OT-Best sounding smaill guitar Amp.

[dodo]

What is the BEST small guitar amp (tube, 50 watts or less) that money can buy. I'd prefer something that you can play at a low volume, versatile for most styles of play and get great tone.

[bladesg]

Peavey Classic 30 or Classic 50. Vox AC30

[graveleye]

IF you consider it "small" a Fender Twin produces a fine sound imho.

[Carl Fuehrer]

Tech 21 Trademark series is killer either mic'ed or direct.

[Chris Cavell]

vintage fender champ...can be found for around 250 to 350 on ebay

[Bazzle]

If you can find a vintage Fender Deluxe Reverb or a Vibrolux you would be in good shape.I also have a 65 watt MusicMan with 2 10's that is killer.'Best' is certainly a subjective thing,try out every one you can, until you find one that suits your style.

[skyking]

carvin has an 18 watt all tube amp that is suppose to sound good and also crate has a v15 all tube amp that is pretty good sounding too.....fender makes a cpl small tube amps but i cant remember the models (blues delux?? im guessing) i think one goes for around 350..........ive tried the peavey classic 30 too and liked it ......maybe if you have nothing at all a gizmo like a POd would be the way to go..it would give you tons of sounds and effects all at any volume setting and you can scoop a small amp later.....depends what your looking for but theres a cpl other ideas......good luck chas

i just realized the question was the best tube amp MONEY CAN BUY........maybe look at a DR Z or a matchless

[dodo]

Have you guys tried out a Carr? It's the best sounding one so far.

[tele_player]

For my style, the Carr Mercury and Carr Rambler are about as good as it gets. Expensive, compared to mass-produced stuff, a very fair deal when you know how they're built and how they sound. Wonderful amps.

[dodo]

I'm thinking about the hammerhead.

[yOkO]

i have this old 12 watt marshall that sounds like hell for distorted micing.
really use it a lot, it's got a 30" celestion speaker. it's called studio 12.

[Turbollama]

i have this old 12 watt marshall that sounds like hell for distorted micing.
really use it a lot, it's got a 30" celestion speaker. it's called studio 12.



Honestly, it depends most on your ears and what sound you like. If you have a Marshall already and like the tone it gets for distortion, look into the Marshall 30w tube amps, as they can get pretty crunchy, or a smaller Mesa, like an older DC-25. Also, I have a friend who swears by smaller Fenders -- you can get an old 25w Fender for cheap and at full-crank they can get nasty. Even better, toss a good distortion in front, and you're good to go for about any sound.

Your best bet might just be to wander around a Guitar Center (or whatever) for a while and try their smaller amps -- especially used ones. My favorite recording amp for 70% of the stuff I do is a Guyatone 10w amp I found on ebay for 10 bucks, because for some reason, for most distorted stuff it just demolishes my live Marshall rig.

Hope that helps!

Mike

[dyingsea]

I don't know how small, small is to you but as far as 50 watts or less the most versitile and best sounding is the Mesa boogie rectoverb 1X12 combo. It has the best cleans I've ever heard and also can put out and overdriven tones from blues to brutal distortion. Sounds good at low volumes, becomes a beast if you turn it up past 1/4 of the way.

[skyking]

i play through a tweed fender tremolux that is killer.....of all the fender amps ive had it is one of my favs to play through......this very amp was almost my first amp when i was 12 or 13 yrs old but someone else bought it along with a gretsch guitar for 150 bucks ...yrs later i bought the amp for the grand total of 17 dollars and ive had it ever since...im not sure whatever happened to the gretsch guitar ...for my live rig i go into my pedal board then into a yamaha spx 90 which splits the signal and i send one side to the tremolux (which is miced) the other side goes into a fender twin (not miced) which i use for a stage monitor when i need more beef......i rotate amps but the tremolux always stays.its awesome chas

[Joz]

A 50w amp is hardly a small amp

[SimpleNatureSpirit]

It may not be a tube amp, but pignose makes great little cabs.

[fredsparky]

Hey Kev. I've had several big set ups including Music Man HD 130 w/610 stacks, Marshal 100 with 4-12, Fender Custom 100 amp w/ 1-EV 12", Ampeg Reverborocket (not too loud and distorts nicely at pretty low volume) and a Twin. The Twin is over 80 lbs. but still "rollable" (it gets heavier every year- just like my canoe!) and very loud! I think the Fender Twin is one of the best all around amps ever produced. Very versitle and fairly portable. Mesa Boogie too. For a studio amp, you can use the 50 watt setting on the Fender or Mesa, but for the studio I like using a smaller amp- like the Ampeg Reverborocket

see ebay
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=43372&item=3772607663&rd=1

A Vox combo would be nice too. Of course you could always look at the real high end stuff, or even the small digital emulation amps for studio.

Bottom-line- In the studio I usually play direct and use plugins and I always use a Twin in any gig setting- with a Ross Compressor and nothing else. IMHO Te Finder Twin is not a small amp by any means.

[fredsparky]

BTW- a Super Reverb is a great amp and I also use a Tube Fender Bassman with 1- 12 in EV- great for the studio- for blues.

[dodo]

Thanks guys. I got the Carr Mercury today.

[fredsparky]

Wow! Looks like an awesome amp!!! Where did you get it? Did you play through it first? Looks like you can get some great sounds at low dB.

[skyking]

i never heard of the carr amps till this post ill bet they are sweet just by reading on their site.....im dreaming of a dr z myself but its not that i need anymore gear for guitar its the never ending quest for the perfect sound which started yrs ago and is still ongoing lol.......i just cant help but chuckle when i see all these new cool tube amps comming out cuz they tried so hard to convince us tube amps were history ......long live tubes! of course im biased

[Keith Owens]

Post deleted by Keith Owens

[RolandK]

If you want a REALLY small amp check this out: http://zvexamps.com/amp_view.html

[theMeanTeam]

if you're looking for the best way to get to the core of the mesa sound, go for the rocket series. Either the subway rocket or the rocket 44

subway rocket = 22w and 1x10
rocket 44 = 44w and 1x12

[ejwells]

You want to go with Carr, Dr.Z, Matchless, Victoria, Bad Cat, Bogner, or very old Fender if you want the best tube amp money can buy. The Carr Hammerhead rocks, as does the Dr. Z MAZ 18. Both can be had for around a grand, and are worth every penny.
A guitarist I work with has a Hammerhead. We use it in the studio. It's beautiful.
I have a Dr. Z MAZ 38, which also sounds great at lower volumes. I paid 2250.00 for my Z. Head with a 2x12.
Another buddy of mine has the 18 watt Dr. Z head. It's great.

You asked for thew best that money could buy, correct?

That instantly rules out anything NEW from Fender, Marshall, Mesa, Vox, and certainly Tech 21.

[dodo]

I know a lot of the studio cats here and that's how I heard of them. Most have the rambler but it's sound is too clean for me. I loved the hammerhead but I found that I could get the sound of both the hammerhead and rambler with the Mercury at lower volumes. It's the coolest amp I've ever played. I bought the last one at the only dealer in Nashville.