low watt amp advice

[1trussell]

I may be in the market for a low watt tube amp suited for home use. For example, I was looking at the THD Univalve on their website. But I'm open to most anything. Here's my situation. I would use it mostly at bedroom levels, but would like the headroom to turn it up when no one's home. I'm looking for the best possible tone. I don't want sacrifice tone for low volume. I've been using my Flextone III for the past few years, and while it is a great amp, I'm just looking for something more responsive. I'm a big fan of direct plug and play. Give me a guitar and an amp, maybe a delay or reverb and I'm set to go. I don't need a rack to make John Petrucci proclaim me as his god. I just want a great rock sound that won't bring the police to my door. The type of music I play is mostly similar to old school Van Halen and Iron Maiden up to the newer power metal/shred of today.

Any advice?

[Shawn]

Peters 3CPI if you can find one. I have one, its great. (I assume you mean head, not combo).



Shawn

[1trussell]

Thanks, I'll check it out.

Right now, I have no preference between a head or combo. I'm just looking for something that will do what I described above.

[Robotechnology]

Univalve is a great amp but, YOU WILL NEED an attenuator for a suitable bedroom volume.

[1trussell]

Well, the Univalve has an attenuator built in I believe.

[toejam]

Well, the Univalve has an attenuator built in I believe.

Yes, it's got its own Hot Plate built in (though, some say it's not as good as a stand-alone unit). I have a Univalve and love its sound, it does great for old Van Halen and Metallica Kill 'Em All era tones, so you'll need an OD pedal to get higher gain metal tones. Also, it is a nice clear sounding amp, a little on the bright side.
They've got a cool forum, too. http://www.univalve.net/forums_new/

[jgcable]

Keep in mind that a 5w tube amp is loud enought to cause the cops to come.

[El_Kabong]

The Univavle is way too loud for a home. The attenuator is not so great. The Bumbox 1 watter is supposed to be good, though I have never played one.

[toejam]

The Uni is fine for home use, the attenuator does its job. If you don't want to use the attenuator, then you can run the line out into another amp, or power amp and cab, and then you can utilize its full tone potential without the attenuator in the circuit.

[atilla]

The Uni is pretty quiet with an EL84 output tube, but you need an adaptor to use one. That plus the built-in attenuator should keep the neighbors at bay.

[owlhead]

My Splawn sounds great at low volumes. You may want to check out Suhr's new amp-Badger. This amp is due to be released soon. Its 18 watts w/ a powerscale.

[Mickey_C]

Get a soultone Forty-Five hot-rodded jtm45 amp, with power scaling. It gets EL34 crunch from 40 watts all the way down to 10miliwatts. It's does a variety of plexi sounds, has an excellent tube driven fx loop, and with the cascade option, does a 2203 (jcm 800) too. With the variable power implementation, you can get serious tone, even in your bedroom. It's built entirely milspec, has mercury transformers, and should last forever (lifetime warranty). Incredible marshallesque tones.

[Mickey_C]

PS - in all fairness I have to mention I may be biased, as I manufacture them.

;-)

[surfreak]

The Uni is fine for home use, the attenuator does its job. If you don't want to use the attenuator, then you can run the line out into another amp, or power amp and cab, and then you can utilize its full tone potential without the attenuator in the circuit.

I disagree with that.

The Univalve is LOUD, unless you live in a house, it's just not suitable for an apt./dorm situation.
Also, if you run the line out into another amp, you're basically using only its preamp section, not the power amp.
Great tone comes from pushing the power amp, if you don't use it, you might as well get a cheap preamp and drive a stereo, headphones, PC etc..

[jgcable]

For very low volume levels, tube amps are a bad choice.