I'm thinking about buying a smaller amp, or an attenuator?

[penelope tree]

The new AC4 model (equipped with a 12" speaker) seems to be pretty good. The new Ibanez Tube Screamer amp is quite intriguing, I suppose it's an attempt to emulate the appeal of the Pawn Shop amps.

[misterstomach]

i have a valve junior. i was actually inspired to get one because they're supposed to be so easy to mod. and mark uses a modded one for a lot of the black arts demos and it sounds awesome. i've found that it's a lot louder than you'd think at 5 watts. like, a lot. i wouldn't try playing with a drummer with it, but maybe some people could with some kinds of music and a bigger cab. i could see that working.

so far, i'm not crazy about the stock amp. you can get a decent clean out of it. as you turn it up you get a lot of breakup that's to squishy for me. it's just got a weird character that i'm not into. and it doesn't take dirt pedals very well. ironically, i brought home a black arts pedal from my practice space to play through it and it sounded horrible. super muffled and shitty. does better with some other things though. mark actually just sent me a truckload of info on the mods he did though, so i'm stoked to try those out soon. it's a cheap amp that should be great for home use after some mods. he recommended replacing the transformer, which isn't too terribly expensive, but if i forgo that i think it'll cost less than $50 more to get it sounding pretty good.

[ChetMagongalo]

do you want something you can turn past 9 oclock because you don't feel like you're using it fully, or?

yes exactly. I feel like if you really want to hear the amp at its best potential you have to get it cooking a little bit. So I need a small grill for the kitchen instead of a big grill in my backyard.

[rfurtkamp]

SS amps don't have to get cooking at all (Jazz Chorus in particular).

That's why I was perplexed.

[JohnnyC]

i saw this in every attenuator thread.
used sparringly it can be a useful tool in getting closer to your amps sweet spot.
but if you are geting one with the intentions of cranking your amp, then squashing it down to whisper quiet, be prepared to be very dissapointed
(your speaker interaction play a big part in the outcome...you still need to be able to get them flappin')

[backwardsvoyager]

SS amps don't have to get cooking at all (Jazz Chorus in particular).

That's why I was perplexed.

Yeah I've found they generally only start sounding different once you're starting to push the speakers and you can often get to rehearsal volume before that even happens with a jc120 or equivalent so I find their bedroom level sounds to be basically the same as higher volumes.
But if he doesn't have the JC anymore it doesn't really matter now, probably best to buy a tiny tube amp with a speaker like a greenback or something that's low wattage

[ChetMagongalo]

Bump, wanna hear some small amp recommendations!

[univalve]

Greta

[scabiosa]

You have a cabinet fo that musicman?

otherwise there is the Ibanez TSA15 head. 5 or 15 watts, not expensive, great tones (it takes da fuzz like a queen) and you can use 4, 8 AND 16 ohm cabinets!

[ChetMagongalo]

I have a guitar cab I can use, but I'm not really a fan of it. thinking about selling it, but I will probably hold off until I know what would replace it, if anything