suggestions for a tone monster apartment amp...

Re: suggestions for a tone monster apartment amp...

Tech 21 Trademark 10 10 watts old sansamp classic goodness. Set it for marshall and close your eyes, it nails it. does a good boogie and nice fender too. imho though, its marshall tones are best.
 
Re: suggestions for a tone monster apartment amp...

Tech 21 Trademark 10 10 watts old sansamp classic goodness. Set it for marshall and close your eyes, it nails it. does a good boogie and nice fender too. imho though, its marshall tones are best.

+1 on that suggestion. The TradeMark 10 has been replaced by the TM 30. Virtually the same amp, and it's only 30 solid state watts - not tube watts. The Marshall & Boogie tones are surprisingly good. I'm less impressed by the "Tweed", but the reverb sounds a lot better than my Blues Jr. Go figure. Another big plus is the headphone jack. No it doesn't have tubes, but it's small, light, and covers a lot of ground. Has a series effects loop too.

Chip
 
Re: suggestions for a tone monster apartment amp...

An attenuator CAN bring your Bassman down to apartment levels, but it won't sound the same. A lot of the tube amp mojo comes from puxhing everything, even the speakers, to a certain extent.

Since you're apparently a Fender Guy, I would look into a Champ (used silverface ones are in the $250-$350 range), or a Champ 600 (if you want something new). I think the Palomino V8 is more Brit-sounding. The Blues Junior is too powerful for an apartment.

Be warned: even a Champ is too loud for an apartment, unless you neighbors are all musicians and/or like you a whole lot and/or you play real good. The good news is, attenuators for little amps are cheap - look into a Weber MiniMASS or even a plain old Radio Shack L-Pad speaker volume control.

my mom has a silver face vibrochamp.... while i love that amp to death for clean tones, it doesn't do it for me when cranked up. I just was never impressed by the distorted sounds on it. Dunno why, i know champs are supposed to be great for that.

It doesn't really sound like attenuation is the thing for me either....

My neighbors are fairly chill about things, but *most* of them aren't musicians.

Maybe i should just go with a small SS combo, i dunno.
 
Re: suggestions for a tone monster apartment amp...

If you can find somewhere to try a Kustom Tube 12A, you might be really surprised. I bought one to take when traveling, etc., and everyone who hears it is really impressed - and they're only $100!
 
Re: suggestions for a tone monster apartment amp...

Tech 21 Trademark 10 10 watts old sansamp classic goodness. Set it for marshall and close your eyes, it nails it. does a good boogie and nice fender too. imho though, its marshall tones are best.

that is a great amp, the newer version isnt as good imnsho, but the little 10w is a great bedroom amp
 
Re: suggestions for a tone monster apartment amp...

I have to think that depending on how tough your neighbors are, you may want to explore the world of headphones. Even one of the tiny Boss Cube amps can bring down the Wrath of crazed neighbors when co-existing with paper-thin walls.

So, how about a POD? Or, an all-in-one recorder, like the KORG D-1600?

Or use one of the pedalboard modelers, like the POD XT Live, the Boss GT-8, or the Digitech GNX4. Then you can take those presets and run them through your Bassman when you get to go LIVE and LOUD. (Remember though, there are bedroom patches and there are LIVE SOUND patches. All that swirly, over-drenched reverb and echo won't cut it in a live band situation.)

Wnat about when you want to jam with friends? Simple! A six-to twelve channel mixer, like one of the not-too-expensive Behringer Euroracks can accept the outputs from your PODS or pedalboard modelers and mics. Feed the mixer's outputs into something like the Rolls headphone mixer-amp--and you are rockin' out with no one being the wiser.

The downside to all of the this is that when the members of the Swedish Women's Beach Bikini Volleyball Team just happen to be in your neighborhood--they won't know that there's a bunch of ROCK STARS right in the next apartment!

The UPSIDE of THAT is that you'll get better faster without all the distractions--and you might actually even graduate! LOL!

One of these units might be just the ticket for expanding your creativity AND peaceful detente with your neighbors.

Good luck!

Bill
 
Re: suggestions for a tone monster apartment amp...

that is a great amp, the newer version isnt as good imnsho, but the little 10w is a great bedroom amp

Jeremy - I tried one of the TM30's out of the initial "limited" production run and ended up not buying it 'coz it seemed to lack some mojo. Is that what you're talking about?

BTW I still have my TM10 and it's great for late-night noodling.

Chip
 
Re: suggestions for a tone monster apartment amp...

You'll encounter what's called the proximity/boundary effect which states that for each surface the cabinet is next to you pick up an additional 3dB of low end. So pushing the amp against a wall is +3dB, into a corner is +6 dB... in a closet where it's trapped on all sides that's +12dB...

This is great info. Thanks for the insight.
 
Re: suggestions for a tone monster apartment amp...

That applies towards anything really. Building speaker boxes for 'yer car... setting up a home stereo... etc. It's also great for when the bass players amp blows up & needs to rely on the stage monitors. If they move outta the corner they won't hear themselves!

Acoustics.

Crazy stuff. Not so much rocket science. Just a little.

I failed algebra but have a fairly solid grasp on physics.

Go figure! lol
 
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