Tube Amp for Apartment?

[jonnymangia]

Guys,

I picked up the Vox Valvetronix 30 b/c i like the volume attenuator since I am using it in an apt. Thing is, I find the tones to be very sterile, with no warmth at all. I know it's a solid state, but I thought the pre amp tube would warm things up a bit. IS there any small tube amp that will sound "tubey" without being cranked? I am using it in an apartment and cannot play at loud volumes.

J

 

[FretFire]

Re: Tube Amp for Apartment?

A few of the "booteek" amp builders make amps under 10 watts. I think Fuchs makes a 7 watter? However, these will still be pretty ballsy.

 

[loudriver23]

Re: Tube Amp for Apartment?

I'm in the same boat currently.
Apartment living and Most tube amps don't mix well for the exact reason you stated.
Thus I purchased a Roland Cube 30, while decent for practicing, I agree is is a bit sterile, and lacks some of the balls of my Boogie.
I think Dr. Z makes a low wattage tuber that would be nice for studio, or apartment use. Since i'm not into recording currently I can't justify that kind of cabbage spendature.
I don't have a great answer for you unfortunataly, maybe finding a great modeling amp is the solution for you. They have come a long way and can produce reasonably ballsy tones at bedroom levels. The Cube 30 is ok, I like it, but it's picky with my guitars. It likes my Tele and my 335 copy but sounds like crud with my strat..... Go figure.
good luck
Loudriver

 

[jonnymangia]

Re: Tube Amp for Apartment?

I'm in the same boat currently.
Apartment living and Most tube amps don't mix well for the exact reason you stated.
Thus I purchased a Roland Cube 30, while decent for practicing, I agree is is a bit sterile, and lacks some of the balls of my Boogie.
I think Dr. Z makes a low wattage tuber that would be nice for studio, or apartment use. Since i'm not into recording currently I can't justify that kind of cabbage spendature.
I don't have a great answer for you unfortunataly, maybe finding a great modeling amp is the solution for you. They have come a long way and can produce reasonably ballsy tones at bedroom levels. The Cube 30 is ok, I like it, but it's picky with my guitars. It likes my Tele and my 335 copy but sounds like crud with my strat..... Go figure.
good luck
Loudriver

That's the road I took - bought the Valvetronix modeling amp and it's not working for me anymore. I mean, some of the tones are cool, but it definitely has a sterile tone to it. Oh well.

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Tube Amp for Apartment?

ZVEX nanohead!

 

[innerdreamrecords.co]

Re: Tube Amp for Apartment?

Apartments the killer of good guitar world wide!

Try the little Epiphone or Crate tube amps. I have the 5 watt Epiphone and I'm sure I could get evicted with it.

 

[suislidE03]

Re: Tube Amp for Apartment?

I can play my DSL 401 with an attenuator and sound great at bedroom volumes. The attenuator is key for me.. dunno what i would do without it.

 

[Sly_D]

Re: Tube Amp for Apartment?

I certainly do not recommend you the small tube amps with no gain control... I just sold an Epiphone Valve Junior because it only have one button and to kick it into overdrive, you're already too freaking loud (and I live in a bungalow, but with small kids).

I totally agree with you about the Vox, this amp is way overrated. It is sterile and you can't crank it without busting your eardrums. No warmth whatsoever.

If you want overdrive at a reasonbale volume, go with a Blues Junior or a Traynor YCV20. You'll have the warmth of the tubes without the volume. I'd go with the Traynor because I found the Blues Jr boxy, but it's a personal taste. It depends a lot of your music style.

Since I'm generally into higher gain stuff, I found all these options unsatisfiying though (except my Traynor YCV40, which was too big for my needs). So I end up with a Marshall hybrid (AVT50), much to my suprise. The small AVTs are underrated (because they were way too pricy a couple of years ago). But for high gain with a tube feel, they are hard to beat, since you can get a 20 watts for about $285 on eBay. I prefer them to all the digital modelling amp (Roland, Vox and Line 6) and analog SS I tried (Peavey Bandit, Old Roland Cube, Fender).

By the way, someone I know use a Traynor YCV40 for gigs, and a Marshall AVT-50 as his back up. So they are not bad at all for hybrids. Harmony-Central is a strange place sometimes. Total crap gets a 9 and good gear sometimes hardly gets an 8.

Hope this helps, I've just got out of this "home amp" search.

 

[Telesexual]

Re: Tube Amp for Apartment?

I think I am going to go check out the THD univalve this weekend. 15 watt with built in hotplate. I let ya know how it goes.

 

[loudriver23]

Re: Tube Amp for Apartment?

Very cool, I'm all for trying and buying new gear.... That said 15 tube watts..... still too much for my apartment at least.
Good luck

 

[jonnymangia]

Re: Tube Amp for Apartment?

I certainly do not recommend you the small tube amps with no gain control... I just sold an Epiphone Valve Junior because it only have one button and to kick it into overdrive, you're already too freaking loud (and I live in a bungalow, but with small kids).

I totally agree with you about the Vox, this amp is way overrated. It is sterile and you can't crank it without busting your eardrums. No warmth whatsoever.

If you want overdrive at a reasonbale volume, go with a Blues Junior or a Traynor YCV20. You'll have the warmth of the tubes without the volume. I'd go with the Traynor because I found the Blues Jr boxy, but it's a personal taste. It depends a lot of your music style.

Since I'm generally into higher gain stuff, I found all these options unsatisfiying though (except my Traynor YCV40, which was too big for my needs). So I end up with a Marshall hybrid (AVT50), much to my suprise. The small AVTs are underrated (because they were way too pricy a couple of years ago). But for high gain with a tube feel, they are hard to beat, since you can get a 20 watts for about $285 on eBay. I prefer them to all the digital modelling amp (Roland, Vox and Line 6) and analog SS I tried (Peavey Bandit, Old Roland Cube, Fender).

By the way, someone I know use a Traynor YCV40 for gigs, and a Marshall AVT-50 as his back up. So they are not bad at all for hybrids. Harmony-Central is a strange place sometimes. Total crap gets a 9 and good gear sometimes hardly gets an 8.

Hope this helps, I've just got out of this "home amp" search.

THanks for the info. I had a Marshall AVT20 and it was too big and I thought the cleans were atrocious. The Laney also looks to be too big. The Blues Jr. might be the ticket. My experience with Fender tubes was that they needed to be CRANKED in order to get any gain. I play Zep, Cream, ZZ TOp, as well as ALice in Chains, GNR so I need my distortion as well as good cleans. Will I be able to get dirty at a low volume with the Fender?

 

[jeremy]

Re: Tube Amp for Apartment?

the carr mercury is the perfect apt amp, the 2w setting is great!!
its a single ended class a design that can run up to 8w. not cheap but it has great tone!!

the larger of the 5w epi amps isnt bad at all for $200, the fx arent great but they work.

for just home use, you need a very small amp

 

[Sly_D]

Re: Tube Amp for Apartment?

THanks for the info. I had a Marshall AVT20 and it was too big and I thought the cleans were atrocious. The Laney also looks to be too big. The Blues Jr. might be the ticket. My experience with Fender tubes was that they needed to be CRANKED in order to get any gain. I play Zep, Cream, ZZ TOp, as well as ALice in Chains, GNR so I need my distortion as well as good cleans. Will I be able to get dirty at a low volume with the Fender?

Poeple looking for Fender cleans always think Marshall clean suck. Marshall clean is deep and mellow, not sparkling. I prefer it. Thus my amp

With a Blues Jr, you'll get excellent cleans and with the master volume, you can get overdrive at any volume. It is smaller and cheaper than the Traynor YCV20, but the latter have a heck of a lot more features (like a direct XLR out and a defeat button to record silently, some good points for apartment playing). The Traynor also give you great clean without the boxiness. That being said, I think all small EL84 tube amps has farty, annoying gain. Trying to play G'N'R on an EL84 15-watter has got to be an unsatisfying experience. But that's my opinion, keep in mind that we are all searching for something different, you know, "that sound in our head".

The best thing for you would probably be to go try some. Depending on your budget, I'd suggest the Blues Junior, the Traynor YCV20 and also the Crate V58, which is only 5 watts and has a gain button. I read great things about it, but I never heard it. The Epiphone Valve Special (not the Valve Junior) also have good revews. It's a 15 watt tube amp with dsp effetcs.

And finally, you should probably check out the Vox Pathfinder 15R. It's solid state but people are really raving about it. And it 's very small. Never heard though. After serveral months of amp search, Harmony-Central scares me. When I saw that the Line 6 Spider 30 gets a 9.2, I almost had a stroke. This thing sound like a 2-watt am radio speaker in a Corn Flake box.

Good luck! You'll find the right one... hopefully, it's easier than finding the right woman

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Tube Amp for Apartment?

Try the new Crate Palomino 5 watter.

 

[schecterplayer]

Re: Tube Amp for Apartment?

I would reccomend the Crate V58. Its a 5 watt 8 inch speaker tube amp with gain volume and tone knobs. The stock tubes are crap and i would guess the speaker is too but Jenson makes a nice 8 inch speaker and even with that and nice tubes it should be pretty cheap. Its got a good bit of gain too which is nice.

 

[greendy123]

Re: Tube Amp for Apartment?

Actually I tried that amp with a les paul before and it sound great. Its got a good bit of distortion to it. It sounds great at low volumes and better at high volumes. I think that amp might work for you. Just check it out at your local guitar shop. I think you would like the tones from it. It sounds very tubey.

 

[Pierre]

Re: Tube Amp for Apartment?

I was amazed at how tube the Laney LC15 sounds even at very low volume. Same for the 5W epiphone amp with one volume button only. It's way too loud for a appartement to kick it into OD as it's been said, but it sounds very tube.

 

[innerdreamrecords.co]

Re: Tube Amp for Apartment?

You might look at the Pro Jr too - I sold mine for $200.00 US in perfect shape and I only paid 279.00 new. You'll need a pedal for distortion though at low volumes.

 

[jonnymangia]

Re: Tube Amp for Apartment?

Actually I tried that amp with a les paul before and it sound great. Its got a good bit of distortion to it. It sounds great at low volumes and better at high volumes. I think that amp might work for you. Just check it out at your local guitar shop. I think you would like the tones from it. It sounds very tubey.

which amp, the Peavey?

 

[Sly_D]

Re: Tube Amp for Apartment?

I think the Palomino and the V58 are the same with a different look. I almost fell for one but since I never had a chance to try one locally, I was too afraid to buy an amp without hearing it before... I got burned once.

There's also a Carvin that goes from 5 to 16 watts and equiped with a Celestion Vintage 30. Don't know how it is, it got average rating on HC. See carvin.com.