Low-wattage tube amps

[LK155]

Forgive me if this topic has been covered before.

I'm getting interested in these ultra-low wattage tube amps, in the range of 1 to 2 watts, or even lower than that.

From what I've read, they seem ideal for a home music room such as I'm currently building.

 

As my years advance, I'm becoming more concerned with TONE rather than volume.

 

Had a small Traynor tube amp (YCV20WR) which had 2 EL84's, and it was severe overkill from a volume standpoint. Rated at 15 watts. Sold it a while back because after I started recording directly to computer, it wasn't getting used. Never mind the fact that it would just about blow the windows out if you cranked it.

 

Anyway, I found this article about a bunch of these little amps:

 

http://www.vguitar.com/features/gear/details.asp?aid=3163

 

I'm not afraid of trying to build from a kit (did some stereo equiment that way a long time ago), but considering the fact that it would be pretty easy to screw up one of those builds, I'd rather buy one that's ready to go.

 

Any feedback, experience, thoughts?

Thanks,

Lyle

[Spectrum13]

Any feedback, experience, thoughts?

Thanks,

Lyle

 

I have two low what tube amps... 5 watt Swart tweed... very fat fender-ish sounding ... gain starts on 4- and it's still loud. If you play clean it's fine for low volume thick tweed champ tone and also great for 50's jazz tones. I use a micro mass to get breakup at lower (not low) levels.

 

Then there is my Goodsell 2/7 ..... Ahoy! on the 2 watt setting very deluxe sounding smooth and thick at low volumes. Chimey and overtones galore. Twice as loud on the 7 and it's more blackface meets voxy. This amp changes character with different speakers like its a different amp. I got a seperate cab & head and was just playing it at 2 watts through my 63-65 ampeg reverbarocketII

combo / canabis rex and it sounds very much like my 45 year old ampeg. Has an outstanding range with my 155.

 

Advise is, know what tone you want.... vox - marshall - flavor of fender - overdrive etc for a starting point.

[wingnut1]

I've built a lot of amps from kits and I think a 5E3 with a Vari-Watt installed is just about perfect. Mine has a Weber 12A125 in it and it has tone for days. I turn the pot on the Vari-Watt to lower the output from the power tubes and I can get great tone at low levels. Chico can weigh in on this when he gets a chance. Whenever I take the amp to a jam he grabs it and doesn't give it up until time to go home.

[crazypedaler]

Hey There,

 

I have a THD UniValve, often run 6G6s in it, it's supposed to be only a couple o' watts with those, and gets a very edgy drive to it, unlike other power tubes. Great amp for trying out different tubes. Pretty cheap on the used market these days.

 

Cheers

Kurt

[212Mavguy]

Hey There,

 

I have a THD UniValve, often run 6G6s in it, it's supposed to be only a couple o' watts with those, and gets a very edgy drive to it, unlike other power tubes. Great amp for trying out different tubes. Pretty cheap on the used market these days.

 

Cheers

Kurt

 

Siegmund Muddy Buddy...approx 1 watt, a very serious amp from a very serious amp builder and luthier (guitar player magazine amp of the year '95, Midnight Blues) www.siegmundguitars.com

[TheRecordFable]

Nice read...Victoria amp Co. is in my backyard Naperville to be exact.

On Chicago's Craigslist there is a Carr for sale it looks cool.

[t0aj15]

It's pretty hard to beat the THD Univalve when it comes to low power amps. Because of it's ability to use so many different tubes, both preamp & poweramp, it's versatility is IMO unmatched. With both a half power switch and a built in Hot Plate it's very easy to use at very reasonable sound levels and with it's built in speaker load it's great for silent recording or for use as a preamp or even as a "pedal" in front of another amp.

[peterbright]

My Orange Mini Terror (7/15 watt) rocks.

[FredZepp]

I have an old Silverface Vibrochamp that is rather enjoyable

Some nice clean to slight overdrive sounds.. and it just loves pedals.

[smurph1]

My old Gibsonette is pretty low wattage..around 8 I think..sounds good and as was mentioned before just loves pedals..

[MacDoggie]

One thing you need to assess is what is the loudness level you want. Its very different from wattage. Take a look at http://www.egnateramps.com/TechTalk/TechTalk101.html from the Egnater web site for a little technical talk on it. I live in a house with separation of my neighbors approximately 25 feet. When the wife isn't home, I can dime a 5 watt amp, and although the neighbor can hear it in the yard, they can't hear it in the house. If I use my 25 watt Rivera, they get some bleed through.

 

Now, if the wife's home, its a totally different situation. Its either play with settings low enough to not blow away the television program she is watching or tell her to go shopping, and I can't afford that. If you're in close quarters (an apartment or such) it is really a challenge. That's why I'm trying to work with an attenuator. Unfortunately I received a unworking model and have had to send it back twice. I think once I recieve a properly working model, I'll be able to use it with the wife in the house.

[Gitfiddler]

My two favorite low watt tube amps are the Rivera-era Champ II and Gibson GA5. Both are point-to-point, hand-wired Class A amps.

 

Put a couple of pedals in front of those bad boys and the fun really starts. And the neighbors haven't called the cops on me yet!

 

Nowadays there are MANY other great little tone monsters out there as others have aleady mentioned.

[Kuz]

Did you ever state what kind of music you play?

 

An orange Tiny Terror is great for harder rock. A Fender Deluxe is great for classic rock & blues. A Princeton reverb (or a Headstrong Lil king- this is what I own) great for cleans or to put a pedal in front of it.

 

They all have great "tone" but what tone do you need out of your low watt amp?

[fxdx99]

Hi Lyle - your music room sounds like a great project and low watt amps are pretty much a given to provide a range of 'flavors'. The smallest amp I have is an 8W Gibsonette, and it does the trick for early break up. But it's early 50s vintage and sounds like you're looking at something current.

 

I'll toss in another cool amp that I've played - samamp. Kind of 'one size fits all' as he uses light bulbs (like found in nite-lites) to vary the wattage. This would be an option if you're looking to get varying amps to cover varying break up/volume levels, but maybe want one amp to cover that territory instead. A friend of mine has both a 23 and a 45, sold his bogner after discovering these. They both sound great with the 23 pretty much being a tweed sound/6V6 with varying settings of 3/5/11/18/23 watts (I think those are the settings). Pretty cool visuals in a dim room with those lites in the back.

 

http://www.samamp.com/id6.html

[kbp810]

Hi Lyle - your music room sounds like a great project and low watt amps are pretty much a given to provide a range of 'flavors'. The smallest amp I have is an 8W Gibsonette, and it does the trick for early break up. But it's early 50s vintage and sounds like you're looking at something current.

 

I'll toss in another cool amp that I've played - samamp. Kind of 'one size fits all' as he uses light bulbs (like found in nite-lites) to vary the wattage. This would be an option if you're looking to get varying amps to cover varying break up/volume levels, but maybe want one amp to cover that territory instead. A friend of mine has both a 23 and a 45, sold his bogner after discovering these. They both sound great with the 23 pretty much being a tweed sound/6V6 with varying settings of 3/5/11/18/23 watts (I think those are the settings). Pretty cool visuals in a dim room with those lites in the back.

 

http://www.samamp.com/id6.html

 

StevieSnacks has a good review on the Samamp - wouldn't mind one myself but I need another amp like I need another hole in my head, which in retrospect doesn't seem like too bad of a deal if it means I get to buy another amp!

 

http://www.steviesnacks.com/my-gear/samamp...guitar-amp.html

[SouthpawGuy]

Just throwing this into the pot .... do any of these low output amps have built in reverb, or maybe an effects loop to add pedal reverb ? I find that a completely "dry" amp does not float my boat at all.

[MacDoggie]

Just throwing this into the pot .... do any of these low output amps have built in reverb, or maybe an effects loop to add pedal reverb ? I find that a completely "dry" amp does not float my boat at all.

 

The Peavey JSX Mini Colossal had an effects loop and a tremolo built in. They were closing out before Christmas, so I'm not sure its still available. I tried it and didn't care for it, so I returned it.

[Spectrum13]

Just throwing this into the pot .... do any of these low output amps have built in reverb, or maybe an effects loop to add pedal reverb ? I find that a completely "dry" amp does not float my boat at all.

 

Lefty,

 

The Swart is famous for the "spacetone" verb and my Goodsell 2/7/ have reverb & trem. Never play dry unless at a venue so for the low watts stuff it needs..

[SouthpawGuy]

The Peavey JSX Mini Colossal had an effects loop and a tremolo built in. They were closing out before Christmas, so I'm not sure its still available. I tried it and didn't care for it, so I returned it.

 

What didn't you like about it ? Peavey is one brand that is available over here so ...

[SouthpawGuy]

Lefty,

 

The Swart is famous for the "spacetone" verb and my Goodsell 2/7/ have reverb & trem. Never play dry unless at a venue so for the low watts stuff it needs..

 

Good to know, thanks.

[tbonesullivan]

I have a Carvin Vintage 16, which is CLass AB and uses EL84 tubes. It is switchable between 16 watts pentode and 5 watts triode. Has 3 preamp tubes (tube driven reverb) with gain, volume, tone stack, and reverb. Mine came with a Celestion Vin30. I find out to be great for getting some nice grit,and also a lot of good clean and bluesy sounds. Crank it up in triode mode and you're in classic rock heaven.

[MacDoggie]

What didn't you like about it ? Peavey is one brand that is available over here so ...

 

Couldn't find a good clean tone on it for my taste. It could just be personal taste.

[SouthpawGuy]

Couldn't find a good clean tone on it for my taste. It could just be personal taste.

 

I see,lately I've been going for the clean sound first and use pedals for overdrive. Thanks, good info.

[Duffy]

Great little amps I have:

 

Fender Super Champ XC w Eminence Ragin' Cagun speaker replacement, incredible.

 

Peavey JSX Mini Colossal combo into a Epiphone So. Cal. four by twelve cab, has weber speaker stock, sounds great, class A sound. Great attenuator knob on back from zero watts to five watts for crunch at very low volume.

 

Peavey Valve King Royal 8. Greater sounding than I would ever have thought. Love it. Places still have them for 99 dollars, all tube. Stock speaker sounds good to me but the upgrade to a Jensen or better speaker is supposed to be a great mod.

 

Blackheart Little Giant head into Epi So. Cal. Cab, three or five watts, switch on front. Three watt crunch is pretty low volume, five watt loud.

 

These are all tube amps, assuming you want a tube amp because they sound so much better to a lot of players. There are many inexpensive little solid states out there as well but that Fender Super Champ XD will give you a real clean Fender clean sound in addition to the many other Fender amp emulations on channel two with effects too. Really a super great highly acclaimed little amp that is loud enough on some of the emulations to jam with a loud drummer and have him frantically waving you down; that is with the Eminence Ragin' Cajun speaker upgrade which is much more sensitive and probably sounds twice as loud as the stock speaker because of the higher dB rating, 102 dB or something; the stock fender speaker is about one tenth the weight and not close in sensitivity.

[blues]

The Vox AC4-tv with a 10" speaker is 4 watts and you can switch to 1 watt and a 1/4 watt. Sounds best im my opinion at 4 watts.

 

here is a link to hear one http://www.youtube.com/user/fatback2#p/u/14/JGgHMXobCIM