small valve amp, clean tones

stiofan_flanner

I am looking at picking up a small amp 5W-15W. for jamming and light gigging.

I have a Line6 X3 floorboard which is great for modelling etc. It sounds great throught the CLEAN channel of a marshall master volume 50W. they really compliment each other because the marshall doesnt distort too much even towards higher volumes. I can get a really lovely tone out of them. which is mainly power amp driven. Trouble is, im looking for a more portable and quieter amp for smaller gigs. I havent managed to find one that has a nice clean tone when cranked.

Any ideas?

I was thinkin of building something like a Fender Champ 5W and toying around til i get the sweet sound im looking for.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Eoin Madsen

What kind of 50 watt marshall? A Champ probably wouldn't be that much quieter than a 50 watt solidstate amp. I'd say go for it in any case. Be prepared to have to do quite a lot of toying to find your tone though.

spoonbadger

It's most likely not a solid state, if it has a master volume (i'd imagine). And a champ would still be quieter than a 50 watt marshall, a champ would probably weigh in at about 20 watts in terms of solid state.

A champ 5 w wouldn't be enough for gigs, unless it's very small solo gigs. You should look into something a bit bigger, something like a marshall 18 watter.

www.ceriatone.com have 18 watter marshall clones. If you got a 1x12 18watt combo it'd be brilliant for small gigs and fairly portable.

But this all depends on whether or not you have a valve or a solid 50watter, like Eoin said. An 18watt valve amp would definitely blow a solid state 50w away.

stiofan_flanner

sorry about the confusion there, its a JCM 800 master volume, i think its a 2204. it would be for home jamming and some mall gigs, solo stuff as you said. i'll check out that website anyway, looks pretty good. thanks

Paolo_M

+1 on the Marshall 18 Watters or their clones, some of the clones, Ceriatone included, are even better quality than the Marshall reissues. 1974(x for the reissue) is the Marshall reference for the amp. Really sweet overdriven tones on tap.

Eoin Madsen

spoonbadger wrote: »

It's most likely not a solid state, if it has a master volume (i'd imagine). And a champ would still be quieter than a 50 watt marshall, a champ would probably weigh in at about 20 watts in terms of solid state.

I have never seen a solid state amp that didn't have a master volume. My champ would blow most 20 watt solidstate amps out of the water tbh, and I'm pretty sure it's bleeding gain through a dodgy connection I made somewhere while I was building it. :pac:

spoonbadger wrote: »

A champ 5 w wouldn't be enough for gigs, unless it's very small solo gigs. You should look into something a bit bigger, something like a marshall 18 watter.

I would disagree. You're more likely to need an 18 watter at a small gig when there's no PA headroom for your amp. At a big gig, a 5 watt valve amp is no problem. It's even loud enough to monitor unless you put it too far away and stand by the drum kit.

stiofan_flanner wrote: »

sorry about the confusion there, its a JCM 800 master volume, i think its a 2204. it would be for home jamming and some mall gigs, solo stuff as you said. i'll check out that website anyway, looks pretty good. thanks

That sounds about right. But I don't think a Champ is going to suit you, purely because the tone is very far from a good Marshall. An 18 watt probably would be worth looking at. There are a few versions of the 18 watt though, and some of them are fairly meh, so look at the different circuits before buying something. If you're interested in DIY, also look at other websites, e.g. tedweber.com, metroamp.com. Metro don't do an 18 watt, but they have the best Marshall DIY forum on the internet, hands down.

spoonbadger

Eoin Madsen wrote: »

I have never seen a solid state amp that didn't have a master volume. My champ would blow most 20 watt solidstate amps out of the water tbh, and I'm pretty sure it's bleeding gain through a dodgy connection I made somewhere while I was building it. :pac:



I would disagree. You're more likely to need an 18 watter at a small gig when there's no PA headroom for your amp. At a big gig, a 5 watt valve amp is no problem. It's even loud enough to monitor unless you put it too far away and stand by the drum kit.



That sounds about right. But I don't think a Champ is going to suit you, purely because the tone is very far from a good Marshall. An 18 watt probably would be worth looking at. There are a few versions of the 18 watt though, and some of them are fairly meh, so look at the different circuits before buying something. If you're interested in DIY, also look at other websites, e.g. tedweber.com, metroamp.com. Metro don't do an 18 watt, but they have the best Marshall DIY forum on the internet, hands down.

Master volumes are used for large valve amps, where there needs to be a difference between the preamp and poweramp volumes, so that at least *some* gain is possible (without damaging your foundations). Solid state amps have something similiar, except that it can either crank the preamp, or bring in an overdrive circuit. But they're not called master volumes,they're usually labelled as "gain","distortion","talent","Br00tUlz" or "anti-tone" .

And yeah,obviously if you have a PA then you could run whatever teh fook amp you want through it!!. But if your looking for something that can handle PA gigs,and smaller gigs (without PAs) then a champ wont be so helpful.

Good point on the metro stuff. Metro are brilliant,but they're usually a lot more expensive. Since there's eff-all difference in terms of quality, i usually recomend ceriatone.

Good luck on yer tone hunt stiffy!. Ceriatone = highly recomended .

corkstudent

For cleans you don't really NEED a tube amp, though it will help "round off" harsher distortions.