More powerful 5E3?

Petepassion

I've love the Tweedy-luxe 5E3 I bought recently, but it's not loud enough for rehearsals/gigs. What would you recommend at around 25w-30w? or maybe even 20w as I know some 20w amps can be loud.
   It reminds me of a '59 Bassman LTD I had last year, are they close sound wise? Or is there something that would get me closer?

Dodge

What speaker is in it?  Perhaps a more efficient one might be an alternative?

BowynMadley

What speaker is in it? A celestion alnico Blue, fane a60 or a tayden alnico smooth will up the volume if you've got a weber or something else like that in it

RickLucas

Try a 5V4 rectifier in place of the 5Y3. That should give you a little more headroom. I've gigged with one recently and it was plenty loud enough for my 3-piece. A 5F4 2x10 tweed super might be a good alternative.

Winny_Pooh

A 5e3 built for 6L6s with will be a fair bit louder.

At the High Wycombe get together a Rift Americana with a WGS G12A (2x6l6s & GZ34) was quite a bit louder and more hifi than a Vyse with a Celestion blue (6v6s & 5ar4).
The vyse may be a bit softer than other 5e3s but even with a blue it got drowned out by drums when jamming with a friend.

The Rift is definitely loud enough for gigs. 

Petepassion

Thanks for the fast reply’s, it has a Jensen in there, but I can’t remember which one, I’ll take a look tonight.
   I have an early ‘80’s Celestion G12-65 I can try in there to see if it’s an improvement maybe.
   I’ll look into the options suggested, but I’d rather just try another amp than start fiddling/modding too much. But a speaker change is easy enough.
   They’re quite small cabs, so even with more volume, not sure if it would sound ‘big’ enough.

Petepassion

Winny_Pooh said:

A 5e3 built for 6L6s with will be a fair bit louder.

At the High Wycombe get together a jigh powered Rift Americana with a WGS G12A (2x6l6s & GZ34) was quite a bit louder and more hifi than a Vyse with a Celestion blue (6v6s & 5ar4).
The vyse is a bit softer than others but even with a blue it got drowned out by drums when jamming with a friend.

The Rift is definitely loud enough for gigs. 

Thanks WP, I’ll take a look at them.

springhead

I built myself a 6V6 5E3 with Celestion blue.  I included power scaling and when I gig it I have to turn the power down or it's too loud on stage (it's mic'd up for front of house). I sit it on a chair or amp stand.  You must be playing some loud stages or jams if it's getting drowned out. The blue is 100dB sensitivity, so that's 100dB SPL at 1m for 1W in.  Hearing protection advised chaps....    

ArchtopDave

You must be very load. I use my Rift 5E3 a lot. In rehearsals I have both volumes at just under 3, and either the same settings or maybe one volume up at 3 , or a fraction more,. Current band has 7 members.

rze99

my 5e3 (head and cab) is laid enough for my band which can get pretty load on some tracks.

Tweaking it to be louder could change the character in ways you don't want

You could consider a powered monitor.  Get a used mic+powerd PA speaker - Mic it up >into powered monitor adjust placement and volume to suit the venue

Petepassion

Yes, we do play a little loud...
https://youtu.be/UZBvLN5qMDM?si=4lEge1cCi5h8mSSt

rze99 said:

my 5e3 (head and cab) is laid enough for my band which can get pretty load on some tracks.

Tweaking it to be louder could change the character in ways you don't want

You could consider a powered monitor.  Get a used mic+powerd PA speaker - Mic it up >into powered monitor adjust placement and volume to suit the venue

Yeah, I did think about that.
I love the little amp for what it is and would just like to find a 'bigger brother'

ecc83

Petepassion said:

Yes, we do play a little loud...
https://youtu.be/UZBvLN5qMDM?si=4lEge1cCi5h8mSSt

rze99 said:

my 5e3 (head and cab) is laid enough for my band which can get pretty load on some tracks.

Tweaking it to be louder could change the character in ways you don't want

You could consider a powered monitor.  Get a used mic+powerd PA speaker - Mic it up >into powered monitor adjust placement and volume to suit the venue

Yeah, I did think about that.
I love the little amp for what it is and would just like to find a 'bigger brother'

I agree with the idea that anything you do to the amp, another valve, beefed up PSU, new speaker, is going to change its character. Even 'hi fi' amplification will do that to some extent but I think it is the least bad option.

There is a cheap Behringer DI box with an attenuator that can take a feed straight off the speaker terminals but a mic is probably better.

Dave.

Cirrus

Yeah, the solution seems pretty simple to me:

Get another Tweedy-luxe 5E3, and use them both in stereo.   

merlin

Victoria do a double tweed thing. I can't remember what it is called. 

I had the same issue with the same amp. That space where the gig is too small to put it through the PA but there's a loud drummer ...

I have a Rift HP Tweed that is a heavily modded 5e3 circuit, bigger transformers and 6L6 valves. Also a more powerful speaker. It puts out 30watts and it's close in sound to a tweed deluxe but not quite the same. The power section break up is somehow crisper. It's lovely though and gets loud and stays clean a LOT further up the dial.  

RickLucas

You need a bigger amp to play with that drummer.

Petepassion

Cirrus said:

Yeah, the solution seems pretty simple to me:

Get another Tweedy-luxe 5E3, and use them both in stereo.   

I have thought of that, but want to keep it simple, just one amp, pedal board and guitar.

mo6020

Surprised no-one's suggested a Lazy J yet... 

Rocker

What about using a Barefaced external cab for gigs and rehearsals?  As I understand it, the Barefaced cabs are louder due to their construction method. 

DartmoorHedgehog

I've got no amp suggestions but I love the sound of that clip you posted @Petepassion ;

Petepassion

Rocker said:

What about using a Barefaced external cab for gigs and rehearsals?  As I understand it, the Barefaced cabs are louder due to their construction method. 

I have tried it through my early '80's JCM 2x12 and yeah, sounded great and louder but want to stick to just one item to lug around.

DartmoorHedgehog said:

I've got no amp suggestions but I love the sound of that clip you posted @Petepassion ;

Thanks, that's my glorious '66 AC50

Petepassion

mo6020 said:

Surprised no-one's suggested a Lazy J yet... 

I was wondering about the J20...