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5K views 27 replies 17 participants last post by  pawel  
#1 ·
What tube amps out there have low power ratings? I've got a Mesa Studio .22+. 22 watts, two channels. I know Laney makes a 15 watt single channel amp. Torres Engineering has some 8 watt amps. Not a topic I hear a lot about...

I don't really understand buying 50 and 100 watt amps-- seems like they outnumber the < 50 watt amps, but who can turn the things up? I never turn the Mesa past 4. Even if I could avoid the wrath of those around me, its deafening in a 13ft x 12 ft bedroom.

So what else is out there?
 
#3 ·
The Crate, with a single preamp tube, basically HAS to have some significant solid state assist to get the sort of gain it can produce, but I was actually very pleasantly surprised by the one I played. One volume, one gain, one "tone," but the resulting sounds were actually quite useable in most positions.

Run it into a proper speaker cab (the 8" isn't bad, but, well, it's an 8") and it'd probably be a pretty seriously cool low-wattage amp. I'm with you, smaller amps sound a bit rounder and "spongier" to my ears, and I dig that. I'd kill for a good high gain three channel head running 10 watts. :D
 
#7 ·
Here's another one (from harmony-central):

Mesa Subway rocket (20 watt 1x10" combo)

4x 12ax7
2x el84
2 channels 3 modes.
1 clean
2 overdrive
3 overdive + contour (this sweeps the mids so you have more of a metal sound)

each channel has gain and vol.
treble, bass, mid, presence are shared by both channels.
channel selctor switch, standby and powerswitch

on the back is a speaker mute, a fxloop (mono) and 1 8ohm output and 2 4ohm outputs. there is also a record/headphones output wich can be used as a recording out or to connect to the pa.
 
#10 ·
I've bought three "no-names" off the 'bay. All of these are Fender Champ
derivatives, PtP hand wired, ranging from 10-22 watts. One was a little
combo with an unlacquered tweed cabinet, the other two were naked
heads (no cabinet). All were in the <$200 range. They all sound great,
but none have any bells/whistles (equalization, reverb, tremolo, etc).
If you don't care about the sticker on the grille, there are a lot of possibilities
out there, for pretty cheap $.
 
#12 ·
There is also the AX84.com Firefly project (1/2 watt). This was the only 1 watt and under amp that I could find that sounds like it has a decent amount of gain. The definition of 'hi-gain' seems to vary depending on who you ask :)

Thanks all, I've procrastinated at work for several hours already looking all these amps up.

I might give one of the DIY amps a shot.
 
#13 ·
I only have 3 tube amps and they are all low watts, I would suggest either of them
1)Orange AD30 HTC 15 watt head
2) Epiphone Valve Jr 5 watt head, and cheap
3) 1964 Fender Princeton (possibly an early Boogie) Modded - 15 watt combo, probably not too easy to find another one, but I had to list it since it's a low watt tube amp.
 
#18 ·
For $100 you can't go wrong, I haven't gotten to really work it out yet (it just came in 2 days ago), but I would reccomend it to anyone who wants an inexpensive tube head or a low watt head. I have used it with my Marshall 4X12 and it's plenty loud, I am building a 1X10 for it though so I'll let you know how that sounds. They seem to be easy to mod too, so I plan on giving that a try.
 
#20 ·
I'm curious about this Epiphone Valve Jnr head too. I have a solid state Kustom KGA65 which has a 12 inch Celestion speaker in it. Would I be able to use the Epiphone head with this amp's speaker (bypass the amp part of the Kustom), use the Epiphone as a power amp (just a clean dry signal) and use my Zoom G7.1ut essentially as a pre-amp?

I want to get more into a tube setup but the budget prohibits currently. I could however probably afford to buy one of these Epiphone things.
 
#21 ·
I would imagine you could run the VJ into the Kustom speaker, but without knowing anything about the Kustom, I couldn't say for sure. As for using the Zoom as a pre amp, I don't think you could unless you hooked the Zoom up like a pedal. The VJ is a very basic amp. One input 3 speaker outs for different Ohm values, a power switch and a Volume knob. Still for $100 nothing else touches it.
 
#22 ·
I'm curious about this Epiphone Valve Jnr head too. I have a solid state Kustom KGA65 which has a 12 inch Celestion speaker in it. Would I be able to use the Epiphone head with this amp's speaker (bypass the amp part of the Kustom), use the Epiphone as a power amp (just a clean dry signal) and use my Zoom G7.1ut essentially as a pre-amp
That should not be a problem. The Valve Jr. has a switch for 4, 8, or 16 ohms. Just set it right for the speaker and you may have to disconnect the speaker from the Kustom and make up an input jack of some kind to go direct to the speaker.