Favorite Small Recording Amps!

Dan Phelps · Post by **Dan Phelps** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 12:02 pm

+1 on the Fender Pro Jr, the Carmen Ghia. and the Tiny Terror.

I have two Pro Jr.s, one with the stock tubes (Groove Tubes?) and one with JJ Teslas. The both sound cool, but the JJ's sound friendlier IMO.

Don't own one, but I have played the Carmen Ghia, and yes, it's a great amp, especially when you can turn it up to that clean/distorted threshold. I DO have a 2x10 Dr. Z cab that I think sounds GREAT, is easy to carry, and they aren't too expensive.

I also have a little 60's Gibson Skylark with a 8" speaker that is pretty gnarly. It has a cool combo of pleasant mid-range with a bright top end bite. And a trem circuit with a "Frequency" (speed) knob. It also looks kind of like a brief case, which makes me want to wear a 3 piece suit and a fedora while running down the street to catch the bus with a newspaper tucked under my arm.

Many old Fenders are cool...Deluxes, Champs, Princeton Reverbs. I get to play through these a lot but usually can't afford the premium price tag. Someday!

trodden · Post by **trodden** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 12:07 pm

Smitty wrote:
trodden wrote:Would love to try out an Orange Tiny Terror, but it seems the Vox pathfinder or the Epi Valve Jr head. Got one of those for my brother in law for xmas the other year, gave it a test drive... simple and fun.
the tiny terror rules. try one. seriously. i have so far been unable to make it sound bad... and i feel like it's somehow blessed for recording. like, run it into some decent speakers, and put a mic somewhere in the same room, and you're good.

are you using just a single 12" a 2X12/4X12 set up? "somehow blessed for recording" is what i'm looking for indeed.

radical recording · Post by **radical recording** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 12:54 pm

Years ago I had a Mike Mathews Dirt Road Special made by Electro-Harmonix. GGRREEAAATTTT little amp! A 12-inch speaker and had a built-in phaser.

Note to self: Don't let the junkie guitar player borrow anything ever again!

Smitty · Post by **Smitty** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 1:05 pm

trodden wrote:are you using just a single 12" a 2X12/4X12 set up? "somehow blessed for recording" is what i'm looking for indeed.

mostly through a Marshall 212 with Vintage 30's.

trodden · Post by **trodden** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 1:28 pm

rulesforradicals wrote:
Note to self: Don't let the junkie guitar player borrow anything ever again!

unfortunately, some people have to learn that rule... and usually only once.

tomberdude · Post by **tomberdude** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 3:23 am

trodden wrote:
rulesforradicals wrote:
Note to self: Don't let the junkie guitar player borrow anything ever again!
unfortunately, some people have to learn that rule... and usually only once.

Don't let the metal guitarist help set up ever again! The band I just did fried an amp of mine by plugging into a marked (on the outlet in bold print) 220v outlet. The power lights came on about the same time that puff of smoke came out of the back and then it died.

radical recording · Post by **radical recording** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 5:20 am

Don't let the metal guitarist help set up ever again! The band I just did fried an amp of mine by plugging into a marked (on the outlet in bold print) 220v outlet. The power lights came on about the same time that puff of smoke came out of the back and then it died.

We used to rehearse in a warehouse and my bass rig kept throwing the breaker so I ran an extension plug into another room and plugged it into an outlet and BOOM! a bolt of fire shot out the front of my beloved Ashly FET-500. When I told the owner his response was "What kinda idiot plugs a 110 unit into a 220 outlet?" My response was: "What kinda idiot doesn't mark a 220 outlet when it looks just like a 110 outlet?" He wouldn't pay me for the repair and was an ass anyway so we moved out into a much better space.

syrupcore · Post by **syrupcore** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 11:16 am

I just picked up a magnatone melodier 109. it's ruling my world. It was between it and the blues jr. The blues jr's clean sound with my jazzmaster is to die for but the dirty was just sorta gimpy. I'm really impressed by the responsiveness of the 109 and was ultimately why I bought it.

tomberdude · Post by **tomberdude** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 3:39 pm

rulesforradicals wrote:
Don't let the metal guitarist help set up ever again! The band I just did fried an amp of mine by plugging into a marked (on the outlet in bold print) 220v outlet. The power lights came on about the same time that puff of smoke came out of the back and then it died.
We used to rehearse in a warehouse and my bass rig kept throwing the breaker so I ran an extension plug into another room and plugged it into an outlet and BOOM! a bolt of fire shot out the front of my beloved Ashly FET-500. When I told the owner his response was "What kinda idiot plugs a 110 unit into a 220 outlet?" My response was: "What kinda idiot doesn't mark a 220 outlet when it looks just like a 110 outlet?" He wouldn't pay me for the repair and was an ass anyway so we moved out into a much better space.

Hahaha! Looks like you and I are on opposite sides of the same coin.

Philbot · Post by **Philbot** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 4:26 pm

Maybe it's a little off topic, but has anyone got good results using a bigger amp with a power attenuator? I guess the idea is to control the output levels to low volumes with the tone still intact. I was thinking about buying one, but the ones I seem to find are about the price of a decent small amp.

j_howell · Post by **j_howell** » Mon Apr 07, 2008 5:34 pm

djimbe wrote:
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.
Stuff like the Skylark and Discoverer. Also known by numbers like GA-8, GA-12, etc.

Ha! I was just about to say GA-5 and GA-8T (Skylark and Discoverer Tremolo). Any of the old smallish Gibson amps rule, going all the way back to the EH-150...

Hell, the li'l Epiphone Valve Junior head on a 2x10 cab isn't half bad either...

Also, I hafta give props to the Silvertone 1482. Awesome.

dave watkins · Post by **dave watkins** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 2:48 am

i kind of have a thing for low wattage tube amps, here's my stack of amps:

so the top amp on the left there is a valve junior chassis that i have built into this scrap plywood cab, i was going to cover it and make it look all fancy but it sounds awesome the way it is, and i kind of like it's piece of shit look. the most important part there is the speaker and grill that were taken from an old califone record player. it sounds really nasty (but in a good way you know)

the amp below it is a hand-wired point to point 18 watter fashioned after the old 68 or so marshalls. it has a vintage 30 in it, and i can run it in pentode or triode mode, plus i can also switch between tube and solid state rectifiers. i built this with my dad last summer and it sounds incredible, i also built the open back cabinet so i can just use it as a speaker cab, it has a 1/4" jack in the event i want to plug my tiny terror or valve junior into it.

though it definitely doesn't have as much character as the other amps the line 6 does record well, i mainly use it for cleans or anything that i need some kind of metalesque sound on, although it midgain sounds are quite nice too. it has a vintage 30 in it and direct outs if that kind of thing floats your boat. and that open back cab at the bottom right has a greenback in, so i've got a lot of flexibility for mixing and matching up speakers and amps, the more possibilities the better.

>Mojave_Gary< · Post by **>Mojave_Gary<** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 12:30 pm

Last weekend I scored an Epi Valve Jr. I took it home to the studio, plugged it into an Ampeg 4x12 cab and was completely stunned. For the last week I have been doing some test recording with different mic/pre setups. I also have tried it plugged into a single vintage Celestion 12".
Turned out to be a deal for $100.00 brand new.

trodden · Post by **trodden** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 1:33 pm

>Mojave_Gary< wrote:Last weekend I scored an Epi Valve Jr. I took it home to the studio, plugged it into an Ampeg 4x12 cab and was completely stunned. For the last week I have been doing some test recording with different mic/pre setups. I also have tried it plugged into a single vintage Celestion 12".
Turned out to be a deal for $100.00 brand new.

what are the things you like better between the use of a 4X12 and Single Vintage Celestion 12"

japmn · Post by **japmn** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 3:53 pm

I lover Ampeg Rverb Rocket 2's.
I hava old Sears tube amp (5watt) with a gnarly tremelo that sounds great.
I also have taken the headphone out of a Line Six Pod into a little 4" car stereo speaker and gotten great results.

My absolute favorite is the Tube Prinston Reverb.

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Favorite Small Recording Amps!

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