small tube amp

I have a little Gibson tube amp from the 50s,a GA6 with two 6L6s and 18 watts.Since vintage Fenders are so crazily overpriced,consider Gibson or another "off brand".Most tube amps from the 50s and 60s are very similar designs.My GA6 is Gibson's version of a Deluxe.
Tom
 
i'm not stuck on fender or anything, I'm totally open to anything, which is why I posted, cause I just don't know much about guitar amps and what's out there. problem is there just isn't much in the music stores where I live, for me to try. But now guhlenn went and got me all fired up to build one again. damn! cause it's usually not cheaper, when you figure in the time and stuff. But you can tack your name on it and say 'Man I've got this ZillerSound X84 that sounds awesome!'

hope i find something soon, or i'll have the old soldering iron (and hammer) out, pulling parts out of all the junk audio stuff I have...
 
u live inb the usa... get a kit from www.ax84.com and your into bussiness... i live in europe so i'll be the one lookin for parts everywhere...

guhlenn

feels good though, that bit of adrenalin when thinking of your own one-in-the-world amplifier doesn't it?;)
 
Results can very very cool on a homebrew amp.My buddy Conon Cantwell took a twin chassis (just bare metal and ceramic tube sockets) and built me a point-to point hand wired 100 watt amp.Channel 1 is the 58 Bassman circuit and Channel 2 is the Marshall Plexi circuit.Here is an old clip of that amp with a Takamini neckthrough.
The cool part was when we had a "voicing" session near the completion of the project.Conon popped in and out various capacitors etc of different values with alligator clips as I played and auditioned the tone I wanted.
Tom

p.s. the open backed cab I made was loaded with an EV12L,which is a GREAT guitar speaker
 
Small Tube Amp

Someone above mentioned Supro amps. Whew, they are awesome. Not only did Page record with one, but Jimi Hendrix owned one early, early on in his career. They are usually cheeeap in the 2nd hand shops, because nobody seems to know anything about them. Supro was made by VALCO MANF. eventually of Chicago. Valco was the reorganized National Dobro Company that almost went under during WWII. Three of the National partners gained control of it and renamed the company VALCO. One of them was one of the Dopyera brothers. Valco made amps for GRETSCH, GIBSON, SILVERTONE, OAHU, and others, as well as their own lines, Supro being one of them. I owned a 5 watt '62 Supro and it was a killer amp. Its tone depended on the speaker cabinet you played it through. Through an 8" Utah it sounded like a sparkling clean to crunchy Vox. Through a single 12" it sounded much stronger. Through a 4x10, it sounded like the most accurate SRV you've ever heard.
As amps go, I like the small, 60's all tube amps, preferably class A.
However, all that being said, now I play a Zoom 503 through an 80 watts/channel stereo, or through Sony Sports headphones, and I do not miss having a real guitar amp at all. I love my Zoom 503. I'm not promoting them, it just happens to be the only thing I could find in my hometown to go with me on the road while traveling with a construction crew. Like I say I love the thing, I just can't believe it's 3 models behind the newest Zoom stuff. If I want Class A sounds, I set it on Vox Crunch, and play with the gain down. If I want more of the metal thud I set it on Marshall Stack or Mesa Boogie Drive and it just simply rules. Of course the cleans are other-worldly, and the effects are all in stereo.
Just realize that the amp modelers shine the best when played through anything other than a guitar amp. ie, PA system, home stereo, DI, clean power amp. The deal with guitar amps is that your amp's tone is not complimentary to the setup the modeler is emulating. For instance, maybe you're playing a Vox emulation through a bass amp with 15's.
Anyway, that's my thoughts. Either small, old tube amps, or modelers.
 
Nope..makes sense. It would hold all the sound in. Also you probably end up with standing waves which can emphasize low frequencies. :cool:
 
A nice amp I picked up for recording is the Marshall Artist 3203. It's a 30 watt 1/2 stack (3/4 size half stack?). The clean setting sounds a lot like a Fender a former bandmate used to have. And the dirty channel is all Marshall. At 30 Watts, I can go balls to the wall and not break any windows.

In addition to the other techniques mentioned elsewhere, micing the back of the cab can add hugeness. Just be sure to flip the phase switch on the mixer.
 
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