In praise of small Tube Amps!

Make it loud here.
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JSett
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In praise of small Tube Amps!

Post by JSett » Sun Apr 03, 2022 10:52 am

Small amps. There's something about them I can't shake. They have a charm and sound that can't be matched...and they're light!

My years of chasing big and loud monster amps is well and truly over. My back and my ears can't take it. Over the last few decades I've moved through a few 'angry little bastard' amps - and I wish I'd kept a few of them. My current main squeeze is my BF Vibro Champ...It's perfect in its size and output. Yesterday an Orange AD5 landed (I've had one very briefly before) and, after a tube and speaker swap, sounds great. I've had a few old Teisco 3w tube amps, and other random brands. All have been fun to own, even the Peavey Nano Valve champ-a-like had it's day in my house.

So, the point of this thread I guess is to get opinions and recommendations on small tube amps and their many flavours. I'd like to buy a few that sound noticeably different from each other and I know there's a plethora of options out there. I'm definitely looking for a couple of notable models: My old Teisco 71 was great and I'd love to find another (I sold it to someone on here, long ago) & I guess I need to buy a Tweed Champ at some point.

But what's out there that isn't so obvious? I guess 8w or less & 10" or less speaker size would be the limitations. Obviously vintage is where I'll mostly be looking.

*EDIT: I managed to find a picture of the old Teisco 71, please excuse the photobucket watermark...

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Last edited by JSett on Sat Apr 23, 2022 8:48 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: In praise of small Tube Amps!

Post by s_mcsleazy » Sun Apr 03, 2022 12:31 pm

i know it's a cliche but the epiphone valve jr was my favorite "small" tube amp. i had one that i modded over the years to have master volume and it was voiced like a marshall. it always surprised me how good it was. sadly i sold it for peanuts when i was going through the homeless system. but it was a fantastic wee beast. i kinda love small amps because you find they're often really limited sounding but they always have one sound they can do better than some of the big amps.

right now, my "small" tube amp is my traynor (pictured below)
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Re: In praise of small Tube Amps!

Post by Unicorn Warrior » Sun Apr 03, 2022 12:45 pm

AC4HW is the one small amp I really want.

If you want to get really fancy, get a Matchless SC mini

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Re: In praise of small Tube Amps!

Post by i love sharin foo » Sun Apr 03, 2022 12:58 pm

I :-* small amps! Big ones, too, but small see 90% of my playing. I'll apologize in advance that all my photos seem to have guitars in them too :D

The little AD5 I have has been an awesome amp for me. I use it more than anything else. Other than a Mullard preamp tube, it's all stock. I wouldn't mind swapping the speaker sometime but the original doesn't sound too bad. It is VERY broken in by now. I've run plenty of lowend, bass heavy tones through it. I figure that has softened it up some. It's a really great amp.
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Next up is a '62 6G2 brown face Princeton. It lived in a studio in New York for a long time before I bought it. Apparently it had been on quite a few records recorded there. None of which I can remember though. When I first received it, I thought, shit, those records must be crap because this thing doesn't sound good at all. It really didn't. It had been poorly recapped before and had a couple of weird changes here and there. I went through it, switched everything back to stock and recapped it properly. I swapped in a fresh pair of NOS 6V6GTs and rebiased. It is now one of the best amps I've ever owned.
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The final one that I have now is a Vox AC4HW. It's all stock except for some JJs. That amp, a Rangemaster, and a P90 is a thing of beauty. It sounds like a Vox.
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Re: In praise of small Tube Amps!

Post by Maggieo » Sun Apr 03, 2022 2:34 pm

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I am not an attorney and this post is for entertainment purposes only. Please consult a licensed attorney in your state for legal advice.

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Re: In praise of small Tube Amps!

Post by Veitchy » Sun Apr 03, 2022 5:28 pm

Tiny Amp Town looks nice. I'm sure the locals are lovely.

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Re: In praise of small Tube Amps!

Post by Telliot » Sun Apr 03, 2022 5:31 pm

I’ve sold all my amps and have only had my ‘66 Princeton Reverb for the last 7 years or so. It’s all I need and puts a smile on my face each and every time I play it.

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Re: In praise of small Tube Amps!

Post by JSett » Sun Apr 03, 2022 9:20 pm

The Vox AC4HW is on my list of 'to try'. Every demo I've heard, and people's descriptions, say it's the most vox-specific sounding one of their small amp offerings.
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Re: In praise of small Tube Amps!

Post by marqueemoon » Sun Apr 03, 2022 10:06 pm

Here's the current amp situation at home.

Thomas Organ era tube Vox Cambridge (17ish watts, needs a cap job :( ), At Mars Specialist Filmosound restomod (15 watts with a low power option), Swart STR Tremolo (a very loud 5 watts).

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I've become a convert. For the small places I generally play it doesn't usually take much, and there's nothing like a small amp working hard for recording.

I'd eventually like to get a ultra-low power thing like an Emery Sound Microbaby or a D Kowalski Dark Gene, but I want to see how the whole tube shortage thing shakes out.

I also have a tiny tube integrated amp to push those Madisound folded horn speakers that are serving as as amp stand under the Swart, but there's never really been a place in my house to set up a second stereo system.

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Re: In praise of small Tube Amps!

Post by UlricvonCatalyst » Mon Apr 04, 2022 2:04 am

I'm also an Epiphone Jr. guy (mine is heavily modded/upgraded), which I really wish was a Vibro-Champ.

Obviously there are lots of vintage British small amps out there, like the original WEM Dominators, stuff by Bird, Lion, Elpico, Selmer, etc. I believe Carlsboro started out doing valve amps too, but I'm not sure whether any of them were small. I think Orange only got into small amps fairly recently, though I could be wrong about that.

I had a WEM Clubman for a number of years which was okay but quite dark-sounding (as WEMs tend to be), and had use of a little Lion one many years ago, with a tremolo that only worked intermittently (by which I don't mean it worked as it should have).

The blue Dominator with angled speakers is kind of the king of the hill in that line-up, probably, but prices for those are probably past their point of worth by now.

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Re: In praise of small Tube Amps!

Post by DeathJag » Mon Apr 04, 2022 2:57 am

I’m ignorant since I’ve never played a small amp, but can they support a fat clean tone? I mean full chords strummed hard, but staying super clean?

I only have big amps, just got a 40 watt Bassman which is not the smallest haha! It gets dirty around 4, but it’s loud enough by then. I use an SPL power soak so I don’t need earplugs.

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Re: In praise of small Tube Amps!

Post by JackFawkes » Mon Apr 04, 2022 8:03 am

I only have one tube amp and it's fairly small... a VHT Double Eight.
It's actually two Single-ended Class A circuits in parallel (similar to the THD BiValve) with each output tube having it's own master to blend to taste. It also has a switch that lets you use either two smaller power tubes (like a 6V6GT and EL84) or two larger tubes (like a KT88 and an EL34).
It's fun to play with, sounds very good, and I'd post a picture but it's socked away in my closet because it's still a bit too loud to play at my current apartment, haha.

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Re: In praise of small Tube Amps!

Post by panoramic » Mon Apr 04, 2022 9:27 am

these threads always getting me jonesing for Princeton reverbs and Vox ac4's, no surprise it's happening again
I used to be cool, now I just complain about prices.

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Re: In praise of small Tube Amps!

Post by JSett » Mon Apr 04, 2022 10:15 am

I've just managed to score this little '64 Epiphone Pacemaker for £300. Should be with me Thursday...

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Google tells me it's a 10w version of the Gibson GA-5T Skylark Tremolo.
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Re: In praise of small Tube Amps!

Post by JSett » Mon Apr 04, 2022 11:46 am

Telliot wrote:
Sun Apr 03, 2022 5:31 pm
I’ve sold all my amps and have only had my ‘66 Princeton Reverb for the last 7 years or so. It’s all I need and puts a smile on my face each and every time I play it.

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That looks extremely clean dude! Congrats
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