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Anybody got suggestions for a medium-power combo amp for guitar, possibly 2x12?
Looking for Hiwatt-style or anything with lots of headroom and that obviously work good with pedals.
Thinking about downsizing my rig a bit, now that we stopped play live that much i want a smaller amp to carry around for random jam sessions, rehearsals or small shows.
I'm tired to bring around the heavy 4x12 cab + the Hiwatt custom 50 head and never get to play it at a decent working-volume.

What about just getting a 2x12 for the Hiwatt? I don't think theres any 2x12 combos that will be less of an issue to lug around than a head+2x12. 2x12 cabs are usually around 45 pounds, 2x12 combos are usually 65-85 pounds.

repoman wrote:What about just getting a 2x12 for the Hiwatt? I don't think theres any 2x12 combos that will be less of an issue to lug around than a head+2x12. 2x12 cabs are usually around 45 pounds, 2x12 combos are usually 65-85 pounds.

i really wanted to do this and even tried a couple of cabs, but man the hiwatt is loud and downsizing the cab won't solve the volume problem.
If you have any suggestions of cabs with low efficiency speakers i'm all ears!

I used to have a 2x12 Peavey Mace that sounded glorious. Keep your eyes on Craigslist if you want to find something cheap like that.

could you please define "medium power"? are we talking 60 watts, 30 watts, 15 watts, or wot?

I'm kind of confused, if you want a lot of headroom, wouldn't the Hiwatt serve this purpose perfectly? If the Hiwatt is a 50 watt, you won't get much less volume going with something like a 20w, only about -3-4db if both are dimed.

dubkitty wrote:could you please define "medium power"? are we talking 60 watts, 30 watts, 15 watts, or wot?

repoman wrote:I'm kind of confused, if you want a lot of headroom, wouldn't the Hiwatt serve this purpose perfectly? If the Hiwatt is a 50 watt, you won't get much less volume going with something like a 20w, only about -3-4db if both are dimed.

Well, maybe i didn't explain myself properly.
Tha problem is that the Hiwatt, even if 50w, has TONS of volume, even more when working with the preamp of both channels on ca. 3 o'clock like i do (i go in the normal and then in the bright one). I mean, i play with the master set between 1 and 2 .
I was hoping to find something with similar or lower wattage with same amount of headroom/no compression but that i could turn up to make the amp work properly and get that slightly dirty tone without going deaf.
PLus i really wanted a smaller amp for easier moving etc as explained in the first post.

I don’t know this amp, but can you pull a pair of output tubes to lower the wattage ala old school Fender Twin trick? That and maybe a low efficiency 1x12 or 2x12 cab would bring the volume down.

well, the obvious answers would be a smaller Fender amp, or a Vox AC15/AC30. i used to use a Princeton with a 2x12 cabinet, and it was loud af. or for ungodly clean, one of those downsized Rolands; there's a 1990s model @ 20W, and a current-issue one @ 40W.

Hey man, I dig my 'Peavey encore 65' for everything you ask for. There are soms other Peavey tube combos that are easy to find for just a few dollars/euros...

yes, the later Peavey combos can be quite good.

ratrod wrote:I don’t know this amp, but can you pull a pair of output tubes to lower the wattage ala old school Fender Twin trick? That and maybe a low efficiency 1x12 or 2x12 cab would bring the volume down.

You can only do that when there are 4 output tubes, if you remove one output tube on a 2 output tube amp (Hiwat 50s are 2 output tube amps) you can destroy the output transformer.

you would deffo want an extension cabinet for the 20W Roland, though...its stock speakers are only 5".

ratrod wrote:I don’t know this amp, but can you pull a pair of output tubes to lower the wattage ala old school Fender Twin trick? That and maybe a low efficiency 1x12 or 2x12 cab would bring the volume down.

Can't do the two tubes trick on the Hiwatt,it already works with just 2.

scabiosa wrote:Hey man, I dig my 'Peavey encore 65' for everything you ask for. There are soms other Peavey tube combos that are easy to find for just a few dollars/euros...

Never played a Peavey since ages but i can easily find one to try, thanks for the headsup

Anyway, so far (but i'm only at the beginning of the quest, so, who knows) the only thing that quite satisfied my needs has been this:



Already played it a couple times and realy enjoyed it, too bad for the price tag and for the 10" speakers.
it's just that my ears used to 12 and 15" since forever

Have you ever seen Reeves amps?

http://www.reevesamps.com/

They have some low watt Hiwatt style amps that have the option of power scaling installed.