Tube amps to recommend?

Kyokkai

Kyokkai

New member
Hi ppl. I'm looking for a 15+ watt tube amp but I'm not sure which one I shld buy. I play J-Rock(loves distortion) and have a budget of 200-300 dollars. Can anyone recommend a good tube amp tt is within my budget for me? I've googled and found some amps: Kustom, Joyo, Mega, Nux, etc, but i dunno which ones are better. Thnx in advance.
 
erm...$300 is too low for a tube amp at that wattage. u can consider the mega gx60r, its supposedly a tube amp at 60watts. how u gonna tame it i dunno. but 1st, what is it in ur current amp thats lacking?? cos the min for a tube amp with sufficient drive is abt $700...
 
Hi hi, I'm not sure if you really really want to consider getting a 15W tube amp. Tube amps very rarely shine with low wattages. Low watt amps are either solid state, or tube emulated technologies. Perhaps consider getting higher watt amps, then turn down the volume? If you're on a budget, get a 2nd hand one, or if you have a lot of money, go for a Marshall. =)
 
AlvBobo said:
Hi hi, I'm not sure if you really really want to consider getting a 15W tube amp. Tube amps very rarely shine with low wattages. Low watt amps are either solid state, or tube emulated technologies. Perhaps consider getting higher watt amps, then turn down the volume? If you're on a budget, get a 2nd hand one, or if you have a lot of money, go for a Marshall. =)
Click to expand...

that is not right. a tube amp is supposed to be cranked till it hits a sweet spot because of how the power tubes work. if you were to get a high wattage amp to turn down the volume, the magic won't happen unless you were to use an attenuator to bring the volume down while having the master volume of the amp cranked to the sweet spot. a 15W amp can be very loud. and there are certainly good low wattage tube amps out there. 1 comes to mind at the moment is the Blackstar HT5. i don't know if the HT1 is available here or not.
 
No offence but if you want a tube amp at that budget, chances are you are looking more at the fact you want a TUBE amp than the fact you want good tone.
 
actually, i just need a worth the price low wattage tube amp for home use, just seeing if i could get gd dist at tt price in a tube amp. I have 500 to spend but i'm trying to spend as little as possible. Thnx for the help anyway! :)
 
Hey i've been on the hunt recently for low wattage tube amps too. What i've come across that seems viable would be the vox lil' night train,
Blackheart little Giant, Blackheart little ant and also a Marshall Class 5. All 5 watts and below. For 15 watters there would be the vox night train, orange tiny terror, Mesa boogie transatlantic and more. However from the vids i've seen people say that 15 watts is too loud to be played at home? Any one can clarify that with me? I know that the power output rating on tube amps are supposedly lower but produce a much louder sound that solid state amps for the same wattage or something like that.
 
depends on how big ur house is and whats tolerable for u. a 5 watt tube is alr too loud for me. i can nvr dime both my gain and vol at the same time. some ppl can play with a 50watt tube at home with not much problem (u might have to shout to them to be heard)
 
if you want warm cleans, and you use a bunch of good dirt pedals, then a low wattage tube amp will do...

i feel the HT5 doesnt have that warm clean that im looking for, but the OD channel (coz of the ISF) is really intense for a 5-watter...
i recommend the HT5 head with a 1x12 HT cab...
HT1 seems cool too, expecially after watching the Andy James demo hehehe...
these Blackstars are good for "plug & play" practice, w/o much fiddling on the controls...

anyway, even though you only have a low watt tube amp, it doesnt mean u cant have decent tone...there are still many variables, like tube type (preamp, poweramp) and brand for example...
 
hey Kyokkai, maybe you could drop by citymusic one of these days to check out their vox lil night train. on their sale brochure it's going for $364, quite close to your budget.

can check out sample vid here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtDaqJssqoA&hd=1

maybe you would want to try it with the V112NT 1×12" cab instead of the stock V110NT 1×10" cab. It'll be slightly more expensive, but definitely less than your max of $500
 
Hi Madwerewolf: I tried a small tube amp many many years back.. can't remember, and always had the impression that tube amps needed to be high watt, and played loud to sound good and have the stack feel. Not sure if it's the case now. :)
 
actually, amp cabs do play a big role in the overall tone. plugging these low watt amps into a small 1×8" cab and a large 4×12" will result in very different sounds.

most low watt tube amps are targeted to be sold in low to medium budget, so they always pair up low watt amps with small cabs with small drivers. those usually don't help make these amps feel "big".

imo, for one with a reasonable budget, try pairing a low watt tube amp head with at least a 1×12" cab. personaly i fell that 12"s sound better than 10"s and 8"s for the music i play. they give a lil more low end, especially if the cab is closed back. apart from looking for a good tube amp, spend some time to look for a good cab to pair it up with. for simplicity, can start by looking at the cabs offered by the brand of the amp. if you wanna explore a lil, can go for cabs of other brands, like marshall or line 6
 
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