<1 Watt amps as alternatives to modeling?

  • Thread starter Thread starter kojdogg
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kojdogg

kojdogg

bollocks redux!
I'm pretty sick of using pods, though I've gotten surprisingly good sounds out of my guitar and bass pods by tweaking the presets running them through decent preamps/eq before my interface. I've been trying to figure out the best alternative for a while given that I record in an apartment and would like to keep the volume to the lowest volume possible while still getting good results.
So far I've been looking at an Epiphone Valve Jr. Combo (though I've read in a bunch of places that 5 watts of all-tube amplification can be as loud as a trumpet), the Valve Jr. Head through a Weber Minimass into a good 1x12 or 2x12, a Z Vex Nano 1/2 watt Amp into a decent 1x12 or 2x12, or a Songworks 1/4 watt Little Lanelei into a decent 1x12 or 2x12.
I know a lot of people have experience with the Valve Jr. in combo and head incarnations-- does anyone here have any impressions about the Nano Amp or the Little Lanelei, or know of any other ultra-low watt amp alternatives?
Also has anyone used the new Sansamp PSA-1.1 (or the 1?) I had a GT-2 a while back that I used to like, but got rid of. Do any full-time guitarists (I split time with keys, bass, engineering, singing (poorly), feel that these newer generation Sansamps offer acceptable performance in terms of playing response and tone?
Thanks in Advance for any impressions, advice, haterating, etc.
:)
 
Just to let you know, the Valve Jr. head is loud thru everything from a 4x12 to a 1x12.
 
jonnyc said:
Just to let you know, the Valve Jr. head is loud thru everything from a 4x12 to a 1x12.
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Thanks man-- yeah that's why I'm figuring something like a Weber mini-mass attenuator into the equation (and price estimate).
 
I'm thinking why limit yourself to the "ultra-low" powered amps. Find a nicely rounded amp and get and power attenuator like a THD hotplate.
 
punkin said:
I'm thinking why limit yourself to the "ultra-low" powered amps. Find a nicely rounded amp and get and power attenuator like a THD hotplate.
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The possible advantage of the Valve Jr. is with only 5W output, you don't need to spend big bucks on a big attenuator when you can make an easy DIY pad with two 10W resistors :)
 
mshilarious said:
The possible advantage of the Valve Jr. is with only 5W output, you don't need to spend big bucks on a big attenuator when you can make an easy DIY pad with two 10W resistors :)
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For the sake of my health, the health of my loved ones and that of the public at large, I am reluctant to solder anything. I don't suppose you'd make one and sell it through Naiant? It'd be another clever device you could market, not just for the valve junior, but for other 5 watt amps too. :) :confused:
 
kojdogg said:
For the sake of my health, the health of my loved ones and that of the public at large, I am reluctant to solder anything. I don't suppose you'd make one and sell it through Naiant? It'd be another clever device you could market, not just for the valve junior, but for other 5 watt amps too. :) :confused:
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With the Valve Jr. there are lots of popular mods out there already. Adding a master volume control is probably the most common, which is a more sophisticated way of doing the same thing.
 
I have a nano and love it. BUT, I don't record with modelers to begin with. I have a nano to use as a different flavor in addition to my bassman, marshall 100watt super lead, butcher, blues junior, traynor bassmaster, and jc-120. Its by no means an end all amp, in fact its probably less of an all around amp than my blues junior. But it does sound great. I like the low powered amps a lot, but by no means are the an end all sort of amp. (to me anyway)
 
I recently got one of the Vox Valvetronics amps, and it has a knob on the back do dial the watts up and down. I play it fairly close to me in a room, and would guess I turned the wattage down to around 30%...it's the 100 watt model...and play at a moderate volume, and the sound is pretty good. You might look into one of these. I need more than a few sounds, so this works great for what I do, and I don't really need to play super loud, but also didn't want to be able to crank it should the situation arise.

Might be another thought.
 
I built an iso cab a few months back that has been a freat addition to my guitar recording situation. The other day I did a session with Crate Palomino V16 into an Behringer Ultra GI DI box using the 4x12 cab sim and then the Iso cab mic'd with an SM57. The tone was very good (distortion stuff) and I was doing it at midnight with no problems from my neighbors. I have not tried my Valve Jr. through the Iso cab yet but I will and give you my findings.
 
The VJ rocks, but it is loud. Z. Vex stuff looks and sounds awesome, but I've never owned any.
 
mshilarious said:
The possible advantage of the Valve Jr. is with only 5W output, you don't need to spend big bucks on a big attenuator when you can make an easy DIY pad with two 10W resistors :)
Click to expand...

Hey Mshilarious-- if you're feeling altruistic, could you explain basically (I am not "smart" as they say) how to do this? I'm thinking of picking up the combo tomorrow and noticed that the amplifier section is connected to the speaker by a 1/4" cable and such a diywhfmshilarious (do it yourself with help from mshilarious) pad could be easily patched in... if it could be constructed first.
Thanks either way dude. :)
Also, I've read a lot of posts about the 5 watt Valve Jr.'s being too loud (Sissies! I only want to quiet it down so I don't accidentally kill my girlfriend's badass pet bunny with intense rocking), if some bright, enterprising fellow wanted to make them and market them as a clever device!
 
The epi amp is LOUD. (with efficient speakers) 5 watts will disturb glasses in my apartment. haven't tried the Nano, too expensive. PS. To dogman keep'm coming (avatars). THe Hot plate epi combination would problay be very good. IMHO. Have powerbrake but it is a tone sucker until you pipe BIG wattage through it even then the Hot plate sounds less coloured.
 
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