New year, new amp

Christeafur

Hi all and happy new year.

so I am looking for a new low watt amp for home playing. I’ve been through a few over recent years but looking to perhaps spend a little more for the right amp.
I have been looking at the tone king range (gremlin and falcon grande) I tried a gremlin whilst testing out a guitar pre covid and loved how it sounded - but no reverb means stuff on the floor and the inevitable spread of cables and gear associated so the falcon would be more sensible perhaps.

As I have no intention of playing in a band it is purely for home and recording I’m looking for something that can minimise the gear sprawl. 

This brought me to the rift PR amps - like tremolo and that also means I should consider the Princeton 64 too right? 

I like to play clean to mild crunch.
there are probably loads of questions that I should ask to narrow the field but thought I would ask the good folks of fretboard for their thoughts too.

I also like the idea of supporting uk industry so any shouts for uk makers.

thanks

c

dazzajl

Your path will be chosen largely by whether you want that crunch to come naturally from the amp at home/late night volumes? 

I can certainly vouch for Rift! Not only an amazingly high quality product but I’ve yet to to
hear anyone not be completely happy with their amp or experience with Chris. 

Left field suggestion, Fender’s Tone Master Deluxe Reverb. It really is very very good. 

Jackobean

Sounds like you're something of a minimalist when it comes to gear (I can relate).

Does your wish to 'minimise the gear sprawl' and 'stuff on the floor' extend to all pedals?
Attenuation is going to be essential if you want to avoid pedals and get all OD sounds from the amp.
Obviously the Tone King stuff would be a strong contender in that case.

If you're happy with some pedals, the regular Princeton Reissue is excellent.
I've never really seen the point of Fender's hand wired line.

Fuengi

I had a Tone King Falcon, it was the 10" speaker version, really lovely amp which I used with a few pedals for home / studio. 

Now have a Blackstar Studio 10 which does a similar job, although I upgraded the stock speaker. 

Also bought two Honeyboy 5w Tweed hand built / hand wired amps which are superb, especially the 5F1 champ clone. 

All the above amps I can recommend, for me the Tone King Falcon had two setting I didn't use which ultimately meant it wasn't a keeper. I prefer an amp to do one thing really well. 

With pedals you can keep it fairly simple and tidy if you think it through. I use a Pedaltrain Nano with a battery pack for four pedals which means no supply wire from the mains. 

Fuengi

I also meant to say maybe look at some used Supro amps as they seem very good value. The Thunderbolt looks great although 15" speaker might be a bit hefty for home use, there are others in that range that would be more suitable. 

Christeafur

thanks for the responses. 

 So my pedal estate is diminishing. I have an Emma electronic onomatopoeia for boost/low gain stuff, a t-Rex tremolo but doesn’t sound as good as amp trem. A t-Rex replica junior delay and a boss rv500 - I do like ambient sometimes. 

Generally though I like to keep it simple - just a cable into an amp would be great

RickLucas

Gartone Amps - Custom Made guitar and bass amplifiers. Valve amps, vintage repros & custom one-offs

richardhomer

I take the point about the Tone King Gremlin not having reverb and not wanting pedals.

I have a TK Falcon and use a Boss RV-6 when I need reverb. I can get any sound from ultra-clean to quite heavily driven without any pedals - at volumes which work at home. The attenuator works very well - only on the quietest setting does it sound too compressed - though even then it’s acceptable.

BluesyDave

Fuengi said:

Also bought two Honeyboy 5w Tweed hand built / hand wired amps which are superb, especially the 5F1 champ clone. 

I could recommend giving Emprize amps a look as well.  I recently bought a 5F1 (tweed champ) style amp, and its a marvel.  I see they now do a few other Fender inspired amps from the 50's and 60's.

brooom

modulus amps have really nice amps which you can find on the website as kits, but Michael will assemble it for you and the price will still be quite reasonable for high quality handwired classic amp.

I bought a champ kit from him last year and I'm already planning the next one.

dindude

Interested in this thread as have a Carr Rambler I use as a home amp, using it with a Tone King Ironman but it really is a lot of loud amp for home use.

I’ve also been looking at the TK Gremlin / Falcon Grande, but I can’t get the 64 Princeton out of mind as it is just the best proportioned and best looking amp IMO and the demos of it sound great. 

Carr have just announced the Super Bee which is a 10w Blackface inspired amp with attenuation down to 2w and below, looks nice but will be c. £2.5k.

FastEddie

I'll put a Cornell Romany in there. I've had mine since 2003 and it just gets better. The clean tone is something else and it takes a fuzz with aplomb. You can bag a used one for not much. The 10 inch speaker can sound boxy but I guess that was the sound back then. I've not played the 12 inch version. 

Christeafur

Sounds like you’re in a similar spot to me. I like the idea of the rift pr6 - Princeton style, uk made under 2k quiet enough for home? 

dindude

Christeafur said:

Sounds like you’re in a similar spot to me. I like the idea of the rift pr6 - Princeton style, uk made under 2k quiet enough for home? 

Was looking at those just the other night, look nice, problem is there isn’t much info on the website, I.e. says still uses 2 x 6v6? What is the idea, more control of volume at lower levels, or much earlier breakup etc. Dunno, there’s something more comforting for me buying from the big boys these days, I’ve had a couple of bad experiences recently with well regarded 1-man boutique outfits. Not suggesting Rift is anything but great as his reputation is 1st class btw. But the wait time vs ordering from a store and being able to try and return etc is worth something. Basically I’m talking myself into the 64 Princeton, ha ha!

russpm

Rift or Gartone maybe

Christeafur

dindude said:

Christeafur said:

Sounds like you’re in a similar spot to me. I like the idea of the rift pr6 - Princeton style, uk made under 2k quiet enough for home? 

Was looking at those just the other night, look nice, problem is there isn’t much info on the website, I.e. says still uses 2 x 6v6? What is the idea, more control of volume at lower levels, or much earlier breakup etc. Dunno, there’s something more comforting for me buying from the big boys these days, I’ve had a couple of bad experiences recently with well regarded 1-man boutique outfits. Not suggesting Rift is anything but great as his reputation is 1st class btw. But the wait time vs ordering from a store and being able to try and return etc is worth something. Basically I’m talking myself into the 64 Princeton, ha ha!

It’s a fair shout- my experience has been a little more positive on the small builders front - that’s based on acoustic guitars. The Gartones look nice too bit of a carr look to their ‘jewel’ amp.

mattacjones

Swart ast junior worth a look. I know someone here is getting rid of one. Not me, I'm on my 3rd

AndyJP

Yeah the Supro thunderbolt is a beast at home. Have one. You won't get any breakup from it. But it's great with an attenuator.

TheBigDipper

dindude said:

Interested in this thread as have a Carr Rambler I use as a home amp, using it with a Tone King Ironman but it really is a lot of loud amp for home use.

I’ve also been looking at the TK Gremlin / Falcon Grande, but I can’t get the 64 Princeton out of mind as it is just the best proportioned and best looking amp IMO and the demos of it sound great. 

Carr have just announced the Super Bee which is a 10w Blackface inspired amp with attenuation down to 2w and below, looks nice but will be c. £2.5k.

My Carr Mercury is still loud at 2w and stops making clean sounds that are audible at 0.5w/0.1w settings - although the distorted ones at that levels are nice. 

Christeafur

https://shop.fender.com/en-GB/guitar-amplifiers/vintage-pro-tube/68-custom-vibro-champ-reverb/2279006000.html

Oooh... this is interesting