break up, I'm not a sparkling clean perfectionist just trying to avoid all out distortion. My xxx actually has plenty of clean headroom if I ever really need it, my smaller amp can feel free to drag some dirt in with the clean.

Traynor's ironhorse looks awesome, but I'd have to buy it on ebay, so I'm ruling it out. I'm now trying to decide between the ampeg or the tweaker 15, both of which can be had for around $400.
Click to expand...

In Canada those Traynors are in EVERY guitar store lol with good reason... they ROCK!

You really can't go wrong with either the Ampeg and Tweaker 15, let us know what you decide!
 
Re: Recommend a new micro amp head

That ampeg looks and sounds sick! Thanks for putting it on my radar.
 
Re: Recommend a new micro amp head

If I can actually find an ampeg at a store and test it out (unlikely), I will match it up against the tweaker. Chances are, though, that I'm going to stop into guitar shops and find only the tweaker 15, try it, love it, and buy it. Just waiting on a check, any day now!
 
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