Tube amps to recommend?

[MadWerewolfBoy]

yeah i find 5 watt tubes just nice for room practise. it is also good for jamming sessions in medium sized jamming rooms. there was on article somewhere that did reviews on low watt tube amps. i remember it said something about 15 to 20 watt tube amps fall into one of the most useless power range because they're too loud for room practise, and they have not enough clean headroom for live applications in medium to large venues.

i've tried using my 5 watt amp for a medium size live venue, i had to max the clean channel which wasn't ideal for clean tone cause it started to break up around 2 to 3 o'clock. it was fine for distortion parts though, very good indeed cause i actually cranked the amp quite hard and the level of distortion was pretty intense

 

[lemonade93]

Vox Nightrain ftw! Tried it out, love it

 

[Ratboy]

http://www.surprisesoundlab.com/ssl-22_003.htm

i recommend this... nice cleans, nice overdrive ... no heavy metal stuff ... but takes pedals well
and around your budget


oops ... you need to consider getting a good cab/speaker tooo ... so might be out of budget new
look for a used one : )

 

[Godspeed64]

Vox Nightrain ftw! Tried it out, love it

Great amp! Has the sweet Voxy cleans and traditional DYNAMIC Vox break-up tones. Classic British Invasion tone in the Bright Mode (really identical to a normal AC) and chunky distortion in the thick mod.
Wanna sell mine but CM's sale makes me hold out first.

 

[taiku]

15 watts tube amps are really loud for bedroom levels. I rarely hit the sweet spot with my 15 watter.

yah, the true bedroom amps are the ones below 5W, altho the HT5 is still quite loud, good job ex-Marshall Boys! (i.e. the Blackstar founders hehehe)...

 

[smellybellyalis]

Yeah i agree. 5 watts is plenty loud if you ask me. I just got a Blackheart little giant all tube amplifier from a fellow softy yesterday. Now i see what all the hype over tube amps was about! Totally loving it.

 

[Lifehouse]

You are much better off getting a solid state amp at that price. I think the Super Champ XD or Little Giant is probably the cheapest tube amp I will recommend. Save a bit more, seeing how 70% of your tone is derived from your amplifier.

Tubes do not make an amp magically better. The circuitry does.