I think the simple fact is that most end users just don't know and/or have the patience to experiment with all those silly controls. They want to twist and go.

I would bet the difference between point to point wired vs. using a ICB is so subtle that most would never hear it, kinda like the different body woods used on a guitar.

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Guitars:
1. mid 70's Ventura MIJ Gibson l6-s clone (Pre-lawsuit) in Black with Rosewood FB and EMG 81 BR/ 85 Neck
2. ESP KH2 Neck Thru
3. 2008 Am Std Strat in 3 tone sunburst

Can a small amp drive big speakers? Yes
This 18watter

Ah yes!! The incontrovertible Niki-18........has neighbors for miles around phoning up Scotland Yard!

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"Another day in paradise!"

[/quote]
Dude!! You never let on that you harbored such serious gear. A Carole-Ann yet. I'm totally impressed.

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"Another day in paradise!"

I love my Champ 600 in much the same way as ABS loves his. Great for recording and home practice. I usually run a Boss FDR-1 or a Marshall Guv'nor through it though. Very handy when me and our other guitarist are sitting up all night writing over a few bottles.

CC

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Fender Stratocaster (parts build)
Fender Telecaster 72 Custom RI
Fender Telecoustic Deluxe
Gretsch Electromatic Pro-Jet
Gibson Les Paul Standard Plus
Gibson ES-135
Zenith Type-17
Marshall 70's JMP Superbass 100w
Blackstar HT-5

With reguard to small amps powering big cabs,I routinely run my little 5 W Pine Electronics Paul amp through my Marshall 4-12 1960 cab and it sounds just peachy.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

So share away favourite bedroom amp convos and suggestions all wanted and more than welcome Regards ClassicRock92[/quote]

By the way...as a bit of nostalgia....my first 'little amp' was a converted old table radio that belong to a friend. Talking about 50 years back now.
In fact...we actually called it "The Little Amp" Next up was a Danelectro Centurion. Then on to Fender. First a Concert and then the Dual Showman.

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"Another day in paradise!"

zzdoc wrote

"By the way...as a bit of nostalgia....my first 'little amp' was a converted old table radio that belong to a friend "

Apparently a certain Josh Homme swears by old amps filched from old tuners etc for great sounding cheap tube amps.


Hears a link to a site i came across some time back all about small amps available.

http://www.jedistar.com/low_watt_amps.htm

Again mate, I'd have to disagree. I think reverb, effects loops and master volume controls just detract from the basic sound of a amp, I really do. The more you process a signal the weaker it becomes in my experience. There have been a couple of exceptions throughout history, the vox AC15 tremolo control being one. Fender did a similar circuit that operates just as well.
You can't blame bad amplification on people too lazy to get to know their gear. Thats the same whether the amp has one control or one hundred.

Yes I'd agree that point to point sounds no better or worse than a decently made PCB. The only thing I would say in the defence of point to point is that the circuits seem to be simpler and consequently sound better. Also you'll find that amp builders prepared to offer point to point amps tend to pick higher quality components. Thats not always true, just most of the time. I'll bet VHT hasn't gone overboard on expensive components with their special6 amp. It's a simple circuit though and gets the benefit of such.

Power rating and valve choices sure don't have as much to do with it as circuit design does. SPeaker size doesnt matter as much as speaker matching does. More frequency response and decibel rating than wattage and size. (Why do bassist's like 10" speakers?).

The next one, or maybe this one is losing the tone control. Theres a real sense of liberation using a amp with no controls, theres nowhere to hide with em. You either make the guitar sound good or you don't.

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No no and no

I have an old (circa 1986) Champ and one of the new Super XDs. The distortion on the old Champ was never something that I cared for at all; some of the XD settings are much more useful. Still, I rarely use distortion anyway so I'd say that on the old Champ, it's 100% clean and on the XD, probably 95% of the time.

The only other consideration is that the old Champ (to my ear) has a somewhat warmer and just by nature and age very mild distortion all on it's own.

Hi class A. EL84 and EL34 in class AB theres less power in class A. and more clean head room in class AB either can be made to sound warm and lush or brash and biting. other factors such as the pre.amp and driver circuitry transformers components and speakers play a big part in the way thay break.up.I still like the tone of a 5 watt amp in class A sweet tone from the one EL48 and one 12ax7.Cheers.

I understand where you are coming from, I really do. I have heard it before, I just don't experience it. I think there is a difference between processing a singal and having some control of it. An effects loop hurts nothing if it can be bypassed. I have also used completely clean unmolested preamp settings into my power amp cranked through my Marshall cab and been in tone heaven (Oh the ringing ) and I know that no little 5 watt amp with a 6 or 8 inch speaker would come close.

Frankly Marshall heads do nothing for me as a practice amp, they are meant to be cranked. But at low volumes having 4 12's in stereo sounds much better than a small 10' boxy amp...I have both side by side in my home studio, and there is no comparison, even though I play my little amp all the time since that preamp goes directly into my hard drive in case I need to lay a track down. I just need more than one tone as well, I would get bored quick, especially if it was clean all the time. I generally use three tones at every practice session, clean, mid gain, and high gain.

Maybe I have some sort of ADD to tones, I can't focus on one too long regardless of its quality. The tube pre's deliver and I still am finding new tones 15 years later.

We could have a complete discussion on why bass players like 10" and 15" speakers. I like the 10" and 15" for guitar to sometimes too, but a 12" is the standard for good reason. My opinion is a 10" driver is the mininum

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Guitars:
1. mid 70's Ventura MIJ Gibson l6-s clone (Pre-lawsuit) in Black with Rosewood FB and EMG 81 BR/ 85 Neck
2. ESP KH2 Neck Thru
3. 2008 Am Std Strat in 3 tone sunburst

Dude!! You never let on that you harbored such serious gear. A Carole-Ann yet. I'm totally impressed. [/quote]
Doc, remember this? http://www.fender.com/community/forums/ ... mily+photo

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Current Gear: Ron Kirn Barnbuster Tele,
Marshall: 1971 SuperLead 100>1997 1960-TV, bunch of pedals
and a 1987 Porsche 911 Carrera coupe named Veronica

[Doc, remember this? http://www.fender.com/community/forums/ ... mily+photo[/quote]

May was a long time ago. Where do you sleep

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"Another day in paradise!"

May was a long time ago. Where do you sleep [/quote]

That's the office. The 2 Marshalls and cab, the Bogner and Carol-Ann are there with my guitars. Michael's stuff was brought in from his room (the stuff on the right) The Mojo Bluesbreaker cab and Paul Ruby amp are in my bedroom. I traded the Reinhardt for the Ron Kirn Tele, it wasn't getting any play time. Still looking to trade my Taylor 424CE Spring Limited (1 of 396 made) for something, maybe a Custom Shop Tele, 335 or P90 Goldtop. The Tayor is just too big for me.

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Current Gear: Ron Kirn Barnbuster Tele,
Marshall: 1971 SuperLead 100>1997 1960-TV, bunch of pedals
and a 1987 Porsche 911 Carrera coupe named Veronica

Niki! Is it possible you could tell me a little about that Amp build you did there with the Cabinet? It seems like a really good idea and Im really considering something like that if I can as I have a 212 cab at hand.

If you dont want to share on here then my email is:
ajct2high4u@hotmail.co.uk

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A painter paints pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence. ~Leopold Stokowski~