Best Low Watt Tube Amp?

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JVG
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Re: Best Low Watt Tube Amp?

Post by JVG » Fri Oct 30, 2020 4:51 pm

Shadoweclipse13 wrote:
Tue Oct 27, 2020 11:17 pm
I had a Laney Cub 12R. It was a good little amp the year or two I had it. I ended up trading it in towards a Marshall Origin 20C (Combo) which is 20W with a 3-way attenuation switch (20W/6W/<1W). If you want that British sound, it might be worth a look. Great little amp.
Agree with the Marshall Origin 20 - the attenuator makes it great for home or small gigs.

The Vox AC4 is really great for home use, but struggles beyond that. Hopefully one day Vox will build an AC15 with an attenuator for lower power options - i’d be all over that.

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Logrinn
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Re: Best Low Watt Tube Amp?

Post by Logrinn » Sat Oct 31, 2020 3:53 am

JVG wrote:
Fri Oct 30, 2020 4:51 pm
Hopefully one day Vox will build an AC15 with an attenuator for lower power options - i’d be all over that.
Like the AC15H?

https://voxamps.com/product/ac15-custom-head/

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andrew__t
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Re: Best Low Watt Tube Amp?

Post by andrew__t » Sat Oct 31, 2020 2:49 pm

Anyone have any experience of the black star studio 10 range? There is an offer on in the UK for the EL34 version for £299 until November 2 and I’m tempted.

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blunderbuss
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Re: Best Low Watt Tube Amp?

Post by blunderbuss » Sun Nov 01, 2020 9:54 am

Logrinn wrote:
Sat Oct 31, 2020 3:53 am
JVG wrote:
Fri Oct 30, 2020 4:51 pm
Hopefully one day Vox will build an AC15 with an attenuator for lower power options - i’d be all over that.
Like the AC15H?

https://voxamps.com/product/ac15-custom-head/
I always forget how aggressively unfriendly the Vox site is to mobile devices.
Ryan

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Logrinn
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Re: Best Low Watt Tube Amp?

Post by Logrinn » Sun Nov 01, 2020 1:23 pm

Hm, works without problem on iPhone/Safari and DuckDuckGo.

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Re: Best Low Watt Tube Amp?

Post by electric12 » Thu Nov 05, 2020 2:29 am

Laney Cubs have been mentioned already, but I would suggest looking at the Cub 15H head. It's switchable, 15W or 1W, has nice (digital) reverb and sounds - to me anyway - very nice indeed. Very flexible little thing and 'takes pedals well', as they say.

It's a good home/studio amp, but is quite loud enough in15W mode to gig with - as I have been for a while, with a 2x12 cab. In fact more than once I have wondered why it didn't sound 'quite right' during band practices, only to discover I had it switched to 1W!

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Re: Best Low Watt Tube Amp?

Post by papa_hotel_delta » Thu Nov 05, 2020 9:11 am

I think the VHT ultra 6 is difficult to beat for the price, I retubed mine and it was very satisfying with (head) through a 12" mojotone cab. AC10 would be my other choice. I tried a Carr mercury on a recent trip to NC and if cost were not a big obstacle that's quite the unit.

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Re: Best Low Watt Tube Amp?

Post by beninma » Tue Dec 22, 2020 7:19 am

HNB wrote:
Sun Oct 25, 2020 4:28 pm
The little orange amps are great!
I have an Orange Rocker 15 and can back this up.

The Rockers can be played very quietly but are also stupid loud for their wattage levels due to the ultra efficient (101dB) stock speakers. The Rocker 15 can probably make a room in your house hit 100dB even on the 1W setting. My home setup I'm literally afraid to put it on 7/15W unless I carry it out to the garage where I can stand further away. IMO 0.5w does sound a little worse but 1w sounds great and it just gets better at 7 or 15. The bass and treble start to come in more at the higher wattage settings I think.

You have to be cool with the EQ of an Orange though.. they have a lot of mids. You're not going to use the same drive pedals as you would on a Fender. A Tube screamer into a clean Orange sounds gross. The Klon circuit and Bluebreaker pedals can also sound really bad. They aren't flat no matter what anyone says. But other stuff like Big Muffs, DS-1, etc.. sound amazing, and if you're boosting the amp in a dirty setup that's a lot easier too, a TS into a dirty Orange is fantastic. The trickiest thing for me to find has been an Overdrive that really suits the Orange EQ and sounds different than the amp itself. The best ones I've found have been the EQD Westwood and the DOD Looking Glass.

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Re: Best Low Watt Tube Amp?

Post by HNB » Tue Dec 22, 2020 1:16 pm

You can always use an EQ pedal to shape the sound a bit. :D
Christopher
Lilith Guitars

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Re: Best Low Watt Tube Amp?

Post by wooderson » Thu Dec 31, 2020 10:46 pm

I'm quite fond of my Ampeg GVT5 and they're dirt cheap. Pentode/triode modes so you can sacrifice some treble for less volume, James/Bax EQ like the big boy Ampegs.

I got a combo but I'd have preferred the head - the 10" speaker and small cabinet is boxy in a bad way (I need to try a speaker swap), but I run it out to a 2x12 I still have with new production Fanes and it's fantastic. On the other hand, the combo isn't that much larger and gives you the option of not using an extension cab so it might be for the best.

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Re: Best Low Watt Tube Amp?

Post by sepiareverb » Fri Jan 01, 2021 5:30 am

Vibro Champ indeed.

I'm a big fan of the Supro 1605R.

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Re: Best Low Watt Tube Amp?

Post by FiguredMaple » Thu Jan 07, 2021 8:01 am

If you can still find them, the Marshall 50th series 1watt amps were pretty nice.

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