Tube (Valve) Amp for home practice

Gear & Tools Talk šŸ”Š Amplification & Effects
21

Exactly;
my pedalboard is now:

  • wireless receiver
  • MOD Devices Dwarf for guitar and vocal processing
  • A harley Benton 100w solid state amp in pedal form

I can plug in the mixer and enable a suitable cab simulator with a variety of IRā€™s I can manage myself or I can take a long my Laney 2X12 cabinet which is pretty light for its 2 speakers and size.
For acoustic gigs same thing or with a small clean amp (roland street cube)

I only use my tube amp at home these days!

1 Like
22

I have a Vox Lilā€™ Night Trainā€¦it is fully tube with 12AT6s and 12AU6ā€™s. It has options for speaker-out (2 watts into 16-ohm speaker; and 1.5 watts into an 8-ohm speak) and for headphones-line out.
I have always found this little amp sounds greatā€¦but it picks up a gawd-awful hiss from my own internal AC voltageā€¦only happens when I play itā€¦My friends get no hiss. I guess they are more ā€œgroundedā€ then I am.

My other Home use amp is a little Fender 600. Mine is the vintage re-issue thingā€¦not a 1948 era '600 (sadly).
The Fender 600 is amazing for a tiny tube amp (2-4 watts). It is now discontinued I believeā€¦but there are plenty of them around.

23

I have a Blackstar HT1R and a Marshall JCM2000 1w amp. Both are great but both are too loud for just bedroom use! What I like about the Blackstar is that you can record silently with it or play while using headphones (thereā€™s an input for them on the front of the head). In terms of sound, I prefer the Marshall, which I find is punchier and fuller (though that may be because I usually run it through a 1x12 - whereas I think the Blackstar cab is a 1x10, but donā€™t quote me on that). Thereā€™s also an MP3/line input on the front for you to plug in an MP3 player, etc.

I think if youā€™re not planning on gigging and youā€™re looking for something for home use, then the Blackstar would be great. Iā€™m sure there are lots of other similar style amps around these days so one approach is to check whatever your favourite guitarist(s) use and see if thereā€™s a ā€˜home-friendlyā€™ version of that around.

24

Hi Basementbob,
Iā€™m so glad to hear you say that you have an extra-active internal AC device because I think I suffer in the same way too! No matter what amp I use, it always screams at me. So sad. I wonder how we can earth ourselves better :thinking:

25

Marshall DSL1CR.
1 W or 0.1 W