Low watt tube combo suggestions

[Dismalhead]

I’m so intrigued by this thing. One knob. I worry about 8’ speakers though. You love it?

Probably my favorite amp I've ever owned. Bought it a couple of years ago, used it all through the lockdown.

Stupid simple. Sound is kinda like a Fender Champ but more in-your-face on steroids. There are two speakers, I have the custom designed Eminence and I think it's awesome. They also have it with a Jensen C8R, but I haven't heard one. As far as sound dispersion, I can't tell any difference from my amps with 10" speakers - it's not anything like the 8" in my Champ 20, which sounds like a toy in comparison. It is very loud and breakup doesn't really kick in until drummer volume.

I take it to jams with my old friends and they all love it. Great sounding amp.

 

[1 21 gigawatts]

I am a thrifty shopper and bought a Monoprice 5W because it was $130 shipped. It is a nice amp, but it does not have reverb. If you need reverb and don't already have a reverb pedal, you may want to factor that into the decision. Budgeting for an amp that already has reverb could end up saving you money in the end.

 

[slider313]

A used Fuchs Lucky 7 head. I run mine through a Mojotone 1x12 cab with a Celestion Heritage G12H-55. It uses one EL34, in a fixed bias format, and a pair of 12ax7's. Kind of a Trainwreck meets Marshall vibe.

It's loud enough to play with a full band. 7 watts never sounded so big.

 

[Chart72]

I <3 my Winfield typhoon. Handmade by one guy in the US, budget friendly, EF86 5w, one volume one tone, great sweet spot & breakup! I played it with a band for about a year but we have gotten much louder so I needed a more clean headroom than it could give me.

 

[mally]

I love my dsl 1

 

[Beanbeatle]

I spent a small fortune on small tube amps (what can I say, GAS is real) and here are my favorites in no particular order. I'd recommend any one of them, especially if you can find one used.

Silver face Fender Vibro Champ. I have never tried the newer ones with reverb but they look like a good bet to me.

Vintage 47. I have the "Ric" model. The Chicago Suitcase model looks like a cool alternative to a tweed Champ. All his models looks cool as all get out.

Emery Sound Microbaby. The Superbaby is another one to look for.

Tweed Champ or clone thereof, with either 1 x 8" speaker or 1 x 12" speaker. Mine was built by TDPRI forum member muchxs. The Guitar Center website has a used Fender tweed Champ for $725 right now. A small speaker is good for keeping the volume down at home.

Princeton Reverb. Not as low wattage as the others but perfectly good for both quiet use at home and the occasional gig.

TDPRI user zook sold me a really cool low watt amp made out of a Knight signal tracer unit. Speaker is about the size of a transistor radio. About a year ago zook told me he was backed up and not taking any new orders. I don't know what his current situation is.
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Amps that I have not played but look like they would be great based on what I know about the maker:

Allen Amplificaiton Chihuahua. This is like a Fender Vibro Champ with reverb + master volume. Master Volume is really great for quieter play at home. http://www.allenamps.com/index.html

Lil Dawg makes a variety of amps and gets universally high praise for his work and his reasonable prices. I'd buy one myself but I already have too many amps and I'm in a recovery program for the amp-addicted. His model called "The Mutt" looks cool: a preamp section like a tweed Deluxe matched to an output section like a tweed Champ. https://www.littledawgamps.com/

Thanks. These are right up my alley

 

[Beanbeatle]

Probably my favorite amp I've ever owned. Bought it a couple of years ago, used it all through the lockdown.

Stupid simple. Sound is kinda like a Fender Champ but more in-your-face on steroids. There are two speakers, I have the custom designed Eminence and I think it's awesome. They also have it with a Jensen C8R, but I haven't heard one. As far as sound dispersion, I can't tell any difference from my amps with 10" speakers - it's not anything like the 8" in my Champ 20, which sounds like a toy in comparison. It is very loud and breakup doesn't really kick in until drummer volume.

I take it to jams with my old friends and they all love it. Great sounding amp.

 

[Beanbeatle]

Honestly, I‘ve almost pulled the trigger on this amp a couple of times. My only reservation is that I’d have to spend another couple hundred bucks on a good attenuator to make it crackle at a level that doesn’t harm my hearing

 

[bottlenecker]

I’m so intrigued by this thing. One knob. I worry about 8’ speakers though. You love it?

Small combos also double as heads when you power a different speaker cab with them. Sometimes I want an 8", sometimes a 15".

 

[Chiogtr4x]

I am a thrifty shopper and bought a Monoprice 5W because it was $130 shipped. It is a nice amp, but it does not have reverb. If you need reverb and don't already have a reverb pedal, you may want to factor that into the decision. Budgeting for an amp that already has reverb could end up saving you money in the end.

Here is my Monoprice 5-watter, along with a cheap board I made up for it.

I really just wanted Reverb and Tremolo for this amp, as it has great R&R breakup when cranked ( plus good clean/clear Volume too, at lower Vol.knob...),

but already had these multi-function pedals hanging around-
( so, Reverb/Delay, Multi- modulation Effects, and OD+Boost)
All easy-to-use, very good sound, low noise & cheap.

* I can do small gigs, with this-no problem

 

[Jeru]

The Bugera V5 is a five-watt tube amp with an attenuator that goes all the way down to 0.1 watts. It's a budget amp, but it sounds great. I have taken it to band practice and it keeps up with drums, with room to spare. But because of the attenuator, you can get great tube breakup at bedroom volumes. It was my first amp since like 2000, and I liked it so much, I ended up buying its bigger sister (the V22) as my main gigging amp for a while. I am going to sell the v22 now that I got a TMDR, but I'm keeping this one, as it comes in handy for so many situations.

YES..!
I saw these for years on Local CL for like ~$100, there's one up there now for $150.
I've long thought that one looks like a great set of features / packaged well.

That said -- I Do. Not. Need. Another. Darn. Amplifier.

 

[VintageSG]

I recently bought a Marshall Origin 5 combo. I had buyers doubts about it. It seems when I look to buy things, I only see good reviews. Post-purchase, the glowing lights dim and the not so good reviews come forth.
It was so close, yet it missed the mark for me. I plugged it into one of my Jensen MOD equipped 1x10" cabs and the light flickered on.
One MOD 8-20 later and to me, it's a fine amp.
It features a low power setting, which isn't ghastly, has an effects loop, and it looks great. It can power an external cab. Just unplug the onboard speaker and plug your external cab in.

VHT produce some wonderful little amps too. The Special 6 and Special 6 Ultra heads are well known and liked on here. There are combo versions available too. They feature a low power mode which is basically running the 6V6 as a triode. It's a different, and rather nice, sound when things get rowdy.

If you just want to try different amps, now is a good time to buy. Second hand valve amps aren't fetching a lot over here. When the current mess blows over and people have disposable income again, you'll probably be able to make a profit on whatever second hand purchases you make, plus you get to own many amps.
As an example, I paid less for a Laney LC15 ( forerunner to the Cub range ) than many pay for an overdrive pedal. £50 for a working valve amp. A year ago, they were £100. If I wait a year and turn a small profit, I've had the pleasure of the amp for a year and been paid for it. Can't lose. Even if the prices don't pick up, £50 for a UK made Laney that sounds incredible isn't to be sneezed at.

Monoprice market the original Laney Cub 8 and 15r. They have a lot of fans on here. The one model from the original Cub range they don't make though is the Cub 10. If you find one, buy it. Box O' Tone. Laney claimed 10 Watts for it, but it's a little more than that. Think Fender Pro Jr but with a gain control and a 6V6 output stage, and you're not far from the mark. Other amps have come and gone, but I'll not part with my Cub 10.

Ever though of building an amp? Many good kits available.

 

[1 21 gigawatts]

The Fender Bassbreaker 007 was high on my list before I stumbled on my recent acquisition. 7 watt with master volume should provide some good crunch at lower volume.

 

[gonzo]

my favorite low watt tube amp i've ever had,
was the joe satriani designed 5 watt tube amp called mini collossal.

excellent circuit, quiet, cab filter output, trem circuit.
nice drive.
did not sound boxy in the closed back combo setup,
was very affordable.

 

[Tim S]

Easy. Marshall DSL. Done.

I can’t argue against that. The DSL40CR used to be my answer to any questions the could include a combo under $1,000 as an answer (but I think they finally retail for over $1,000). It has amazing cleans and by replacing v2 with a JJ ECC823, it has 4 voices of progressively gainier (but all usable) voices. It’s not exactly small or light for a 1x12, but the master volumes work well (and throw a volume box or pedal in the loop for fine volume control)

I have a larger Tone King, but I haven’t tried the Gremlin. They do the BF Clean/Tweed Dirty very effectively and its built-in attenuator allows you to prematurely age your power tube(s).
If you consider it a possibility, you owe it to yourself to try one (and factor in an ABY pedal to switch/jump the channels)

 

[chris m.]

MusicMaster Bass amp. I have one of the 6V6 ones with an Eminence Red Fang in it, and it sounds incredible. I had a Champ and the MMB amp's 12" speaker in a bigger cabinet makes it sound SO much fuller/bigger than the Champ. Nice and clean up to Vol around 4, beyond that it doesn't get much louder but gives you lovely sounding gain. If you need gain at lower volumes just goose it with your OD pedal of choice.

When weighing options think bigger cab and bigger speaker if you don't like that boxy sound. It can sound much bigger without being louder, or conversely it can sound much smaller/wimpier without actually being any softer.

 

[GGardner]

Yet another opportunity for me to post a photo of one of my all-time favorite purchases. I probably paid around $90 for this '65 back in the big-amp, big-hair 90s.

P.S. This looks cool.

 

[Alex W]

I forgot to add that I also spent a fair amount on attenuators and after having gone through that experiment I will say that a master volume amp is far superior to an attenuator when your goal is quiet practice at home. If I could do it all over again I would get the Allen Chihuahua.

As an aside, even a 1 watt amp can produce a big full sound when played through a big cabinet. Just for fun I plugged my 1-watt Emery Sound Microbaby into a Marshall 4x12 cab and it sounded great. Obviously not like a Marshall 50 or 100 watt amp, but surprisingly loud.

 

[printer2]

That mini dr z with an attenuator and 1 knob is literally all I want in an amp.

But $900 worth?

 

[Wallaby]

I suggest a Carr Skylark. 10 watts, presence control, built-in attenuator, spring reverb.