looking for a small, reasonably priced tube amp

[kboman]

Here we go again, this must be a very common topic on music forums at the moment :icon_biggrin:

Anyway. I need a small-ish and reasonably priced and portable amp for rehearsals and gigs. The GT-8 is feeling very cramped and I don't want to bring my home computer/Guitar Rig setup to some pub... What amps do you good people have experience with? My greatest priority is a very good clean sound and preferably an effects loop. Built in effects I can live without, stomp boxes sound better and can be moved around in the chain.

To give an idea of what I'm ready to spend, currently I'm considering these:
- Fender Blues Jr
- Vox AC15
- Laney Cub head with matching 2*12 cab.

I plan on giving the Laney and Vox amps a test drive this weekend. The Fender impressed me when I tried it before christmas.
On paper, the Laney looks most promising with an effects loop, easily altered sound (just get another cab), apartment friendly 1W option etc. Let's hope it sounds good too!

What are your thoughts? Any other amp I should consider? I won't buy anything without trying it first.

 

[Kostas]

Try the Egnater Tweaker, Rebel 20 & 30 models. All are more versatile than the ones you mentioned and they are availiable as heads or combos.
For a very good clean sound I suggest any Fender silverface you can find (very low prices in USA) and your pedals in front. No FX loop though.

 

[kboman]

I'm sure they're very good amps, but except for the Tweaker combo they are too expensive and I have no way to try them out in person. Versatility is actually not high on the list, I can get that with pedals

I've found a used Crate V18 112 combo at a very reasonable price, anyone tried one of those?

Edit: And to contradict myself further, Bogner Alchemist 112 combo any good?

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

Carvin Vintage 16 and Fender Blues Junior.  The Carvin is basically their version of the Fender.  Both are average to decent out of the box, but are tweakers' and tinkerers' delights with the internet offereing no shortage of mods for each.

 

[Jusatele]

Carvin Vintage 16 and Fender Blues Junior.  The Carvin is basically their version of the Fender.  Both are average to decent out of the box, but are tweakers' and tinkerers' delights with the internet offereing no shortage of mods for each.

I have to agree whole downheartedly with this post, I just got the Blues Jr, my final list was Carvin, Vox, and Fender, guess the fender won out but I would still kill for the Carvin.
The Vox is a great amp, tone to the Bone but I already have a Vox half stack and was looking for a small amp, with BALLS, one that had a great amount of aftermarket support.
I was just about to call Carvin when I walked into Sam Ash and they made me a deal of the century, 4 bills for the Jr and a gift certificate.
Now if asked would I switch, I have the Jr tweaked already and it wails with more tone than I could ask for, and it fits in the cubby hole of a Crossfire with room for my gig bag and a cooler of beer

 

[back2thefutre]

Vox vt series

 

[Cagey]

I'm sure they're very good amps, but except for the Tweaker combo they are too expensive and I have no way to try them out in person. Versatility is actually not high on the list, I can get that with pedals

I've found a used Crate V18 112 combo at a very reasonable price, anyone tried one of those?

Edit: And to contradict myself further, Bogner Alchemist 112 combo any good?

I wrote a review on those Crate V18s a few years ago when those amps were new that you might want to read.

 

[hannaugh]

Blues Jr.

 

[Justinginn]

A friend of mine has something in the V series (maybe the 22?) I'm not positive which one but it's terrible. All bass, some gain (think along the lines of an AC30, not a mesa obviously) but it just didn't sound good. The cab rattled and it just didn't sound good. BUT I've heard that those things are Soldano preamps with a couple values tweaked and I believe that a couple of caps could make the amp sound pretty good. But stock it was absolutely terrible.  :dontknow:

 

[Death by Uberschall]

Blackstar HT-5

 

[swarfrat]

Haven't heard it in person, but simply as a platform for tweaking the Egnater Rebels w/ both EL84's and 6V6's sound like it could be the ultimate small club & recording amp.

 

[m4rk0]

I want a tweaker!!

 

[chrisg]

Blues Jr.

+1 - they are a great little amp (or look at the Fender 65 Deluxe Reverb - bit bigger but very sweet clean)

 

[kboman]

Thanks for all the replies!

A Deluxe Reverb is about twice the power and twice the price of what I'm looking for. I'll pass on the Crate (wasn't very interested to begin with) and since there are no Egnaters around here to try out, they're off the list unless I find one used and very reasonably priced.

I think my music store has an Alchemist combo that I'll try - I found an ad for a used one at a good price.

On paper, I'm leaning toward the Laney Cub stack. Thomann sell them considerably cheaper than any Swedish store, even with shipping added. The AC15 is a dark horse, a bit on the pricey side but very well recommended.

 

[swarfrat]

My nephew was selling his AC-15, and his Tele. I played the combination wide open and was ready to buy both. But when I brought my Carvin, and messed more with the AC - I found that 1) Tele's don't do high gain well. 2) Vox doesn't do high gain well, nor do they do mid level crunch at low master volume well. 3) My strat through the Vox wide open sounds really good too. 

In the end, I decided that as cool as it sounds, I simply can't play wide open all the time, and there are time when I need more gainy chunky tones that the vox just couldn't deliver.

 

[ORCRiST]

Blackstar HT-5

+100

F-ing spectacular little amp - can't go wrong!

ORC

 

[kboman]

A challenger appears! How about the Bugera V22? It appears to have what I need and then some and it's very reasonably priced.

If I can find a blackstar to play I will, I know it has a few happy owners here.

 

[Cagey]

The Bugera V22 is one helluva kickass amp, even at twice the money. Even the guys on The Gear Page rant and rave about it, where it usually it takes a Carol Ann, Dumble, Trainwreck, or some other multi-thousand dollar boutique amp to turn their heads. I've had a couple of the V55s, which is the same amp with more watts. They romped and stomped. Very versatile, good tone, lightweight, loud as hell, and highly recommended.

The V22s and V55s both have had some problems in the past, though. They spec'd the +15v regulator as a 1 watt part, because on paper the draw is less than that. But, it's inside a tube amp, so it not only doesn't get cooled, it actually gets heated up due to the high ambient temperature caused by the tubes. So, it needed to either be a larger part that was derated or have a heatsink installed. They did neither.

This caused one of several different symptoms to appear, depending on your luck of the draw. With some amps, the reverb wouldn't work. On others, and this was the most frequent, the thing would sporadically change channels on you. You'd be playing some nice, quiet jazzy thing, and all the sudden without warning you'd be in teeth-grinding mode blasting the world. Some of them just wouldn't change channels, and some of them exhibited no symptoms at all.

Fix is cheap and easy, though. For around a buck, you get yourself a heatsink for a TO-220 package regulator (they're common as dirt and just as available),

a 6-32x1/2" machine screw w/ nut, pull the chassis and attach the sink to the regulator with the nut/bolt, and put it all back together. 5 minute job.

You don't hear about it much anymore because I'm sure Bugera's engineering dept. issued an ECN to production, but if you find an older amp, it may show up. Or, it might be why somebody's selling one cheap. That's how I got mine - people thought they were wasted, and the amp is cheap enough that it's hardly worth all the shipping and handling malarky to get it fixed. So, they were sold "as is" for parts. $1 and a half hour later, I put them on Craig's List or Ebay for $350 ea.

 

[kboman]

Cagey! Thank you very much for that little write-up on the V22, it's much appreciated. I didn't have time to try it out today however.

What I did have time to play was a Vox AC15, the Laney Cub stack and a Blackstar Studio 20 - and boy was the choice easy there!

For reference, I play 99,5% of the time on the neck pickup on my Hagström Swede, an all mahogany guitar of the LP variety (I have never liked bridge pickups, they just sound "blenk blenk" and I lose all interest), and that can be quite the test for an amp. But not the AC15! WOW, that thing sounds absolutely fantastic. I didn't think there was going to be such a massive difference. I began by plugging into the normal channel, kind of liked it, plugged into the top boost channel... liked it. Treble & bass at 1 o'clock, tone at somewhere, low gain and modest volume. Stunningly good. Very sweet treble, but the show stopper is how the lows and mids just make sweet sweet love to the signal the amp is getting. I could go on and on, for example about what happened when I turned up the gain a bit and did some riffing - but I won't. But I'll need an LPB or MC-401, definitely.

The main issue with the Laney and Blackstar amps was that they simply lacked clarity. If an amp can't deal decently with my guitar with all tone controls at 12 o'clock my interest wanes. I was not too impressed with the Blackstar's overdrive channel but on the whole it was the better amp of the two.

So. I'll give the Bugera a go next weekend if I have the time, otherwise it's the AC15 for me. The only amp that has come close is the Blues jr.

 

[Cletus]

Blackstar HT-5

+1, great little amp.