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I love my JCM 800, but I can't justify getting it up loud enough to get the tubes cooking when I'm playing in my house. I'm looking for a "bedroom volume" replacement.

Ideally I'd love a low watt tube amp, but I don't want to spend any more than $300. I played through an orange micro terror, which was awesome. I also have heard good things about the 1 and 5 watt blackstar amps.

Is there anything else I should try out?

The Marshall Class 5 is within that budget. If you can stretch the budget a bit, the Marshall SL5 (used) is a bit more but is a huge sounding amp for its wattage and is the best "low wattage JCM" amp I've ever heard.

Blackstars are pretty "meh". I say this as a former owner of an HT5R (which i used with some pretty nice cabs) as well as an HT Dual pedal. The thing about Blackstars is that their drive is SUPER full of character. It more or less steamrolls the tone of the individual guitar. This is great if you own one crappy guitar and want a usable drive tone. If you own nicer instruments whose tone you want to hear, it homogenizes them a lot more than a good amp should. It's NOT an amp for a pickup swapper, for example.

Maybe one of the H&K Tubemeisters? I have the 18 and absolutely love it.

You could just get a attenuator for the 800

I’ll second the Class5 recommendation. I got mine second hand for $275. I love the way it sounds, especially in a band situation. Remember, though, that in order to get the tubes to sizzle for the overdriven sound, you’ll be quite loud! You could use a pedal for overdrive, but that kind of defeats the point of this amp, I feel.

I have the class 5 marshall....you can knock down the wattage to 1 watt, it's still loud but not cranking. Also at 5 watts you can plug the amp into a cab for some other flavors. It has its own sound leaning to a plexi. I have been playing it through my 4-12 Hiwatt cab at 5 watts....GLORY!!!! I think this is the amp you need.

I always thought the Class 5 was a one trick pony, and I remember some quality issues when it was new. I'm kinda surprised by the love it's getting.

I have a VHT Special 6 head for home use. It cant do the Marshall thing, but it is a nice point to point Fender Champ styled amp. Easy to mod from what I hear.

eurotrashed wrote: ↑

Sun Jul 29, 2018 6:21 pm

I have a VHT Special 6 head for home use. It cant do the Marshall thing, but it is a nice point to point Fender Champ styled amp. Easy to mod from what I hear.

I have one too. It’s definitely more Fender flavored.

SAVEStheDAY wrote: ↑

Sun Jul 29, 2018 5:06 pm

I always thought the Class 5 was a one trick pony, and I remember some quality issues when it was new. I'm kinda surprised by the love it's getting.

I have the later version with three panels on the back. It’s been great for me. No cab rattle or reliability issues. The input jack is of a really high quality, too.

Does anyone have an opinion on the Bugera T5? An all tube amp for $150 makes me wonder. I've never seen one in a shop before either.

Tiny Terror did the job for me as far as tiny 800-ish sounds. I honestly loved it way more as a bedroom amp than I did any kind of gigging. They are also pretty cheap at this point, so well worth the grab.

Marshall Mosfet Lead 100.

I agree, Class 5 + Marshall-y pedal of choice should provide you w/ a nice bedroom volume facsimile of your JCM800 rig, especially if you've got a 2 or 4x12 to plug it into when you want to crank it up. Haven't been looking super recently but when I was looking for a head to go w/ my combo a year or two ago they seemed to have climbed in price a bit, so it might push the budget a bit, but I think it would probably be worth it.

My combo probably gets played through the most out of my amps... I rolled tubes and put a G10M in mine and it's been plenty versatile and solid as can be.

Any love for the Marshall Lead 12?

I'm a big fan of these little amps, and some say they can nail the JCM tone at low volumes.

I currently own a Bass 12 -which I believe is a little bit more of a plexi sound- and a Lead 12 head that just SINGS

And, no matter where you are, they are cheap and easy to get.