Low/Small Watt Tube amp suggestions?

[toejam]

Hmm. Maybe they can handle more plate voltage. I've always heard the EL84 put out slightly more wattage than the 6V6. Here's some info from the Univalve forum... http://www.univalve.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=33

[toejam]

I like the 6V6 based amps a lot more (sorry Toejam but the Univalve sounds way better with anything but an EL84). They sound thicker and get a studlier crunch.

Different strokes. I've always dug the sound of EL84s. Though, that's the great thing about the Uni, you can swap out tubes. I'll sometimes use an EL34 or KT77, KT88 or KT66. Most of the time, an EL84 is in it. Right now I've got a 6G6 in there.

[LastInLine]

Bah! I dont give a shit about those awards anymore. At first, I thought they gave those "awards" to good & worthy items. nowadays, every thing they review seems to be getting a gold or platinum award.

Glad to hear it. Do you have any suggestions for the guy who started this thread then?

[jtr]

Fender Pro Junior!

[hippietim]

Fender Pro Junior!

Great amp! I've had several of those - you can gig with them for a classic rock blues things as well. Not good for anything too heavy though.

One thing, the stock Jensen speaker is crapola. Get a Celestion Vintage 10 and you're good to go.

[GuerillaPete]

Wow! Thanks guys for all the input. Gonna start on the search soon.
Much appreciated.

-Pete

[atilla]

Different strokes. I've always dug the sound of EL84s. Though, that's the great thing about the Uni, you can swap out tubes. I'll sometimes use an EL34 or KT77, KT88 or KT66. Most of the time, an EL84 is in it. Right now I've got a 6G6 in there.

Totally. It's really fun to try a bunch of different tubes in the same circuit. Very educational, too.

[GuerillaPete]

I dig the univalve by THD a lot. You can swap-out tubes and get different tones. For now, I may just keep the rack/stack of doom and use a THD hot plate to get tolerable levels so that my co-op board doesn't try to evict me.

Down the line I may consider either the Epi Valve Jr or the Blackheart. There's a whole community of "modders" out there who love these two tiny amps. So that may be the route to take.

Much appreciated guys!

-Pete

[GuerillaPete]

While doing "research" I came across this:

http://namm.harmony-central.com/WNAMM08/Content/BlackheartEngineering/PR/Killer-Ant-Guitar-Amp-.html

Seems Blackheart is releasing a 1 watt amp at the next NAMM. Hopefully it's better than the overpriced Nano that ZVex has - Zack, sorry. Love the pedals but not the amp.

Pete

[mjtripper]

That handsome devil model is something I'll probably check out. I've totally given up on finding a small high gain low wattage combo/head. I just want a small solid tube amp for at home that has some clean headroom. When I want non-clean I'm just using the pod into the front of it. I wish Carvin would release the vintage 16 as a head only, that one sounds really nice clean and has some headroom. That's the main reason I didn't get the orange tiny terror, I liked the dirty tones but I couldn't get it to clean up at all.

[atilla]

While doing "research" I came across this:

http://namm.harmony-central.com/WNAMM08/Content/BlackheartEngineering/PR/Killer-Ant-Guitar-Amp-.html

Seems Blackheart is releasing a 1 watt amp at the next NAMM. Hopefully it's better than the overpriced Nano that ZVex has - Zack, sorry. Love the pedals but not the amp.

Pete

Hey, Pete! That's pretty cool. But I'd hold off on that one until a bunch of tinkerers get their paws on it and start sharing info on mods. That's the cool thing about the Epi...there are so many people doing mods on it and sharing their recipes. The Epi VJ is a great thing - I firmly believe that a bunch of 15-year-old Mike Soldanos-of-the-future are in their parents' basements dinking around with a VJ as I type this.

[GuerillaPete]

Hey, Pete! That's pretty cool. But I'd hold off on that one until a bunch of tinkerers get their paws on it and start sharing info on mods.

Very true! I won't jump the gun as of yet. I try not to. If I do it'll bite me in the a$$.

[1trussell]

I just recently picked up a heavily modded Valve Jr and I am pretty impressed so far. I run it through my 5150 4x12. It has quite a bit more gain than the stock unit, but it's not metal by any means. It can do early ACDC with no problems. But I would definitely run a pedal in front of it to hit any kind of heavy tones. Keep up your search and let us know what you find.

[UFORocks]

I really liked my Crate Palomino V8, but the 8" speaker and lack of an external speaker jack really killed it for me.

-Steve

[beachjammer]

Go try out the new Fender Super Champ XD and Fender Vibro Champ XD. They are the best I've played so far. Next in line would be the Fender Blues Junior. I've owned a Epi Valve Junior and Galaxie as well as a Peavey Royal 8 and some others. Fender has it down the best in my opinion.