What's a decent, REALLY small guitar cabinet for VERY LOW volume use? (Long-ish read)

[Diego]

Here's my situation:

I live in an apartment, where luckily I get to use my rig at way louder volumes than you'd expect. I guess the building has good isolation or something.
The thing is, I feel a bit uncomfortable playing so loud in my apartment past 9 PM, and sometimes I want to play at conversation volumes. And at those volumes, my Tweaker sounds like ****.

A friend of mine has a Blackstar Fly 3. Now that thing is AMAZING for it's price and size, and it sounds great at the volumes it's meant to be used. But here I am thinking of buying one, despite the fact that I already own a Blackstar ID Core 40 Head I keep as a backup and jamming amp when friends come over.

So I was just thinking, what if instead of buying a Fly 3, I just get the smallest, most inefficient cabinet I can get my hands on, and use my Blackstar head through that? I'm thinking even something stupid small like the Orange Micro Cab, which has an 8 inch speaker, might be too big. I need it to push as least decibels as possible, while getting the speaker to move and resonate. That's when tiny amps get lively and sound their best, in my experience. A 6 inch speaker cab or less would be ideal for this idiotic task.

The ZT Lunchbox cabinet (6.5 inch speaker) seems OK but a bit too expensive!
What's my options on this? I've never researched this before and I have no idea if there's any decent options out there for what I want.

 

[Chistopher]

Re: What's a decent, REALLY small guitar cabinet for VERY LOW volume use? (Long-ish r

Why not buy a Vox amPlug 2 (available in many flavors) and run it through either headphones or a portable speaker? I have a "travel rig" that is just an amPlug AC30 through an Altec Lansing Mini H2O 3 speaker. It's a stellar practice setup that cost me less than $100. It can go from a whisper to campfire volumes no problem.

 

[VinceT]

Re: What's a decent, REALLY small guitar cabinet for VERY LOW volume use? (Long-ish r

I have to say, I don’t think smaller speaker/cab is the way to go here.


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[Blille]

What's a decent, REALLY small guitar cabinet for VERY LOW volume use? (Long-ish read)

Went through this and ended up with the Maverick (probably Reignmaker would be better for you). As inefficient as 8” when you need it at home, efficient as the 12” it is when you need it at a gig.

For the record, I was about to buy this: Zeppelin Design Labs 1x8 Speaker Cabinet KIThttps://applink.reverb.com/item/516521-zeppelin-design-labs-1x8-speaker-cabinet-kit

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: What's a decent, REALLY small guitar cabinet for VERY LOW volume use? (Long-ish r

 

[Empty Pockets]

Re: What's a decent, REALLY small guitar cabinet for VERY LOW volume use? (Long-ish r

Crank your Tweaker through this:

https://www.guitarcenter.com/Jet-Ci...am-ISO-ii-100W-1x12-Guitar-Speaker-Cabinet.gc

The unloaded version is $250 if you have your own speaker.

 

[Jacew]

Re: What's a decent, REALLY small guitar cabinet for VERY LOW volume use? (Long-ish r

Have you tried to push the tweaker with booster or OD?

Extra gain at preamp might improve the low volume tone. At least it works great with my Rebel. It has way more gain at preamp compared to Tweaker though as it is.

 

[Diego]

Re: What's a decent, REALLY small guitar cabinet for VERY LOW volume use? (Long-ish r

Crank your Tweaker through this:

https://www.guitarcenter.com/Jet-Ci...am-ISO-ii-100W-1x12-Guitar-Speaker-Cabinet.gc

The unloaded version is $250 if you have your own speaker.

Now that's a good idea.

 

[Diego]

Re: What's a decent, REALLY small guitar cabinet for VERY LOW volume use? (Long-ish r

Have you tried to push the tweaker with booster or OD?

Extra gain at preamp might improve the low volume tone. At least it works great with my Rebel. It has way more gain at preamp compared to Tweaker though as it is.

I've done that.
I've also tried an EQ pedal in the loop to attenuate the power section, which is better but still meh.
I've also tried using the Tweaker as a poweramp and using VSTs from my laptop into it. Sounds great but too much hassle.

At low volumes it sounds muffled, dead and unharmonic. I guess because the speakers are sitting there doing nothing, or the amp design doesn't play nice with bedroom volumes.

 

[Gtrjunior]

Re: What's a decent, REALLY small guitar cabinet for VERY LOW volume use? (Long-ish r

The ID Core doesn’t sound good at low volume?

 

[ehdwuld]

Re: What's a decent, REALLY small guitar cabinet for VERY LOW volume use? (Long-ish r

They make a really compact 2x 2.5 cab
It has a headband and cable too

Makes your cranked amp almost inaudible to anyone but you
Get the long cable or wireless version




Headphones?

 

[Diego]

Re: What's a decent, REALLY small guitar cabinet for VERY LOW volume use? (Long-ish r

The ID Core doesn’t sound good at low volume?

At least for super low volumes, nope. It also has the most stupid EQ section of all time.

The ISF knob works, but for traditional BMT adjustments you have to USE A COMPUTER. And the Insider app from Blackstar ****s the bed in Windows 10, so I can't adjust it. And how do you get a good low volume sound without adjusting EQ?

So I'd rather buy a tiny cab and see how that turns out.

 

[Progbusters]

Re: What's a decent, REALLY small guitar cabinet for VERY LOW volume use? (Long-ish r

run it through computer speakers or home speakers or studio monitors using headphone out / aux out or something like that. ID Core should sound good at low volume, I had the 100$ one and it was great for what you can get with the stereo making it bigger than it seems. Amp and Cab are going to be louder. You could put your cab in a box in the closet with pillows and blankets over it, mic it, and hear it in a recording later. But in person its going to sound muffled.

 

[Gtrjunior]

Re: What's a decent, REALLY small guitar cabinet for VERY LOW volume use? (Long-ish r

At least for super low volumes, nope. It also has the most stupid EQ section of all time.

The ISF knob works, but for traditional BMT adjustments you have to USE A COMPUTER. And the Insider app from Blackstar ****s the bed in Windows 10, so I can't adjust it. And how do you get a good low volume sound without adjusting EQ?

So I'd rather buy a tiny cab and see how that turns out.

Gotcha.
I friend of mine has one of the ID core amps. But I never really discussed with him how all of that works
Sounds like a PITA.

 

[allbutromeo]

Re: What's a decent, REALLY small guitar cabinet for VERY LOW volume use? (Long-ish r

Get a Yamaha THR10 or THR5

 

[Jacew]

Re: What's a decent, REALLY small guitar cabinet for VERY LOW volume use? (Long-ish r

At least for super low volumes, nope. It also has the most stupid EQ section of all time.

The ISF knob works, but for traditional BMT adjustments you have to USE A COMPUTER. And the Insider app from Blackstar ****s the bed in Windows 10, so I can't adjust it. And how do you get a good low volume sound without adjusting EQ?

So I'd rather buy a tiny cab and see how that turns out.

That's certainly annoying. I got pissed of enough by the fact my Mustang needs computer to adjust mids.

 

[FuseG4]

Re: What's a decent, REALLY small guitar cabinet for VERY LOW volume use? (Long-ish r

run it through computer speakers or home speakers or studio monitors using headphone out / aux out or something like that. ID Core should sound good at low volume, I had the 100$ one and it was great for what you can get with the stereo making it bigger than it seems. Amp and Cab are going to be louder. You could put your cab in a box in the closet with pillows and blankets over it, mic it, and hear it in a recording later. But in person its going to sound muffled.

I use computer speakers for 3am sounds and it works great.

 

[Nightburst]

Re: What's a decent, REALLY small guitar cabinet for VERY LOW volume use? (Long-ish r

I think it's a bad idea, it will probably sound fizzy and weak. Get an isolation cab instead.

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Re: What's a decent, REALLY small guitar cabinet for VERY LOW volume use? (Long-ish r

The little Hotone Cab sounds good, though I've only heard it with their amps..

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: What's a decent, REALLY small guitar cabinet for VERY LOW volume use? (Long-ish r

Some cool, creative ideas here!

I have a Fly 3, Mooer Micro Preamp and an iso cab, they all get the job done. An iso cab does require additional care and feeding, as well as a way to mic and monitor the sound, so it can get expensive. But it sure beats using sims and IRs!