Low-Watt tube recording amp

Best Low-Wattage Recording Amp

  • Fender Champion 600 5W

    Votes: 4 5.5%

  • Blackstar H-5H

    Votes: 4 5.5%

  • Blackheart BH5H

    Votes: 3 4.1%

  • Epiphone Valve Jr.

    Votes: 8 11.0%

  • Gretch Guitars Electromatic

    Votes: 1 1.4%

  • Palomino V8 (5w)

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Palomino V16 (15w)

    Votes: 3 4.1%

  • Fender Blues Jr. 15w

    Votes: 13 17.8%

  • Other amp (please specify)

    Votes: 37 50.7%
  • Total voters
    73
nate_dennis

nate_dennis

Well-known member
Ok, so I'm looking for a good classic rock/blues amp for recording. It MAY double as a small gig amp for church and some smaller clubs and things but the primary thing is for recording. I've compiled a list of (mostly) 5W amps and a few 15 watters. Let me know, thanks.



Also, if you vote other, let me know what they are.
 
You left off one of the great ones, Fender Princeton Reverb. I use this all the time for recording.
 
Tried Blackstar few weeks ago,very cool sounding versatile wee amp.Just gotta punt one of the Marshalls to make room for it.:)
 
Those vintage Princetons are wayyyy out of my price range. All of these amps are reasonably within range for me. Sorry, I should have noted the money factor. Thanks for the responses.
 
+1 on the Univalve.

I'd also go with a silver face Champ. Lots cheaper than a black face or a silver face Princeton.
 
I voted for "Other amp" simply because I (shame, shame!) have not played ANY of the listed amps for more than maybe five minutes. But of all the low-power amps I HAVE spend some quality and quantity time with, my current favorite is a Alamo Challenger that a friend loaned to me because he wanted my opinion of the amp and his rebuild job (both were terrific.) Something about it (I suspect it is it's low power) gives it a way-fine compressed sound- I wanted one badly, but got over that after I twiddled with the knobs on my Super-Champ XD and came very close to reproducing the Challenger's sound. I immed. made a notes of ALL the settings I arrived at, so I can reproduce that wonderful tone.
 
I have 3 old small gtr amps that get used for varoius sounds; Alamo (champ clone) that has totally been reworked, 80's era Yamaha practice amp (sweet small tank reverb!) and a Peavey Studio Pro that has been tweaked into class A operation totally useless live but sweet for recording. Tha Alamo was my 1st semi real amp, the Yamaha I got as part of a trade forever ago and the Studio Pro I picked up for nothing discarded as a "failure" from the previous owner "You want it you can have it".
 
Best and biggest bang for the buck

is the Black Heart, Great Tone, Great Price!
But I would probably go with the 15 watt model in order to use it for gigs.
 
I've been using a mid-sixties Gibson Explorer. Clean, smooth, warm, and fat at surprisingly low volume. It will crunch some when it's cranked but that's not what it's good at. I love this amp!!

Don't overlook the Ampeg Gemini II, or Magnatone amps.

In a new unit, try the Orange Tiny Terror.
 
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Of the amps you listed I was particularly dissapointed in the Fender Champion 600. YMMV but if I were given one of those for free I would give it to someone else, hopefully not a friend I intended on keeping. The Crates you listed and the Blackheart are very good values.

Be willing to spend as much as you can on your amp. It will be at least as important as your guitar for tone, often more. But this is not a clean case of you get what you pay for. This is a search for the right amp, not necessarily the best amp. Most of my favorite amps are in your price range few are very far out of it.
 
I don't fully have it set yet. I can't see myself being able to spend much more than 500-600 but if I could spend less and still get what I need/want I would love it. A wife and two kids don't lend themselves to lots of amp investment. So, lets say between 300-550. That should be good enough of an estimation for now.
 
I picked up a crate vc5 for only 20 bucks a few years ago...it was designed to be used normally for harp...but a guitar sounds great through it for some things.
 
I went through this same process about a year back and ended up with the blackheart 5w combo. I liked it as well or better than anything else <400. I didn't get to try some of the used models I was looking for, including Ampeg and Gibson, but I needed it for a project and couldn't wait until one popped up. I'm very happy with the bh though. Nice for recording, never gigged with it. It seems pretty damn loud, though. I put a fulltone ocd in front of it, nicely handles just about anything but metal.
 
Anyone have any experience with Victoria amps? From their website, the are certainly pricy... I guess pixie dust is expensive stuff.
 
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