Budget Tube Amps

[lawson-stone]

We'd probably all love to have a vintage, point-to-point wired classic tube amp. But typically they are just too expensive, and for those uninitiated into tube amps, the price of admission can seem too high for the risk. While I still hope one day to find that classic vintage Princeton in mint condition, I've enjoyed recently investing in more modest gear simply to learn about these amps after a lifetime of playing solid-state.

Maybe you have a budget tube amp in your herd of amps? I'm thinking less than $250 is something many would be willing to pay to try out a decently featured tube amp.

This is my Monoprice "Stage Right" 15 Watt amp. I have replaced the 12AX7's in V1 and V2 with 5751's, but otherwise this is stock. This amp has a very nice range of features for its price, and I've been impressed with its value/price ratio.

I'm still working on how to get the best sound from the amp, and I am still learning about how best to record an amp. As you tube pros know, the whole guitar-amp relationship is different with hot bootles and I'm still learning, but here is mine.

I'd love to hear your experience and a clip if possible with budget bottle boxes!

[SandChannel]

As you tube pros know, the whole guitar-amp relationship is different with hot bootles and I'm still learning, but here is mine.

Bootles. That made me chuckle!

I am quite fond of the Fender Pro Jr. It is certainly one of the cheaper Fender options overall and I think it is a quite special one. I have sang the praises of it around here before, but I will give it another go. In the 90s, Zinky designed this amp to do something different from many of the amps that Fender was producing. Rather than create another mid-scooped Blackface circuit, he went in the other direction and created an amp that had more in common with the mid-heavy Tweed amps of Fender's earliest days. That means that you aren't going to get the pristine, sparkle cleans that you would get with a Princeton, but you get that slightly dirty jazz tone more reminiscent of Rudy Van Gelder's Blue Note days.

The Pro Jr is unique in some other ways as well. It has a ten inch alnico speaker made by Jenson. This speaker was designed to re-create those early Fender days as well. It sounds great and doesn't weigh a ton either. You are just left with a volume and tone pot to control the amp. That means even simple blokes like me can dial it in pretty well. Turn up for more gain and turn down for less. Set the tone wherever it makes you happy. Easy as can be. At 15 watts, it can do work at home or at smaller venues.

I love Swing music and this amp works well for me. I like to have a blend of my acoustic volume along with electric volume. So I like to turn the amp up about half way, but I bring the volume knob back on my guitar a lot. I balance them as needed. Sometimes, I just roll most of the electric volume back when doing Green-type rhythm work and just roll the volume up when I want to play a solo. Although a Pro Jr can be very loud and gritty, when you roll the volume back, it creates a darker and smoother overall tone. That said, if you want to play rockabilly, the amp will be right there with you. Turn up the volume and bring up the tone knob and you can play your best Brian Setzer licks as well.

There are only a handful of tubes, so you can experiment with different brands and whatnot without having to spend a small fortune on matched this-that's-and-others. If you find a really nice Mullard at a good price, just pop it into v1 and you will hear a slightly different flavor. Mind you, the power tubes are EL84s and there are plenty around and usually at good prices. Since this amp is small, it does have more power amp flavor than a lot of amps. You can experiment with those as well if you want to change the way the power section breaks up.

Overall, it is a versatile and great sounding amp. It also doesn't cost a fortune... and it is in Tweed again!

[lawson-stone]

Bootles. That made me chuckle!

I am quite fond of the Fender Pro Jr. It is certainly one of the cheaper Fender options overall and I think it is a quite special one. I have sang the praises of it around here before, but I will give it another go. In the 90s, Zinky designed this amp to do something different from many of the amps that Fender was producing. Rather than create another mid-scooped Blackface circuit, he went in the other direction and created an amp that had more in common with the mid-heavy Tweed amps of Fender's earliest days. That means that you aren't going to get the pristine, sparkle cleans that you would get with a Princeton, but you get that slightly dirty jazz tone more reminiscent of Rudy Van Gelder's Blue Note days.

The Pro Jr is unique in some other ways as well. It has a ten inch alnico speaker made by Jenson. This speaker was designed to re-create those early Fender days as well. It sounds great and doesn't weigh a ton either. You are just left with a volume and tone pot to control the amp. That means even simple blokes like me can dial it in pretty well. Turn up for more gain and turn down for less. Set the tone wherever it makes you happy. Easy as can be. At 15 watts, it can do work at home or at smaller venues.

I love Swing music and this amp works well for me. I like to have a blend of my acoustic volume along with electric volume. So I like to turn the amp up about half way, but I bring the volume knob back on my guitar a lot. I balance them as needed. Sometimes, I just roll most of the electric volume back when doing Green-type rhythm work and just roll the volume up when I want to play a solo. Although a Pro Jr can be very loud and gritty, when you roll the volume back, it creates a darker and smoother overall tone. That said, if you want to play rockabilly, the amp will be right there with you. Turn up the volume and bring up the tone knob and you can play your best Brian Setzer licks as well.

There are only a handful of tubes, so you can experiment with different brands and whatnot without having to spend a small fortune on matched this-that's-and-others. If you find a really nice Mullard at a good price, just pop it into v1 and you will hear a slightly different flavor. Mind you, the power tubes are EL84s and there are plenty around and usually at good prices. Since this amp is small, it does have more power amp flavor than a lot of amps. You can experiment with those as well if you want to change the way the power section breaks up.

Overall, it is a versatile and great sounding amp. It also doesn't cost a fortune... and it is in Tweed again!

I'd love to hear a clip of you playing it!

[TOMMO]

Agreed on the Pro Jr. although it's not really "budget". I got mine when they came out with them so mine has the Eminence AlNiCo speaker which is Eminence's version of the old Jensen speaker. The Pro Jr. can be a tad dark when combined with an archtop set up with flatwounds but any OD or EQ pedal stuck in front of it (OD used only for the tone knob) will get you a bit more upper end/less bass.

[Longways to Go]

I love my Pro Junior III too. Loud and proud, small and simple.
I agree it's not quite an econo amp, but I think it is more practical than the 5 waters.

There are some differences in the various models. The III is black and has a different speaker from the newer IV model.
A good NOS 5751 tamed the hiss quite well. Also, I removed the cage around the tubes so I could change them more easily.

My only concern with the amp is that it runs pretty darn hot. Not sure if that's a worry or not.

[SandChannel]

Ooops! I didn't read closely enough about the budget. The nice thing is that you can typically find used Fender Pro Jr amps in that price range though.

My only concern with the amp is that it runs pretty darn hot. Not sure if that's a worry or not.

I set it up at the cusp of breakup when I dig in, but I am not driving it full out like you might run a Champ in the studio for that Clapton and Trucks tone. From what I have read online over the years, people have commented on them running hot, but even at that, I didn't read any complaints about tube failure outside of tubes just being tubes. Mine runs a bit hot too for what it is worth, but not hotter than a 5w Swart that my friend has. Maybe smaller amps dissipate heat differently because they have less overall mass? I dunno.

Any engineers around?

[TOMMO]

I have gigged mine extensively - turned up for tube overdrive for slide guitar. Always reliable except for one output tube giving up once - but like you said: tubes are tubes and sometimes they just fail...

[rio]

Good thread idea.

Thanks to Lawson’s info about the Monoprice, I got one too. It arrived this week and I couldn’t been happier with it. I also swapped out the V1 and V2 preamp tubes with 5751s. It sounds amazing and I’m extremely happy with it. I’ll be making a sound test and/or review video about it but want some more time breaking it in first and also want to do some recording tests for myself first to see what the best way to record it is. I would certainly recommend it to anyone though.


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[John A.]

We'd probably all love to have a vintage, point-to-point wired classic tube amp. But typically they are just too expensive, and for those uninitiated into tube amps, the price of admission can seem too high for the risk. While I still hope one day to find that classic vintage Princeton in mint condition, I've enjoyed recently investing in more modest gear simply to learn about these amps after a lifetime of playing solid-state.

Maybe you have a budget tube amp in your herd of amps? I'm thinking less than $250 is something many would be willing to pay to try out a decently featured tube amp.

This is my Monoprice "Stage Right" 15 Watt amp. I have replaced the 12AX7's in V1 and V2 with 5751's, but otherwise this is stock. This amp has a very nice range of features for its price, and I've been impressed with its value/price ratio.

I'm still working on how to get the best sound from the amp, and I am still learning about how best to record an amp. As you tube pros know, the whole guitar-amp relationship is different with hot bootles and I'm still learning, but here is mine.

I'd love to hear your experience and a clip if possible with budget bottle boxes!

I've had a bunch of true budget amps, one was given to me from a dead relative's closet, another I got at a flea market for $90, another from a classified ad for I forget how little, a Champ when they were cheap.

Nowadays all I have is this 78 Princeton Reverb, which was born a budget amp, but is now overpriced vintage. I got it in trade for a Fender Pro that I bought in the mists of time for $250. I got the short end of that trade to the tune of a couple hundred bucks based on the hypothetical value of the two amps, but the cash cost was $0 for an amp I wanted in exchange for effort-free unloading of an amp I didn't want anymore (the other guy did all the schlepping). Budgets and bargains are where you find 'em.

John

[Headshot]

Great thread....
My two budget tubers are a Vox AC4 that I paid $120 for, and a Bugera T5 head, $150 new, running into a 10" Hughes and Kettner cab that I grabbed used for $90. I run a Soul Food and a Holy Grail into the Vox, and the Bugera is just plug in and play.

[Longways to Go]

Hey Headshot, what's your take on the AC4?

I've thought about getting one & there's a cool looking blue one on local CL just now . . .

[Hammertone]

I laugh at your puny budget tube amps.
They only go up to 10.
Mine goes to 100.

[obses4sail]

Bugera V5 with the "cap" mod. I can play at a lower volume and still get the tone I want. they come a little dark so you have to add the cap on the gain and volume pot

[Headshot]

Hey Headshot, what's your take on the AC4?

I've thought about getting one & there's a cool looking blue one on local CL just now . . .

I actually like it. It is a little nasally, but that is a perfect contrast to my Fendery sounding amps.

[Gitfiddler]

I laugh at your puny budget tube amps.
They only go up to 10.
Mine goes to 100.

Is that a Hammond Organ amp? With dual 6L6's and rectum fryer...I mean Rectifier?? Damn!
I'd love to hear that cranked through a 2x12 or 1x15 cabinet.

My favorite budget bottle tube amp is a little known or respected Fender MusicMaster bass amp.
Dual 6V6 and single 12AX7 with a single 12" speaker. Mine has a CRex speaker and sounds amazing through most any guitar.

Fender Silverface Musicmaster Bass – Ampwares

[John A.]

My favorite budget bottle tube amp is a little known or respected Fender MusicMaster bass amp.
Dual 6V6 and single 12AX7 with a single 12" speaker. Mine has a CRex speaker and sounds amazing through most any guitar

Yeah, those are great amps, very tweedy when cranked.

John

[Hammertone]

Is that a Hammond Organ amp? With dual 6L6's and rectum fryer...I mean Rectifier?? Damn! I'd love to hear that cranked through a 2x12 or 1x15 cabinet. ...

It's a late 1940s Challenger CH, precursor to the Bogen Challenger - a PA or theatre amplifier. A totally kick-ass ptp 30 watt amp that sounds great for guitar. The transformer is from the Hammond company, makers of radios, power transformers and more for almost 100 years, based in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. Hammond iron is pretty well respected among toaster techs. Afaik, no connection to the Hammond Organ company.

[TedBPhx]

Bump the budget definition by 50?
I paid $300 out the door, foot switch included, for a new Peavey Classic 30.
That was 20 years ago, almost to the day, but the used ones still show up for that price.

[omphalopsychos]

I have a 5f1 clone made by a random dude that I bought off of reverb for cheap. It uses a bigger output transformer than the normal champ and has a 10” speaker and bigger cabinet. Anyway I took it to practice last night with a loud trumpet player and drummer, etc. Man it was fantastic. Headroom? Forget it, but it was the absolute perfect tone for what I was playing (with my tele). I see why Julian Lage has so much fun on this rig.

[lawson-stone]

Here is my $80 eBay Monoprice 5 watt amp in action on the first day I got it. It really married up when i plugged in the Gibson 1959 VOS ES175!

[wzpgsr]

I have a 5f1 clone made by a random dude that I bought off of reverb for cheap. It uses a bigger output transformer than the normal champ and has a 10” speaker and bigger cabinet. Anyway I took it to practice last night with a loud trumpet player and drummer, etc. Man it was fantastic. Headroom? Forget it, but it was the absolute perfect tone for what I was playing (with my tele). I see why Julian Lage has so much fun on this rig.

I’ve got something quite similar for sale in the for sale forum. Large cab with 10” and 8” speakers, modified 5f2a circuit with a beefier OT. Really fun amp.

[murrayatuptown]

OK, you guys have distracted me from my other distractions now.

A friend sent me a web catalog page for the Monoprice 15W Stage Right amp demonstrated earlier (in time and in this thread).

I told him how much of a mystery I found the Monoprice company to be, but wrote him a very long message about the amp being cheaper than a kit build, and all the things one could do with modifications on the base model.

Then I dialed it back a bit & said, it comes with a one year warranty, so don't make it a lab rat amp for a year.

Then I had the dubious semi-scientific idea that two should be ordered. One would be the 'control sample' and the other violated by Victor Frankenamp, with spare parts obtained by Igor in the wee hours of the morning.

So I ordered ONE today, and they sent me a $15 coupon for my NEXT purchase. This is after unpacking another (used) amp that arrived yesterday. It was priced well, but I wouldn't call it budget (a relative term). I just retired and have some chaos in my life so I'm spending money on my future. I'll ask my questions about that elsewhere in the forum.

I will try the Monoprice out first but will likely not be able to resist opening it up and taking notes. I don't yet know if there is a schematic published (different generations & revisions may exist). If not, I may draw one, if the guts are easily viewed in full.

I will have to wait to see the size and location of the output transformer as I have an idea there. The FX loop is convenient to try other weird tube/valve preamp ideas I have wanted to try. It seems like 90% of the guitarist population outside of jazz thinks everything is supposed to a certain way. You've surely encountered this.

I remember an old LP sleeve that had verbal quotations about jazz music. I don't remember who (maybe Monk) might have said 'You gotta know the rules before you break them' and Art Blakey I think said 'If you make a mistake, you better make it LOUD'.

I'll be back once I know what is inside.

I'll go search for the other amp and ask questions if I don't find any opinions.

Thanks

Murray

[darkwaters]

I dearly love my Gretsch G5222 that I bought new a few years back for an astonishing $175 Can. I clipped out the negative feedback and tone from the circuit, inserted some NOS tubes (with a 12ay7 replacing the 12ax7) and replaced the grill cloth. This thing certainly has Tweed Champ in its DNA. There’s virtually no clean headroom, but it sure is fun.