Tiny tube amps?

nag hammadi · Post by **nag hammadi** » Fri Feb 11, 2011 11:14 am

getting in on this kinda late i guess...

there are two kinds of ac4's. the "tv" style i had sounded absolutely fantastic. in fact, we used it in the studio instead of our ac30 almost every time.
i ended up selling it for some reason. when i got another one (the other kind of ac4) it totally sucked. i think the first had a smaller speaker?

then we got the vox nighttrain head. absolutely MAGNIFICENT! some of the very best pushed clean / overdriven tones i have ever captured!

we have had the orange tiny terror, the valve jr, the kustom whatever, and a few others. the vox units were the best by far for me.

i have made several of the amps from ax84 as well, and all of them were very cool. i gigged with a mic'd p1x for years. i made mine with parallel 6L6's in the power section for more headroom, but stock it would get nasty pretty quick.

the firefly was another great low wattage build that had the nasty. i actually put an attenuated 1/4" out on mine, and i use it on vocals all the time. just blend a little of it in, and it makes vocals downright greasy!

who knew? tube overdrive is the new vocal reverb!

what were we talking about again?

Snarl 12/8 · Post by **Snarl 12/8** » Fri Feb 11, 2011 12:53 pm

ubertar wrote:Sounds like a signal tracer is the best thing for what you want. I've got a couple of those, and some of another kind which is just as good but with a different tone. They don't need any mods other than to replace the probe with a 1/4" jack. Of course, there are mods you can do, but they sound great as-is.

http://www.ubertar.com/creot/gonnagetcha.MP3
The lead guitar is a heathkit signal tracer, and the rhythm guitars are another kind of signal tracer.

I don't want to thread hijack, but this is pretty old and I gotta ask. Ube, can you provide links or any info whatsoever on the HeathKit Signal Tracer mods of which you speak? I haven't looked in a while, but I couldn't find anything. And that circuit is pretty wild to look at in there without any clue of what's doing what.

shedshrine · Post by **shedshrine** » Wed Feb 16, 2011 3:44 pm

Magnasync Moviola

small tube amps: Airline, Magnasync, Boogie 5watt/25watt express

ubertar · Post by **ubertar** » Wed Feb 16, 2011 4:08 pm

Snarl 12/8 wrote:Ube, can you provide links or any info whatsoever on the HeathKit Signal Tracer mods of which you speak?

I said there were mods... I didn't say I knew what they were.

The ones I've got I've only put 1/4" inputs in, and that's that. The mods I've heard of, IIRC, have to do with adding a resistor and a cap to the input to change the input impedance.

jgimbel · Post by **jgimbel** » Thu Feb 17, 2011 9:43 pm

I just tonight stumbled upon the Vox Lil' Night Train - http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/NightTrain2H - 2W version of the Night Train. Looks nice and simple, and the sounds on there are really not too shabby at all. One of the smallest big production tube amps I've seen! Seems to blow away the AC4, compared to the ones I've tried.

roscoenyc · Post by **roscoenyc** » Fri Feb 18, 2011 4:58 am

I bought the AC4TV Mini a few months ago. It's attenuator settings are 4 watts, 1 watt and the great for your apartment 1 tenth of a watt. Got it for $187. It's a really handy little thing. Also sounds good as a second amp in a small amp double rig.

Producer/Engineer · Post by **Producer/Engineer** » Wed Feb 23, 2011 4:23 pm

We tried a whole bunch of low wattage guitar tube amps last year before replacing our studio guitar amp and chose the Blackstar HT-5 head because it had the best of both worlds... clean & dirty. Excellent!
We also like the versatility of the ISF function knob (Infinite Shape Feature) which gives tones like USA, UK, and ANYWHERE IN BETWEEN! The 12BH7 tube produces beautiful valve harmonics and compression, and it gives creamy, saturated tone even at low volumes. Tons of other features as well. We use a custom cabinet with a Eminence Legend 12" speaker in it which we prefer over the Blackstar 10" cab.
Very happy with this amp and it ROCKS!

Haolemon · Post by **Haolemon** » Wed Feb 23, 2011 5:06 pm

Dakota wrote:+1 on older champs.

Obscure but extremely multi-useful: the hughes and kettner series that included the blues master, crunch master, and cream machine. A mini tube amp head including a small power tube, has a speaker out to drive whatever cabinet of your choice (or can run fine not plugged to a speaker), plus a swiss army knife of various DI outputs including a speaker simulator that sounds really good. I use the heck out of mine (blues master) for both DI and to speaker cab for low volume tracking that still has power tube saturation.

These are indeed fantastic units. The blues master and crunch master are, I think, the same model except for the name. the cream machine sounds very much like a Marshall. also in the series was a bass model, the BATT. Very useful indeed.

casey campbell · Post by **casey campbell** » Thu Feb 24, 2011 11:13 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDquVJZKRGI

IDQ · Post by **IDQ** » Wed Apr 20, 2011 10:55 pm

This topic is exactly what I've been trying to parse out for my next gear purchase. And yeah... I have gear lust, even though I'm kinda broke. I guess you probably do too, or you woudln't be reading this.

So, here's my issue: I decided I should get a low-watt tube amp, because a)I've never owned a tube amp (sad, I know) and b) I don't gig - I record in my own house as a hobby.

My current only amp is the Vox Pathfinder 15R. It's obviously a respected amp around here, but I always felt like I was missing out by not going tube. So, today, I went and played some tube amps. I should preface by saying that the clown in the store didn't really understand me when I said "super low wattage" and showed me mostly 15W amps. But I played (only briefly) a Blues Jr., a Vox AC-4, a Kustom combo that was so shitty that I didn't bother to note the model, a Blackheart Killer Ant (BH1H), a Vox AC-15, and the ibanez TSA15H tube screamer amp. Some of 'em were pretty sweet but...

... am I retarded in saying that the Pathfinder is a better all-around amp than any of them? I noted to the sales dude that I felt my current amp sounded just as good in many settings, and he looked at me like I was fingering his daughter.

Here's what I liked:
-The Ac-15 sounds awesome for everything - better than the pathfinder in all respects - but really only noticeably better at higher volume (defeating the purpose of the low-watt thing).
-For purely clean tone, the blues jr. captures that awesome fender brilliance in a way that I can't reproduce with the pathfinder... but the overdrive sucks, and the pathfinder can come KINDA close on the cleans. Not as good, I'm just saying, close...
-At 1 and 1/4 watt settings, the AC-4 offers great tube breakup at bedroom levels, without having to use a pedal. That's cool.
-The little blackheart killer ant sounds rad with the gain past 8 or 9 o'clock, and I could actually use that for recording, but it's kinda one-dimensional... and I don't have a cabinet, so I'd have to get one.... some way or another.

So, do I have bad ears? Or did I just actually cure myself of one little microcosm of gear lust?

Thanks.
_S

jgimbel · Post by **jgimbel** » Wed Apr 20, 2011 11:54 pm

I LOVE small amps, and am an owner and lover of the Pathfinder. I became a lover of it after looking for other amps, and I looked specifically at some the ones you're talking about, and didn't get them because of the Pathfinder. I LOVE the Fender Clean sound and I was not impressed with the Blues Jr for it - to me it just didn't have it, sounds like a much cheapened version. The Pathfinder can't do Fender clean, but I prefer the clean sound of the Pathfinder over the Blues Jr. hands down. (I have played through a friend's Pro Jr. into a 1x12 and loved that though, but it's still not "the Fender clean", just a nice amp). The AC-4..I've posted about it on Tape Op, I want to love it because on paper I should love it, but I just do not in the least bit like how they sound. So fizzy, just..not nice to me at all. I haven't played the Blackheart amps, but I've liked how they sound in the clips I've heard, and I'd love to have one here as another backup tube amp for clients who come with crappy amps. The AC15 sounds great, and I actually went to a store to buy one at one point because I wanted the "real" version of the AC15 kind of sound, but decided that the difference was not nearly great enough two justify the price. I mean, there's a definite difference, but they're in the same family, and the Pathfinder's just a great amp.

For the past year the Pathfinder is the main amp I've used. I now have an early 70s Bassman, an Ampeg Reverberocket II ('66), and another amp here and there, and the Pathfinder's still the one I play most often. The others sound incredible, but I play the Pathfinder almost every day.

vvv · Post by **vvv** » Thu Apr 21, 2011 4:28 am

FWIW, a truly mediocre or even sucky amp can sound a lot better thru a cab.

It sucks you hafta get one, of course, but the point is a 10" or 12" speaker can be very different from a 6" or 8", and if you go 2x, there's an even bigger change.

I have an Elektar tube combo (10w.?) that's a one-trick pony thru it's own 8", but a lot more useful thru a 2x12", and not particularly loud.

I use the 2x12" I made (by putting some nice Celestions in a old Peavy Classic box - no amp), with a Rickenbacker M8 and a Pro,Jr., etc., also - it's like doubling the number of amps I have.

jgimbel · Post by **jgimbel** » Thu Apr 21, 2011 8:15 am

vvv wrote:FWIW, a truly mediocre or even sucky amp can sound a lot better thru a cab.

It sucks you hafta get one, of course, but the point is a 10" or 12" speaker can be very different from a 6" or 8", and if you go 2x, there's an even bigger change.

I have an Elektar tube combo (10w.?) that's a one-trick pony thru it's own 8", but a lot more useful thru a 2x12", and not particularly loud.

I use the 2x12" I made (by putting some nice Celestions in a old Peavy Classic box - no amp), with a Rickenbacker M8 and a Pro,Jr., etc., also - it's like doubling the number of amps I have.

All so true! I forgot to mention that I ALWAYS use my Pathfinder through a cab. I forgot to mention that because it stays hooked up. The 8" speaker doesn't sound terrible, but compared to having it through a cab it's no contest. I have a 1x12 and a 4x10 that I built, and the Pathfinder sounds amazing through both of them, I usually stick with the 1x12.

And I'm floored, you've got an Electar? I had a cheap guitar that I was looking to sell or trade for most anything on Craigslist. Someone said they had an Electar Tube 10. I had never heard of the things, and found not a terrible lot of info on it online. I wanted another backup little tube amp so I tried it out and loved it. Now I use it into a cab too, and the clean is beautiful. One thing I really love about it is that while most tube amps around now have that kind of smooth breakup (and that's why a lot of people use them), I guess since there weren't quite as many cheap tube amps available when these came out that they weren't all trying to reach that. So the Electar (mine anyway), when it breaks up when it's cranked or with a humbucker, it sounds like a fuzz pedal! Obviously it won't well for everything, but I sure don't have another amp that can do that! Between the Pathfinder and the Electar I'm a happy camper. Even a recording buddy of mine who's been in music much longer than myself had never heard of these amps. What a find!

terryb · Post by **terryb** » Thu Apr 21, 2011 9:16 am

here's the small amps I've kept in my studio:
vox ac15 - my favorite
68 fender champ
ampeg super jet
old vox student 4 watts?
marshall class 5
champ clone

vvv · Post by **vvv** » Thu Apr 21, 2011 11:24 am

Re that Elektar, I think I recall they were like a small indie co. that Gibson ended up buying, and they sold the Elektar amps as Epiphone - I think that's how it went.

Yeah, the little thing really grinds. I like it for darker, jazz-type lead and rhythm tones, also, and I can get a surprisingly near-Twin sound with a Tele thru the 2x12".

The Pathfinder is a total gem, and about the most tactile/responsive S/S I have ever played. Lemme re-phrase, it is.

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