gack.. i'm such a cheapskate... am i fooling myself ?

[popthree]

i'm jamming with a couple of guys... bass and guitarist ..... this is a couple of my old bandmates from 20 years ago... we're having fun... anyway, we're kicking around the idea of playing a few shows... small venue things... no big deal. the other guitarist plays through a 40 Watt Marshall tube amp... its loud, but he's not diming it or anything... i'm guessing we'll keep stage volume reasonable.. so my amp is an old SF Champ. when we're jamming, the champ seems to keep up pretty well... i push it with a Tube Screamer most of the time, and it gets pretty loud. I figure when/if we actually do start playing out a bit, i'll need a little more umph than the Champ... I've been all over the map on what i want... how much i want to spend... etc...

amps on the radar have been
Peavey Windsor Studio, AC15, Blues Junior, SFPR, Dawg 5e3 ... wanting to keep the price down and keep the weight/size of the amp down. so anyway, all these amps are in the 15 watt range... and I'm thinking I'd probably run this amp in conjunction with the Champ... a 2 amp rig with an ABY or maybe even just daisy chain them...

so here i am rubbing my nickels together and starting to think sorta crazy... if a 15 watter and the Champ together will really be enough for my purposes... why not make the 15 watter a Vox Pathfinder 15R ? the upside is they are super cheap, and they sound great..... the only catch is, the 8 inch speaker.... would it be enough ? I guess I could alter the baffle and jam a 10" speaker in there... would that help ? Am i fooling myself ? should I go back to my list of tube combos to get what I'm after ?

[JohnnyCrash]

IDK

If you like the sounds you get out of the Vox Pathfinder 15R, try it in a store and turn it up. See if you can bring in your Champ for a volume comparison.

If you like the sounds out of your Champ but want more volume, the 5E3 might be "close enough" and loud enough. I was also thinking a Peavey Classic 30. 30 watts, all tube, has a Master Volume, clean and dirty channels, reverb, and it's a 1x12" combo. I used a C30 for gigs for a while and loved it. If you want it even lighter, try a Neodymium speaker in it.

[jazztele]

i think johnny's on the right track with those peavey's...remember, in the heat of the moment, on stage, that guy with the 40 watt marshall's got nowhere to go but up, but you might find yourself dimed and drowned out.

i also think most transistor amps sound terrible when cranked all the way up, especially a small box/speaker like the pathfinder...i think it's time for "used amp quest 2008"

[WallyArms]

If you like the sound you are getting now, why not just mike it when playing out?

[PhatTele]

You should bring it all down to a jam sometime at a local club and test it out in that setting. You'll find out quickly enough. My guess is that, unless you mic it and can have it pumped back to you through the monitors (which you might not always have control over), you probably will be struggling to hear yourself. It might sound okay just off the stage (into the first few rows), but on stage it will be washed out by the stage volume. Also, even if you get a bigger cab (say a 2x10 or 2x12) so that you can hear yourself from the back line, your Champ is going to be pretty one dimensional at stage volumes. It'll sound good, but it will always sound maxed out. If that's the sound you're going for, then you might be all set. However, I'd want something a little more flexible. I'd get something in the 15- 20watt range. This will give a little more cut, a little more available headroom, and it will still give you some of the tone you're enjoying now w/the Champ.

[11 Gauge]

A 5E3-style power amp along with different preamps AND a 12" with high sensitivity can be unbelievably loud - I know because I own one.

If you can find someone to tweak a turn-key 5E3 for you, this is what I'd personally do:

-Have the 5E3 board modded for a BF Champ style preamp, into a long tailed phase inverter (this will use both of the 5E3's preamp tubes). The power amp section can then be straight up 5E3.

-Have this 5E3'ish thing offered as a head.

-Plug it into a 1X12 cab, with a super efficient 12, like a V30, or something with a rating of 101 dB or higher.

This is the 15 watt setup that I'm currently hooked on. It's plenty loud enough for gigs. You should be heard over most drummers, unless it's Godzilla on the skins.

[Rumble]

15 watts isn't 15 watts. A Pathfinder with an 8" speaker and 15 solid state watts is not going to get you anywhere close to the volume of an AC15 with a 12". An AC15 will put out as much volume of at least a 50 or 60-watt solid state amp. Think Deluxe Reverb or 1974X type volume. That Pathfinder will probably not even be nearly as loud as your Champ. You're thinking of just adding a practice amp, and that doesn't sound like what you need. My advice- stay with a tube amp, get at the very least 12 or 15 watts (Fender Deluxe or AC15), and make sure you get a 12" speaker.

[popthree]

how about a MMB along with the Champ ?

[Tim Armstrong]

I apologize to all who've heard this story so many times already (how do you think I got to such a high post count? ), but I gigged once with a Champ run into a 2x12 cab and kept up with another guitarist (TDPRIer Paul "in Colorado" Honeycutt) playing through a BFDR AND a Vox AC15, plus a drummer, bassist and keyboard player. No stinkin' mic on the amp, either! A Champ is a fire-breathing dragon trapped behind that little 8" speaker...

Cheers, Tim

[popthree]

well i pulled the trigger on a 2nd hand Classic 30. nice amp... has an upgraded speaker.. celestion g12 vintage 30. i think this will hold me til the Li'l Dawg guy gets to my number