Who has a really LOW wattage tube amp?

I have a bumbox (there's supposed to be an umlaut over the u, pronounce it "boombox")
An umlaut has a totally different effect - it makes the sound closer to "bermbox". A German would pronounce "Bumbox" pretty close to "Boombox", though

An umlaut has a totally different effect - it makes the sound closer to "bermbox". A German would pronounce "Bumbox" pretty close to "Boombox", though

Feeling pedantic, greybeard? ;) I am actually aware of that -- I work with a lot of people in Germany, and I can almost sort of pronounce Boeblingen correctly. (For anyone who's paying attention and is confused, the standard conversion of vowels with umlauts into a character set without umlauts is to put an e after the vowel.) There is actually a joke at work about how to pronounce the name of the Boeblingen lab. From the IBM Jargon File:

Bubblegum - n. The Boeblingen Laboratory, in Germany. Americans have four alternatives in trying to pronounce “Boeblingen”: a) BO-BLING-GEN makes you sound as if you have never heard the word spoken and are clearly “out of it”; b) BER-BLING-GEN (the most popular variant) sounds as if you KNOW what it sounds like but cannot pronounce it yourself (probably true); c) BOB-LING-GEN seems to be a favourite in New York State; d) the correct pronunciation leaves you open to accusations of intellectual snobbery by the other groups. Calling it “Bubblegum” defuses the whole issue by attempting to make it a joke.

However, correct German pronunciation aside, it doesn't change the fact that Americans in general will probably pronounce Buembox as "boombox". Also, I believe this is the reason the Buembox guy decided to use an umlaut in the first place. :lol:

TZ

Actually, Berb-lingen is probably closest. Have much to do with Daimler.... or is it HP? They're the 2 big employers in Ber-Ber-Ber-Ber-Berb-lingen.
The Brits get sold a beer called Äyinger (with an umlaut over the i as well). The brewery is in Aying, with not an umlaut in sight (I even drink the real Ayinger beer, ocassionally). Like the metal heads, it's done for a "teutonic" image.
I find it almost as irritating as the people who deliberately misspell wordz or reduce their prose to the level of texting.

Öh nø! My thrëad häs been hijäcked! You meutley crew-eh!

Well then, let's get this back on track! (Almost) Check out the site for Beavis Audio Research, there will be references to several small diy solid state amps - the Ruby and the Noisy Cricket, as well as development of a Tube Cricket. The Tube Cricket is really the Noisy Cricket with a tube preamp. Interesting stuff though, the builds are all very well explained and basically extensions of the smokey amp circuit.

Thanks Drewsdad. He's got some very cool stuff on that site. Love his trash can cab, and that looks suspiciously like a Guytronix Ardmore (8w) sitting on top in the last picture. 8)

Epi Valve Junior. 5 watt tube amp. I LOVE it.:D :D

Epi Valve Junior. 5 watt tube amp. I LOVE it.:D :D

5W is plenty loud!

Slejhamer wrote:
"Thanks Drewsdad. He's got some very cool stuff on that site. Love his trash can cab, and that looks suspiciously like a Guytronix Ardmore (8w) sitting on top in the last picture. "

Wouldn't surprise me a bit, he usually checks out everyone's stuff at one time or another. Glad you enjoyed it. :D

What about speaker breakup? It can't make any sense running <5 watts through our typical 60-80 watt speakers. Should we all just go to the thrift store and buy a box of old transistor radios or clock radios and try the speakers and see what we like? Even a nice old 25watt celestion won't be pushed into doing anything interesting. Does anyone make a hi quality <5 or 10 watt guitar speaker? Because of the peak power, might it make sense to use a 10-20 watt standard speaker for a <5 watt guitar amp?

I don't know where speaker break-up comes into play, but I do know that the classic 4w tweed Fender Champ drove a 20w Jensen speaker with no problem, and got a great overdriven sound.

As for my project, I'll be using a 15w Weber Blue Dog, a lower-priced alternative to the famous Celestion Blue.

I don't know where speaker break-up comes into play, but I do know that the classic 4w tweed Fender Champ drove a 20w Jensen speaker with no problem, and got a great overdriven sound.
Funny thing about that is that speakers rated for higher power are often MORE sensitive (louder with a low power signal) than speakers rated for lower power! That's mainly because of their bigger magnets and voice coils, I think.

I don't like to hear speakers distorting. I like to hear the distortion that's coming out of the tubes through relatively clean speakers. So I'll often want a speaker that's rated for considerably more power than the amp's rated for.

Epi Valve Junior. 5 watt tube amp. I LOVE it.:D :D

5W is plenty loud!

It's WAY louder than my 20-watt solid-state amp :)

A 100db1w/1m senstivity speaker will put out 100db with a 1 watt amp at full power. A 2 watt amp at full power will put out 103db at full power, as every time you double the wattage you add 3db to the SPL. So that means that a 100 watt amp can only put out 15db more than the measely little 2 watter at full power.

What about speaker breakup? It can't make any sense running <5 watts through our typical 60-80 watt speakers. Should we all just go to the thrift store and buy a box of old transistor radios or clock radios and try the speakers and see what we like? Even a nice old 25watt celestion won't be pushed into doing anything interesting. Does anyone make a hi quality <5 or 10 watt guitar speaker? Because of the peak power, might it make sense to use a 10-20 watt standard speaker for a <5 watt guitar amp?

Sound-wise, a speaker at or into breakup tends to add an edgy, raw sound and bass/lower-mids tend to lose definition. Using a higher-power rated speaker actually sounds warmer and smoother, and tends to retain better definition especially in the bass/lower-midrange frequencies. If you've ever played through an old Fender tweed-era amp (or a clone) cranked that uses an alnico speaker whose ratings are close to the amps' power rating, you'll understand what I mean.

Cheers!

Strat