"Low watt" amp advice from the other G

Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.
AcornHouse

AcornHouse

Venerated Member
Joined
May 22, 2011
Location
Bidwell, OH
Messages
11,939
Guild Total
21
Scrolling down my YouTube feed this thumbnail and title caught my eye.
Ummm. 25w is a small tube amp for home use?
Sure if you have a soundproof studio with no neighbors. Yes it's less than a 50w or 100w stadium rig, but my 70 year old 12w Deluxe will rattle the windows if I try to dime it. (Which is technically not it's loudest since it goes to 12. Suck it, Nigel!)

Or could it be that Gibson owns Mesa Boogie and 25w is the smallest they make. :unsure:

Screenshot_20240802-080226~2.webp
 
Wow, that does seem pitifully out of touch. They're not going to change the direction of things with a video.
 
I have an 8-watt Crate bass amp.
I am the only electric player in an informal acoustic group; there may be 2 banjos, a mandolin, 4 guitars & everybody singing, but the loudest that I've ever played the amp is 3.
 
I have a 12-watt silverface Princeton Reverb that I have never taken past 5 at home. If I want some dirt, I use its little 5-watt brother. There is no way on earth I could use a 25-watt amp!

image.webp
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sal
I have a nice Frytte Power Station attenuator/reamper. I can play my JCM800 clone at bedroom levels and my 5W Champ clone reamped to 100watts through a 4x12.

With my AxeFX I can do the same much easier (once dialed in) and with less weight. With my 1000W class D FRFR speaker it freaking rocks. It can also sound amazing at low volume. I have probably 10+ tube amps. You know what I grab by default? The AxeFX.

I love my tube amps, but technology has progressed. It will probably take the world running out of tubes for many guitarists to wake up to that fact.
 
like Neal, i have a Princeton Reverb (reissue here) that's rated at 15 watts but is staggeringly loud, especially since i put a 10" ceramic Jensen in to replace the rather dire stock speaker. on 3 it's loud enough that i feel uncomfortable playing in my apartment, though it has concrete walls and the neighbors haven't complained. i often use the second input which is attenuated a bit from the first one. i have a couple of other low-ish amps, a Vox AC15CC1 (15W) and a head that's a converted Hammond AO-35 reverb unit from an A100 organ (18W), and the Princeton is easily twice as loud as the Hammond and possibly 3 times as loud as the Vox at similar volume settings. i could totally play in a band with it and a 2x12" cabinet to move more air.
 
dubkitty said:
like Neal, i have a Princeton Reverb (reissue here) that's rated at 15 watts but is staggeringly loud, especially since i put a 10" ceramic Jensen in to replace the rather dire stock speaker. on 3 it's loud enough that i feel uncomfortable playing in my apartment, though it has concrete walls and the neighbors haven't complained. i often use the second input which is attenuated a bit from the first one. i have a couple of other low-ish amps, a Vox AC15CC1 (15W) and a head that's a converted Hammond AO-35 reverb unit from an A100 organ (18W), and the Princeton is easily twice as loud as the Hammond and possibly 3 times as loud as the Vox at similar volume settings. i could totally play in a band with it and a 2x12" cabinet to move more air.
Click to expand...
A Princeton Reverb is pretty much in the sweet spot for modern stages. Loud enough unmiked for <50 capacity bars; right volume for a personal monitor on a miked up stage. The only thing that might be better would be a Deluxe Reverb with a 10" speaker.
 
I don't play plugged in at home thàt much. I'd like a little single ended 5-Watter with a light 10" speaker for home eventually. I have a tweed Deluxe clone I play at home a little.

For stage, I have a Headstrong clone of a 3X10" tweed bandmaster that's been hotrodded with an old Super Reverb output transformer that puts out about 35 Watts, and I have a custom built head that's kind of like a single channel brown Tremolux/Vibrolux, also about 35 Watts, and I run that with a 3X10 cab as well. I've been using the Tremolux clone more lately because it has onboard tremolo.

The 35-Watt twin 6L6 rigs are good for most stages I play - not quiet, but not crazy loud either - I need a punchy amp to be next to our drummer, who's kind of loud, and I need the headroom with the big guitars with Franz pickups for the "twang with grit" or "blues with twang" tone I tend to go for. I don't like master volume amps, so it's kind of a balancing act between headroom and breakup - with something like a Deluxe, the bottom end farts out too much at my usual stage volume.

For bigger outdoor festival stages I have a Fender Vibro King, and I also have a Super Reverb - but those don't leave the house as much - they're what I consider "loud". All relative though - on some of those outdoor stages my usual club rigs are a little too "is this thing on?", and I hate the way guitar sounds through monitors, and I do like to feel the amp move a little air - it's part of the fun.
 
when i get it fixed i’ll have a delightful little home amp working, an Epiphone Electar Tube 10 of the sort than MusicYo was selling for $100 online years ago. i got mine used for $200 in the early 00s. one 12AX7, one 6L6/6V6 (i think it’s specced for a 6L6, but i prefer the slightly quieter tube). the boffins at Torres Engineering put in an upgraded output transformer and made it self-biasing. another surprisingly loud small amp, which again i put a 8” ceramic Jensen in. Jensens seem to work really well for me in small amps. when i send it in to be fixed i’ll have the input transformer upgraded as well.
 
I have a Rivera-era Super Champ with a 10" speaker pushing a healthy 18 watts. It has a master volume, though, that gets me in bedroom territory. It doesn't really pump the tubes to optimum, but it helps me get by when I need scratch the itch at lower volumes.

20181007_170304.webp

I'd really like to get one of the small Vox AC4s.
 
I have 3 different 5 watt’ers. A 56’ Champ, a pre war National/Dobro, and a Marshall Class 5. All three are plenty loud for my basement, even more so when I run 2 at a time in stereo. I even have a Lisle 5 watt attenuator for when I want pure driven amp bliss instead of OD pedals. I could easily practice w/ live drums/bass w/ my rig in that space. On a stage, I’d definitely want 35 watts min.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jp
You must log in or register to reply here.
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.
Back
Top