Tiny tube amps?

magritte · Post by **magritte** » Mon Apr 13, 2009 9:04 pm

Can anyone recommend some small amps (4 to 10watts) that have a really dirty/vintage sound? Thanks.

digital eagle audio · Post by **digital eagle audio** » Mon Apr 13, 2009 9:29 pm

this thing is neat: http://www.guitarcenter.com/Blackheart ... 1427216.gc

and this kit:
http://shop.dobermanamps.com/product-p/kit-p1.htm

magritte · Post by **magritte** » Mon Apr 13, 2009 10:02 pm

that black heart looks neat. has anyone heard the thing? what's it sound like?

uncle bastard · Post by **uncle bastard** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 5:28 am

I can't speak about the Killer Ant, but one of our guitarists is using a BH5H Little Giant at the moment, and it sounds great. There isn't much clean headroom, because it only has tone and volume, but it does sound dirty after 9 o'clock on the dial. I built an Se5A kit from ampmaker.com which has a full tone stack plus gain and volume, fantastic sounding amp and Barry ( who posts on AX84 as Loverocker ) was always willing to help when I ran into problems, so I'd recommend that if you're handy with a soldering iron.

bipedal · Post by **bipedal** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 10:59 am

See if you can track down one of those little 6 watt Fender Champs -- seems like there are a bunch to be found floating around out there.

I've got an early-'70's silverface that's pretty cool and dirties up nicely when pushed. 3 knobs: Volume, Treble, Bass.

Dakota · Post by **Dakota** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 11:22 am

+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.

Rolsen · Post by **Rolsen** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 1:47 pm

Perhaps a little too small, but doesn't ZVex make a little half-watt or 1-watt amp 'head' that is about the size of a stomp box? If it is even half as cool as everything else ZVex makes, then I'm sure its pretty cool.

KennyLusk · Post by **KennyLusk** » Tue Apr 14, 2009 4:34 pm

I mistook this thread for being about a new Don Ho song..."Tiny Tube Amps"

...sorry.

I love my '76 vibro champ.

Gets dirty enough for blues on it's own easily, nice and clean leads at lower gain, very dynamically responsive when you "push" your guitar and there's nothing like tube driven vibro IMHO.

6 watts of Fender juicy, not too much $$ really. $400-$650 depending on the condition of the amp. Reissues are less than $300 I think.

friendlybunny · Post by **friendlybunny** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 5:21 am

The zvex Nano head is a great amp. It has many different sounds depending on how you have the switches. It doesn't do cleans at all unless you turn down your guitar volume. It also can be put through different cabs for different tones. It reminds me a lot of an old supro/ vlaco amp when I use it through a fender type cab. The only problem is that is has a little computer fan built into it to cool it down. But zvex has noted that you can dismantle the fan and it won't overheat in normal operating conditions. I have taken the fan out of mine and I haven't had any overheating and it sounds really good.

getreel · Post by **getreel** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 7:34 am

I've always wanted one of the Song Works amps like the Little Lanilei. They are awesome from what I hear.

vvv · Post by **vvv** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 7:41 am

friendlybunny wrote:I have taken the fan out of mine and I haven't had any overheating and it sounds really good.

FWIW, I installed fans in some of my amps (Marshalls, Musicman) and my Boogie came with one; I just put a US$2 toggle switch in line with each fan to turn it off for recording.

jaguarsg · Post by **jaguarsg** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 7:51 am

i love my '61 tweed Gibson Discoverer.

Mix413 · Post by **Mix413** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 8:49 am

There are all kinds of cool & cheap small vintage amps out there. Guild, Univox, Premier, etc. Keep your eye on local Craig's Lists ads and eBay.

friendlybunny · Post by **friendlybunny** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 12:38 pm

vvv wrote:
friendlybunny wrote:I have taken the fan out of mine and I haven't had any overheating and it sounds really good.
FWIW, I installed fans in some of my amps (Marshalls, Musicman) and my Boogie came with one; I just put a US$2 toggle switch in line with each fan to turn it off for recording.

There isn't a millimeter of space on the Nano head to install anything. It is smaller than any of my pedals(!)

Normally a fan wouldn't bother me, but this amp isn't very loud at all, so if you are recording semi-clean tones, you will hear the fan. I like how quiet it is... you can use almost any mic with it.

Marc Alan Goodman · Post by **Marc Alan Goodman** » Wed Apr 15, 2009 1:15 pm

There are TONS of old tiny amps floating around. Silvertones, Magnatones, and Alamos are some of my favorites, and they all go for pretty damn cheap even on ebay. I think my Alamo Titan is my favorite amp in the world. 12 watts

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