To get a great tone, start with a great amp. Don't skimp out on your amp; plan to spend around the same amount of money as your guitar costs roughly. There are a lot of small tube amps to choose from, but I'll run down the list of some of my favorites, starting with the newer stuff on the market.
Blackstar HT-5R: This is a little 5-watt amp that uses a 12BH7 tube in a dual triode configuration. That's a little bit unusual and results in a different sound than the typical single-ended class-A 12AX7 preamp tube design. While a small package, it still manages a 12" speaker. I've never played one, but reviews are generally favorable. It has an "ISF" control that is supposed to morph between "British" (read Marshall) and "American" (read Fender) tones. There is also a baby version the HT-1R. The 1R uses a pair of 12AU7 tubes to power the amp and has an 8" speaker.
Gretsch Electromatic G5222: A more conventional tube-amp approach, using one 12AX7 in the preamp and a single 6V6 power tube, it has one control; volume. And quite frankly that should be all you need. A tube sound that takes pedals well, the speaker is a bit small but is a special 6" design. I have not played one.
Orange Microterror: Owning a Microterror gave me an appreciation for the distinct sound of Orange amps. While the Microterror uses a solid-state power section for 20 watts, the preamp is all 12AX7 tube goodness. This little amp pairs up well with Orange's specially designed mini-cabinet but also will rock a 4x12 full-size cab surprisingly well. What the Orange lacks though is clean headroom and easily distorts with a bright, punchy sound. I never found it to take pedals well because of the inherent distortion, so this is a good amp for those of you who want to just plug-in and play.
Jet City PicoValve: I paired my PicoValve with an open-back 1x12 cab loaded with a Celestion Greenback. This combo sounded quite good with my Strat and it should; the amp was designed by Andy Marshall of THD-fame. The power section can run on virtually any octal-based power tube, so feel free to swap away without worrying about biasing or blowing anything up. The amp also has a 2.5 or 5 watt switch, and the 2.5 watts is generally powerful enough for most practicing and room-playing, while the 5-watts with an efficient speaker sounds remarkably loud. The gain is more extreme than some of the other small amps due to its dual 12AX7's tubes, while offering a smooth single 6L6 in the power section.
Ibanez TSA15H: No this has nothing to do with the TSA you'll find at the airport, its Ibanez's attempt at making a small tube head. This head is 15-watts and easily rocks a 4x12 full cabinet. The amp controls are Bass, Treble and Volume, while the icing on the cake here is the built-in TS9 TubeScreamer circuit that is foot-switchable. The amp features two 12AX7 preamp tubes and two 6v6 power tubes. This is your amp if you like the TS9 circuit, having it integrated into the amp gives some incredible gain tones and will really rock. However, if you don't like the mid-range boost of the TubeScreamer, you may want to shy away from this one as there is no Mid control to mellow it out, aside from the TS9 tone control.
Epiphone Valve Jr.: This amp was all the craze a few years ago, sort of bringing back the all-tube, low-wattage amp category. The early versions had some problems and were not particularly well-received, but Epiphone corrected their issues by the time they released the amp in head format, which is what I own. Coupled to a 1x12 open back, the Epiphone's 5-watts come in a simple configuration of one 12AX7 and one EL84 power tube. The only control is volume, which is all you need, and the amp generally stays clean even at high volume levels and takes pedals fairly well. My only criticism is that the amp doesn't quite sound balanced across the fretboard, but a tube swap might help this.
There are also a *bunch* of low-watt all-tube amps from Marshall, Fender, Vox, Lanely, and Hughes & Kettner. I haven't played them, so I can't really comment.
So what do I recommend?
There is always one answer: The Fender Silverface Champ.
This amp is absolutely great. All tube, the Champ went through Tweed, Blackface, and Silverface iterations before Fender finally killed it off. It runs all class-A single-ended, meaning you don't need to bias the power tube, which is a 6V6GT, while a typical 12AX7 (actually a 7025) sits in the preamp. The only controls are Volume, Bass, and Treble, and likely you will set the Bass and Treble to 5 or 10 and leave them that way. The Champ is known for its amazing crystal-clear and chime-like clean sound, which pair particularly well with single-coils pickups. But with this great clean platform also comes a spectacular pedal platform. Handling everything from "transparent overdrive" to all-out sonic assaults, the 8" speaker does a remarkable job reproducing the frequencies while never feeling lacking in headroom or power. You can find a vintage Silverface Champ for about $300-$500 while a Blackface will bring perhaps 2x more and not really sound significantly different. The Champ does have a couple weak-points, namely a can-type capacitor that can go bad if you don't play the amp often enough. This is easily fixed by a tech for less than $50. Ted Weber offers custom replacement speakers for Champs that are outstanding as well.
There you go, your small amp guide to finding a pedal platform. Next time we revisit the subject, we'll talk about the amp I jack straight into; the Emery Microbaby.
No comments:
Post a Comment