Topic: Musical gear wanking thread

[FerriswheelBueller]

Talk to me about tiny guitar amps.

I want a new tube amp to replace the old solid state amp I’ve been using as a placeholder for years. I think something in the 5-10w range is about right - I’ll be playing in the basement after the nipper has gone to bed and I’m not going to be playing wembley any time soon.

I like the look of the orange micro terrors. Will be borrowing a friends fender blue junior for a little while also because he doesn’t have space to keep it.

Anyone have such an amp? Or any recommendations?

[NoSleep]

Wouldn't an amp modeller plugged into the hifi be sufficient/better?

[FerriswheelBueller]

Wouldn't an amp modeller plugged into the hifi be sufficient/better?

Would it? I have no idea at all - I am profoundly amplifier ignorant.

[Rizla]

These are the small amps I own

VOX Pathfinder 15r - Very nice sounding amp, the dirty channel's a bit much for me but it can be modded easily to make it less metal. Real spring reverb is pretty nice.


Ampeg GVT5H (with a 1x12 cab) - Looks better than it sounds tbh, never had a good time trying to use it live. Has weird bass/tone system (baxandall, look it up), can be switched between 2.5 and 5 watts.


Orange Crush 35RT - 35 watt solid state amp, maybe a bit overkill for your needs but honestly the best of the 3, very easy to get a great sound, loud or quiet. Built in tuner, great dirty channel, fx loop. Have gigged loads with this, it's really flexible and looks ace imo. Also the only one still in production (there's a new version of the VOX out, don't know how good it is). Superb amp, £230 odd new, I got mine for £120 in cash converters.


My mate has one of the little Orange tiny terror jobs, he's very enamoured with it. The little speaker cab doesn't look up to much but apparently can sound great.

[NoSleep]

Would it? I have no idea at all - I am profoundly amplifier ignorant.

Have you never tried a Line 6 Pod or similar?

If you have a computer and an audio interface you can get software modellers too. And they would give you a lot more versatility (under strict volume control) if you just want to have some fun after the kids are asleep. Modellers will allow you to pick from a wide range of classic amp tops and then pair them up with whatever speaker cabinet you choose (I find the speaker choice is more important than the amp for a variety of sounds, once you get over the amount of overdrive or cleanness you need from the amp you are modelling). Basically most modellers will include a huge range of amps and speakers as well as pedals and rack effects.

Amplitube is a really good software one, even allowing you to choose the room and the placement of mics on the speaker cab (if you can be arsed). And works both as a plugin for DAW or as a standalone app.

https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/amplitube4/

www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9854a2Nwc8

Review/Demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65gYubeecac

I use it for way more than guitars or basses. The speaker choices are huge including leslie cabinets of all vintages.

I'm not so sure about the lay of the land for hardware modellers, but Line 6 used to be a leading manufacturer. But Boss and everyone else are in there nowadays.

[popcorn]

Hey Ferris remember when I began this brilliant thread with this brilliant post ????

I have just got one of these:



After years of failing to record my Vox AC15 amp in any way that sounds remotely non-shit I've given up and bought this amp modelling pedal. It's very highly thought of so I'm optimistic. I don't really know anything about amps or tone because I am thick, but so far I'm really pleased with it, because it's lovely and simple and small, and it's so much nicer playing through my monitors (with no Ableton lag!) instead of firing up this massive hissing fizzing box I don't understand. I've yet to do any recording with it, but it is really lovely knowing what the sound coming out of my monitors is exactly the same sound that will end up in Ableton. Goodbye fucking around with mics.

I haven't touched my amp since. It's just really nice plugging a guitar into a really tiny box and listening through my monitors or headphones instead. £400ish.

[NoSleep]

That reminds me. On the Thomann site there is a range of extremely cheap modeller stomp boxes in their own Harley Benton True Tone range; one for each of 4 famous amp manufacturers; Marshall, Fender, Vox & Mesa. The Vox AC30 one is different to the others inasmuch as it uses no digital modelling i.e. it's analog.

https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_california_truetone.htm
https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_britsh_truetone.htm
https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_ac_truetone.htm
https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_american_truetone.htm

[FerriswheelBueller]

Hey Ferris remember when I began this brilliant thread with this brilliant post ????

I haven't touched my amp since. It's just really nice plugging a guitar into a really tiny box and listening through my monitors or headphones instead. £400ish.

400 quid?! On yer fuckin bike you ham merchant.

[FerriswheelBueller]

That reminds me. On the Thomann site there is a range of extremely cheap modeller stomp boxes in their own Harley Benton True Tone range; one for each of 4 famous amp manufacturers; Marshall, Fender, Vox & Mesa. The Vox AC30 one is different to the others inasmuch as it uses no digital modelling i.e. it's analog.

https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_california_truetone.htm
https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_britsh_truetone.htm
https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_ac_truetone.htm
https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_american_truetone.htm

Oh those look dead good actually, thanks!

I’m no good at this so here’s a stupid question - can I get one of those, use it as a stompbox and play through my fairly neutral acoustic amp and achieve a similar fender/ vox tone without the need for monitors/computers? I don’t like playing with headphones on because I’m a fucking prima donna

[NoSleep]

I think that's the general idea. If you use a fairly clean amp setting you should be good to go. They have speaker modelling incorporated too so they should sound pretty good DI'd and sent to your monitors too.

[FerriswheelBueller]

I think that's the general idea. If you use a fairly clean amp setting you should be good to go. They have speaker modelling incorporated too so they should sound pretty good DI'd and sent to your monitors too.

Oh right, nice one! Thanks for that, appreciate the info.

[popcorn]

Thanks for that, appreciate the info.

what about my info. ?

[FerriswheelBueller]

what about my info. ?

Not worth the paper it was written on, and it wasn’t written on any paper.

[popcorn]

I do actually write all my posts down on paper by hand in addition to writing them "virtually" on the www so that's bad news for me.

[drummersaredeaf]

I have the Joyo thing that looks a lot like the Harley Benton pedal above - Fender clone. Assuming it's the same circuit, and it's certainly the same case, then they are rips of the Tech 21 amp sims. Really happy with mine. Used it as a means of getting some consistency in practice rooms with crap amps and for mucking about at home. Increasingly they work in lieu of a plugin into the PC too.

Here's a comparison with the amp it's modelling - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwoTIRPkfhE&ab_channel=intheblues

Definitely worth £22.

[NoSleep]

I see, they are just clones of the Joyo range for a few quid less. As I tried to place an order with Thomann this week and discovered they no longer include VAT and there'll now be customs charges and leave the delivery company to hold you hostage with these (and probably add a "handling" charge) I've cancelled the order today. It's probably swings and roundabouts price-wise.

[easytarget]

Talk to me about tiny guitar amps.

I just got a Revv D20, generally thought of as a pedal platform because it doesn't have much gain and it's pretty fucking clean. It's tubes*, 20W switchable to 4W, headphone out, XLR out for yer DAW, cab simulation for them AND real, fucking speaker out which can get loudish depending on what you plug into it (I reckon you could get a nice broken up tone from a 1x12 or 1x10 on the 4W setting, 20W into a 2x12 can rattle windows). I like it.

by day


by night


*valves in standard RP EEnglish.