Looking for a small tube amp

[Slippery fingers]

Im looking for a small tube amp just to use for practice, and for when Im sitting on my front porch. I already have 3 tube amps , a HotRod DeVille 4x10, a 1971 Traynor YGL3 Marklll, and a Traynor YCV40, all are great amps but big and heavey. I thought about a fender blues Jr $400.00, but then I found a Crate V18 112, it's an 18 watt class A tube amp for only $149.00 at Music 123!!! Now Im old enough to know that you get what you pay for, but this amp gets good reviews on Harmany Central guitar amp data page. The only reason it's so cheep is because it's made in China, some of the guys on Harmany Central claim that it sounds good out of the box, but if a good speaker is installed along with a new set of tubes it sounds great. So my question is have any of you guys had any experiance with this amp, if so how is it?
Thanks,
Paul

[yettoblaster]

No experience with that particular amp, but I'll just say that 18 watts in class "A" is likely to be pretty loud before you're really working it!

I had a Victoria 5112, which is a 5 watt Champ clone with a twelve inch speaker, and it could be very loud when desired.

I tend to prefer small "tweed" design tube amps, usually single-ended. The beauty of class "A" is that it's about twice the perceived output of a similiar sized class AB amp. When they only have one power tube chances are they are single-ended class "A."
Fender 600 etc. uses one EL84.

The new Carr Mini-Mercury uses one EL-34. Intriguing ads, but I haven't heard one yet.

[jps]

When they only have one power tube chances are they are single-ended class "A."

With that configuration it can't be anything else but Class A!

[BlueAngel]

The beauty of class "A" is that it's about twice the perceived output of a similiar sized class AB amp.

Actually that isn't true, and is another aspect of the myth that cathode-bias and Class A are the same thing - they're not.

There is no difference in perceived volume between an equivalent Class A and a Class AB amp of the same rated power - ie using the same type of bias arrangement and other circuit parameters.

The big difference is that cathode-biased amps react to transients very differently because the bias is dependent on the signal strength, which gives them a unique and distinctive type of compression which accentuates the note attack and makes them sound a lot louder.

When they only have one power tube chances are they are single-ended class "A."

With that configuration it can't be anything else but Class A!

That's also debatable! In theory it should be so, but most single-ended guitar amps are biased hotter than the correct operating point for Class A, and so still clip asymetrically at full power - it's just that (unlike in a normal Class AB amp) the clipping is at the forward end of the waveform instead. So they could (and maybe should) be defined as a sort of 'quasi-Class AB single-ended'.

It is worth making the distinction, because some of the characteristics which make them desirable - the asymetric distortion (which has a 'horn-like' tone) and the 'bloom' caused by the reduction in current draw as the forward end clips - are distinctive to this type of biasing and different from a true Class A amp.


If you had a true, correctly-biased fixed-bias Class A single-ended amp (which certainly can be built, although I don't know of any, although there may be some in hi-fi applications), it wouldn't show any of these characteristics and would actually probably sound fairly bland and not all that loud.

[soundmasterg]

It still amazes me how many people out there still subscribe to the Class A marketing hype and believe an AC30 is Class A, and that Class A is something that should be preferred over other arrangements.

For a home practice amp, 5 watts is plenty with an efficient speaker. The Epiphone Valve Junior is a good sounding amp that has plenty of volume to practice on the porch, and can be easily modified too if you prefer to change the sound of it. They're not too expensive either. I've got the head, and the seperate cabinet, and its a nice looking, great sounding combination stock.

Greg

[beatlefreak]

Tou don't have to worry about getting confused over the controls with them, either!

[1OUfan]

The Traynor YCV20WR is a very fine little 15 Watt tube amp.
Bob

[goofyfoot]

Have you considered the original Fender Super Champ (not the current XD), the Paul Rivera, Sr.-designed beauty of a tube amp from the first half of the 80's? It's an 18-watt gem, the last of the point-to-point hand-wired regular Fender production amps. Tube complement: 7025 (low-crackling 12AX7), 12AT7, 6C10, and 2 x 6V6. I bought my 1984 model the year it was produced and it's still a player's delight. Where would Fender amp production be today had it not been for Rivera, who headed up Fender R&D for 3-4 years in the early 80's, and Ed Jahns, a brilliant electrical engineering mind?

Click on thumbnails for larger resolution as well as the link for my slideshow. They're pretty pricey nowadays for a small, vintage tube amp --- 700 to 800 bonz. But you won't be disappointed. Good luck with whatever you end up scoring, brah. Best regards.......Goofyfoot.

http://w119.photobucket.com/pbwidget.sw ... c14a53.pbw

[jps]

He should try and find the fancy one with the wood finish cabinet and EV speaker, that would kill for a small amp.

[goofyfoot]

He should try and find the fancy one with the wood finish cabinet and EV speaker, that would kill for a small amp.

........but it might injure his wallet beyond recovery. Peace, out.....Goofyfoot.

[kiramdear]

Why not go really vintage with an old Magnatone or Voice Of Music tube amp. Those are all the rage around here, with players taking them to gigs everywhere. I've got a VM eight-watt square dance caller's amp from 1953 that's loaded with great tube sound. Cost a lost less than the boutique-y amps too.

[wmthor]

I travel on business about 50 to 60 percent of the time and take a guitar with me whenever I'm not flying. I got myself a Fender Champion 600 as my travel amp. I retubed it, installed Weber's 6 inch Alnico speaker, and now it's got a great warm tone. After A/B 'ing with a friend's original Fender Champ and Victoria 518, I'd say that I've got about 95% of the tone of those two at about 20% of their price.

Before I got the Champ 600, I was using a Vox Pathfinder 15, but that was just too large for what I was using it for. The Champ 600 travels very nicely on the backseat floorboard. Also, I do not worry about annoying the hotels' other guests.