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Post subject: Best bedroom-watt tube amp?
Posted: Fri May 27, 2011 6:21 pm
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Hi everyone
Im brand new to the forum and Ive had a burning question for quite some time now. My fender G-Dec Junior just isnt cutting it anymore. Im looking for a good low-watt tube amp with a 3-band eq and master volume (especially on louder [>20watts] amps).
I run a strat and les paul thru a crybaby classic, fuzz factory, boss os-2 OD/DIST, and a sub-par ibanez phaser in that order. I play everything from hendrix to mayer to green day to ac/dc to zep and everywhere in between. A good clean sound is of paramount importance. Im leaning towards a blues junior. Id like to keep it under about $700, but if your a diehard aficionado of something more pricey, id love to check it out. Thanks in advance!

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Post subject: Re: Best bedroom-watt tube amp?
Posted: Fri May 27, 2011 6:38 pm
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Don't be messing around and spending a bunch of money on a series of losers. You know your going to get one eventually, so just go out and buy one now: DRRI.

Plays just fine at bedroom levels, just keep the volume to 6 or above .................
No ................. Wait .....................
I meant below 3. Yeah, that's right.

No, the heck with it. Dial it to 8. You will not be sorry (though the neighbors might if you're as bad as I am).


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Post subject: Re: Best bedroom-watt tube amp?
Posted: Fri May 27, 2011 7:25 pm
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BJay1435 wrote:
Im looking for a good low-watt tube amp with a 3-band eq and master volume (especially on louder [>20watts] amps).
I run a strat and les paul thru a crybaby classic, fuzz factory, boss os-2 OD/DIST, and a sub-par ibanez phaser in that order. I play everything from hendrix to mayer to green day to ac/dc to zep and everywhere in between.

Wait a minute - all this in the bedroom? What am I missing? I'd think a 5W rig would be adequate for the bedroom.

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Post subject: Re: Best bedroom-watt tube amp?
Posted: Fri May 27, 2011 11:52 pm
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I use one of our extra bedrooms for my studio and practice room, I think it is 12'x14' or so....

I have a Vibro Champ XD 5-watt tube amp that I use for recording heavy distortion as well as other stuff that I want to sound really loud in the mix. I hook the line out to one channel in the mixer and use a condenser mic to mike the amp into another channel. I turn up the amp just enough to growl at a low level in the room, pop on the headphones and then get it as loud as I can tolerate it...

Does real well in the mixes and it handles all of my pedals well. Damn nice, cheap practice/recording amp in my books..

I also have a Blues Junior loaded with a Cannabis Rex hooked into a 1 x 12 extension with a Cannabis Rex, but I have to turn it up too loud to get the same sound in the head phones and it does not have a line out...

I have a Blues Deluxe hooked up to a 2x12 extension with two Texas Heats and it is way to loud to get a cranked sound with just the amp...

If I use my EH Soul Preacher, Digitech Bad Monkey and Digitech Screamin Blues I can get some good crunchy distortion at low levels with the Blues Junior and the Blues Deluxe, but the Vibro Champ can get the same amount of crunch with no pedals. It really shines in the mixes when I hook pedals up to it and drive it hard and it does not shake the walls...

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Post subject: Re: Best bedroom-watt tube amp?
Posted: Sat May 28, 2011 4:05 am
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I'm with CRGuitarman....................just get a 5w or something along those lines.Epi Valve Jr, Harley Benton, Grainger, Black Heart mini Stack, Vox Lil Nightrain...............all of them only have basic controls but are all way below your price limit and most have easy mods available to give you more control that will still keep you under your budget.

Your other option if you don't want them is get a 15-20W amp and get an attenuator so you can crank it and keep it at bedroom levels....................... 8)

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Post subject: Re: Best bedroom-watt tube amp?
Posted: Sat May 28, 2011 4:19 am
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I'd look for a SF Champ. Get your effects from pedals and skip the cheesy DSP effects and channel switching.
I have a 74 Silverface Champ that's just perfect for practice. It's about 6 watts of tonal bliss. They're still pretty reasonable. With a Weber Z Matcher, you can run it with any cabinet you want too for smaller gigs. You'll just have to make an adapter cable or change the speaker jack to a 1/4" jack. I honestly wouldn't wast my time or money on a DSP amp.

My Egnater Rebel can dial down from 20 to 1 watt but that's kind of an expensive bedroom rig.

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Post subject: Re: Best bedroom-watt tube amp?
Posted: Sat May 28, 2011 7:26 am
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63supro wrote:
I'd look for a SF Champ. Get your effects from pedals and skip the cheesy DSP effects and channel switching.
I have a 74 Silverface Champ that's just perfect for practice. It's about 6 watts of tonal bliss. They're still pretty reasonable. With a Weber Z Matcher, you can run it with any cabinet you want too for smaller gigs. You'll just have to make an adapter cable or change the speaker jack to a 1/4" jack. I honestly wouldn't wast my time or money on a DSP amp.


+1

A sub-porchweasel platform should be six watts or less.

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: Best bedroom-watt tube amp?
Posted: Sat May 28, 2011 8:48 am
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they got some really cool mini stacks out there, like the vox nite train, egnator tweaker, orange tiny terror, Blackstar HT-5, etc.

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Post subject: Re: Best bedroom-watt tube amp?
Posted: Sat May 28, 2011 10:04 am
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CRGuitarMan wrote:
BJay1435 wrote:
Im looking for a good low-watt tube amp with a 3-band eq and master volume (especially on louder [>20watts] amps).
I run a strat and les paul thru a crybaby classic, fuzz factory, boss os-2 OD/DIST, and a sub-par ibanez phaser in that order. I play everything from hendrix to mayer to green day to ac/dc to zep and everywhere in between.

Wait a minute - all this in the bedroom? What am I missing? I'd think a 5W rig would be adequate for the bedroom.


The G-Dec sounds like crap clean and only has a tone controll rather than 3 band eq. I'm not necesarily hellbent on getting a new amp, but if theres one out there thats worth the money, id love to check it out

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Post subject: Re: Best bedroom-watt tube amp?
Posted: Sat May 28, 2011 10:11 am
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pappawookee wrote:
I'm with CRGuitarman....................just get a 5w or something along those lines.Epi Valve Jr, Harley Benton, Grainger, Black Heart mini Stack, Vox Lil Nightrain...............all of them only have basic controls but are all way below your price limit and most have easy mods available to give you more control that will still keep you under your budget.

Your other option if you don't want them is get a 15-20W amp and get an attenuator so you can crank it and keep it at bedroom levels....................... 8)

(asking out of total ignorance) so your saying that a 15W blues jr would be too loud by itself?

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Post subject: Re: Best bedroom-watt tube amp?
Posted: Sat May 28, 2011 1:01 pm
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Remeber that tube amps need cranked to work the tubes properly and 15w of tubes is waaaay louder than 15w non-tubes.

If you crank a 15w tube amp you had better live alone and outwith any nearby neighbours.
I have a 15w pathfinder amp which doesn't have a tube anywhere near. I live in a terraced house and have a wife and kids and can't play the amp above halfway without getting bollocked!!!! :wink:

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Post subject: Re: Best bedroom-watt tube amp?
Posted: Sat May 28, 2011 2:13 pm
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This question gets asked a LOT on here and has been asked over the years countless times on countless other boards all over the internet and the longer I ponder it the less sure I am that there is a right answer. My gut says to suggest a Champ just like 63 and Arjay but even a 5 watt amp will be too loud for most bedrooms if you crank it up to the sweet spot woman tone volume.

The past 7 or 8 years or so I've come to view the amp as an instrument in and of itself and just as important if not more so than the guitar. Because it is an instrument it needs to be adjusted a certain way to to sound right like a guitar needs to be tuned and since the guitar and amp are in a symbiotic relationship you need to touch the strings in a certain way to sound right for a given amp and guitar combination.

The bedroom amp question gets asked for only one reason. People feel the need to practice their guitar but they want to do it quietly without bothering others in the house or apartment building and adjusting the rig so it sounds right is just too loud. Unfortunately those settings aren't all that negotiable with most amps so we look for a smaller amp but how small do we go? I don't believe there is an amp small enough to be quiet enough to satisfy the need for quiet and still sound good. I think it's possible bedroom players are prolly better off using some kind of headphone device if they really do need to be quiet. Some newer S/S amps have speaker defeat switches and headphone out jacks and these might be the answer. The problem then becomes two-fold....

#1, Now you're dealing with a much lesser quality amp than most veteran players would ever recommend. While that's important to consider it's not the most important thing to think about. #2 is the most important.

#2, You're bypassing the amp as an instrument part of the equation and that fact will have serious repercussions down the road. The player becomes accustomed to playing without an amp as an instrument interacting with the guitar. Then when the time comes to plug in and play out loud somewhere in front of other people the amp as an instrument starts to interact with the guitar (naturally) and the player has no idea why he doesn't sound like he thinks he should and has no idea how to touch the strings properly. It's no wonder he doesn't know how to play with an amp because he hasn't been playing with an amp. He's been playing with headphones. He gets embarrassed, frustrated and stops playing. Then he goes back to his headphones and practices some more so he can do better next time but it's still just as pointless.

I started out this little novel by saying I did not think there was a right answer and I guess I am finishing with the same comment. You can go ahead and get a S/S amp with a phone jack and learn to play without an amp and embarrass yourself later. Or you can get a small amp like a Champ but it will still be too loud if you adjust it so it sounds like it's supposed to. You will still have your mother or your neighbor or whomever shouting at you and banging on walls at you to turn it down. If they wanted you to be quiet in the first place then chances are you won't be able to achieve it.

Personally, I think the best solution is to avoid the problem altogether. Try to find a rehearsal space where you don't have to be quiet and play through your beautiful sounding tube amp and givver. That's my 2¢.

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Post subject: Re: Best bedroom-watt tube amp?
Posted: Sat May 28, 2011 7:09 pm
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pappawookee wrote:
Your other option if you don't want them is get a 15-20W amp and get an attenuator so you can crank it and keep it at bedroom levels....................... 8)



:lol:

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Post subject: Re: Best bedroom-watt tube amp?
Posted: Sat May 28, 2011 7:13 pm
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get a PigNose.

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Post subject: Re: Best bedroom-watt tube amp?
Posted: Sun May 29, 2011 11:27 am
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Black Star has a 1 watt amp out.I don't know how good it is but it's tube driven


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