Does anyone make a decent low wattage high gain amp?

[gtrcollectr]

And by low wattage I mean 5 watts or less......I need a good home recording/practicing amp. I have built a few of the designs out there such as the firefly and the plexi based designs and they do not have enough gain for metal.

Are there any out there that will do metal without needing a pedal?

I like the JCA PicoValve's design , has anyone heard this one yet?

[DonP]

Why not just add gain stages to the firefly? Add another preamp tube. Use a Mesa Boogie preamp design. Not that hard if you've already made amps. I find the 2203 preamp has good gain for a 5 watt amp.

Here's another question - are you sure it's gain you are missing? a 5 watter isn't going to give you old school Metallica crunch like a 100 watter will. It will always be more rock and blues than metal.

[gtrcollectr]

I like the firefly for rock but its kind of a one trick pony as far as features.......I am not about to get into channel switching, I am doing good reading layouts ;-)

I just did a bit of surfing and found the engl gigmaster 15 and blackstar ht-5. These sound decent from the clips and they are multi channel. Anyone tried these?

[DonP]

I haven't but plenty have. Read what they said. The HT-5 gets good reviews, but I think you still might not get to high-gain metal territory without wattage.

What type of tone are you after?

[gtrcollectr]

Going for a Mesa style modern metal tone, but I want an amp with good cleans as well. Thats why a channel switching low wattage amp would be best. I just read that the ENGL is solid state except for the pre......bummer, especially in that price range.

The ht-5 looks really nice and the price is good, gonna track one down and give it a whirl.

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

Use a preamp, or drive the front end with a Tube Screamer?

[Ripley7t]

I have a HT-5 and a Voodoo VRock 10watter. The HT-5 does still have a bit of a processed edge to it. Lots of clips on youtube and for around $300 it is great.

[Kisonen]

Engl Gigmaster has el84 tubes in the power amp section. Blackstar HT-5 won't do metal without pedal boosting it even with the gain full on.

[Rich#6]

I think the orange tiny terror can either be on 15 or 7 watts(It's almost 5). Pretty sure it's not good for much else than metal.

[Grim]

Does it have to be tube? I just bought a Roland Cube 80x today and it does metal. Well.

[DonP]

Going for a Mesa style modern metal tone, but I want an amp with good cleans as well. Thats why a channel switching low wattage amp would be best. I just read that the ENGL is solid state except for the pre......bummer, especially in that price range.

The ht-5 looks really nice and the price is good, gonna track one down and give it a whirl.

Dude, I loved my Studio .22+, but damn they are expensive these days.

[Axewielder]

I don't think you can beat a modeller at low wattages.

[DonP]

I don't think you can beat a modeller at low wattages.

Good answer. +1 to a modeller. I used a Vox VT15 and it wasn't half bad in an apartment. But now I'm back at home with the DSL100, so no more need for it.

[Capelo]

I am in the same situation. I was about to buy the Blackstar HT-5 but started hearing that they have quality issues, at least here in Europe. The shop I buy my gear from told me that they have extinguished their dealership agreement with Blackstar. They had to return a bunch of them and got fed up with dealing with customers' returns.

I hear good things about the Vox VT15/VT30 and the Roland Cube20X/30X. Any specific suggestions on which one to get? Cheers

[Rich#6]

The Vox has issues too. I had my vt50in the shop right after I bought it for getting over distorted and flubby. Now it has the issue of jumping volume between custom and set channel. The big issue it's known for is doing this with the use of the pedal to change programed channels(I never took my pedal out of the box).
Maybe you should look for an amp that you can lower the wattage. The Vox can do it so I think either rolland or randall has the ability too.