Small amps < 5 watt

Doulin · August 2023

I am interested in your opinions and general tid bits and info.
Apologies if this has been covered a million times, well i am not... lets do it a million and one times!

Back story: TLDR want an amp less than 5W and open to ideas (i.e not 10 watts turned down!)
I have an ac10 and my wife has a tweed blues jr. We love them both, these reside at home. We have a little cabin in Scandinavia (hard life I know) shared with my in laws (see there was a catch there!) and it needs an amp. It needs to be small, and not loud, but mostly small.

So what 5 watt amps do you love!

This needs ground rules because I think amps get generalised too much, then this may be useful again in future!
You have to say what genre of music you like playing through it.
What guitar(s) you love through them.
What makes them special
Budget is a concern so happy budget spending on amps.

So i'll start with someone I know:
Marshall origin 5

Prog rock/70s rock/Blues - mostly broken up tone
Gibson Les Paul Standard
Lovely edge of break up/OD sound when playing in the conservatory and doesn't annoy the wife too much... looks extremely pretty in the lounge.
paid £150, budget up to £300.

Dodge · August 2023

I find bigger amps turned down sound better than little amps turned up, and your AC10 is a very fine amp turned up and turned down - but anyway....

VHT Special 6 1x10 (or the head and 1x12 cab). Should come in around or less than £200. It's basically a Blackface Champ with a single tone control rather than the 2 band EQ. All handwired and decent construction. Doesn't fit the 'pretty in the lounge' criteria though, they're fugly. They sound great clean and pushed with pretty much anything.

AntonHunter · August 2023

You know, a lot depends on the space it'll be used in I think. Lend us your cabin for a couple of weeks, and I'm sure I can get the perfect shortlist together for you to try...

ScreamingDave · August 2023

Marshall DSL5. It also has a switch to drop the power to 1W

Jetfire · August 2023

I loved my Laney IRT Studio, 1 / 15 watt inputs. Mostly used it for gigging in a cover band situation for about 3/4 years. Never did me wrong. Had a Matrix power amp too so I could use it for gigging etc. Also had a Hughes and Kettner Grandmiester 36 which has different levels on it. Both of these used a marshall 1912 or a 1 x 12 ported Bogner cab.

GoFish · August 2023

I do love a special six. Try the Ultra, with a 12" speaker, fauxtennuator, mids boost and a second channel that you won't use. A whole range of options on the basic sound wlth a bunch of selectable EQ curves thrown in. They are indeed so fugly as to maybe inspire a makeover in something completely different? And they are not small, sorry.

Alternatives - a Supro Delta thingy - 8" for 1 loud watt or 10" for 5. A bit more raggedy than a fender type and comes with a boost built in. will drive quite easily for a distinctive growl.

Loud amps turned down are a great sound, better than the opposite by many metrics - but there's not much like a raw little amp in its sweet spot.

The chinese made small tweeds (Artist, Juketone etc) are pretty good too.

For something different and in budget, do they still make the Vox Mini5? Range of sounds and volumes, mic input for harmonica, decent auto drums built in and battery powered so you can take it into the woods and scare the wildlife. CAn look like a mini vox. It's made for your use case.

TTony · August 2023

You can get s/h THR5 for ~£100.

Can't get much smaller and you're not going to have to worry about valves. Has aux-in and full-range speakers so can double up as a music player. Has 'phones socket too.

Downside is that I don't think it has any presets on it, so you can tweak the sounds in the software, but can't then save them to the amp (AFAIK).

Doulin · August 2023

Dodge said:

I find bigger amps turned down sound better than little amps turned up, and your AC10 is a very fine amp turned up and turned down - but anyway....

Completely agree! Its just too big for where it needs to live!

Doulin · August 2023

Got some good ideas! What I had in mind was an ac4c1 or a tv. I really like the idea of a 5e3 circuit but I can't justify the price right now.

I like the Marshall's but mostly with others guitars that aren't mine. I find my strat kinda disappointing with small Marshalls even though everything I read says this shouldn't be the case!

digitalscream · August 2023

For what it's worth, I've got a Blackstar HT1 that I run clean, basically as a make-louder device for my board (which has a Bogner Red as the main drive). Does exactly what it says on the tin - can wind it up when I'm feeling fruity and it sounds surprisingly great at high or low volumes.

Power-Beef · August 2023

1. Harley Benton 5-TH, comes with an attenuater built-in to go down to 0.1 watt.

https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_mighty_5th.htm

I had one, moved it on because a big relocation was/is on the cards. Sounds fine clean, gets a bit flubby when REALLY driven, but the in-between sounds worked well enough for me.

2. Katana Mini - Still have mine. May move it on, may not.

3. A multi effects unit with a JBL blue tooth speaker - Just buy direct from JBL, safer that way to dodge any fakes.

theatreanchor · August 2023

Laney L5-112

One of the Brit ones with the spring reverb.

Doulin · August 2023

AntonHunter said:

You know, a lot depends on the space it'll be used in I think. Lend us your cabin for a couple of weeks, and I'm sure I can get the perfect shortlist together for you to try...

Please do but unfortunately I will definitely be there and I am absolutely horrible company to be with

Snags · August 2023

theatreanchor said:

Laney L5-112

One of the Brit ones with the spring reverb.

Doesn't meet the small criteria.

An owner writes.

noisepolluter · August 2023

Even a 0.5 watt non-master volume valve amp cranked might be too loud at home - certainly is for me having borrowed a mate’s Z-Vex nano.

Conversely I use a 40 watt Marshall valve amp at home which has two master volumes and a half-power mode and it will do great sounds right down to Micro Cube levels. Might be a bit big for a cabin but a 1x8 champ could be deafening cranked in the same space.

Having tried an AC10 (and been impressed with it), then if it’s still too big for your purposes then maybe look at a small/smallish modeller like one of the Yamaha THR amps or a Positive Grid spark of some description.

theatreanchor · August 2023

Snags said:

theatreanchor said:

Laney L5-112

One of the Brit ones with the spring reverb.

Doesn't meet the small criteria.

An owner writes.

Missed that. Laney Cub then. And turn it down.

Alex2678 · August 2023

Blackstar ht1 or ht5, sound great.

ICBM · August 2023

If you want significantly smaller and quieter than an AC10 you need to be looking at 1W (or less) valve amps, or solid-state/modelling amps. A 5W valve amp, even with an 8” or 6” speaker, is still going to be far too loud to turn up - almost the same volume as a 10-15W one. A 1W valve amp cranked up is still easily loud enough to annoy anyone else in the same house if they don’t like electric guitar.

I would look at digital ‘radio style’ amps.

Or an acoustic guitar, they’re inherently less offensive to non-guitar people

.

pt22 · August 2023

Clearly you’re focused on valve amps, but why not a THR or a Spark?

TheMarlin · August 2023

I’ve got a lovely little Danplifier amp. think is about 5-10w. It’s covered in paisley fabric. And I think it’s based on a Vox circuit.

It sounds incredible. I’ve put much low wattage boutique finery up against it, and it’s embarrassed the lot. I’m down to four amps two are going to have to go, but this one is a keeper. Cracking little amp.

Maybe have a chat with Danplifier, see if he’ll make you something a bit special to your tastes.

I’d also recommend a Fender GT40. Will do great tones at whisper quiet volumes, can go much louder if you likes. Huge array of amp models and pedals for insane levels of tweakery, great tones, and wipes the floor with a Yamaha THR. About the same size as a champ or this little Danplifier.

Only reason I’d have a THR over a GT40 is battery portability convenience.

Doulin · August 2023

Wow that Danplifier is really rather pretty!

I know the spark makes absolute sense in this application, but they don't inspire me. Which I appreciate is completely a me problem not a problem of the very good digital modellers out there.
A good example of that is I play amps on edge of break up but when I recreate that with an OD pedal, the pedal gain just seems to go up and up. I can recreate the sound fine, but not the playing, which I realise is probably is all my own fabrication. I guess CD vs vinyl thing will never be resolved as well as valve vs digital...

I didn't realise the wealth of affordable *edit* very nice amps out there! I need to read what the different tweed variants are out there and what they all do...

SteppedOut · August 2023

Spark Amp Mini

57Deluxe · August 2023

If I was in for a Valve 5 watter I will seriously consider this model from Artist - their 20w is raved about too!

https://www.artistguitars.co.uk/collections/tube-amplifiers/products/artist-tweedtonev-5-watt-tube-guitar-amp-15540

RickLucas · August 2023

Vibrochamp

Dr_Necessiter · August 2023

Quite enjoying my Supro Delta King 8, which despite the name maxes out at 1 Watt.

pt22 · August 2023

Combo or head? Boutique or mass produced? You could do a lot worse than an orange terror stamp, quilter super block or similar.

Sassafras · August 2023

Pignose. Tiny and sounds great once you know how to use it.

Yorkie · August 2023

I came up with a related question last year: https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/226931/questions-on-low-wattage-valve-amps-marshall-class-5-origin-etc/p1

Many of the points made there will likely be relevant in this thread, eg 5 W can be flippin’ loud, etc. What I learnt back then was that for me it was far better to run a powerful MV amp at low volume than to crank a little amp — I went for a Class 5, moved it on, then got a DSL40. Also, big amps can sometimes be had for peanuts!

PAL · August 2023

Fender 68 Vibro Champ Reverb.

steamabacus · August 2023

This is way, way out of the stated price range (so not really a solution for the original post) but I thought this was an interesting approach to the connundrum of a 'home friendly' valve amp.

CHRISB50 · August 2023

Blackstar HT1R. Sounds much better through a cab but that obviously increases the footprint.

I have one at home (I live in a terrace with single glazing), and it does the job perfectly.

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