one watt or less head

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julius_the_cat

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My son likes his tone on his Rivera chubster 40, but it is sometimes too loud for practicing and a challenge when the group mics his amp for performances. Considering a "hot plate" He would like a lower watt tube amp to use for recording (chubster has a line out) with the its V30 speaker and is also considering a Zvex nano, but the price is a problem.

I believe I read somewhere a member makes small watt amps. Can anyone point me in the right direction or perhaps has other suggestions. thanks.

his guitar is a epi les paul with Sh-4JB and 59 PUs installed with a american std tele with SD hotrails and dimarzio Protrack pus on the way. music is rock-alt, not metal.
 
well.........

depending on you amp configuration, you could have it modified. You could have a switch installed to switch your amp between pentode(tetrode) and triode operation which gives you 40% power. If it is a class AB amp with four power tubes , you can pull two of the tubes (make sure you know which ones) and then drop the power by 50%. Or you could have a master volume installed to turn down the signal entering the power tubes. Any of these, if possible, would be less than the $200+ bucks for the hotplate........
 
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julius_the_cat said:
.... I believe I read somewhere a member makes small watt amps. Can anyone point me in the right direction or perhaps has other suggestions. thanks.
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I think you are speaking about thatupstateguy (Steve).

Check out this thread and you can PM him for more info

http://www.homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=129017&highlight=lil+amp

I had the chance to hear the amp at the jamfest this year and it's a great sounding amp ..


Dave
 
I recently picked up the Rivera Pubster which is the 25 watt version with a 10". Perfect for reording.
 
I've got the ZVex...it's not the ultimate solution but, I've been very pleased with it. Plug it into you're favorite cab it definitely rocks. It's been great for recording when I turn up "The Big Unit". Alternately, I travel a bunch...I like it as a practice amp and has a built in speaker. Don't take the POD, headphones and power supply with me anymore.
 
thanks. I've left a PM for thatupstateguy. I have also discovered there is a mod available at the factory from Rivera (cost probably higher than I would like) to make the amp switchable between pentode and triode mode effectively reducing the power output by half.

I had hoped to use the line out into the low watt outboard amp then back into the speaker. But apparently the line out is meant to function as a slave; the amp remains powered and is therefore unsafe to run if it's not connected to the speaker. I would then need some kind of impedance load to connect to the ouput of the power amp. A little more complicated than I would like.

Two EL34s are used in the power amp section and 5 12AX7s in the pre amp.
Any other thoughts appreciated
 
I believe lexicon or rocktron made a 1 or 2 watt rack mount "head" for recording purposes.
 
You could just run a very small speaker to resolve the load issue, then use the line out. You can probably pick up a 10W, 8ohm, 3 inch speaker at radio shack for about $5-10.
 
Those nano heads sound sooooo good.

Its like a marshall on 11, but at less painful volumes.
 
i tried out the nanohead at a store near where i live and i really didnt think it was worth the near $400. it is like a little toy. very gimicky. i played it with a les paul through a nice orange cabinet. it wasnt really all that great. it did nothing for me and for $400 i would rather get a nice small 5 watt tube amp or maybe a small modeling amp for practice. and have money left over for some whores and pizza...seriously!
 
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