best small valve amp for home/practise use?

thomasross20

What about the Laney Lionheart 5W? Looks great!

thomasross20

There's a 0.5W mode on the Lionheart and it has DI with speaker emulation so you don't need a cab for gigs. 

ICBM

Dave_Mc said:

Not helped by there being so many "mythbusting guides" which purport to destroy these myths but which actually often reinforce them. For example, pro guitar shop the other day came out with (yet another) poor (IMO) guide about tubes, and basically was helping to perpetuate more of the myths than it was busting, IMO. Like you said, it very strongly suggested, if not outright said, that the power valves were what influenced the tone most in a valve amp. Oh and the same guide also said an AC30 and EL84 amps in general were class A.

http://proguitarshop.com/andyscorner/its-tube-time

Awful. It doesn't even mention preamp designs, FFS.

What a load of total crap.

In addition to the AOR30 and Studio 15 using 6V6s, how about -

Fender Blues Junior, Mesa Mini Rectifier, Peavey Classic 50 - EL84. (And all fixed-bias, even if they think cathode-bias and Class A are the same thing, which they aren't...)

MusicMan RD, Vox AC50, Orange Rockerverb Mk2 - EL34.

Soldano SLO, Engl Screamer, Marshall JTM30 - 6L6.

None of those sound anything like the 'valve types' are described.

Not to mention that the Orange Rockerverb Mk1, which sounds very much like the Mk2, uses... 6V6s.

thomasross20

You can barely tell the difference in the above - get one of the ID heads!

thomasross20

Bloody hell, I never saw the first image there... look at the size of the Blackstar head FFS lol...

Samgb

hootsmon said:

any love for the CUB 10?

Right here. Cheap as chips and excellent for your money. 

Samgb

ICBM said:

kreggs said:

Cub 10 has the 6v6 output valves for that blackface  type vibe. I hear it sounds really nice.

It does not sound anything like a Blackface amp. Power valve type has almost no bearing on the type of sound - the Laney AOR 30 also used 6V6s, as did the Marshall Studio 15.

The Cub 10 is a good little amp… that sounds like a Laney.

Best small valve amp for home practice use - ZVex Nano. I should probably never have sold mine.

+1 for Cub10. It doesn't sound particularly Fendery but it is a well rounded little amp. I've been using it just titting around with a 3 piece and I have no problem making myself heard over a decently loud drummer and a too loud bassist. It makes me want a much posher Laney but I don't think they have a distributor in Canada right now. 

Dan

Wazmeister said:

Carr Sportsman

+1 just brilliant. 

kreggs

thomasross20 said:

What about the Laney Lionheart 5W? Looks great!

I really like mine. It sounded alot better once i swapped  out a couple  of the ruby tubes for something nicer. I play mine at home on the 5w setting and it sounds great at low levels. Starts to sound sweet just after you pass 3 on the dial.

guitargeek62

Cornell Romany or Plexi, the 1/10w option is fantastic for home use, and they sound superb anyway!

rlw

Why bother with valves?   I'm selling my Princeton as it never could get beyond 4 without being too loud, when no-one was in at that, and just sticking to the THR10C for the time being, although the Vox AV30 does appeal.

I've found the little Yamaha to be a perfectly good home amp, easily able to go too loud, and it does a very passable impression of a valve amp at some settings, albeit one you might not recognise.

Save your cash.

thomasross20

Can the THR plug into a PA @rlw, for gig-use? 

thomasross20

The Blackstar Fly looks good, too... 

thomasross20

Who's tried a Fly? Looks like a good backup amp - you can plug into the PA. Portable. Can use them as portable speakers for any device. Anybody tried one?

rlw

thomasross20 said:

Can the THR plug into a PA @rlw, for gig-use? 

Stereo mics?

thomasross20

Would rather not use mics TBH

RaymondLin

thomasross20 said:

Can the THR plug into a PA @rlw, for gig-use? 

What happened to the V40? Did you cancel it?

thomasross20

I did. I'm getting the MJW so don't really need another amp like that. 
Just need a small and light backup. I was thinking ID60 head, Blackstar Fly, HT head, something like that. 

timmysoft

For small and valve it's hard to beat the  orange Dark Terror, it's not just a high gain terror, it's a versatile and great sounding package 

Dave_Mc

ICBM said:

Dave_Mc said:

Not helped by there being so many "mythbusting guides" which purport to destroy these myths but which actually often reinforce them. For example, pro guitar shop the other day came out with (yet another) poor (IMO) guide about tubes, and basically was helping to perpetuate more of the myths than it was busting, IMO. Like you said, it very strongly suggested, if not outright said, that the power valves were what influenced the tone most in a valve amp. Oh and the same guide also said an AC30 and EL84 amps in general were class A.

http://proguitarshop.com/andyscorner/its-tube-time

Awful. It doesn't even mention preamp designs, FFS.

What a load of total crap.

In addition to the AOR30 and Studio 15 using 6V6s, how about -

Fender Blues Junior, Mesa Mini Rectifier, Peavey Classic 50 - EL84. (And all fixed-bias, even if they think cathode-bias and Class A are the same thing, which they aren't...)

MusicMan RD, Vox AC50, Orange Rockerverb Mk2 - EL34.

Soldano SLO, Engl Screamer, Marshall JTM30 - 6L6.

None of those sound anything like the 'valve types' are described.

Not to mention that the Orange Rockerverb Mk1, which sounds very much like the Mk2, uses... 6V6s.

Yeah, exactly. I mean it's just awful- I'm not sure if you could write a worse article deliberately! IIRC they had a similarly terrible one a while back about pedal bypass. You can imagine the kind of garbage which was in it. I mean, it's one thing posting myths if you're unaware. It's another claiming to bust myths while doing the exact opposite.