Small footprint amp heads?

notonlybutalso

So i have been until very recently a helix user yada yada yada same old story and to cut it short i am on the hunt for a valve head.

I need it to be smaller than your standard head size especially in terms of width. But the trade off for this seems to be shared EQ for both channels. While that is not a complete deal breaker for me i would prefer more tonal flexibility for each channel so i can dial my clean and OD tone in more precisely. Anyone have any suggestions?

Needs to be 2 channels minimum
Effects loop
good clean and OD tones but i dont need crushing amounts of gain
good headroom for the cleans at gigging volumes

I await wisdom!

randella

I'll chuck in the inevitable vote for the Mesa Mini Rectifier:

- Two channels
- Effects loop
- Fantastic tones.  Has crushing gain but sounds equally great with low to mid levels too.
- Bastard loud *
- Small

* I DI to the PA and use the amp to monitor, but with a decent cab I bet you could play a pub clean before pushing the output valves into distortion.

randella

Oooh I forgot - dedicated EQ (three-band plus presence) for both channels

John_A

Carvin V3m

Jeremiah

Also, the other small Mesa/Boogies - RectoVerb, Express 5:25 and Mark V 25

Maybe the H&K Tubemeister 36 & Deluxe 40 . Not quite as compact in width but still fairly small & light and with separate EQ on each channel.

Beexter

As above. Mesa Express 5.25+ meets all of your listed wants. Ludicrously versatile and sounds bloody lovely. 

notonlybutalso

Thanks for all the ideas so far people i hadnt considered carvin amps before but they look pretty good i will have to do a bit of research into them.

As for the H&K tubemeisters i was looking at those and i heard that the drive channel is partially solid state. Does anyone know how that works? I know we already usually push SS drive pedals into tube amps for our drive tones usually but is that the way it works in the tubemeister? like a SS stage into a tube stage? or is it some other kind of witchcraft?

I do like the look of some of the mesas too, i have never jumped on the mesa train though what are peoples experiences with them? reliability? tone? dynamics?

fastonebaz

I've used a Hughes and kettner tubemeister 18 head with both cryo JJ tubes and sovteks.  Its ideal. Sparkley cleans. 2 channel + boost with enough gain to curl yr toes..  Series fx loop.  DI out.   Multi ohm speaker out Really comes alive when you put a maxon 808OD in front of it.  Reliable too. Gigged for years with it no issues. 

Beexter

notonlybutalso said:

I do like the look of some of the mesas too, i have never jumped on the mesa train though what are peoples experiences with them? reliability? tone? dynamics?

Mine has been faultless. As for tone, I recently went amp shopping, thinking I wanted a handwired, top end combo. I tried a Carr Sportsman, Impala, Skylark, Morgan AC20, Louis Electric  (whatever the Princeton style one is), Dr Z Maz 18 and a couple of other Dr Z's and a Bad Cat Black Cat 15 and none of them made me want to part with my cash. I preferred the tone and flexibility of the Mesa. Make of that what you will but suffice to say  I think it sounds good .

randella

notonlybutalso said:

I do like the look of some of the mesas too, i have never jumped on the mesa train though what are peoples experiences with them? reliability? tone? dynamics?

All three

I replaced a Tubemeister with the Rec, the TM tone was, for me at least, a bit ‘nice’. Nothing to do with it being partially SS I wouldn’t have thought. A bit of tranny distortion never bothered Hendrix after all. 

As ever with these things, try loads and see what you like. 

JMP220478

another boogie mk v 25  recommendation here - cleans to brutal - seperate eq ; reverb / channel ; assignable graphic ; great loop ; Cab clone out - 16.5ibs ; 3 voicings / channel ; takes pedals well; 10/25 watt settings

RandallFlagg

I have the Mesa Express 5:25+ combo, had it a few months, it's the same amp as the head. I am really liking it. I took me a while to realise that you don't treat the clean channel the same as a typical valve amp clean channel! You are meant to turn the channel volume up and it stays clean even with humbuckers. The clean channel very much sounds like Andy Timmons Lonestar clean sounds.

The blues channel is great, last weekend, experimenting with the graphic EQ I could get the blues channel to sound almost identical to the sound of turning on a Klone type overdrive pedal in front of the clean channel, which may not sound revolutionary but it's changing and reducing my need for pedals. The reverb sounds very good and the boost function is brilliant, it has it's own level control and just adds a volume boost to either channel.

2 fully independent channels, each with 2 selectable flavours of tone and gain structure, with separate volumes, master, EQ and reverb controls, a graphic EQ that can be set to either a preset scoop or sliders and applied to either or both channels plus an adjustable volume boost, all in a tiny head?

Superbly flexible and loud little beast.

notonlybutalso

Thanks for all the info so far i have got plenty to look into so far, and i will have to keep my eye out for these all going second hand especially for the mesas as there is noooo way i could afford one new!

so far on my shopping list i have...
carvin v3m
tubemeister deluxe 40
mesa express 5:25
mesa mini rec 25
mesa recto-verb
mesa mark five 25

nick79

Another vote for the small Mesa's from me. I've got the Mini Rec and it ticks every box. Extremely versatile, loud (very loud if needed!), well built, sounds great. I've played through a mk5 25 and that was ace too although definitely had a different feel to the Mini Rec. Never tried an Express but i have been to gigs where others were using them and they sounded good. 
So yeah, try all 3 and you will soon know which is for you. 

I will add the Mini Rec is easier to dial in than the mk5, just put everything at noon and tweak from there. 

djspecialist

In case you hadn't noticed, someone listed a V3M on here today.

There's also a TM36 on Facebook (UK Gear Exchange group).

Good hunting!

notonlybutalso

djspecialist said:

In case you hadn't noticed, someone listed a V3M on here today.

There's also a TM36 on Facebook (UK Gear Exchange group).

Good hunting!

I did thanks, Rich graciously messaged me to say he was putting the v3m up for sale i will check out that tubemeister too! Cheers

John_A

notonlybutalso said:

Thanks for all the info so far i have got plenty to look into so far, and i will have to keep my eye out for these all going second hand especially for the mesas as there is noooo way i could afford one new!

so far on my shopping list i have...
carvin v3m
tubemeister deluxe 40
mesa express 5:25
mesa mini rec 25
mesa recto-verb
mesa mark five 25

A Carvin just popped up in the classifieds 

RaymondLin

How about 3 channels
Effects loop
EQ
Small Foot print
Great cleans
Great OD
(NOT crushing amount of gain)

Did I say it's small?

Epsilon

RaymondLin said:

How about 3 channels
Effects loop
EQ
Small Foot print
Great cleans
Great OD
(NOT crushing amount of gain)

Did I say it's small?

Seconded! A great amp.

bluechargeboy

The forthcoming not-hideously-expensive PRS Mark Tremonti MT15 has separate EQ, loop, etc. No idea on headroom, it is 15W. Metal guys like their cleans to be clean though!

Has crushing gain but appears to do crunch nicely from the vids I have seen.

notonlybutalso

That's a very nice looking amp, and i like the led lights that light the parameters for each voicing, but i am not sure if 18 watts would give me the clean headroom i want at gig levels. I like to have some extra room to play if needed, same goes for the new PRS tremonti. Anyhoo depending on how today goes i might snap up that carvin