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Lower wattage amp suggestions?


Travis

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I get there have been a ton of amps that have come out over the years that have promised perfect plexi/Brown sound/etc tones at lower volumes...

I’ve looked up the specs of a few but haven’t really had a chance to experience much of any. 

After selling my practice amp (line6 flextone III) to a buddy of mine, I’m down to two amps: a heavily modified valve junior head that runs a homemade 2x12 cab with a minimalist pedalboard (perfect basement/bedroom setup) and an original block letter 5150 half stack that doesn’t get turned on when the wife and child are home...

If I were in the market for a 10-20w amp that would drive a 2x12 cab for home use that I could get killer 80’s metal tones out of, or something ultra clean that I could boost with various pedals, what might you suggest?

Just as an FYI, my brother just got a PRS mark tremonti lunchbox 15 (or whatever they call it) and he loves it. I would really like to show him up... 

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Marshall Studio series JCM800 or Silver Jubilee. 20w, switches down to 5w. Want 80s metal? Look no further. I’ve tried both and liked them, but I found the Plexi version in the series to be a little less compressed when maxed. 

BTW, these little fire-breathers cane get LOUD, but still sound great at bedroom volumes. Also, check out the Splawn Super Sport (22w). Usually sell for under a grand on Reverb and have that hot-rodded, JCM thing down in spades. I love mine. 

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Yes,  Marshall JCM800 or Silver Jubilee are great. I am happy with my Mesa Mark V:35 too, but there are people who think EL84 don't deliver enough bottom end. ENGL also has low watts heads like the Metalmaster (haven't heard those, but to me, ENGL builds solid good sounding amps)

 

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10 to 20 watts, that a lot for home use. :-) I have two old 18-20 watt Fenders and they are pretty damn loud. But for what you describe that you are looking for, I'd get me one of these new Marshall's. They are very cool and from the soundclips I've heard they seem to sound great.

https://www.guitarworld.com/gear/namm-2019-marshall-unveils-new-studio-series

For playing late at night or when I really can't disturb anyone I have a Roland Micro Cube, it's just excellet for everything from cleans to a mild plexi overdrive tone. It has more gain, but I don't go there. You can get a used Micro Cube for like 50 bucks, and they sound really really good for home practice at night time levels.

 

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For home use, valves and a 2x12"... seems way too much for me  (I guess that bedroom levels are really relative).

I would look for a really low watt amp (1 to 5w) or one that have a pretty good master volume (or an attenuator). I have heard a lot of good thing about the H&K Tubemeister and the little Orange heads.

Anyway... if you are looking for Marshall sounds, the Marshall's anniversary amps might be exactly what you are looking for, and there are 7 'flavours' to choose from:

 

These were a limited edition but they still offer now the DSL1H

I live in a flat and after trying a lot of things, I ended up using solid state amps (sometimes with a tube preamp). There are a lot of good solid state amps that sound great at all volume ranges.

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Thanks for the suggestions so far. 

I’ve got the bedroom level thing covered with my modded valve jr. It’s pushing around 11w with what’s been done to it. It’s really only a valve jr cosmetically on the outside.... And my 5150 has me covered if I’m ever playing a stadium...

I’m looking for something in between which is why I was thinking 10-20w. 

I had checked out videos of those Marshall studio amps and liked what I heard. Didn’t know if anybody had any real life experience with them. I’ve been looking a lot at the lunchbox amps, from 5150iii, 6505, orange, etc. but videos will only get me so far.  Really need to try some out in person or take the advice of people I trust who have. 

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My vote goes to H&K Tubemeister 18. Very versatile little head. 18/5/1 watt options and speaker off mode for direct recording. I wouldn't say perfect fit for 80's metal but modern and open sounding in a good way, not compressed and more on the treble side.

İt takes pedals really well, this is where it excels. Some may find it too sterile sounding, I'd say 'neutral' and 'balanced'. With a 2x12 cab loaded with Celestion G12T-75s, the lower end was not as thight as I'd like to be. When I changed to a Engl 2x12 with V30s, the result was much better. But as mentioned above, EL84s is not the best option to get the thightest low end.

So, for 400-500 bucks, you can't go wrong with these heads.

 

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Yup, go with the new Marshall Studios.....perfect for gigs and likely home if you get to play loud.

I have one of the one watt Anniversary JMPs and it nails 70s Marshall tones and gets you in the 80s with a hot-rodded boost switch, or the pedal of your choice.

And don’t be fooled by 1 watt. It is loud standing in front of it, but not too loud. Mine pushes 2 10” GBs so it would push a 2x12 just as easily. The perfect home and recording amp for the tones you want. 

Or the 1 watt JCM 800.

One last recommendation that is different: a Mesa Boogie TA-15. The Marshall mode on that thing is incredible at 5 watts...plus as an added bonus, you get Vox, Fender BF, And Mesa modes too. I love mine.

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@Travis,if you like the harder, heavier music then i'd try the Splawn suggested above or one of the Marshall Studio Amps. The Splawn is going to be tighter and quicker and have more tonal options for gain at the footswitch. They are really popular here in my area with the some of the real deal weekend warriors. Peoria has a nice scene for 70's, through modern heavy rock/metal. No so much my cup of tea, but some of the players are killer. 

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Cough, Cough... SLAWN 22 watter 6V6/EL34 Super Sport or Street rod...  I also use a Marshall JVM1H 1 watter with a Bogner 112 cube & a Splawn 50 watt Quick rod with a 50% 25 watt switch & Loop volume option into a ported 2x12 or 4x12 1960 cab 🤘

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I had Bob Reinhardt build me one of his 18 watters when he was just starting out. It’s a EL84 Marshall Clone of sorts with some tweaks. Incredible sounds come outa that thing!!! So my 1 cent is if you can find a Reinhardt 18 buy it! 

 

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Blackstar Anniversary Edition. They have 3 versions--Artist (6L6), Artisan (EL34), and Series One (KT88, the one I own). They are 10 watts, but they can get LOUD! It easily powers my 2x12 cabs.

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17 hours ago, Dave Scepter said:

Cough, Cough... SLAWN 22 watter 6V6/EL34 Super Sport or Street rod...

As in: 'Get off my SLAWN'?  :rolleyes: :lol:

I've been using old handwired VHT Standard 18 amp heads (basically they're a Marshall 18-watt clone with a TMB channel instead of a vibrato/tremolo channel) through various 1 x 12" open back birch-ply cabs for the last few years; plus a 18-watt handwired Mojotone Marshall clone head that I bought from HFC member Fractal a few years ago, which is the amp that sent me down the 18-watt slippery slope in the first place.  They're plenty loud, probably too much so for average home use, but I find that I get good headroom when I turn down and adjust the knobs.  These amps all crunch well IMO, but they're reasonably clean in an old-school way when they need to be.

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On the other hand, the Marshall 6101 can be had used for $500-600 (at least here in Europe they go for about €600). It's a 100W downswitchable to 50 and 25W, it is quite heavy with a Celestion S303 Gold or (in the US version) EVM12 speaker, but from it's dimensions it has a compact size (it is smaller than my Mesa Mark V:35 head and Thiele cab). Great for small stages, combined with a 6912 or 1912 1x12" cab even great for big stages.

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I own a few low wattage 1x12 combo amps in my combo amp collection:

Soldano Astroverb 16 1x12 20 watt combo amp w/ Celestion Greenback G12M speaker installed: High gain, rock amp! One trick pony in terms of sound. Put your favorite overdrive pedal on it for leads and enjoy the ride! I didn't care for the stock OEM Eminence speaker that Soldano had installed in the 1x12 combo cab. It didn't complement the amp's sound and was the reason that I installed the Greenback speaker.

Reverend Goblin 5/15 watt, rehoused in a custom made Mojo 1x12 combo cab w/Jensen 12-100 16 ohm speaker (OEM combo cab came with a 10" Jensen 10-100 speaker): This tube combo amp covers my blackface Champ/Princeton Reverb amp sounds, has an effects loop ( I run a Fractal Audio FX-8 in 4 cable method to either the Goblin or the Kingsnake combo amps),  runs on a pair of 6V6 power tubes, and is the reverb is tube driven. The Schizo switch goes from US (clean), Lo Fi (more midrange, breaks up easily), UK (British voicing, lots of gain) which gives the amp tone some very versatile voicing. I don't have the budget or the space to buy a Fender blackface Champ/Princeton Reverb/Deluxe Reverb or a Vox AC15TB, so both of my Reverend combo amps get me there with the sound it has. For home practice, rehearsal, or a small venue gig, the low wattage, portability, and tube tone makes the Goblin my grab and go combo amp. 

Reverend Kingsnake 20/60 watt 1x12 combo amp w/Jensen 12-100 speaker: Same amp voicing as the Goblin in a higher wattage amp chassis that runs on a pair of 6L6 power tubes. More in blackface Deluxe Reverb/Twin Reverb tone without the weight. My main stage amp along with a Fractal Audio FX-8 floor processor for the past couple of years when my Top 40 cover bands doesn't require high gain rock tone. I mainly use it in 20 watts for club dates, run a Palmer PDI-09 direct box to the P.A. and it keeps up with a 5 piece band. I haven't had to run it at 60 watts yet, but it might be fun to try that out soon.

                                                                                                                                                                                                              Guitar George

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Some ideas:

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/KataHead--boss-katana-head-100-50-0.5-watt-cosm-head-with-internal-speaker

 

http://www.tech21nyc.com/products/amps/guitar/trademark30.html

 

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Class20MiniH--peavey-classic-20-mini-20-watt-tube-head

The trademark stuff is not cutting edge anymore.  It just works.  I like what I get out of my TM60 and have heard good things about the TM30.

The Katana seems to have impressed a lot of people.  

I like Peavey stuff.  There.  I said it.   I got rid of my Classic 20 years ago and I shouldn't have.  This mini has impressed many folks.   If memory serves Brooks traded his Mesa mini-rectumfrier for the mini-peavey.  That's noteworthy in my book.

Honorable mention - superchamp xd.  

Good luck on your journey down this rabbit hole.

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On 4/26/2019 at 11:02 AM, Thundersteel said:

Blackstar Anniversary Edition. They have 3 versions--Artist (6L6), Artisan (EL34), and Series One (KT88, the one I own). They are 10 watts, but they can get LOUD! It easily powers my 2x12 cabs.

I haven't heard those in person, but the demos sound very nice... I prefer the EL34 version.

Take a look at the Blackstar HT5 models. Push-pull topology and only 5W (still get loud as hell). Blackstar makes some damn fine sounding amps. Their 'ISF' control really works well.

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I like Peavey stuff too, BubbaVO.. although all I currently own is  a Leakesville, MS built Firenza, it will be for sale soon to add to the Shishkov fund...but not because it is inferior. If it isn’t a Hamer. it’s going to fund the Shish. Fender, MJT, Peavey....

I have always had my eye on that Peavey mini, but I am set amp-wise.

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