Frans-B--Cocq
Heya all out there. I'm having a problem again.
Right now I'm having an inexplicable obsession with tube amps. Maybe because they're harder to play...? Anyway, are there any *small* amps you recommend? I'd get it for home practice and really don't need to make the neighbors angry.
What I'm having in mind:
Epiphone Valve Junior EPA-JR - EUR 148:
5watts (Class A), 1 x 8" speaker, 1 channel, 1 x 12AX7 and 1 x EL84 Sovtek tubes. Speaker Output 5,8 & 16 Ohm, Dimensions 37.5 x 36.5 x 22cm (HxWxD). Weight: 10.9kg
Fender Champion 600 - EUR 144:
1x 12AX7 and 1x 6V6 valves, 5W, 1x 6" speaker, Hi/Lo Instrument Input, Volume Control, Speaker Out for internatl or external Speaker (4 Ohm), brown and blonde two-tone vinyl finish. Dimensions: 28 x 31 x 19cm. Weight: 7kg
Gretsch G5222 Electromatic Compact - EUR 188:
5watt tube combo with 1x 6" speaker and 1x volume control.
What do you think is the best? The Gretsch is a bit more expensive, but overall I think they're pretty equal.
matta
Frans,
Man, those amps are great... but if the mods available for them are any indication you may well be better off ponying up some money for a better little amp from the get go, unless you want to learn about valve amps and enjoying tinkering (I do, so incldue myself in that camp).
I owned a Champion 600 and it is/was a great amp... but I sunk over 100 Euro's in mods, new speaker, all new valves, rebuilding the circuit etc, and it sounded great but that 100 Euros plus the 144 for the amp brings you up to 244 Euros, for that money I'd look at a 2nd hand REAL handmade champ or look at building your own?
MOST of these amps come out of the same Chinese Factory and are OEM to many manufactures bar one or 2 component changes.
IF you want to get one based on price then I'd recommend the Harley Benton GA-5, it is basically a Valve Jnr, with a Tonestack, and costs only 89 Euros.... but is identical to the Epi...
I hope that helps.
Cheers
Matt
AlanRatcliffe
Frans-B--Cocq
Thanks for the info, guys.
Well, gritting my teeth, I forced myself to look at the more expensive category. Found these available here:
http://www.thomann.de/gb/blackheart_little_giant_bh5112.htm
http://www.thomann.de/gb/vox_ac4tv.htm (thanks, Alan)
http://www.thomann.de/gb/fender_vibro_champ_xd.htm
Any opinions on these? Of course, second-hand would be better, but it's not easy to find people willing to part with amps of this category!
Spyke
I went amp shopping over the weekend and played a few other examples that I was impressed by.
Blackstar HT5 mini stack:
Lovely tone, bit expensive not as loud as I was expecting. Nice at low volumes.
Laney VC15-110
Warm tone, quite loud, great pricing. Didn't like low volumes though.
and a Crate V18-112/212
Lots of amp for your money, very loud, robust but seemed to be very touchy to any input.
All very nice, but I found myself swaying towards the Blackstar. Actually, I'm now considering the Vox XT15 modeling amp with valve preamp.
The AC4TV I tried was brand new, but already broken... ☹
cain
I'd go for that fender, its yummy!
Frans-B--Cocq
You mean the Vibro?
cain
Fenders are almost always a good choice, both for price and sound in my opinion, but thats just me. Vox amps ( cept the solid state and chinese crap ) are also nice.
Sean
Francis Viviers wrote
Vox amps ( cept the solid state and chinese crap ) are also nice.
??? Strange, the "Chinese crap" I have has great tone.
AlanRatcliffe
Even the hand wired Vox stuff is Chinese these days. Still good stuff. The Vox AC4TV doesn't have much clean headroom, great little low volume rock/blues amp though.
The new Fender Champ and Vibrochamp are nifty little amps - analog modelling front end into a valve power amp. Quite a flexible range of tones, mostly quite good sounding too. But a Deluxe or a Princeton will still blow it away for pure Fender valve tone (at a price though).
[deleted]
The AC4TV is a great little amp. That IMO is the practise amp of practise amps.
cain
Ive played on some of the chinese vox's and they all sounded bad, maybe they where dodgy, as i said in my post, just my opinion.
Alan, yeah the fender princeton is awesome, how much they these days? Like 24k ?
AlanRatcliffe
Alan, yeah the fender princeton is awesome, how much they these days? Like 24k ?
Yeah a very nice little amp, but not perfect, and not for the RRP of R19,995.
Way too steep for a 15 watter with a 10", even after a healthy discount IMO (it's not as if it's hand wired point to point or all boutique components). The Deluxe Reverb is R24,995. Granted duty on amps is fairly stiff, but you can get some boutique amps locally for those prices.
Frans-B--Cocq
Found a 2-year old Valve Jr. for 100 euros. What do you guys think? I'll try to haggle it down to 70 or something, but is 100 reasonable? Dude says that he has recently changed the tubes.
AlanRatcliffe
A new VJ is EUR135 from Thomann. It's only two valves AFAIK - about EUR15-20 from Watford Valves in the UK. So EUR100 is OK, but not amazing. Will shipping cost extra?
Frans-B--Cocq
Actually, for some reason, if you order to Finland (from Thomann), it's 148... plus 20 shipping. Shipping for the used one would be 10-20.
He hasn't answered yet, still at the checking-it-out-phase...
