Small Tube Amp Shopping

[picknboogie]

I'm interested in finding a cheap reliable good sounding small tube amp for the house. Since my wife works out of an office in our home I've got to find something that is quiet. Right now I'm looking at two amps on ebay.

1. Crate Vintage Club 2112

2. Vox AC4TV


Both of these are low volume amps that look to be selling for under $200.

Does anyone here have any experience with either of these? Any advise? My style leans toward classic rock/americana. I need to spend a lot of time working on cleaning up my playing and learning how to use tube distortion to my advantage.

[highwayman]

Why dont you save yourself a $100 and get a Vox Pathfinder they sound just as good as those you mentioned.If youre set on a tuber than the AC4tv is a good choice also Fender champion 600

[tooncaster]

Highwayman makes a good point. I was in the store the other day with the intention of testing a Champ 600, which sounded sweet when I played a MIM tele through it. But the AC4tv was nearby, and the tone to my ears was even sweeter. Then I noticed the Pathfinder. For a solid state, it sounded great.

There is more discussion on the virtues of the AC4tv vs the Pathfinder here.

http://www.tdpri.com/forum/amp-centr...inder-15r.html

[Mike Simpson]

How bout a valve jr? Buy it local and you can try it... theres no shipping...

http://phoenix.craigslist.org/nph/msg/1769566749.html

http://phoenix.craigslist.org/wvl/msg/1772115688.html

[jbdrumbo]

Unless you have a fairly soundproof practice space, or a detached garage, probably only a headphone out setup is going to be quiet enough for one person to work, while the other practices electric guitar in the same house.

I don't know about the sound this model Crate, but I believe it has a headphone jack, although I've never heard a Crate that I would care to own, given my limited experience with them in music stores. The Vox AC4 seems like a nice sounding amp, although I don't know if it has a headphone out like the nifty Pathfinder.

[Warm Gums]

I would suggest trying a VOX DA-5 before commiting to a tube amp in this situation.
I was intreagued by the variable out put of the AC-4 (which the DA 5 also has) but in a true low level situation the DA-5 is to me much more usefull ( I find the ability to quiclky add delay or 'verb to my late night play to be quite valuable) it may not work for you, but it's worth a listen. I also find the ability to run on batteries to be useful as is the mic input when working small gigs with a singer ( I play a bit of jazz) all in al a Very useful little amp.

[kec!]

Originally Posted by Warm Gums

I would suggest trying a VOX DA-5 before commiting to a tube amp in this situation.
I was intreagued by the variable out put of the AC-4 (which the DA 5 also has) but in a true low level situation the DA-5 is to me much more usefull ( I find the ability to quiclky add delay or 'verb to my late night play to be quite valuable) it may not work for you, but it's worth a listen. I also find the ability to run on batteries to be useful as is the mic input when working small gigs with a singer ( I play a bit of jazz) all in al a Very useful little amp.

Or, look at the Micro Cube. Of course I'm a bit biased.

[picknboogie]

Thanks for the input so far guys! Big Mike, it's cool to have someone close to home and the tip CL is also nice. I look there about once a day, but you can't see everything.

I've just finished watching a demo for the Bugera V5. It looks like a versitile little amp too and it has reverb. They are asking 149 and include free shipping on a new one from a store in Kansas City.

Reverb is a + for me. I don't think the eppi has it, nor does the Vox. Anyone ever try a Bugera V5?

[Jeff_K]

FWIW I love my AC4TV (10). No reverb but I haven't missed it. Serious tone at home volume, though I don't like the 1/4 watt setting at all. I actually prefer the 1 watt sound at home and the 4 watt is too loud when anyone else is here. But this is not an amp if you want a clean tone at any kind of volume. If you want to rock, oh yeah. I don't even bother with my pedals most of the time. Great sound from such a small amp. I gig with it, too, but obviously we mic it. Hard to beat the sound/size/cost ratio.

[Canuckcaster]

I also own the AC4TV. I really like the tone that I get. It sits in the living room so I can noodle in front of the TV. I had my guitar teacher over, and he played a Line 6 pod floor board through it. I know he could probably play through anything and make it sound good, but I thought it sounded great. He also commented that he was impressed by the Vox.
As always, it's better if you can try all the different amps yourself.
Good luck.

CC

[highwayman]

I was in GC and I went in the sound room with am Ac4tv- Bugers V5 and an Epi valve JR.It wasnt even a contest the AC4 sounded by far the best followed by the Bugera (which didnt impress me at all) Try for yourself and pick the one you like.

[hooch1]

Is your budget $200? The reason I ask is that the Class 5 has a headphone jack. Unfortunately, it doesn't have a master volume or attenuator.

The HT-5 which can also be found $399 retail before coupons (pricematch AMS), has a headphone jack, 2 channels and an effects loop. I have this amp and the gain channel is pretty awesome but not sure about the cleans yet.

[imsilly]

Have you thought about a something vintage?

I had a friend with a similar problem and we tried out a lot of the cheaper 5 watters and found that the vintage Fender Champs, Supro Supers and Gibson GA-5s sounded better for the same price. Speakers were a little flappy (8 inch speakers are pretty cheap to replace or recone), but overall for the money the Gibson GA-5 we found wiped the floor with the modern Fender Champ 600s and AC4s.

[Singin' Dave]

Vox Amplug is not a bad option at all and will only set you back $30. Get that and used Pro Jr. for when she goes on an errand...

[boilerup2004]

I've owned a champ 600 for a few months now, and all I've done for upgrades is replacing the stock tubes with Tung-Sols. The amp is very responsive, but even in my attached garage, gets loud enough to draw fire from my wife when the kids are sleeping...

I just ordered a new guitar yesterday, and was checking out gear at my local GC on a couple of visits in the past two weeks. I played a CV50's tele through their champ ($148), the Vox ($199), and the Bugera ($149). Honestly, I left wishing I'd bought the Bugera to begin with. I own some other Behringer equipment, and am happy with it; I'm just a bit concerned with how it holds up over time.

To me, the Vox liked to break up quite a bit. I play mostly country and early rock (think Everly Bros. and Ricky Nelson), so this didn't do it for me. It's a very nice sounding amp, though. The Champ seems to hum the most of all of these amps--this doesn't bother me, but might offend your ears, so I'm mentioning it...

The Bugera was very quiet, and the sound was very versatile. I'm not an expert on reverb, but after playing the Bugera, I missed it on my champ. I almost ordered a holy grail with my new tele, but decided that I'd rather wait and upgrade my amp later in the year (Christmas?). I'm not playing out at all right now, so there's no big hurry for me.

I would recommend trying to find a local GC/etc. and A/B the amps that you're interested in. I'm familiar with the Valve Jr., too, and would suggest that you kick the tires on one of those as well. There's also the DSP champ, etc., etc., etc. that I'm sure others will chime in on.

Seriously, though--go play on a few of these amps before you order one. Do it soon, though--schools are letting out, and a little 5W amp won't compete with a kid playing noise through a stack...get there when they open, if you can.

[picknboogie]

I don't want to spend a lot, but I'd really like to have a small tube amp that won't shake the house to get to the sweet spot. I've got an old Mesa Boogie that I really love but I can hardly crack the volume to 1.

The Vox may be just the ticket. I liked the demo of the Bugera V5 because of the little touch of reverb. It just had a better sounding decay than a dry amp.

Going out and playing them is probablly the best idea for sure but it's good to hear about other peoples experiences.

The Roland Cube has been on my radar for a while but I really love tube saturation. Thanks for all the imput so far. If someone else has any other ideas that would be cool too.

[Mike Simpson]

You can always pick up a reverb pedal for any amp that does not have reverb. On these little amps you are not going to get a tube reverb anyway and a pedal will give you more reverb choices.

Another option is a Boss ME 50 and a set of headphones.

[Necksnapper]

Another awesome little tube amp is the Kustom Tube 12A. New around $100, Sometimes less than $50 on the bay. Do yourself a favor and try one. I have an old champ and a valve jr, but the kustom gets the most play time.

[Jack S]

For around $100 you won't find a better sounding new amp with reverb and tremelo than the Vox Pathfinder 15R in my opinion. It is a solid state amp, but it sounds great.

[tiktok]

I've never found a tube amp that had the sweet spot at actual bedroom volume, and I even own a NanoAmp. For practicing at home without bothering anyone (my wife also works from home), I'd go with a modeling amp and usually headphones.