Lots of People Looking For/At Low Wattage Amps!

[Deftone]

Originally Posted by Cygnus X1

I'm all over it.
It's called the Cygnus-7.
PTP wired (actually terminal strips), 6V6/6L6/etc. family of power tubes, single ended, high gain capable...
designed from the ground up as a low watt single ended amp.

Nice. And I love that all wood cab in your avatar.

[Cygnus X1]

Thanks.
Shameless plug.
I'm building another one.

[gruveb]

Here's my 15 watt amp, I can play it so quietly with awesome tune because of the hot plate...way cool feature. yet, it is definitely loud enough to keep up wiht drums and bass.

[bad261]

Originally Posted by gruveb

Here's my 15 watt amp, I can play it so quietly with awesome tune because of the hot plate...way cool feature. yet, it is definitely loud enough to keep up wiht drums and bass.

I've been jonesing for a Univalve.

[GibsonByBirth]

I recomend the Fender Super-Champ XD 15 watt amp. It is a tube amp that has a clean channel and a gain channel. It cost under $300. It can get loud. The gain channel has a 'voice' sellection knob that you simply turn to 1 of 16 selections. This gives you accorate sounds of other amps. It does a good job at sounding like the British amp (Marshall) as well as vintage Fender amps including the Jazz King. I also has a selection that allows for accoustic playing. I haven't tried this yet. You can gig with this amp too.

[cynic79]

I've been happy with my two smaller amps, a Fender Vibro Champ XD and an Egnater Rebel 20 head and cab (which I note is not listed in the first post!).

[Boshizzle]

Peavey ValveKing Royal 8 tube amp is going for a great price right now from Musician's Friend.

5 Watt, all tube amp for under $100.00. Wow!

http://www.music123.com/Peavey-Valve...83113.Music123

[Deftone]

Originally Posted by bad261

I've been jonesing for a Univalve.

+1 I came dangerously close to buying one myself.

[hipofutura]

How could you go wrong at that price! It would be worth buying just to hack with.

Mark, those speakers are on the truck headed for your house! Can't wait to hear your review.

[GoofyDawg]

My main amps are all lower wattage amps. I don't play big places, so they've all served me well:

Aracom VRX22
Aracom VRX18
Reason Bambino

But there are others as well that I've looked at and evaluated. In particular,

Marshall Haze 15
VOX AC4TV
VOX Night Train
Valve Train Revolution Series Amps

All the amps I mentioned can be had for under $1000, and some like the AC4TV are only $249.

[mymindsok]

Well, it looks like I'm the first person to post about the Rock Block Amp by Surprise Sound Lab!

One or two watts of tube driven goodness, that can also be used as a true bypass pedal in front of a bigger amp.






I've had mine for a few weeks and it's a great little amp that easily keeps up with anything else in my arsenal.

Oh.... And it'll fit into the average lunch box just fine!

[gruveb]

Originally Posted by bad261

I've been jonesing for a Univalve.

I love my Univalve...swapping out tubes is cool, but even aside from that, it's very loaded.

[Boshizzle]

A Class A tube amp for under $100.00 was just too good to pass up. So, I purchased a Peavey Royal 8 from M123. Out of the box, it isn't so great. The 8" speaker doesn't do the amp justice. But, with a few easy mods, it's starting to sound pretty good for an inexpensive amp. Here are some clips of it played through some WGS speakers and different pre-amp tubes.


The ECC82 preamp tube provided the most clean headroom of all the tubes. The 12AT7 was next. For me, the 12AY7 is perfect. Lot's of touch response and nice OD with a good amount of clean headroom. These tubes will have similar effects on most Class A amps that come stock with a 12AX7 preamp tube.

Peavey Royal 8 with a 12AT7 Preamp Tube

Peavey Royal 8 with a ECC82 Preamp Tube

Peavey Royal 8 with a ECC82 Preamp Tube Through Behringer OD

Peavey Royal 8 with a 12AY7 Preamp Tube

[Belzeebub]

Originally Posted by Boshizzle

A Class A tube amp for under $100.00 was just too good to pass up. So, I purchased a Peavey Royal 8 from M123. Out of the box, it isn't so great. The 8" speaker doesn't do the amp justice. But, with a few easy mods, it's starting to sound pretty good for an inexpensive amp. Here are some clips of it played through some WGS speakers and different pre-amp tubes.


The ECC82 preamp tube provided the most clean headroom of all the tubes. The 12AT7 was next. For me, the 12AY7 is perfect. Lot's of touch response and nice OD with a good amount of clean headroom. These tubes will have similar effects on most Class A amps that come stock with a 12AX7 preamp tube.

Peavey Royal 8 with a 12AT7 Preamp Tube

Peavey Royal 8 with a ECC82 Preamp Tube

Peavey Royal 8 with a ECC82 Preamp Tube Through Behringer OD

Peavey Royal 8 with a 12AY7 Preamp Tube

Hey bro, thanks for sharing those clips. I was entertained.

[Sin Nombre]

The Epiphone Valve Sr. at 18 watts is finally available:

YouTube - Valve Senior Demo 1

[Boshizzle]

Thanks, Belzeebub. I'm glad you enjoyed the clips.

[Laservampire]

Any love for the (now discontinued) Gibson GA-5?

I've heard nothing but good stuff about these little tone machines, and I'm just waiting for mine to arrive at my door

[Cygnus X1]

Originally Posted by Laservampire

Any love for the (now discontinued) Gibson GA-5?

I've heard nothing but good stuff about these little tone machines, and I'm just waiting for mine to arrive at my door

The Skylark?
Yup-great little blues amp.

[Laservampire]

Originally Posted by Cygnus X1

The Skylark?
Yup-great little blues amp.

The one I'll be getting is a 2004-06 Reissue. I've been GASsing for a little tube amp for a while and all of the current options are either out of my price range or made in China or Vietnam. I got the GA-5 for a dollar more than the price of an Orange AD-5 at my local music store

[moodyedge]

Originally Posted by hipofutura

I'm surprised at the number of posts in the last few months from people looking for low watt amps. Be it home use, practice, or small gigs there seems to be great interest in this type of amp. Most of the interest has been in the 5 watt range with a max of 15 watts.

Some are after Fender clean tones, some want Marshall/Vox hi-gain, and others (like me) seek both. Might be a handy resource to create a sticky thread that lists and categorizes all the amps members are recommending. Pics and video clips would be a plus.

There are many "off the shelf" amps and several "boutique" models that come up frequently. Not to mention the various configurations: combo, separate head & speaker cab, numerous speaker configurations and brands.

Start posting your recommendations with specifications, opinions, pictures, video, whatever, and I'll add a list to my original post.

If we get enough substance to this thread I'll see if the moderators will make it a sticky.

• Blackheart (several sizes & configurations)
• Blackstar HT-5 (5W)
• Carol Anne OD2R (18-30W)
• Carr Mercury (8/.1W)
• Carr Raleigh (3W)
• Category 5 Tsunami (18W)
• Category 5 Ivan (20W)
• Dr. Z Maz 18 (18W)
• Dr. Z Mini-Z (5W)
• Egnater MOD 50 (5-80W)
• Fargen Mini Plex MK2 (18/.1W)
• Fender Blues Junior (15W)
• Fender Vibro Champ (5W)
• Few Other Fenders
• Fryette Memphis (18W)
• Fuchs Blackjack 21 (21 )
• Fuchs Lucky 7 (7W)
• Krank Krankenstein Jr (20W)
• Krank Rev Jr. Pro and Standard (20W)
• Laney LionHeart (15W)
• Lovepedal 1/2 Watt (.5W)
• Mahaffay Little Lanilei 3350LT
• Marshall EL84 20/20 (2 x 20W)
• Few other Marshalls as well
• Mesa Boogie 20/20 Stereo (2 x 20W)
• Orange AD5 (5W)
• Orange AD15 (15W)
• Orange Tiny Terror (15W)
• Phaez DaisyCutter (14W)
• Reeves (Several models 6W - 18W)
• Reinhardt 18 (18W)
• Reinhardt MI-6 (18W)
• Suhr Dadger 18 (.1 to 18W)
• Swart Atomic Space Tone (20)
• Swart Space Tone (5W)
• Twister Dust Devil (.1 - 12W)
• Two Rock Jet (20W)
• Two Rock Custom Reverb (has a switch for 22 W on the 50 W model)
• Victoria 518 (5W)
• Victoria 5112 (5W)
• Victoria 20112 (14W)
• Vox AC4TV (4/1/.25W)
• Vox AC15 (15W)
• Vox Night Train (15/7.5W)
• Z Vex Nano (a staggering 0.5W)
• ZT Lunchbox
  

you missed off matamp

[Tonequest]

There is also the Laney VC-15 (15W Class A) which I own and is extremely nice. Warm bluesy tone. Plus also the Laney Cub 8 and Cub 10


VC-15:

YouTube - Thin Lizzy - Still in love with you (LANEY VC 15)

YouTube - Thin Lizzy - Still in love with you (LANEY VC 15)

Cub 10:

YouTube - Laney CUB 10 class A/B all tube guitar amp demo

YouTube - Laney CUB 10 class A/B all tube guitar amp demo

[Harpozep]

I've got the Carr Mercury and it has the goods down just fine. Yes the tone changes a bit as you attenuate with the built in attenuator since you are not driving the speaker as much. Other than that the tone is distinctive. the Carrs have a tone, I've played higher wattages ones and they still have the same voice.

The 1/10 watt setting is too low for any use outside of the "Bedroom level" arena, but the 1/2 watt setting is to die for.
This is a dirty little amp. Cleans are there but you need to be in the eight watt setting to really enjoy them. Even than, the growl is only a hard strum away.


The Reverb changes depth as you add gain via the three position gain switch. The lush reverb you get on the clean setting tightens up and diminishes on the higher gain settings.
For the money I wish it had an effects loop, but I can't argue with the design signal path's tone, so I know Carr went this way on purpose.

Man I love this amp!

[p90rules]

Absolutely love my Sewell Wampuscat 22w

[IMG][/IMG]

[hipofutura]

Originally Posted by p90rules

Absolutely love my Sewell Wampuscat 22w

Well I'll show my ignorance and admit I've never heard of a Sewell amp.

[p90rules]

Check out the recent range of PRS amps made for PRS by Doug Sewell, as used by the Allman Bros.
My amp is from his early pre PRS days & was a custom one off cab quite unlike the other Sewell combo's.
It's an absolute tone monster.

[GibsonByBirth]

Originally Posted by GibsonByBirth

I recomend the Fender Super-Champ XD 15 watt amp. It is a tube amp that has a clean channel and a gain channel. It cost under $300. It can get loud. The gain channel has a 'voice' sellection knob that you simply turn to 1 of 16 selections. This gives you accorate sounds of other amps. It does a good job at sounding like the British amp (Marshall) as well as vintage Fender amps including the Jazz King. I also has a selection that allows for accoustic playing. I haven't tried this yet. You can gig with this amp too.

I traded it in. It sounds natual enough in a bedroom. Outside cranked up it sounded stiff. No overdrive. I kicked in a couple of hundred more and got the Vox Night Train (15/7.5W). At first I played it through my peavey classic chassy with 4 10 Peavey blue marvel speakers. So I would have two full amps, I bought a Fender Band-Master VM 212 2x12" Straight Guitar Speaker Cabinet. It has 2 Celestion G12P-80 speakers. The Night Train has great versitlity. It can sing like a siren or scream like a banshee. It has clear brights and heavy gain. The controls are direct and easy to use. This is all tube that easily drives the cabs I have. It sounded great the other night outside at a friends house. We cranked it to nearly full. Between the two of us taking turns, it handled long pure feedback substains like Santana's and Hendrix's. Still getting to know this set up but it is a keeper.

[TWANG]

it's the five watter that's the best to modify.
and beats anything near it's price range once modded, including mod expense.

I suspect the Hot Rod Vj and Valve Senior are next on my list.
But I'm building my own 18 watt in a couple of versions soon, too.

[TWANG]

oops should have used a shot that shows off the donkey better.

[gilmourjunkie]

Nobody mentioned these two which kick ass:

Soldano Atomic 16
Soldano Astroverb

[TeleDog]

Donkey RULEZ!!!