best 1-watt / very-low-watt amp

[tuj]

Hey all:

My days of jamming on my 4x12 cab with a 100watt amp are over due to my current living situation (apt.) so I need something that can really rock but at low volumes. I want something that does Fender-ish cleans to rockin' tube distortion. My current apartment amp is a Fender '72 silverface Champ. I am a pedal freak of course, so whatever I get has to take pedals well.

Here are my two thoughts so far:
-Emery Microbaby. The youtube demo I found of this sounded ace. Also, I like the idea of being able to experiment with different tube types. If I get this, I will get the head with a 10" speaker cab.

-Siegmund Muddy Buddy. I like that it has a line-out that has some 'magic' that helps emulate a cab. I've heard a lot of good things about these amps, but having a hard time locating demos.

Others?

[futuresailors]

Ask tom to make you a clean pipe amp.

[Chankgeez]

[blakestree]

I don't wanna be the first to say it...

[tuj]

one of these? seriously?

http://www.fuzzhugger.com/pipe-amp.html

I love Tom's pedals, but I have to admit skepticism from a 3" speaker....

[univalve]

Pipe amp rules. The fuzz is great and the amp is Fun to play. I wouldn't recommend it as a clean platform. I sometime play that amp Late Night without missing anything.

Fender Greta: with the built-in speaker you get a stoner like Fuzz overdriven Sound at very low volumes. I really love it!
If you want to use Greta as a clean Platform for pedals, which works great too, hook her up to a 1x12 Extension cab.

[friendship]

What's not working for you with the Champ?

[tuj]

I love the Champ, but it doesn't do the tube overdrive/distortion thing. The Champ is perfect on the cleans and it takes pedals really well. I really like it, but I've got a little bit of $ coming my way and I thought I would expand my tonal palette.

[goroth]

The pipe amp's speaker doesn't attenuate the frequencies the same way as a normal guitar speaker, so it's sounds like recording direct to your soundcard if you try and run pedals into it. I have one, and love it, but it is almost an effect in itself.

I have one of these

http://www.marshallamps.com/products/am ... /jtm-1c-2/
and can't recommend it enough. Goes as low as 1/10th of a watt, sounds great with fuzz, looks nice, and gets plenty loud when you run it on one watt mode flat out. External speaker out in case you want to run it through something bigger and you can even use it as a preamp.

[friendship]

The pipe amp's speaker doesn't attenuate the frequencies the same way as a normal guitar speaker, so it's sounds like recording direct to your soundcard if you try and run pedals into it. I have one, and love it, but it is almost an effect in itself.

Great now I need one for reamping. Thanks a lot.

[fishtankdork]

the fender champ with tubes is amazing!! but some people dont like the breakup of the little speaker. another thing im gonna suggest. the zvex nano head i own dose some pretty damn nice cleans and takes pedals great. and you can dime it and it gets pretty damn brutal. i was impressed. you can def coax fenderish cleans with the three switches and also you can dime it and get some brutal gain. i think its a very underrated head, the thing is amazing in the studio. its the closest thing at 1watt that ive played to my 100watt marshall dsl tone

[tuj]

the fender champ with tubes is amazing!! but some people dont like the breakup of the little speaker

I agree, the Silverface Champ tone is one of my favorites. But I'm only able to turn the darn thing up to 2 or 3 on the volume before it starts to get too loud. That's way short of speaker break-up, so I'm not getting any of that; that's a non-issue.

[CyaNitrate]

I had a 77 Champ that I let go to get my wife a present not this past Christmas but the one before....I have had many amps, and I miss that one the most by far. So if ever you tire if it, I'd love to give it a new home

[tuj]

Nah man, I'm not selling the Champ. I picked it up in Cincinnati at a great place called Mike's Music (which is where, coincidentally, I bought my first proper guitar amp, a silverface Bassman 100) for a really good price, shipped it down to Houston while I was living there, and then dragged the Champ down to Puerto Rico (where I am now). Surprisingly the Champ made it intact; only the pilot light bulb needed replacement.

If you ever want a Champ, give Mike's Music a call. Last time I was there, they had about 10 or 12 decent-looking silverface and other Champs. Secret: cash makes a big difference to them for some reason...

Recording the Champ:

[Gone Fission]

Keep the Champ for cleans. Add an amp-in-a-pedal with good master-volume level control or a small but cool solid state amp for dirt tones. I'd probably look at Marshall-in-a-box pedals like the DLS for the former, and I'm holding tight to my Marshall Lead 12 for the later. Or maybe add a master volume control to the Champ if pushing the front end with gain peds is essential to your sound.

You could also try a smaller modeling amp, like the Yamaha ones (THR?) that people seem to like.