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I know this might be a tall order, but I'm looking for a small tube amp for bedroom practice that does good cleans. I like the idea of getting an amp that sounds great clean and then letting my pedals do all the heavy lifting with fuzz and overdrive etc.

Right now I'm looking at the blackstar ht-5, the cleans are pretty average on this but it has 2 channels and a headphone jack which should be good for practicing, along with the fender blues jr, haven't tried one of these and i'm a bit skeptical about them, the knobs being back to front just rubs me the wrong way aswell haha

Any suggestions or ideas on what I need to go out and try?

Well, with small tube amps, it really depends on what sort of sound you're going for, as well as your price range.
Blackheart Amps are very nice, and not too expensive..ranging in size from a tiny 5-watts up to their top of the line which is, i think, 50 or 100 watts.
If you're price range is a bit higher (1500+) you cant really go wrong with a Tone King Imperial.
I love mine. It never really distorts unless you crank it, but for bedroom practice volumes, it gets really great Fender-like cleans, and seems to take well to pedals, from my limited experience on the subject.
Also, it has real tube-driven spring reverb and tube tremolo If that's your thing.

I tried an Egnater Tweaker, and though it can get LOUD it does a good low volume clean. Similar price point to the Blackstar as well.

Supposedly the new VHT Special 6 has good cleans. Great price too!

Yeah I'm kind of going for the Vox clean sound, which makes me think maybe i should just get an ac15 as they are pretty cheap used here in the UK. Not sure if it would be a bit big and loud for my small room though, would be good for band practice though.

The Blackheart little giant looks quite cool and I'll have to check it out, haven't heard of blackheart before. The Tone King is a bit above my budget haha, especially in the UK where boutique amps are very expensive, it's pretty much a case of changing the dollar sign to a pound sign.

Egnater Tweaker looks cool too, technically they should be the same price as the blackstar but for some reason they are really expensive in the UK. I've never seen one in a shop either.

Thanks for the suggestions!

Why not an AC4 then?

I snagged a Laney VC30 2x10 for $240, and it's been pretty sweet...and I think it's supposed to be a vox clone of sorts.

I totally forgot you were in the UK, and that these kind of things are more expensive there ugh..my bad.

I love my Vox AC4TV Combo. If you use it on the 1/4 watt setting don't even think about getting very good clean tones but on the 1 Watt and 4 Watt settings you can get some nice clean tones. The 4 Watt setting is plenty loud for bedroom practice and even playing along with a drummer. I also own a Epiphone Valve Junior Half Stack which does better cleans than the Vox at lower volumes but it doesn't sound like a Vox (which is why I bought it). If something ever happened to my Vox I would definitely buy another one.

I second the vox ac4. No problem keeping it clean on the 4 watt setting if you're just jamming out in your bedroom.

The blackheart amps are very nice, although i find the cleans to be a little weak on the 5 watter, i like them when they have a tiny amount of grit but grit that's only noticeable with higher output pu's. The 15 watter sounds pretty awesome if you ask me on the clean side

I love the sound of the 15 Watt Blackheart but it's not going to have much clean headroom, and no FX Loop either. So it's a bit on the useless side for me.

Sockgazer wrote:I love the sound of the 15 Watt Blackheart but it's not going to have much clean headroom, and no FX Loop either. So it's a bit on the useless side for me.

That's my main amp, it stays surprisingly clean with the right pre-amp tubes. I've got a 5751 in V1 and it helps smooth things out. It's definitely loud/clean enough for decent sized gigs as long as you're mic'd. Unmic'd is perhaps a different story

It also sounds great with pedals in front of it if you don't absolutely need an FX loop

http://www.guitarnuts.com/amps/bh5h/index.php

i had my tech done most of the mods on this page and this amp sounds great now.

i can totally gig with this amp with an extra speaker. the mods (especially moving the wires) are must though.

thanks for the help guys, i'm probably going to go for a vox ac4 or a silverface fender champ, as these are both on ebay for decent prices

blicero wrote:thanks for the help guys, i'm probably going to go for a vox ac4 or a silverface fender champ, as these are both on ebay for decent prices

I have both of these amps, and they are both wonderful