More volume out of Monoprice 5-watt tube amp?

[Chiogtr4x]

I think the speaker certainly has to be part of the sound. How much and what part is anyone's guess. Plug your other cab in and see if you lose too much maybe?

Thanks! Makes sense!
Sadly I can't do this here in apartment, but will soon. Possibly this weekend

 

[Dave_11]

If you're saying you have a couple of 10" speakers (like in the Frontman), can't you just hook them up to the Monoprice to test if they give more volume and the breakup you want? You could use the Frontman as a test cab.

 

[Chiogtr4x]

If you're saying you have a couple of 10" speakers (like in the Frontman), can't you just hook them up to the Monoprice to test if they give more volume and the breakup you want? You could use the Frontman as a test cab.

Thanks, will try this as soon as I can- maybe at a gig this weekend.
Just can't do this here, in apartment.

 

[mexicanyella]

I think if there’s a free channel on the PA at gigs and practices, a speaker-level active DI box with cab sim could be cool (I’m thinking of the Behringer Ultra-G, which costs about $40 and has a 4 x 12 cab sim in it that sounds good and is analog).

Behringer Ultra-G GI100 1-channel Active Guitar Direct Box

Phantom/Battery-powered Active Direct Box with two -20dB Pads, 4x12" Speaker Cab Emulator

www.sweetwater.com

Rig up 1/4” in/out jacks on the back of the Monoprice combo between the chassis and speaker, and with a couple of short speaker cables put that Ultra G (or any of various more expensive options) in-Line between the chassis and speaker. Take an XLR cable out to an unused PA channel and let the PA assist the cranked Monoprice, using the Ultra-G’s cab sim filter switched on.

And it could also serve as a useful line- or instrument-level DI for other applications with the speaker sim disengaged.

If you don’t have a free PA channel you can count on, what about hitting up goodwill or a pawnshop or CL for a small keyboard amp, and use it like a small portable PA in a box? Again with the speaker level DI and cab sim, run the XLR line out to the keyboard amp.

I’ve seen smaller Peavey KB-series amps go pretty cheap, and some of them have a pretty slick coaxial speaker with a tweeter in the middle. It would be one more box shaped thing to load in and out, but not a big one, and you could keep your MP combo as a 8” stocker and dial up how
much assist you wanted with either approach.

 

[printer2]

Thanks, will try this as soon as I can- maybe at a gig this weekend.
Just can't do this here, in apartment.

Yes you can in your apartment. You do not have to crank the amp to judge the difference in loudness between two speakers, you can try it at clean volumes. It is best if you can switch between the two speakers with a switch in order to limit the time to flip over to the other speaker. But even with unplugging one speaker and plugging the other one in you should be able to tell if one is significantly louder than the other and get an idea of the tone.

 

[RickyBakerByrd]

I recently procured the Monoprice 5 watt tube amp. Being an experimenter and having all my amps in one place and most modded, I was able to connect various speakers to the Monoprice.

The loudest and cleanest I was able to achieve is a 10" eight ohm Eminence inside a Rivera amp.

The second loudest and cleanest is an 8" Celestion Eight 15 that is four ohms, so the Monoprice could blow up but at least you'd enjoy loud and clean for a while.

I also tried 8" six ohm speakers inside my Vox amps. Noticeably better than the Monoprice Celestion Super 8. I think the Super 8 is midrangey and the Monoprice baffle is too small to spawn a clean and loud sound.

Because my Rivera has Yellow Jackets I took one and put it inside the Monoprice and it crunches at lower volume with the EL84, for anybody who's curious about replacing 6V6 with EL84.

Alas, my pedalboard has a compressor/booster pedal that kicks up the volume on the Monoprice. Ultimately, I leave the Monoprice as is, stock, to keep it compact, but if I wanted to increase the volume I'd use the aforementioned booster pedal and find a more efficient 8" eight ohm speaker such as Weber, Jensen, or Eminence that has a relatively flat frequency response. I don't think there's much that can be done with the Monoprice. It's designed for low volume tube crunch in a high-density apartment complex with thin walls.

 

[robinrockus]

Hi folks!
I am finally using this wonderful little amp in a practice/jam band context where I can finally hear it 'at volume' ( as I think Brits say)
I absolutely love its clean tone at 1/2 volume, and serious crunch and good sustain cranked.
The tone is just what I hoped for. I'm ( right now plugging straight in, no pedals, as I really wanted to hear guitar > cranked, little tube amp.

My dilemma is it is just not loud enough! So I have questions, thanks!

- ideally, I'd like to keep things portable with an 8" speaker ( Celestion Super 8) and do concede that I would probably need a mic in front of amp at a real gig. But I'd still like to know if more Volume coming from amp, is possible?
- another, more powerful 8"?
- a different 6V6 ( JJ?) and 12AX7 from stock ( Chinese I think)
- a clean Boost pedal?

Lastly, will a 10" speaker ( in cab) give me the best option? I have two new cheap ones that I got for another amp. A Celestion Ten 30, and Jensen Mod 10-35
Neither is as powerful as the 1058 10" I have in my Frontman, but I don't think my 'fake Champ' would work as well ( preserve the great breakup I'm getting) with this more efficient speaker
Also as I stated earlier, would love to work this out with an 8", but understand if not possible!

Thanks for any ideas!

All of the above! I have a 5w SuperChamp XD. I put a 4 ohm 10” Celestion from an old solid state amp in it. Both preamp and power tube(s) are JJs (12ax7 6V6) Additionally I run in line out to a Tech21 Power Engine for gigs. Perfect. Light, easy setup that’s more than enough.

 

[Willie Johnson]

That's actually a good ( cheap too) idea!

But I should mention I try to go really light on gear ( bad back/ mobility issues) so that was the attraction of getting this baby amp.
So just carrying one 'box' to a gig is what I'd like to do ( I have 2 small great SS amps, and a Blues Jr.)

I could or may have to just bring an ext. cab. to gigs, which is fine. Just curious about options

You could also try a second Champ-a-like like the Joyo Sweet Baby for a little different frequency response. I do two different flavors of Princeton (PRRI and Silverface no-verb) at home and it sounds great.

 

[Chiogtr4x]

All of the above! I have a 5w SuperChamp XD. I put a 4 ohm 10” Celestion from an old solid state amp in it. Both preamp and power tube(s) are JJs (12ax7 6V6) Additionally I run in line out to a Tech21 Power Engine for gigs. Perfect. Light, easy setup that’s more than enough.

All good right now.

But in my own 'directive' of keeping things portable with this amp ( as I do own, and gig with other larger, still small combo amps) I have decided to go with trying a more powerful/efficient 8" WGS speaker.
This speaker should be louder than the (2) 10" ones I actually have tried out in an Ext. cab
( they don't sound any better than the stock 8" Celestion- all good but no real advantage having a 10" which is not more efficient/dB sensitivity)


So no ext. Cab or putting 'fake Champ' into a bigger cab w/larger speaker...
Will opt. to keep things really small, use this amp when I can, for gigs/jams

* I do have replacement tubes for the amp, but will leave stock alone- have a feeling that the 8" upgrade will do the trick!

 

[MuddyWolf]

Get a strap and wear the amp around your neck like Flava Flav....