all right here goes...
i have my 100 watt marshall valvestate 8100 head for performances and full-volume rehersal, but it has to be at a fairly high volume (say about half volume, so pretty damn loud) to get a nice crunch on the clean channel. Since when im not rehersing with my band or performing, it spends its time in my room, and i cant really use it very well without being reported for noise issues, ive been looking into smaller wattage valve heads to put through my 8 ohm 100 watt 4.12 cab.
ive looked at:
Epi Valve jr. (5 watts) (can get for about £100)
Epi Valve Senior (18 watts) (about £200)
Blackheart Killer ant (1 watt) (about £90)
i was wondering what opinions are on these, and whether anyone can recommend any others for me to look into that about about 15watts or less
thanks guys
Fortune, Fame, Mirror, Vain, Gone Insane But The Memory Remains
I have owned the Epi Valve Jr. 5 watt head for about 2 years and have no complaints about it. It gives a nice clean tone, and a nice tube overdriven tone when cranked.
"The only way I know that guarantees no mistakes is not to play and that's simply not an option". David Hodge
I agree, but the Valve Junior's loud enough to give you neighbor trouble if you want to crank it.
I have no experience with the Killer Ant, but it sounds promising.
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
I have a Hughes & Kettner Cream Machine, which is a small "head", driven by 2 12Ax7 valves (1 x "pre-amp", 1 x "power amp"), which goes into a 12" Fane 16 Ohm speaker. It will give you good bedroom volumes without the vibrations registering on the Richter scale. Changing the 1st 12AX7 for a 12AT7 or 12AU7 will give you more clean headroom.
If you don't play much clean stuff, the 1W is the way to go IMHO - through a 4x12 it should be quite impressive.
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yeah i thought the killer ant sounded promising too.
plus the fact that its only about £80, its not gonna break the bank.
just incase you wanted to know, i dont like small wattage amps in combo form because the sound is really boxy. so i wanted something compatible with my 4x12 so make it sound less boxy and hopefully a little more spread out
Fortune, Fame, Mirror, Vain, Gone Insane But The Memory Remains
I'm a firm believer that the only reason to run more than 15 to 20 watts of amp power is to gain headroom for a squeaky clean sound. PA systems nowadays are inexpensive enough that a band can buy a system with enough power to fill a small to mid-size venue for very reasonable prices and use that to do the heavy lifting. Around here, the mid-size and larger clubs have their own systems and a good many of the small clubs too.
With the state of modeling pedals today, a band can opt to carry NO amps if they so desire. That's what we've started doing, and it's really funny to watch people double take when they realize there's no amps on the stage - especially other guitar players ;)
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Playing guitar and never playing for others is like studying medicine and never working in a clinic.
Or you could add an attenuator to your current rig and run your amp up to power without attracting the notice of your neighbours.
Something like this, or a Marshall Power Brake if you can find one used.
I wrapped a newspaper ’round my head
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