Which Low Watt "Lunchbox" Style Head For Clean Tone?

[jambie]

Wanting to experiment with some different overdrive pedals-Timmy, Paisley, Catlinbread 5F6, Fulldrive-and would like something that can generate a good clean tone for home use. Would be running it through either an 8 ohm 1x12 or 16 ohm 2x12cab, playing a Tele with a Rio Grande Muy Grande and a Lollar CC. Tube amp only suggetions, please. And, I realize that low-watt lunchbox size and "headroom" are mutually exclusive.
Cheers,
Tom

 

[Mr. Lumbergh]

Check out the Vox Night Train
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/NightTrain/

 

[jambie]

I think I read somewhere here that the SCXD has pretty good clean channel.
Cheers,
TR

 

[LostGonzo85]

Get an old low-watt Hammond amp from a spinet organ and build your own lunchbox for it. Oft-times these can be found hella-cheap, with original RCA or Sylvania tubes to boot.

 

[dnauheim]

Egnator Tweaker 15 has very nice cleans and takes pedals well.

 

[CAAD8N8]

I suggest the Vox Night Train also. I've owned 3 and keep coming back to them. Easy to use, no frills, simple to get a good to get a good tone out of them. I'm currently running an Egnater Rebel 20 head with good results as well, but the Night train is easier to get good tones out of for me.

 

[simonsp]

The VHT Special 6 and Special 6 Ultra are both good heads. Excellent build quality and good for modding if that's of interest to you. Excellent value for money too.

 

[stephent2]

Goodsell has a new lunchbox sized 17w head. The super 17 is a fantastic sounding amp.

 

[soulman969]

Egnator Tweaker 15 has very nice cleans and takes pedals well.

Another vote for a Tweaker. It has an amazing amount of tonal versatility that no other amp in it's price range (under $400) has. The cleans are beautiful and you get a selection of them. Fender type clean, Vox type cleans, and Marshall type cleans. It gain do moderate to high gain OD as well.

It's a 15w amp with plenty of volume and clean headroom powered by two 6v6s and 3 12ax7s but the other nice thing is that it's cathode biased and can take any octal tube made. So you can also run EL34s, 6L6s, 5881s and any other power tube that will fit the chassis.

It has a three band tone stack, master volume and gain controls and an effects loop. The other features such as vintage vs modern voicing, bright vs normal, deep vs tight, and hot vs normal all make noticeable changes in the amps tonal character. It can be set to run 4ohm, 8 ohm, and 16 ohm, speaker configurations as well so there's no cabinet you can't run it with.

I can only suggest what I play and I just bought one several weeks ago and still haven't worked my way through all of it yet. This is another amp I've found that's a keeper I'll never part with.

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Tweaker

 

[JD0x0]

Ceriatone OTS 'Lunchbox'

Cleans- Think Fender Blackfaced twin on steroids. More mids and bass on tap, if you need it. 20ish watts, with a dedicated 'clean' circuit, ensures a reasonable amount of headroom. The tone stack is very tweakable, as well, and can get a wide range of different tones. From a warm jazz, to country twang and everything in between.

It's also got a delicious sounding OD channel, and the circuit is known for taking pedals well.

 

[trilby]

Another vote for a Tweaker. It has an amazing amount of tonal versatility that no other amp in it's price range (under $400) has.

Third vote for Tweaker. Bought one a few years ago, fantastic amp.

 

[waparker4]

VHT Special 6. Enough clean headroom to hang with a band for rehearsal or close miced situations and still be clean, and my speaker is not even very efficient. I like how it is voiced (it has a hardwired fender tone stack) going thru a 12 speaker. The footswitchable mid boost is nice.

 

[olefudd]

VHT Special 6 = perfect for pedals and mods.

 

[Tony Done]

I liked the Night Train a lot, but the one I would really like to get is the Mesa Transatlantic. In my case this is because one of the clean options has a chiminess that I thought was very good for slide.

I could also be happy with the Tweaker.

 

[jambie]

Thanks, all, for the great suggestions. I ended up buying a new '65 PRRI after reading all the great comments posted around here about that amp.

So far, my Catlinbread 5F6 sounds great in front of it at bedroom volume
Cheers,
Tom

 

[DaveKS]

Comes for lunchbox head, comes home with a PR.

Anyway I'll post my suggestion regardless.