Im looking at getting a small tube amp for use at home, as my AC30 is just far too loud to be jamming in my front room! This amp caught my eye, the price is right, it's 6 watts which means I can get some decent crunchy cleans at nice low volumes. But has anyone ever heard anything about these guys? Can't seem to find Jack through simple googling...
Also, any recommendations on small valve amps for a fairly clean sound at low volumes?
These kind of amps have been all the rage for the last few years... I can list off literally a dozen of them but instead, I'll just recommend a few that I've tried and enjoyed.
Orange Tiny Terror: I've only played the head/cab version but they do have a combo out as well. It's a great little amp, switchable 7/15 watts... Not the cleanest of clean channels but the crunch is amazing - typically Orange amp gain in sound. Definitely a win if you want an amp with kick ass gain but don't need something with a super Fender-style clean. I used it at a gig once with a 2x12 at 15 watts and it was plenty loud. 7 watts worked at home but I couldn't crank it up. It's nice that it has a Vol as well as a Gain, so that you can get crunchy at bedroom levels.
Vox AC4: A good little amp but I don't like the sound of it when it's not cranked. It feels like it's lost something from it's bigger brothers but I can't describe what it is. When you get the volume knob up past noon though, it really comes alive. It has two modes, Triode and Pentode - the equivalent to the 7/15 watts switch of the TT. It gets pretty loud in pentode mode. Never played the head only version, only the combo. Sucks that you have to crank it to get gain, though.
Traynor Dark Horse: My fav out of these three. It has the most options - 15/2 watts, "Brit"or "USA" voicing switch and a switch to bypass tone stack altogether! It takes pedals pretty well (though I've only tried it in a guitar store, so this might not be entirely true), and seems pretty rugged. It only comes in a head version, as far as I know. And as it has a Gain and Master knob, you can get hot and heavy at low volumes. It also has Bass & Treble knobs, so you get a little more toen sculpting options.
If you want, you should also check out the Vox Night Train, the new little Mesa guy (I have no idea what it's called) and the old Garnet amps - they're like the original Fender Champs but half the price!!
Hope this helped!
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I dunno... I got a blackheart little giant 3/5 watt amp, and it's still too loud for apartment use IMO.
I like this amp a lot especially after some simple mods, but in my experience this little amps need to be loud enough to get a good tone. If we are talking about bedroom/ talk over volume, I'd take a solidstate amp anyday.
I really enjoy my Epiphone Valve Junior half stack but it can get kind of loud. Has nice cleans though. I also have a VOX AC4TV combo but to get it clean you have to play sort of loud but it's not bad.
