I need a lighter amp!

HAL9000

My Blues Cube Stage weighs 15Kg

However, I've just bought myself a Zippo 'cos it's a little lighter!

(Gets coat)

Ddigger

Fender Rumble 25, 9.5kg.

TheBigDipper

Unfashionable on this board, I know, but I'm three years into enjoying my BluGuitar AMP1. That and an HX FX is what's on my pedalboard now. Once you get it running at drummer levels rather than bedroom levels it sounds great. As good as the Carr Mercury I play at home? No, but more practical for gigging - especially if you cover lots of different songs and need to copy the original sounds. 

Greatape

stratman3142 said:

Which HRD do you have? My HRD IV is a bit lighter than my previous HRD III and sounds better.

My other amp is a Blues Cube Artist 1x12 which is quite a bit lighter. The clean sound is pretty good although I prefer my HRD IV clean. However, the drive channel on the Blues Cube is better.

I recently decided to use my BCA as my primary gig amp. Love my ycv40 but it's fairly heavy and I prefer the BC's dirty channel. I'd love to run them in stereo, though...

PolarityMan

ICBM said:

digitalscream said:

Except you're carrying twice as much with either hand. I've never heard of anyone recommending doubling the weight you're carrying as a solution to back/shoulder problems.

A moderate weight combo like my Peavey is no problem at all in one hand with a similar weight pedalboard in the other. Unless you're talking really silly weights it's much safer for your back to carry twice as much weight if it's balanced.

It's true that while I could actually lift both my Mesa Trem-o-verbs at the same time more easily than just one (by its top handle), I wouldn't really want to do it... but then we are talking really silly weights . (45Kg each.)

Heads and cabs are just such a faff unless the head is really very light, and preferably small enough to go in a shoulder bag.

Heads and cabs are easily the msot convenient...half the time at gigs i dont even need my cab.

ICBM

PolarityMan said:

Heads and cabs are easily the msot convenient...half the time at gigs i dont even need my cab.

If you’re going to travel light, why bother with an amp at all? Just play through the house amp... I do if there is one.

If you’re going to take your own speaker a light combo is still easier than two things to carry. A lot of them don’t even weigh any more than a head - my Peavey combo is actually 5lb *lighter* than the 30W head the guitarist in my band uses. And he has to carry a 2x12” cab as well...

Jalapeno

hotpickups said:

I’ve just got one of those DV micro heads. Very light and small

Yep, or a ZT lunchbox (and rehersal studio's 4x12) - ZT lunchbox is my current backup

Lebarque

Another vote for Tonemaster Deluxe

sergio

Blues Cube Stage. I bought a second hand one the other day and it's so (relatively) light at 15kg that I decided to take the tube home instead of a cab.

I still ended up with a sore shoulder, but that's more because I'm weak.

Modulus_Amps

Any lightweight cab with a Celestion Neo in it, sounds great and weighs nothing, then get a DVmark amp head to match and save your back

http://www.dvmark.it/product-detail/dv-raw-dawg-eg/

TTBZ

Another +1 for head and cab being easier to move around. Spreads the heavy bits (speakers + transformer) across 2 units! Anyone whos had to move a Bluesbreaker far will agree that it’s much easier to manoeuvre a JTM45 + 2x12 cab  

bermudianbrit

Those new Fender Tonemaster SS amps sound the business. Wish they'd come out with a head though.

Stavros

ICBM said:

Peavey Transtube Bandit, Studio Pro or Envoy in descending order of what you can lift . The Studio Pro is probably the best for what you want, it’s lighter than the Bandit but only marginally less powerful.

They do actually have a very decent overdrive channel, but you don’t have to use it - the clean channel is great, very Fender-like.

I have one of the ‘red stripe’ Studio Pro 112s for exactly these reasons . It weighs 28lb (13Kg) and they typically sell for under £100.

Just remember to always set the ‘T-Dynamics’ control up full...

Like this - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Peavey-Studio-Pro-112-Red-Stripe-Guitar-Amplifier/153685362260

I’m looking at a red stripe Bandit tomorrow, I think it is Chinese made so do you reckon the speaker will be ok? “Blue Marvel” as opposed to Sheffield 1230?

crunchman

Princeton is the obvious option, if you are willing to go valve.

There are various SS options that have been mentioned, but they probably won't sound as nice.

As others have suggested, a speaker change could make the HRD lighter - with the added bonus of making it sound better at the same time.  Those Eminences in the early ones aren't good sounding at all.

ICBM

Stavros said:

I’m looking at a red stripe Bandit tomorrow, I think it is Chinese made so do you reckon the speaker will be ok? “Blue Marvel” as opposed to Sheffield 1230?

I think so. The Blue Marvel is OK, although not outstanding - the one in my Studio Pro was blown (former owner replaced the internal fuse with too large a value when the power IC failed, and it set fire to the voice coil!) and I've put a Line 6 Custom Celestion in it, which actually sounds fantastic. You can pick these up fairly easily since they're the speaker in the older Spider and Flextone amps which are usually unrepairable if they die, unfortunately.

If not that, you could put in something like a Jensen Tornado, which would reduce the weight as well.

Stavros

Great, thanks very much for the advice @ICBM.

At £80 with foot switch I think it will be a good buy.

skay

I was continuously looking for a lighter version of my AC30, as I love the sound but moving it around was always a task, so I joined a gym and just got stronger instead

PolarityMan

ICBM said:

PolarityMan said:

Heads and cabs are easily the msot convenient...half the time at gigs i dont even need my cab.

If you’re going to travel light, why bother with an amp at all? Just play through the house amp... I do if there is one.

If you’re going to take your own speaker a light combo is still easier than two things to carry. A lot of them don’t even weigh any more than a head - my Peavey combo is actually 5lb *lighter* than the 30W head the guitarist in my band uses. And he has to carry a 2x12” cab as well...

Id rather play into the PA than through a house amp tbh.

But then I use a pretty nice amp. 

Emp_Fab

Snags said:

Emp_Fab said:

It's just occurred to me that I don't actually need another amp. I can just plug directly into our xr18 and stick a amp simulator in the the path.  We all use in ears, so for band practice it is ideal.  Well, it's worth a try anyway.

In that case, Ammoon American Sound pedal. About £25 new, and fits in your coat pocket.

The mixer has an amp sim built-in.  Modelled on the Sans-Amp 21 by all accounts.  I'll give that a try first.  Thanks for the heads-up.

Bellycaster

DLM said:

I couldn't find a lighter amp, but I did find these:

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0900/2750/products/zinky-recycled-cigarette-pack-smokey-amp-2_large.jpg

Sorted!