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I am looking for a low powered amp for home/bedroom use. I'm looking for a tone similar to early swing/Western swing/ and blues players that respond well to pick attack. I want it clean for light picking, but to give me slight distortion when picked hard (like Charlie Christian and Junior Barnard).
I play a Gibson ES-345 and Fender Telecaster. I currently have a Peavey Blazer 158 (Transtube series). It has nice clean tone, but lacks in the type of dynamics that I desire.
I appreciate any suggestions for amps that will give me that slightly overdriven tone at low volumes. I've considered amps like the Carr Mercury, Victoria Ivy League, etc., but those amps are not available nearby to try out.
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06-10-2014 04:48 PM
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Vintage 47 amps really look interesting, especially for swing but i have never played.
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Thanks for the suggestion. I just took a look at their website. They do look interesting for the '40s style swing that I like.
Originally Posted by Al_F
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Yes- the Vintage 47 Oahu Suitcase would certainly fit the bill. I want one of those myself.
However, I have to mention the Fender GDEC... yes, it's a modeler, but it is SO GOOD at low-volume tones, I find it better than a low-watt tube amp solution. Plus, if you want a little reverb or slapback, it's onboard. I was just playing it, WITH my Fender Supersonic 22, and I am shocked at how closely I can get it to sound, and RESPOND (pick light = clean, pick harder = light overdrive, like Charlie Christian) like a tube amp.
I think I will be owning one of those Vintage 47 amps. FYI, the 1942 Oahu El Capitan..... stunning.... he just started building the last 5 he's ever gonna' make, so if you decide you want one, I'd pre-order it immediately.
FWIW, along with Vintage 47, the Swart 5-watter could get you where you want to be as well (another amp I WILL own, if I could ever stop buying guitars LOL)
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VHT Special 6
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Fender SCX2 is a nice hybrid amp with tube preamp - clean channel like Blackface, modelling channel with various Fender models, great onboard effects. Reasonably loud - can hang with small venues and small combos, light, rather cheap. New models have downloadable settings.
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For really low power, Fender Champion 600.
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Maybe, but not with the really crappy stock speaker. At a minimum, the speaker would have to be upgraded to something that doesn't sound like it's tearing apart once you get to 5 on the volume knob. Originally Posted by D.G.
I am on my THIRD C600, and I am going to be putting a Tone Tubby 8" alnico hemp cone it it... it is the speaker Vintage 47 uses in some of their amps (they use a "Vintage 47 speaker made my Tone Tubby", but I'll bet dollars to donuts it's the same speaker).
My goal, with modding the C600, is exactly what the OP is looking for. It also involves replacing the 12AX7 with a 12AY7 in the preamp slot, and it may (or may not) need some tone stack tweaking; I'm going to put in the new speaker first, then go from there.
The C600 is not an off-the-shelf solution. Except at EXTREMELY low volumes, and any amount of "overdrive" sounds like crap.
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i had a fender champion 600. It was always love/hate with that amp. I loved the idea of it. But a 6 inch speaker is too small and boxy sounding for a jazz archtop. With my telecaster on the bridge pickup it sounded great, though. I even changed out the speaker for a weber late breakup, and it still sounded boxy. Whenever I connected it to larger speakers though, it sounded pretty bad ass!
In the end I sold it and put the money towards a superchamp X2 and I'm really happy. I agree that a champion is a cool amp but not if you buy it stock... and it depends how far down the rabbit hole you are willing to go.
IMO
K
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Mambo amps have decent gain (in my opinion and to my taste) and as SS amps they will deliver the goods at any volume level. The "harmonics" mode will give you more dynamic response from picking, etc. A bonus with Mambos is that they include a headphone circuit if you request it, and the headphone sound is really excellent, so you could practice anytime. Since the Mambos have reverb the headphone circuit does not sound dry at all.
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I have two amps I really like that have pretty much what you describe.
61 Ampeg Reverberocket
Late 40s or early 50s Magnatone Student Amp
the Magnatone is very quiet, only about conversation loud level. The RR would work for small drummer less gigs. They both record like a million bucks.
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If you want new: Vintage 47 is the way to go. No question, and they're very reasonably priced. You could spend more on a Carr or Victoria, but those circuits are all based 10-years after the tone you're describing, but the Vintage 47 will be much closer to the proper timbre of Charlie and Junior Barnard (who probably goosed his tone a bit by plugging in the mic channel of his EH-185). Anything with 12AX7s just doesn't get that fat, fat 1930's-40's sound.
If you can do old: check out old Gibson BR-series and early GA-series amps (thought the GA25 and GA30 I've played were getting a bit big for your demans). There's a great 1946 BR-6 just sitting a guitar center near here for $450. Those circuits are very similar to the Gibson EH-150's and 185's that Charlie and Junior used. If I didn't already have a BR-6, I'd have bought it.
Charlie's my guy, and I've got an ES-150 and an EH-185. Take it from me, the Vintage 47 is really your only new production option that will get that tone, and you should definitely take a look around for any BR-series amps because you might find one for a lot less than an EH-series amp.
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Or see if you can find one of the Valco/National/Oahu amps that Vintage 47 are based on.
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I've been all in for awhile with the GA-25, GA-30 or BR-6 idea....
....these three are great sounding amps.
I also like my '53 Gibsonette....uncanny great balanced sound.
The '46 BR-3 I have is almost too warm at times, but its amazing how something like a Barb EQ in "Fender Blackface" mode in front of it extends its voice just enough into that sort of territory.
I've yet to own or play an EH-150 or EH-185 as Jonathan has.......someday!
ziz
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For the price, I'd buy new. I'm not into buying old stuff just because it's old, and it seems V47 has actually made some improvements to the amps, while still retaining the same tonal signature. I can't believe his prices are so low (compared to others) Originally Posted by campusfive
Damn, that Gibson on the right is GORGEOUS. Actually, they ALL are!! They look to be in amazing shape as well.
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I haven't played through the V47 and know little about it, but if it is as described it would seem be the best choice over some of these old archaics.
I'm lucky to have a guy that knows how to make these old ones work and get the best out of them.
They were all in need of service when I bought them and not everyone wants to go that route.
z
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Vintage 47 Oahu suitcase (the cranked overdrive at the end is terrible, but the rest is gold):
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@ruger, What do you mean by "improvements" over the originals?
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Yep, I was thinking a modeler too, Mustang III but was hesitant to add. It sounds good, & really responds to pick attack. Originally Posted by ruger9
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Ziz:
Beautiful amps! Love the GA-25. And the pro behind it is sweet as hell too.
MD
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It's a little long, but here's the builder, explaining the amps in detail: Originally Posted by campusfive
http://link.brightcove.com/services/...id=59550850001
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First, let me commend you for chasing a tone that is a personal favorite of mine. So much so that I've built guitars and amps to achieve it. As Jonathan mentioned, if it has 12A-anything in the preamp it's not the amp for this tone. The thing about these old amps is that they had totally different topologies than amps now. They were designed for maximum clean head room but they were fairly primitive so they were inefficient and distorted anyway. They had octal preamps, paraphase phase inverters and field coil speakers. Things you're not going to find in any modern amp that I can think of. I've been chasing Junior's tone for a while and I've gotten really close but not without a lot of work. His rig was crazy. He played an EH-150 early on but the tone most people think of when they think of him was an Epiphone archtop with a DArmond FHC pickup and a steel guitar pickup in the bridge position that had the magnets completely surround the strings like in the early Supro pickups. He also ran each pickup to a different amp. The amps were a very early Fender Pro and an Epiphone Electar. That said, you could get close with a small TV-front Fender or something like an early Gibson GA-20. If you can find an old Electar or EH-150 that would be ideal. I built one of each
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The Sequel line of amps sold through soundislandmusic.com use octal tubes and other things to emulate tube amps of the 50's, and you'll see that they are aesthetically (and perhaps functionally) modeled after the Gibson GA series of amps. They are pricey, but as the owner of a Sequel Ravine I can tell you that it is an amazing amp. Not only that, but it's the nicest thing in my living room. Prettier than my nicest guitars even! (and yes, I do gig this amp...I only "store it" in my living room because it's too pretty to hide - I played an outdoor big band jazz gig this past weekend - I didn't need to have my volume past 2 o'clock and that's only because I was battling the amplified keyboard player)
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Jason:
Vintage 47 amps do use octal preamps, and he's actually developing field coil speakers (in the meantime, his speakers are alnico magnet hemp cones made my Tone Tubby)
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Originally Posted by coolvinny
I had never heard of them. They look VERY nice. Also very expensive. But that's relative to how much one is willing to spend, I guess...
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