Favorite Small Recording Amps!

metanoiastudios · Post by **metanoiastudios** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 5:02 am

So how many of you prefer small amps to big amps when it comes to recording? I, for one, am a fan of recording with smaller amps. The sound just seems more centralized and big than miking a live rig. A big amp just seems to sound more...thin, I guess. Maybe I just don't know what I'm doing

but anyway, I was wondering what some of your favorite small/studio recording amps are? preferably affordable. Right now I've got a Tech 21 TM10, which is just awesome. Got it for super cheap on Ebay, and even though it's modelled, it's a tone crafting machine. I also have an orange crush. It's my girlfriends...don't know how good it sounds yet, but it's sitting here. I also have a mini-marshall, which is awesome when you want that dirty, broken amp sound.

curtiswyant · Post by **curtiswyant** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 5:34 am

I love my silverface vibrochamp. It has a fresh cap job and a Jensen mod speaker. Cheap as hell and the trem sounds better than any pedal!

A.David.MacKinnon · Post by **A.David.MacKinnon** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 6:01 am

The Magnatone M2.

(I couldn't find a pic of the M2 but it looks almost the same as the M6.)

Turn it up and it sounds like the end of the world. Has a sweet vibrato too.

getreel · Post by **getreel** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 6:36 am

I love Fender Deluxes, but doesn't everyone? I prefer the originals to the reissues. The Hot Rod Deluxes are not the same and I don't care for them as much, but the clean does work OK for recording. The crunch channel is not very good IMHO. I would rather use a Hot Rod with pedals on the clean channel. I also have a fav solid state amp I use a lot in the studio. It's a Roland Blues Cube. Those little things sound very good for solid state. They have a great drive channel with boost and a fantastic sounding clean channel. 60 watts 1X12" speaker.

djimbe · Post by **djimbe** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 6:49 am

junkshop wrote:The Magnatone M2.

(I couldn't find a pic of the M2 but it looks almost the same as the M6.)

Turn it up and it sounds like the end of the world. Has a sweet vibrato too.

Those Estay "TV case" Magnatones are the bomb. I have an M10 that is God's own amp for Wurlie 200 and banjo. Real pitch shifting vibrato on those amps, and a creamy, drippy reverb. There's a buncha models in that line too. I remember walking into some place in Chicago and seeing at least 4 of those in various configurations. Big 'uns too, like 2 x12 + 1x8 in a 3 channel amp, or 3x10...crazy stuff. They were kinda beat up for the prices on 'em so I didn't add to my collection, but it was cool to see more than just an M6 or M10...

Gibson Crestliner series amps (from Kalamazoo) are also wonderful small recording amps. Stuff like the Skylark and Discoverer. Also known by numbers like GA-8, GA-12, etc.

metanoiastudios · Post by **metanoiastudios** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 6:55 am

getreel wrote:I love Fender Deluxes, but doesn't everyone? I prefer the originals to the reissues. The Hot Rod Deluxes are not the same and I don't care for them as much, but the clean does work OK for recording. The crunch channel is not very good IMHO. I would rather use a Hot Rod with pedals on the clean channel. I also have a fav solid state amp I use a lot in the studio. It's a Roland Blues Cube. Those little things sound very good for solid state. They have a great drive channel with boost and a fantastic sounding clean channel. 60 watts 1X12" speaker.

Is this the model you have?

>Mojave_Gary< · Post by **>Mojave_Gary<** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 7:03 am

I use a 1993 Fender m-80 Chorus 2 x 12 alot and also a VOX ADT100. I agree that trying to mic my Marshall live rig does not usually yield the recorded tone that I am trying for. I also have one of those VOX mini amps, I cannot remember the model right off hand but it has a 5" speaker and variable 1-5 watts with built-in effects. It does surprisingly well with an SM-57 or an NT1A stuck in front of it about 3-6" away.

kayagum · Post by **kayagum** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 7:05 am

I have a Kalamazoo Model 2 that I enjoy, although it needs some TLC at the moment.

Some pages with more info:

http://paulspage.home.comcast.net/~paul ... odel_2.htm

http://www.rru.com/~meo/Guitar/Amps/Kalamazoo/M2/

>Mojave_Gary< · Post by **>Mojave_Gary<** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 7:05 am

metanoiastudios wrote:
getreel wrote:I love Fender Deluxes, but doesn't everyone? I prefer the originals to the reissues. The Hot Rod Deluxes are not the same and I don't care for them as much, but the clean does work OK for recording. The crunch channel is not very good IMHO. I would rather use a Hot Rod with pedals on the clean channel. I also have a fav solid state amp I use a lot in the studio. It's a Roland Blues Cube. Those little things sound very good for solid state. They have a great drive channel with boost and a fantastic sounding clean channel. 60 watts 1X12" speaker.
Is this the model you have?

Hey....love the toe shot!!....

stereopathetic_banjo · Post by **stereopathetic_banjo** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 7:13 am

I'm fortunate to have a handful of cool little amps to stick mics in front of. Most used is my Dr Z Carmen Ghia with a Z open back 1x12 cab. I also use a Victoria tweed champ for alot of woodier/sparkly clean tones(and break up, of course). Between those and a Zvex nanohead thru the aforementioned Z cab, there's not much I can't attain, tone wise. I have a few el-cheapo cool amps like the Mongomery Ward 1x10 with trem I got from my dad, and a Kalamazoo Model One. Not used as much, but still worthwhile.
I think with a few nice drive/fuzz/boost pedals and a few small tube amps, the world's your palette.

>Mojave_Gary< · Post by **>Mojave_Gary<** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 7:19 am

God how I wish I still had the Sears Roebuck amp I got with my Teisco guitar when I was like 5 or 6............I think it had a 6 or 8" speaker. The tubes would get so hot that the covering on it near the back would get gooey
I loved that thing

mertmo · Post by **mertmo** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 7:30 am

Happily rocking the Fender Pro Junior in the studio since 1994...

I think I missed out on getting one of those Epiphone valve jr. new, right?
bummer... I heard those were pretty cool.

Pyrrho · Post by **Pyrrho** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 7:30 am

I love recording this little vox pathfinder amp. You can get em for under a 100 bucks. Another guy in the band has an ac30 and we still record the little pathfinder sometimes. You can stick a 57 right up to it and get a huge sound!

getreel · Post by **getreel** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 7:34 am

getreel wrote:
I love Fender Deluxes, but doesn't everyone? I prefer the originals to the reissues. The Hot Rod Deluxes are not the same and I don't care for them as much, but the clean does work OK for recording. The crunch channel is not very good IMHO. I would rather use a Hot Rod with pedals on the clean channel. I also have a fav solid state amp I use a lot in the studio. It's a Roland Blues Cube. Those little things sound very good for solid state. They have a great drive channel with boost and a fantastic sounding clean channel. 60 watts 1X12" speaker.

Is this the model you have?

I actually own the Blues Cube and a '71 Twin but a very good friend of mine that's recorded a lot with me has a '65 Blackface Deluxe that he babies. It sounds absolutely wonderful like a Deluxe should. It's one of the easiest amps to get a good sound out of too. My Twin is no slouch either. It's just not what I consider a smallamp.

Sean Sullivan · Post by **Sean Sullivan** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 7:45 am

Fender Princeton Reverbs are my number one choice for small recording amplifiers. Vibro Champs/Champs are a little too small for me, and the Valve Jr. is a one trick pony (but can be modded to something more versatile)

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