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Having just moved to the USA, my Bogner is out of commission until I get a NZ power plug so I can use my Step Up transformer and my Lunchbox ZT, which works here with power switch, just isn't loud enough for gigging.

I'm looking to spend $500US second hand and have stumbled across a Ibanez TSA15H head and Avatar 212 cab with Celestion Anniversary G12H pair wired in mono 4ohms (parallel?).

The Ibanez head keeps clean up to 10 without the Tubescreamer used and I have some JJ tubes to replace all the stock which is good as I want to use pedals rather than the built in tubescreamer. I'll be using the Dr Sci RRR for the 20db clean boost in the FX loop.

Question though, will it be loud enough to cut through a practise/small gig band?

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/amplifie ... r-amp-head

http://www.avatarspeakers.com/vintage%20g212.htm

Have hunted on Craigslist and ebay for cheap Fenders (I'm after a good clean) that don't require some taming but have had no luck in that price range.

15w might be able to keep up with a drummer. May. Depending on how hard they hit!

I love my Avatar cabs so I can't say that that part of the deal is bad. I don't know enough about the Tubescreamer Head to give a good opinion either way.

If time isn't a huge concern I feel like you can probably get a better deal on something else with a little patience.

I use a 15w combo in a four piece and it keeps up fine.

Yeah I thought the 15w would be just on the edge, my Bogner Duende does well at 15w with A/B but she's built just a smidgen better than an Ibanez

Band I'm trying for is going to be 2 guitars, 1 bass, synth and drums heavy tom styles, punk/rock/grunge/noise so it might be pushing it a bit.

odontophobia, oh? Possibly, I'm recovering from surgery at the moment, so can't really audition, lol. Time is on my side.

symbolique wrote:Yeah I thought the 15w would be just on the edge, my Bogner Duende does well at 15w with A/B but she's built just a smidgen better than an Ibanez

Band I'm trying for is going to be 2 guitars, 1 bass, synth and drums heavy tom styles, punk/rock/grunge/noise so it might be pushing it a bit.

odontophobia, oh? Possibly, I'm recovering from surgery at the moment, so can't really audition, lol. Time is on my side.

For what it's worth there are good deals abound if you can ride it out.

I scored my RedBear MK60 for $350 after shipping and I got my Peavey VTM60 for $225 (albeit modded, unbeknownst to me until I had committed to buying it but that's not a deal breaker).

So yeah, there are good deals out there. Metro DC area and its surrounding outliers seem like there should be some good scores.

Is you ZT the Junior model? My "200 watt" one (more like 100) is pretty dang loud.

odontophobia, damn that's some nice bread for a lot of headroom, no way you'd get that back in New Zealand where I hail, think I will linger and watch then. Thanks for the advice there.

Gone Fission, I have the ZT lunchbox original, just a bit bigger, packs out 200w (though yeah, I think the larger one is less, more 150 as well) with cab but it is an 8ohm minimum output and the Avatar 212 vintage is wired to 4ohm, I'm no expert at rewiring, but it is going for about $300 which I thought was a pretty tasty price down from $500. I guess I could use the ZT in a pinch until a good tube head within the price range comes along.

The TSA is loud enough for a drummer with a decent cab (i used it with a 1x12 with a Celestion Gold). And it sounds to my ears very good - but it is a very uncoloring, honest amp. That may not be sth. for every one...

In my experience, it is one of the quitest 15W amps i've EVER played

Odontophobia, have decided to take your advice and with other kind replies that the 15 is borderline and given what I'll be playing I'd need something a little extra.

So in lieu of waiting for a good tube head deal in the DC area I was considering using the Lunchbox ZT as a head, but 2 problems;

It has an 8ohm out and the Avatar vintage 212 cab I'm looking at has 4ohm (parallel), so it'd need rewiring to 16ohm.

Anyone in the area that someone would recommend for that job? I'm just not a dab hand with a soldering iron these days.

Running a 8 into a 16 would mean a loss of bottom end though, right?

Lastly, The Lunchbox site recommends; "Be sure your external cabinet can handle at least 100W."

The Avatar 212 Vintage is 60W, so that'd probably not be the best eh? Just seems strange for such a tiny thing.

Didn't realise the little amp had so much to give out.