Amp For Smaller Venues

[Pigsfootpeete]

I'm planning to buy a 15 to 30 watt amp to play places like country clubs, VFWs, Moose Lodge, etc.
My other amps are just too powerful for these places. (You know the story, Ha!) I know this has been discussed a good bit here so please don't kick me around too bad.
I was looking at an Epiphone Electar the other day at GC. Small, one 12" speaker. I forget the exact wattage, seems like it was about 15 w.
Do any of you have experience with these amps? It looked pretty decent, but I didn't have a chance to try it out. There isn't anything about it in the HC user reviews.
What about other "affordable" amps in this power range that haven't been overly covered here?
All help will be very appreciated.
Thanks,
Ronny

[Joe-Bob]

Try out a Crate V1512. Also known as the Guitar center Crate Palomino V16...Cheesier cosmetics, but the same amp.

[Wayne Alexander]

A Vox AC15CC1x (the one with the Alnico Blue Celestion) is a killer sound, very well built, hard to beat for anywhere near the price. If you're more into the Marshall range of sounds, the 18 Watt reissue sounds great (as do many of the clones, GDS Amps for instance). If you want a Blackface Fender type sound, the Allen Accomplice is hard to beat. None of those are cheap amps, you haven't indicated your budget.

[RomanS]

Don't know what sound you're looking for - but the Carvin Vintage 16 is nice for anything from blues to classic rock to 'roots' rock.

[telel6s]

More info?

15w to 30w is actually a huge range. But if you are playing a room without miking the amps, 15w might not be quite enough especially if you want any clean tone (although I am sure there are exceptions to that). Are there any other features that you are looking for (reverb, trem, channel switch, effects, loop, type of tube (no tubes?))? You tend to find more features and the higher wattage amps (sort of like buying a car...if you want the cool wheels you need to get the bigger engine as well).

What king of guitar(s) and music are you playing? Do you use pedals? Do you have any speaker cabs where just a new head will work for you?

And can you put a dollar amount on "affordable"? That word can mean different things to different people.

[hollowman]

I am a huge fan of Dr. Z amps. Maz Jr is 18 versatile watts, and plenty loud for any small to medium venue

[Pigsfootpeete]

Hey, thanks for the replies.
My budget is a bit sparse. Booteeks are completely out of the picture. Ha!That's why I was asking about the Epiphone Electar.
I will probably have to take my HR DeVille 410 and just trade it in on one. I know I'll take a beating, but......
I have several larger amps, (2 Bedrocks, '63/'64 Bassman head, Pignose 60VR 112 combo, '79 Cube 60), but I want something smaller (w/tubes), and the Electar (new), looked pretty good at GC. I didn't get to try it out, so I was hoping some folks here had played them and could tell me about them..
I play rock/country/blues, etc. and do have cabs I can use. I'm hoping to do it without a cab at these small venues.
I also saw a Vox AC15 112 for about $400. Not sure of the exact model. It was in the footpedal section, so I'm sure it was well used.
Thanks again guys.
Ronny

[morroben]

Give a Pro Jr. a try. I've played many small gigs with one. You won't get a lot of clean headroom but it's some great tone for the money/size.

[Pigsfootpeete]

Has anyone around here even heard of an Electar amp??
Maybe I was halluci, uh, seeing things.......

[morroben]

I've heard of it but never played one.

[JohnnyCrash]

Electars are real. They're just not that great.

I'd suggest a used Peavey Classic 30. Excellent amp. Replace tubes and/or speaker to fine tune your sound. New they're about $600, used anywhere from $300 to $500.

Crates have been surprising as well. The V16 ($400), V1512T ($500), or V32 ($600) would be about what you're looking for.

The Carvin Vintage 16 is a great suggestion as well for about $400. Or for $500 you could go for the Carvin 50watt Nomad.

[marc sosnoff]

if your happy with the amps you own now but they are two powerful for some gigs then try a attenutor or a pedal so you can play lower volume and keep the big amp tone

another idea is if your amp uses 4 power tubes many time u can remove two of them and cut your wattage by half u can also have a tech do this by installing a switch

save a bunch of cash and you get to use your favorite amp

[stephent2]

Originally Posted by Joe-Bob

Try out a Crate V1512. Also known as the Guitar center Crate Palomino V16...Cheesier cosmetics, but the same amp.

Ditto on the Crates, the 15w or 30w "V" series are great deals and the best sounding amps to my ear in that price range.

If it's not a budget issue the best amp I've owned is a Goodsell Super 17.

http://www.superseventeen.com/

[Platefire]

At about 14 watts if you want to go vintage, a Silvertone 1482 is a great low power amp between a Champ and Deluxe. You can pick them up for $150-$200 on e-bay any day and there is a lot of modifications that can be done to modernize them. They are a little dark compared to fender stock, but a tweed princeton tone stack mod can brighten it up. I've got two (one stock/one moded) and love to use it with my Hwy 1 Tel every chance I get when the room is small. Platefie

[popthree]

DRRI or Classic 30

[Califiddler]

+2 on the Classic 30, if you like EL84 tubes. It's a solid, versatile amp and easy to lug around.

[seafoamtele]

AD30VT - you may have to mic it, but it's only $240 retail, light & very versatile.

Best bang for the buck, IMHO.

[jguitarman]

I've played the same styles of music in small clubs and used to use a Deluxe Reverb reissue.
It sounded pretty good and you can find them on eBay used for around $500.

[rdamato]

+1 for both the Classic 30 and the Deluxe Reverb Reissue. I use a DRRI with 6L6's and a gz34 rectfier and almost never have to turn up past 3, even in loud bars.

Ron

[stantheman]

First - Neil Young's been using a small Fender Tweed Amp for decades regardless of the size of the stage. I'm very confident that a Deluxe Reverb
or a Classic 30 or Delta Blues would work for ANY situation.

[aznrambo481]

i don't think you'd have to mic a AD30VT at a small gig "where all other amps are too loud"

[tmj529]

What about a Fender Frontman 25R? Thoughts from other posters?

[unclearty]

I wrote a bit on the Frontman 25R awhile ago. I upgraded the speaker to a Ragin Cajun...then found the famous "buzz" that plagues this little amp. The floating part of the reverb tray actually hits the slanted part of the sheet metal chassis. Grind down the offending edge of the tray with a Dremel tool and it makes the funny noise stop completely. The clean channel on this amp is really impressive...and it's pretty loud...old Fender sound clean. The drive channel really isn't very good..but clean is.

[Tele The Truth]

In addition to the classic 30, if you like el84 amps.....there's a few places online selling the VOX AC30CC1 for $699. It's a 30 watt combo with 1x12 celestian neodog speaker. I know that I'd sure like to have one!

[vwtele]

Vibrolux reverb always worked well for me - especially smaller rooms

[Pigsfootpeete]

Thanks for all the help. I guess I'll go to GC sometime next week and try the Classic 30 and the Valve King and see what happens. They did have a Vox AC15 112 in the foot pedal section. I'll give it a go if it's still there.
If they have any of the others you guys mentioned, I'll check them out, too.
Thanks again
Ronny

[Rob DiStefano]

IMHO, for the gigging venue sizes and un-mic'd music styles you described, definitely 25-30 tube watts, not 15. With a sparse pocket book, and unless you get real lucky, that'll relegate you to looking around for a used PCB based amp like Peavey or Carvin or Crate.

[Big John]

Why, you would almost think a manufacturer somewhere would introduce a 'master volume' so you could 'tailor' the amp to the size of the room !!

DOH !!!!

[Rob DiStefano]

Originally Posted by Big John

Why, you would almost think a manufacturer somewhere would introduce a 'master volume' so you could 'tailor' the amp to the size of the room !!

DOH !!!!

Still, there's a noticeable difference driving the front end (preamp gain) than driving the back end (power valves), and to me that's the real issue. I like saturated valves, which means tailoring tube amps to specific venues/formats, and why I have 5, 18 and 40 watt amps. Also another reasoning for some good OD's.

[Big John]

Originally Posted by Rob DiStefano

Still, there's a noticeable difference driving the front end (preamp gain) than driving the back end (power valves), and to me that's the real issue. I like saturated valves, which means tailoring tube amps to specific venues/formats, and why I have 5, 18 and 40 watt amps. Also another reasoning for some good OD's.

Rob,you are undeniably, 100% RIGHT but if you don't know the venue do you take 3 amps with you "just in case ?", i'm not sure i want to take a wardrobe full of gear to play some gig where its hard to tell the difference in what i'm using.
Yes, that 'front end' is what its all about, i usually take a 'route 66' with me to 'push' the front end but if pigsfootpete wants "affordable" surely a Peavey or similar with a master vol. would get the job done ?

[frank4001]

On a any gig that pays around $100.00 or more I always bring at least 2 guitars and 2 amps in case one goes down. My Deluxe Reverb usually comes. Has to be my most verstile amp. I always bring some sort of fuzzbox too, just in case. So thats what I'd get if I needed a low wattage thing. I've played through the re-issues and they seem fine and you could try buying one used. The other brands mentioned are probably fine but I dont have experience with them..Played a Peavey Delta blues once that was ok. Good luck getting a tech to fix them though. The old Ampeg G12-R Reverb Rockets are pretty cool too. About $400-600 on E-bay last I checked. May take some work and be careful to make sure it hasn't been boogered up. Good luck.

[Rob DiStefano]

Originally Posted by Big John

Rob,you are undeniably, 100% RIGHT but if you don't know the venue do you take 3 amps with you "just in case ?",

Not knowing my venue would be incredibly oh-so-rare, but if so - a 40 watt Super Rosco head, a 2x10 cab and a few tasty OD's.

i'm not sure i want to take a wardrobe full of gear to play some gig where its hard to tell the difference in what i'm using.

Yes, that 'front end' is what its all about, i usually take a 'route 66' with me to 'push' the front end but if pigsfootpete wants "affordable" surely a Peavey or similar with a master vol. would get the job done ?

Probably. Everone's different and all this stuff is subjective at the least. I had/have an '82 18w Champ II with gain/master volume ... it's OK, but dialing down the gain and slamming the 6V6's is still best, for me. To that end, it's just as easy to use an OD pedal than the preamp gain. YMMV!

....

[Texsunburst59]

I've played one of the Peavey Valve Kings the other day and was very impressed. GC has them for $429 asking price. You may be able to get them down to $375 or so. Great amp for the money.


http://peavey.com/products/browse.cf...+112+Combo.cfm

[hal]

+1 to Hollowman. The Maz 18 has been my go to for about 3 years.

[Big John]

Originally Posted by Rob DiStefano

.... Not knowing my venue would be incredibly oh-so-rare, but if so - a 40 watt Super Rosco head, a 2x10 cab and a few tasty OD's.

I guess thats another difference between here and there, i often do go back to the same places (cant be all bad then ) but i do seem to cover alot of ground between new places as well, we tend not to have the 'resident' thing here where you play one club for a month or more.
Every road trip is an excursion into 'who knows whatsville', yeah, it can be fun, sometimes you end up in the shallow end of the gene pool, worrying about amps isn't another thing i want to do.

I checked the Rosco at the Winfield site, mmmmm, one of those with 6L6's might just ease the endless road trip i guess, darn it !!, too late for this Christmas too !!

[Jeffscreamedcorn]

Blues Jr., Boogie F-30

[Pigsfootpeete]

Originally Posted by Big John

Why, you would almost think a manufacturer somewhere would introduce a 'master volume' so you could 'tailor' the amp to the size of the room !!

DOH !!!!

[Pigsfootpeete]

Originally Posted by Big John

Rob,you are undeniably, 100% RIGHT but if you don't know the venue do you take 3 amps with you "just in case ?", i'm not sure i want to take a wardrobe full of gear to play some gig where its hard to tell the difference in what i'm using.
Yes, that 'front end' is what its all about, i usually take a 'route 66' with me to 'push' the front end but if pigsfootpete wants "affordable" surely a Peavey or similar with a master vol. would get the job done ?

True, there are several amps that "would get the job done".
But,it should also sound good and be reliable. That's why I originally asked if anyone had info about a particular amp - Electar. Don't know anything about them at all.
If it turns out to be the Peavey, that'll be fine.
My larger amps have master volumes, but I can't really get the tubes involved the way I'd like to on smaller gigs.
That's why I'm looking at smaller, more grab & go amps.

Thanks for all the opinions everybody.
Ronny

[Pigsfootpeete]

Originally Posted by Rob DiStefano

Still, there's a noticeable difference driving the front end (preamp gain) than driving the back end (power valves), and to me that's the real issue. I like saturated valves, which means tailoring tube amps to specific venues/formats, and why I have 5, 18 and 40 watt amps. Also another reasoning for some good OD's.

Hey Rob,
That's the key. I want the power tubes to have a chance to power up a bit.
Thanks.

[OaklandA]

I would vote the Li'l Dawg D-Lux with the 25 watt 6L6 setup. Very usable cleans at a nice volume but also some really creamy distortion.