A wee valve amp

gaffmaster

Hi there,

looking for recommendations for a new small(ish) but punchy valve amp.

I have a microcube in my flat which is good at what it does, but it isn't inspirational. So i'm looking for something a little ballsier, gruntier and warmer.

I tried out a Fender Blues Jnr, which was nice, but i can never tell how they sound in the shops.

budget up to €400.

So what can you recommend???

PS - thanks!

Paolo_M

The Harley Benton GA5 from Thomann is excellent bang for buck as far as small, punchy valve amps go. It's along the same lines at the Epiphone Valve Junior, Blackheart Little Giant and Fender Champs which are also good quality small valve amps. There are loads of demo's and reviews online, I've even got some vids of my own on the link in my sig if you wanna have a listen.
With a little tweaking these guys really come to life.
An even better idea might be the head version of any of these amps together with a decent 2 X 12 cabinet as the little 8" speakers are usually crapy enough. This would still come in under €400.

boycey

Theres plenty of small size/watt valve amps out there, but living in a flat your gonna have a hard time really getting the most out of any of them!

The Blackstar HT5 is gonna be jingling my bells this Christmas, but again even at 5 watts its gonna be LOUD!! Theres the Orange AD5, Blackheart have a 1 watt and a 5 watt amp, the Epi/Gretsch/Gibson/Thomann small valve amps are all very similar and well priced (bar the Gibson!) and theres a Fender Champ too- I think all are in or around your budget.
For me its all about the Blackstar though!!

Happy hunting:D

punchdrunk

http://www.guitarampkeyboard.com/en/76423

:pac:

-=al=-

http://www.guitarampkeyboard.com/en/76422

Antisocialiser

would there be a massive degree in difference between for instance the orange rocker 30 and the orange tiny terror apart from the volume?

they seem to have the same tubes...basically what im wondering is, for a predominantly bedroom guitarist would i be better going with the 15watt so I can really crank it rather than the 30watt played at lower volumes?

about to buy my first valve amp just curious (originally looking at the vox ac series but the reliability issues put me off completely) sorry for going slightly off topic :P

bat boy

Antisocialiser wrote: »

would there be a massive degree in difference between for instance the orange rocker 30 and the orange tiny terror apart from the volume?

they seem to have the same tubes...basically what im wondering is, for a predominantly bedroom guitarist would i be better going with the 15watt so I can really crank it rather than the 30watt played at lower volumes?

about to buy my first valve amp just curious (originally looking at the vox ac series but the reliability issues put me off completely) sorry for going slightly off topic :P

It's hard to explain the difference between valve loud and solid-state loud. I got one of the epiphone valve junior heads. Its 5 watts and its INCREDIBLY loud. When you crank it you get a great sound. Things is theres no master volume just gain so in order to get the warm tube distortion you want you have to play it at very high volume. Its actually too loud for use at home, and it's only a 5 watt amp. So don't get hung up on the wattage, as long as its a tube amp it'll be more than loud enough for ya. There are a good few 5/10 watt tube combos and alot of them dont seem to have a master volume so i'd say watch out for that, you really wont be able to use them to their full potential, unless you dont care about pissing everyone off in ear shot.

population

My tiny terror is as loud as my old solid state marshall.

I wouldnt go any further when looking for a valve bedroom amp. It is extremely versatile with the 7/15 watt switch and the sound is frankly awesome.

One word of warning though, the first 500 were made in Korea by Orange engineer folk in conjunction with their Korean staff. After that production moved exclusively to China and I am reliably informed that results have been a bit of a mixed bag since.

Check ebay and see what you can find though because price wise there are some decent deals out there. I bought my Korean made one there and am extremely happy with it.

-=al=-

well if you want to compare, tube amps are usualy a 3:1 ratio over solid state amps...

so a 15watt tube amp is like 45 solid state so a tube amp thats about 15 watts or so is perfect, its loud enough to use for practice and jamin and gigs and you'll be able to get the nice overdrive since its a lowish watt

My friend runs a tiny terror into a marshall 2x12, its damn loud

I only use 25watts on my tsl and its only ever at 4-5 jamin and 6-8 at gigs... so dont be fooled by the numbers

gaffmaster

Some good suggestions and advice there all. Thank you kindly

Does anyone know where i could try out an Orange Tiny Terror in dublin city?

Cheers

RoosterIllusion

http://www.thomann.de/ie/peavey_royal_8_valve_king.htm

I bought this about three weeks ago. It does the job. Plenty of noise from it :P

68 lost souls

population wrote: »

Check ebay and see what you can find though because price wise there are some decent deals out there. I bought my Korean made one there and am extremely happy with it.

Just be careful buying these second hand or advertised as new. 500 Orange amps got stolen so you could have someone knock on your door with the polic and take it back.

http://www.fretbase.com/blog/2008/08/62000-worth-of/

vantasic

i have the harley benton ga5h from thomann and i love it, i believe they're made by the dudes who make the epiphone valve junior, i heard of some guy who saw the epiphon logo scratched off on the inside somewhere.

anyway it sounds really good, just plain, earthy valve tone and has a tone knob to make it as bright/dark as you want. I've read about a lot of people saying the valve junior is too dark.

they're only like 90 squid too so money left over for anything!i have the head though plugged into a 4x12 cab so i dont know about the combo with the wee speaker.

good luck!