Which small amp?

J

jmcorey

New member
So I've committed to going better than a Boss GT-3 through a PA for playing at my church. I am a substantially better player than a few years ago - playing in public makes that happen. The sound guys are willing to mike an amp to go through the mains, but they want it small, so they can control the house volume. I know the stage volumes they want.

Tried the local dealer the other day, and found three amps.

1) A Pro Junior, having only a tone and volume controls. Had a great sound. In fact could not get a bad sound out of it.

2) A Blues Jr. Not as good a sound, believe it or not, as the Pro Jr. I felt like it was a lot harder to get a "great" sound from the Blues than the Pro. It seemed that the ProJr only as a treble cut, and that the mids were a lot better on that than the Blues.

3) A Gibson GA-5. A volume control. That's it. Almost had to change my underwear after hearing that one. The sound was incredible.

Then I've heard of lots of used Fender champs that come up for sale on ebay.

Problem is, that the Blues Jr. is on sale, used, at $200.00 The Pro Jr was one I truly preferred, though. Also, there are lots of mods available for the Blues Jr., but I need to stop geeking around with equipment and play more!!!

Advice from the crowd is welcome....
 
Re: Which small amp?

When it comes to tube amps, the fewer knobs and switches, the better. A lot of local guys rave about their pro jnrs.
 
Re: Which small amp?

Whilst the Pro Juniors are great amps I think you will find it limiting when you start to want to do other things and will not have the eq/controls. I use Blues Juniors (note plural) for some of my gigs and other than change the tubes and the speakers, I think you will find it will be more versatile.
 
Re: Which small amp?

BTW, what is that guitar on your page, with the flamed top and BL buckers? Are those 500 R and XL?
 
Re: Which small amp?

The tech 21 amps a great amps. If you are looking for a small amp with very convincing tones of popular tube amps at a great price they are what you want. They have to be one of the best, if not the best bang for the buck in amps. I would go to their web site and check out some of the clips they have recorded.
http://www.tech21nyc.com/tm60.html
BTW, That guitar is a Jackson SL-4 with a authentic Bill Lawrence XL-500 and L-500C. I ordered them special with the chrome surrounds instead of the black surrounds.
 
Re: Which small amp?

theodie said:
The tech 21 amps a great amps. If you are looking for a small amp with very convincing tones of popular tube amps at a great price they are what you want. They have to be one of the best, if not the best bang for the buck in amps. I would go to their web site and check out some of the clips they have recorded.
http://www.tech21nyc.com/tm60.html
BTW, That guitar is a Jackson SL-4 with a authentic Bill Lawrence XL-500 and L-500C. I ordered them special with the chrome surrounds instead of the black surrounds.
Click to expand...


Well, I had a Sans Amp TriAC that I ran into the PA. Sounds were not as good as the Trademark 10 or 60 sound samples, though. Perhaps PUCKBOY can comment on any potential differences.

I have a number of the real BL pups, including 2 sets of the now discontinued L465's!
 
Re: Which small amp?

If anything, I'm consistent...right!!! :13:

The Trademark 60 is a great amp for your situation. It's got the direct outs/XLRs for the PA, very nice cleans you can use straight or with pedals, a usable dirty channel. It's loud enough for a small room & also gives you nice tone @ lower volumes. It's a nice versatile 2-channel amp.

I don't know....I just like the amp!!!

If you don't go Tech21, I'm hearing really good things about the Valvetronix stuff.


Sorry, just saw your above post.

I've never used the TriAC, but I've heard there is a problem when switching between clean & hi-gain......I don't recall exactly what the problem is...maybe a loud click or pop.
 
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Re: Which small amp?

I messed around with the new GA-5's some, i love em.

See, it was basically gibson's version of the fender champ. If you could find one, and actually play it, you might check out an actual vintage late 50's-ish gibson GA-5 Skylark. I've tried one, probably sounds even better than the new GA-5s, BUT, it breaks up earlier, which might not be ideal for a church setting. The one i played was around a 57 i think, it was tweed. I don't have any experience with the early 60s ones (and later), that are covered in black. But if you can find one around you they'd be worth checking out since you can sometimes get the orignals for cheaper than the new one, and MUCH cheaper than a vintage tweed fender champ.
 
Re: Which small amp?

jmcorey said:
Well, I had a Sans Amp TriAC that I ran into the PA. Sounds were not as good as the Trademark 10 or 60 sound samples, though.
Click to expand...

Don't know what PuckBoy99 will say, but I fooled around with a Sans Amp TriAC before buying a TradeMark 10. Tech 21 just seemed to hit on some great mojo when they made that amp - I like the tones from the TM-10 much better than anything I could pull out of the TriAC (and so did the guy who was selling the TriAC). The big drawback of the TM-10 is that none of the controls are foot-switchable, so the TM-60 may be the ticket for you (but I've never even heard one). If you don't need to switch settings, you can plug the TM-10 straight into the PA with the XLR out. $245 +/- from Black Rose Customs...

Chip
 
Re: Which small amp?

I was gonna mention th TM-10, but I think the 60 is more versatile.

If you just need it for church & thru the PA, the TM-10 might be the ticket.

And John @ BlackRoseCustoms on the Forum had one for sale too. The box was damaged so he can't sell it as new.......Ya' might wanna check there.
 
Re: Which small amp?

Okay so it's not tube, but the newish Roland Cube 60 is pretty good for the cost. Nice modelling and direct line out etc...
 
Re: Which small amp?

IF you are playing in church I would think you are looking to keep the tone clean. IMO the best low wattage Amp is a Fender Deluxe Reverb. It has 22 watts which should give you enough volume to play in church as well as most small gigs. When the volume on the Amp gets up to about 5 it will begin to give a great blues tone. This can be controlled completely with the volume knobs on your guitar. It has a much better EQ (treble, Bass, Middle(I think) reverb). Than most other small Amps, but it comes with a much higher price tag. Remember You get what you pay for!!
 
Re: Which small amp?

Bludave said:
IF you are playing in church I would think you are looking to keep the tone clean. IMO the best low wattage Amp is a Fender Deluxe Reverb. It has 22 watts which should give you enough volume to play in church as well as most small gigs. When the volume on the Amp gets up to about 5 it will begin to give a great blues tone. This can be controlled completely with the volume knobs on your guitar. It has a much better EQ (treble, Bass, Middle(I think) reverb). Than most other small Amps, but it comes with a much higher price tag. Remember You get what you pay for!!
Click to expand...

Right On! Man, that is exactly the recomendation I was going to make. I used to play in church alot and a Fender Deluxe Reverb or sometimes a pair of Fender tweed Deluxes in stereo is what I had the best luck with. When I'd use my tweed Deluxes I'd split the guitar signal with a Boss Stereo Digital Delay or Reverb set to just barely on. Church gigs are a challenge because you can't play loud enough to get any kind of natural overdrive or even a full tone with any amp over about 22 watts. Lew
 
Re: Which small amp?

Peavey Classic 30/Delta Blues.

Vox Valvetronix 30 or 50 (they have a built in "power soak", so you can reduce the volume to a whisper if need be and still drive the tube for good sound), And the 50 Watter will CRANK if you want it to. Easily as loud as my 50 Watt Reissue.

Also, Hughes & Kettner make the "Edition Blue" amps that are well priced and sound quite good.
 
Re: Which small amp?

I had great luck getting some smoky tone from a pro junior. The Blues is more diversified but you pay for all the eq and reverb with gain loss. I haven't played the new gibson but I know the goldtones I have played through sounded really nice. My beef is the price for them for the components used (don't know about the present ones) they used to use plastic tube sockets soldered ONTO the PC board (not a big fan of those either) they might have changed it up by now though that was a few years back.

Luke
 
Re: Which small amp?

Def get a slightly more powerful amp like a Fender Deluxe Reverb or just a Line6 POD Xt Live and run it thru the PA.
 
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