Help selecting an amp

crash

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Hopefully one of these days my neck will show up so I can finish my Koa strat.  Everything is all wired up, just waiting for the neck.

After that, I'd like to get a tube amp.  I'm thinking something in the 5W range.  Just for use in my house.  Of course I'd like to obtain that Gilmour tone as much as possible without breaking the bank.  I'd like an amp with a nice clean tone.  I have a BYOC Large Beaver on the way so I will be using it to drive the amp when needed.

Here is a list of what I cam up with so far.  I put them in a tentative order of what I like so far. 

Laney Cub 10
Black Heart Little Giant
DIY Ardmore/Gilmore Jr from Guytronix
DIY AX84 P1-Extreme
DIY Ceriatone (any suggestions on which model)
SIlverface Champ
Bugera V22 (loved that clip someone here posted with that OCD)
Reeves Custom 6/12

Any suggestions/comments are welcome.
 
If you're looking at a DIY project, look at this:

http://ampgarage.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9816&highlight=subminiature
 
I'm not a big fan of SE amps. I get the lower power, but it gives up a big part of what I was looking for in the first place. The DIY projects come with a long list of warnings, caveats, and scare stuff, and that's before safety - I just meant "can you finish a stinking project"? But that said...

it's funner than all getout and way cool to build stuff yourself (or you wouldn't be here right?) There's a great community for it too. But consider it very very carefully. That said - you might also want to take a look at the Firefly if you're considering building something with what you seem to be looking for.  My 'other project' is a JCM800 preamp w/ a few mods and a self-split EL-84 pair like the Firefly does (with a 12AU7) - I'm expecting about 8 watts from it  (self split isn't the ticket for maximum power output, but who cares).

But I would strongly consider buying something first.
 
5 watts? If you're going for a good clean sound and planning on using a drive pedal, I'd suggest you definitely go above 5. At 5w you don't have much clean tone at all and you're not all that interested in pushing your power tubes all that much anyway for the most part (unless you really like being right on the edge). Note that Gilmour played the amps he did because they had a lot of headroom, which he liked. I love small amps and they usually sound great and are easy to mod to sound a lot better but especially for versatility's sake if you wanna play clean, I'd go for a more powerful amp.
 
Thanks for the insight guys.  The biggest question I couldn't answer is how big of an amp to get.  You need a lot of headroom to get that sparkling clean tone.  But you need to push the tubes hard to get a nice distortion even with a muff.

What do you think of the Triwatt then?  Basically an 18W Hiwatt clone.  Will I be able to push it enough a low volumes and still get a nice distortion?

 
get a chihuahua, they are all tube, 10 watt, and have spring reverb, sound killer
chihuahua_talk.jpg

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2g2iw1yvUMc[/youtube]

then ofcourse there is the big brother to the little dog
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcB0QlzHwTo&feature=related[/youtube]
 
I'm planning on building a Ted Weber tube amp kit after I graduate (5F2A (princeton))
https://taweber.powweb.com/store/kits.htm
 
I'd forget about those 5W and suggest VOX or a Peavey Classic 30.
It sounds good on low volume, and you could use it for gigs!
It also handles pedals very well.
 
Since you want the "Gilmour sound" you might like to read this article http://www.gilmourish.com/?p=1344
It`s a review of small tube amps under $700 tested with the Gilmourish sound in mind.
I ended up with the Laney CUB 12R and I could not be more satisfied. The 1w power scaling input is perfect for plying at home at low volume levels.
 
crash said:
Hopefully one of these days my neck will show up so I can finish my Koa strat.  Everything is all wired up, just waiting for the neck.

After that, I'd like to get a tube amp.  I'm thinking something in the 5W range.  Just for use in my house.  Of course I'd like to obtain that Gilmour tone as much as possible without breaking the bank.  I'd like an amp with a nice clean tone.  I have a BYOC Large Beaver on the way so I will be using it to drive the amp when needed.

Here is a list of what I cam up with so far.  I put them in a tentative order of what I like so far. 

Laney Cub 10
Black Heart Little Giant
DIY Ardmore/Gilmore Jr from Guytronix
DIY AX84 P1-Extreme
DIY Ceriatone (any suggestions on which model)
SIlverface Champ
Bugera V22 (loved that clip someone here posted with that OCD)
Reeves Custom 6/12

Any suggestions/comments are welcome.

Hi! I picked one of these up a few months ago and I LOVE it.

http://guitars.musiciansfriend.com/product/Blackstar-HT5-Series-5W-1x10-Tube-Guitar-Combo-Amp?sku=483559

Top shelf quality and specs. The ISF feature is perfect for dialing in the sound your looking for (British to American
iconic tones), and everything else in between.

When I wanted to jump into the world of tube amps, I did a lot of research myself and my shopping list looked
very similar to yours. My top three came down to the Bugera V22, the VHT Special 6, and the Marshall Class 5.

Needless to say, I went with the HT-5 and couldn't be happier!  :headbang1:

HTH,

ORC
 
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