Another Amp Thread

bbobb24 · Post by **bbobb24** » Fri Jul 14, 2006 3:34 am

Do any of you folks play through a low wattage tube amp? I'm currently playing through a Budda Verbmaster, which is a fantastic amp, but soo loud. And of course the louder it gets the better it sounds. I was looking on line at some amps that are rated at 5 watts or less but finding something local to try can be tough.

Any thoughts?

admin · Post by **admin** » Fri Jul 14, 2006 4:47 am

Bob: This thread will be moving to Charlie's Tube Tech Forum. Just a heads up should it appear to go missing. I recommend you get a power soaker or hotplate that will allow you to keep your tone but at lower volumes.

soundmasterg · Post by **soundmasterg** » Fri Jul 14, 2006 6:53 am

Any amp that has London Power's (Kevin O' Connor's) "power scaling" feature in it will allow you to get a great sound at low volumes or a great sound at high volumes. It is possible to add it as a kit to many amps, and some others use it already. It sounds WAY better than attenuators from what I've heard so far. You can see how the power scaling works at O' Connor's site, which is below. Other than that, even a 5 watt tube amp will be very loud. You can get a less efficient speaker and that will make your amp quieter.

www.londonpower.com

alanbass1 · Post by **alanbass1** » Fri Jul 14, 2006 10:54 am

I actually find that attenuators degrade the sound a little too much for my liking, having tried both a Hotplate and an Airbrake. The other thing to consider when trying to get 'that' sound is that speakers play a major part in how they compress and break up the sound and often using a high quality low wattage speaker sounds much better at lower volume, all other things being equal.

I tend to use amps that hit their sweet spot in an unmiked band situation. I figure that the amp needs to sound it's best when playing alongside drums and bass and if the band needs to be louder then everyone goes through the PA. It seems that the 15 - 20 watt class A amps are ideal for this. It amuses me that when miking up the band the PA guy would often ask me to turn down lower than when I would have my volume at a non mike'd gig as they seem to think they need to control the volume totally. However, it always ends up with me playing at my normal volume (although not after some considerable discussions in some instances).

Of course if you are playing at home and want to hit a valve amps sweet spot you are talking seriously low output. Emery do some 1 watt amps and both Kingsley and Fargen do 3 and watt amps. These really are limited if you wanted to play live, although the Univalve with a 6K6 is pretty quiet (2 watt) and can put out as much as 18 watts equipped with a KT88, so these are pretty flexible with a good sound.

bbobb24 · Post by **bbobb24** » Fri Jul 14, 2006 12:42 pm

Thank you for the responses, I really do appreciate it. I don't play out anymore, and when I do I'm playing bass so I was looking for a guitar amp to use at home only and it looks like maybe the Emery might do the trick.

Thanks again!!

admin · Post by **admin** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 3:02 am

Bob: Never say never. I cannot begin to tell you how many times I have said that only to gig again. I would not select an amp that restricts you from gigging out. As soon as you do, a gig will present itself. It is almost the universal law of musicians.

Alan: I agree that attenuators do compromise tone to a degree, but in my experience not so much to make their use probhited. They are often a good compromise depending on your situation and pocketbook.

bbobb24 · Post by **bbobb24** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 1:41 pm

Hey Peter, good point about never saying never. But in my situation I've accually never gigged as a guitarist. Whenever I've played out I was always playing bass, and in my opinion I'm a much better bass player than I am a guitar player. So if I were to downsize my guitar rig it should really be much of a problem.

Once again I appreciate everyone's help and opinions. I just can't get over how helpful the folks on this site are.

alanbass1 · Post by **alanbass1** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 4:42 pm

Bob, one other thing to consider is whether you would ever want clean headroom for those mad I don't care about the neighbours anymore moments. To me, there is nothing better than a good valve amp working hard at clean levels. I've not tried the Emery microbaby but have owned a Univalve. This is a great amp and can go very low with something like a 6K6 and some 5751's in the pre amp section. The best thing about the Univalve is chopping and changing the valves to get a lot of really different sounds/feel from the amp, so when you are in an 'I wish I had that amp/sound' moment, you can generally get close enough with buying a different set of valves. If I had just one amp it would be the Univalve....in fact I might just get another now I realise just how good it was!!!