Hi Gain Little Amp's

thumb55

Senior Member
Messages
420
I'm looking for a replacement for my Line 6 XL (I really like it but I'd like to have a tube amp again)

I love the looks of the new Krank mini stack,  and I also like the new Boogie Express line.

What I'm looking for is a Hi Gain tube amp of 50 watts or less for under $1200.  (no gigs just around the house)
 
does the Peavey have a power cutdown feature? 50/25 watts?  How does it sound at low volumes?
 
No half power switch or anything as far as I know. As for being quiet, forget about it!  :laughing11:
 
what I'm looking for is something I can play in my practice room, that sounds pretty good, but dosen't ineterfere with my wifes television too much. 

If it had a power cut feature that would be a nice bonus. I really like the express.  You can go from 50 watts to 5 with the flick of a switch.
 
Hey Thumb, I've heard nothing but good about these guy's and with some reasonable wattages and prices, heard the tone is great????

Orange Amps

heres the link:  http://www.orange-amps.com/
 
I've always thought Orange was cool. (early Black Sabbath  :headbang: )

Just a little more money than I'd really like to spend right now. :sad1:
 
Check out the Laney amplification website. You might dig one of their small tube combos.
 
I know you said you'd like a tube amp.  But I've got to say one of my favorite amps in the entire world (that rivals my Knucklehead I would say, and dont laugh at me) is a Peavey Bandit 112.  Its small enough carry around, or to fit in a corner.  HUGE gain. and you can get the saturation at really low volumes..  Its not a tube amp but it almost sounds like one.  Its a Killer amp and where i live a brand new one costs abotu 500 bucks.. and thats canadian funds.  I kind of want to get one to go with my Knucklehead.
 
Have you thought about using an amp modeler? I have the POD XT and it is really great for practicing without annoying everyone around you.
 
I have a Line 6 XL right now and I really can't complain about it at all.  It's perfict for playing around the house and since its a 2x12 I can go jam with a drummer no problem.  I'm just looking for something with tubes.  I want to get away from the modeling stuff and find a nice little amp that I can run with some stomp boxes. 
 
If your willing to go with a couple of stomp box(808 would be my favourite) have a look at the Orange Tiny Terror...15 watts switchable to 7 watts,looks like a toaster but sounds the mutts nut....life with out pedals and its still worth looking at the Laney vc15-110....keeps me smiling when I can't use my TW clone or the umble ods50
 
i agree with advocate the peavey bravo 112 is one of the best little amps ive ever owned .it is pretty versitile for rock music. crunch channel is great and the high gain chanel sounds like a suped up 5150 . if you plug it into a 4/12 cab you get thick nasty overdrive dist. at super low volumes .im not a peavey guy at all but this is a great practice amp.it can even get loud enough to gig in small clubs if you  mike it and set up high enough off the ground. i know this is not thought of as  a cool amp but it is . find one and play with it awhile and see what you think.
 
Well I recently bought an Orange Tiny Terror to "back-up"... If that's what you'll cal it, my Mesa Roadster. and I have to say they are a very nice little amp. You could use the speakers from your Line 6 on it too. By the way, It sounds great when you run a couple of pedals through it :icon_biggrin:
 
Just went into the studio today with  two amps from my post about fender amps.  I took the tweed deluex and the blond princenton.  The studio had a Bogner Ecstacy and a VoxAC30 to use also.  When they heard the Deluxe and the Les Paul they were blown away at how huge and nasty it sounded, we wound up using it on 3 of the four songs.  I told him I could get him a deluxe just like mine for $1200.00 and he asked me I wanted to buy the Bogner.  The amp, a cord,  and the Les Paul gave some serious nasty tone.  Rich harmonics, great bottom end and in your face attitude.
 
I'm sure it's a cool amp, there are TONS of really cool vintage vibe all tube amps around right now. 

What I'm looking for is an amp that does the "Chugga Chugga" thing without the need of a pedal. 
 
To give you some ideas of what this little amp will do wiith humbuckers. It nails Billy Gibbons tone with the harmonics, Ronnie Montrose' s Get on your Bad Motor Scooter, Joe Walsh's Rockey Mountain Way, and the nasty tone ( I mean that in a good way) of Neil Young.  It is the first amp that I have ever heard nail Santana's orgional Abraxas tone,  although  it did that with a guitar that had origional 1959 PAF's.  And it is all over Clapton's and Buddy Guy's tone with a Strat.  I do prefer it with the humbuckers.

I admit I am a lover of tweed amps and I think that most other amps that need a pedal need the pedal becuse the player has the tweed sound deep in his soul with out knowing it.  Again let me qualify that by saying blues and rock playes.  If you love triple rectifiers or you want to move a ton of air you would not like this amp.  I loved huge loud amps for a long time and now my ears are ringing and I 'm paying the price.  I finally realized the a really killer singers voice is not loud but it can run through the PA and reach lots of people.  Same with a great amp, it only need a killer voice and a good sound system to get it to reach alot of people with out destroying everyone.  Check Frank Zappa play Black Napkins on youtube with a Pignose.  On the Mike Douglas show no less.  Love it.
 
Nice tones, but not exactly what I'm looking for.  I'd like to start at around the Van Halen range and go to the full blown scooped mid range metal kind of thing.   
 
Got it. 

Have you ever heard a Sovetek.  I played one that was around $300.00 off the street when some guy dropped it off to my amp tec.,  Ron Veil @ Uncle Spot Amps.  Ron added a bias adjust and some Mullard EL34.  After he did the work he called me to come over to the shop and test it out.  Wow!  Smoking Amp. 

What ever you get Thumb I'd love to see pictures of it and hear your take on it.  Bottom line outside of the tone being in the players hands;  killer amps make most guitars sound good, killer guitars will never sound good through a crappy amp.  IMO

 
Back
Top