I am looking into some 5w valve amps for daily practice. I would like to buy a good 5w valve amp for a long term investment, something I can play everyday, and something that I could easily pull apart and modify in the future. So far I have not plugged into any 5w valve amps although I am planning on walking into a few shops and trying out all of them very soon.

So far I am aware of the Champion600, Crate V5, Epiphone valve junior, Strauss SHW-10, Vox AC4TV, and that little Gretsch 5w amplifier. I am also aware that the Blackstar HT-5 is 5w but that is getting up in the price range and in doing so where do I draw the line. I know that Ibanez does a 5w valve amp also but I beleive they are up in the price range also. All I need is something affordable right now.

I am really after an amplifier with real nice clean sound when played though with a Stratocaster, and I have a HSS so I do expect to be able to switch to the HB, crank the pot and at least be able to get a few power chords sounding nice and crunchy. I do not plan to use pedals in front of this amp, but rather just upgrade tubes or speakers if absolutely neccessary down the track.

Are there any 5w valve amps not mentioned here that are worth looking at? And having said all this what would be the amplifier that would have some real nice cleans aswell as a little crunch? And which of these amplifiers are the most reliable and would be ideal for a long term investment. Thanks.

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Fender Highway One HSS Stratocaster '09
Modified Fender Champ600
Honer Special20 Harmonica

Hi Strat0Blues: draw the line at the Blackstar HT-5 and buy that one. It sounds great and will do everything you want. Available as a combo or small stack as you prefer.

Can't imagine why you'd ever want to mod it though...

There's other nice choices too, if you are prepared to go up to 15 watts...?

Cheers - C

I will definately plug into a Blackstar Ht-5 if I get the chance, the only problem is where I am from all the prices are backwards compared to other parts of the globe

The Blackstar HT-5 is around twice the amount of a Fender Champ600, the champ goes for about $400AUD and the Blackstar goes for around $800AUD if I am not mistaken. But because it is 5w I will definatley try to get my hands on one.

I have a list of valve amps around 15w that I want to test out, but they range from $1300AUD to $2000AUD so in the mean time I really want to invest in a little 5w valve amp that will keep me busy whilst I am saving my pennies.

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Fender Highway One HSS Stratocaster '09
Modified Fender Champ600
Honer Special20 Harmonica

Hi again Strat0Blues: not easy for me to search because I don't know the names of shops in Australia. But Google found me message boards where I'm seeing people quote numbers like AU$620 for the HT-5...?

The combo is £299 here in the UK which translates to... exactly AU$622. Hey, you gain two dollars on the shipping!

Whatever: don't buy without trying it first. I'd hate to point you at an amp that turned out not to be your thing.

Good luck - C

PS Is there an Australian Google? I can't find it - what's its address?

PPS Too late: found it for myself. Google.com.au

I believe there are only limited stores who stock the Blackstar amps but hopefully I will find one, and with a reasonable price tag I will definately be plugging in to as many of these amps as I can before I buy anything. Thanks

Does anyone own any of the 5w amps that I have mentioned in the OP?

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Fender Highway One HSS Stratocaster '09
Modified Fender Champ600
Honer Special20 Harmonica

I have a new Crate V5. It is a good sounding amp clean, not a whole lot of crunch. I replaced the stock speaker with an older Fender Jensen speaker and it sounds even better. OBW I paid $100.00 USD totall.

Carvin Vintage 16/5 watt it puts out 16 watts pentode and 5 watts Triode mode. Its a liite bit more at 369. but lots of possibility and its U.S. made.
https://www.carvinguitars.com/products/ ... =VINTAGE16

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

If you are trying to keep it from getting too expensive, I suggest either the Epiphone Valve Junior heads, or the Blackheart Little Giants...They won't make you broke, and they handle pedals very well in case you can't get the exact sound you want from the amp itself...

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RAMA LAMA FA FA FA

Hi Strat0blues, I'm in Australia... I need to think a bit about your post, but I'm at work just now. My amp is a 5W Swart Spacetone 6v6, a lucky find on eBay. Unfortunately they don't have a representative in Australia; I think the guy I bought mine from must have got it from Custom Audio Boutique in NZ. Keep in mind that many 5W amps get very loud before they'll give you that sweet breakup... it's half the volume of a 30W amp, before taking into account speakers and types of enclosure, etc, etc. You may need to relent on the pedal front, or consider an attenuator. If you go for something with a master volume you will at least get some preamp distortion when you want it. However, your post makes me think you're after single-ended, Class-A goodness... heh. As Ceri said, if you spend the extra money and get one, you'll probably not want to modify it...

* Blackstar available here in Sydney starting at $627 for the 5W head, couple hunge more for the combo

Have you considered saving a bit more (like $1500) and getting something like the Egnater Rebel? Adjustable from 1-20W, and you can mix between 6v6 and EL84 tubes with a knob... actually.. hm. I want one of these. Damn.

OK... Buy-it-Now on a Rebel from the U.S. is $599 plus $129 postage... I should back s-l-o-w-l-y out of this thread now, but that's AUD $930 delivered right to your door...

Boy, I'm not sure which of those have nice cleans. I have an Epi Valve Junior ... the fun of these 5W amps is to crank them into some nasty distortion!

You are going to have to try them out. I hope you can find one with the clean you are looking for. Good Luck.

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

Thanks for the replies. It is a difficult one really, the only way I will know what I want is if I plug into a few amps I guess. Maybe I am expecting to much from an amplifier in the lower price range. Is buying an amplifier suppose to be this difficult?

As I am just learning it seems that everytime I have purchased amplifiers I have improved allot from the previous time. This works to my advantage because I can test out the range of an amplifier each time.

I have the HSS so I am able to play cleans through to rock and if there is a single channel valve amp that will allow me to do so then that is what I am after. I can always add pedals for a nicer tone or reverb later.

Then there is the matter of having either two channels or two volume controls that will allow me to play from clean to your basic rock with no additions to the set-up. I think that it may take time for me to decide and even though price can be an issue, sometimes it is best to wait and spend more money than anticipated.

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Fender Highway One HSS Stratocaster '09
Modified Fender Champ600
Honer Special20 Harmonica

I have a Champion 600, which was really cool to start with.
I changed the tube, to a white Groove; the only other mod I'm thinking of might be a 12" cabinet.
It's great fun with great tone for everything I played through it; it does agree both with my Tele and my Strat.

Few others would be the Blackheart Little Giant, as previously mentioned, or the Peavey Royal 8. The Little Giant goes Pentode for 5w and Triode for 3w and those have a different tone. The Peavey is part of the ValveKing series. Both of these will get more in the crunch range, but I'm not positive on the clean levels.

Peavey has some clips and video on their site (copy/paste since the (R) screws up the link): http://www.peavey.com/products/browse.c ... alveKing(R)%20Royal%208.cfm

And Blackheart has a little video on their site: http://www.blackhearteng.com/bh5h.html

I know videos and sound clips don't compare to actually playing the amps, but you can get an idea.

Blackheart also has the Killer Ant 1w head for even lower volume break up, but clean headroom might be too minimal for you.

As an aside, I have the Vibro Champ XD and I absolutely love it. 5w and all the different voicings. Tube power section. From what I understand, the 12AX7 is the phase inverter on one half and a gain section on the other so there are arguments that it is not a true tube amp, but to me it gets plenty tubey and is a ton of fun. Clips here: http://www.fender.com/products/amplifiers/vibrochampxd/ and a video with all the voices here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aGMTrL0pGg The video is of the Super Champ XD, but the voicings are the same with slight differences due to speaker size and maybe the wattage being 15w vs. 5w.

Good luck with the search.

A 5 watt amp through a 10 0r 12" speaker is seriously nice.

All though not a 5W, I would take a look at the VOX Night train,,7.5W switch able to 15W. Played one a few weeks ago and the cleans are just gorgeous. Not too mention the dirty is really good as well with some great distortion. The price is $499.00 and is over all a great amp from practice sessions to gigging bars and good size clubs, much more if mike to your PA system

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OqCOPL2_GU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxL04_EKUdI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpuGPf2wOrQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMCiS5rOcF0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qs_bZci5Amw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-hlJehvA9A

also here is a shootout of 10 different low watt amps

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JElhF57WaBI

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