Suggestions for a good amp that is 5 watts or under.

skunkwerx

StanleyAccrington said:

skunkwerx said:

If it doesnt have to have toobs... 

The katana 50. No brainer. 

Too loud dude.....but the Katana Mini is an option.

Not at all! 

Even on the 50 or 25 watt setting, the master volume enables you to turn it down to as low as you want. 

In my bedroom I just keep it on the 0.5 watt setting with the master around 11 o'clock. But really I could have it set to 25w with the master a little lower. 


But either way, roll the master down and you dont lose anything except volume. For example I can have the amp on my 'metal' channel, think all the gain, but still turn the amp down low enough to hear the guitar acoustically if you strum a chord. The nice thing is, no gain is lost by doing so. The channel still sounds like metallica, just very quiet. 

I've always liked solid state for this reason. I'm sure a tube amp with a good master volume does similar, but I've never owned one. 

I used to have an old Line 6 spider iii. 
75watt jobbie, no power scaling, so on any distorted tones the master volume would have to be at 1-2 on its scale of 1-10 to keep it bedroom level friendly. 
You could lower the master volume to a point around there but any lower the sound would cut out totally. 

grungebob

For your needs and for very little money new or used I’d have to recommend the Katana 50, good amount of effects and tones and can go very quiet or loud if needed, can be used with headphones and has an aux in for your music. 
I don’t think you can currently get a better amp for the price. 

NelsonP

Boss Katana would be a very good bet as you can use it with headphones. 

But if you are mainly using headphones then also have a look at modellers. Ordered by price:
Boss GT1, Zoom G3n/5n,
Mooer GE200
Boss GT100
Line 6 POD HD500X
Line 6 HX Stomp, Atomic Amplifire, Headrush Gigboard
Helix LT, Boss GT1000, Headrush Pedalboard
Helix, Axe FX, Kemper etc. 
You can always add a powered FRFR speaker later if you really need to play without phones.

Compared to these modellers, the Boss Katana loses a little on flexibility but gives you an 'proper' amp, with a 0.5W setting, headphone out etc. Personally I'd go fo the 100W as it has twice the number of saveable 'presets' and you can use the GA-FC footswitch with it. I might even buy the head as it has a small built in speaker which is great for home use.

munckee

Phil_aka_Pip said:

Harley-Benton GA5, Epiphone Valve Junior. Good straight in from guitar, take pedals well. Best of both worlds.

What Phil said, would add fender champion 600 or the gretsch equivalent, nothing beats a good clean valve amp sound and then add pedals as required.

StanleyAccrington

I had 3 in mind to maybe physically check out in a local store. Yamaha THR 5 or 10.....Vox Mini and the Fender Mustang Mini.

But You Katana boys are quite persuasive. And the last couple of posts have given me more food for thought. I'll say I'm not in a great rush to choose immediately.....but I would probably like one from Santa in around 7 weeks time.

ICBM

munckee said:

Phil_aka_Pip said:

Harley-Benton GA5, Epiphone Valve Junior. Good straight in from guitar, take pedals well. Best of both worlds.

What Phil said, would add fender champion 600 or the gretsch equivalent, nothing beats a good clean valve amp sound and then add pedals as required.

The problem is that the Valve Junior - even the later versions - don't do a good clean sound, it's muddy and boxy. Actually they don't do a good overdriven sound either...

The Champion 600 is marginally better but it's really an amp for an old-school blues overdrive than a good pedal amp.

A *proper* Fender Champ is great clean, but they're starting to be really big money now, even the 70s ones.

munckee

StanleyAccrington said:

I had 3 in mind to maybe physically check out in a local store. Yamaha THR 5 or 10.....Vox Mini and the Fender Mustang Mini.

But You Katana boys are quite persuasive. And the last couple of posts have given me more food for thought. I'll say I'm not in a great rush to choose immediately.....but I would probably like one from Santa in around 7 weeks time.

I'm a home noodler too, I have a THR5, had a champion 600 modded to 5F1 and also have a 68 princeton.  The THR5 is brilliant for playing late at night when people are asleep or when I just have 5 minutes it sounds great has lots of toys.  When I have some time to sit and play I would never choose it over the princeton, even though its in a cupboard and I have to get the pedal board from under the settee and find the plug etc, etc.  There is no comparison in sound quality.

At the risk of being called a heathen I have heard plenty of people say a katana isn't as good either, despite a lot of people who say they are as good as valve amps.  I would certainly try a few different type of amps and see what you like.  For me a katana is very big if space is an issue (the princeton is big too).

A lot will depend on what sort of stuff you play.

Grumpyrocker

I've a Katana 100 that's become my most played amp at home.

Though this week I dug out my Micro Terror - which is a surprisingly nice amp for use with a pedalboard. 

nick79

Blackstar Ht1 is not a bad little amp .I usually don't like Blackstars but the one i had was quite good. The Ht5 (which i still have) i find has a pretty poor clean channel, but the drive channel is quite good. Very loud when wound up though, so i would go with the flow and get a Katana. Which i will one day. 

StanleyAccrington

Roland Micro Cube has taken my interest......but the downer is that I need an Ipad/Iphone or IPod to use the aux to play backing tracks.  Grrrrrrr!!

HAL9000

StanleyAccrington said:

Roland Micro Cube has taken my interest......but the downer is that I need an Ipad/Iphone or IPod to use the aux to play backing tracks.  Grrrrrrr!!

My understanding (which you might want to check) is that the i-Cube link input will work as a normal aux-in if you’re not using an Apple product. You might need a stereo cable rather than the Apple 4 pole type though.

dbphoto

I have got rid of 5 amps this year as I found what is perfect for me, the Marshall SL5

I still have one more for sale, a Blackstar ID Core 20 v2 if you have any interest in that?

StanleyAccrington

dbphoto said:

I have got rid of 5 amps this year as I found what is perfect for me, the Marshall SL5

I still have one more for sale, a Blackstar ID Core 20 v2 if you have any interest in that?

I was looking at these in Gear4Music today. Would be the 10 if l was to get one. Thanks anyway.

dbphoto

It’s in the classifieds for £70 delivered if you change your mind ;-)

StanleyAccrington

HAL9000 said:

StanleyAccrington said:

Roland Micro Cube has taken my interest......but the downer is that I need an Ipad/Iphone or IPod to use the aux to play backing tracks.  Grrrrrrr!!

My understanding (which you might want to check) is that the i-Cube link input will work as a normal aux-in if you’re not using an Apple product. You might need a stereo cable rather than the Apple 4 pole type though.

I was checking one out today and asked one of the shop assistants about aux compatibility. He reckoned that the aux isnt specifically for Apple use and that Android SHOULD work ok with it. He didn't  sound convincing enough for me to purchase it....and the strange looking aux socket put me off further.

pintspiller

What I dislike about the smaller watt combos is the smaller speakers. They all lack bottom.

I had a Peavey Royal and I added a speaker out so I could connect to a cab. So much better through a 112 and 212. Likewise my HT1.

Not really bedroom amps though as they sounded a lot louder.

57Deluxe

I get asked this a lot by parents of students and they usually have a limited budget so anything worthwhile is out the frame. I often go left field with introducing a small amp head and a Harley Benton cab

These two amps well worth a look:





You could get a rig down to £130

Phil_aka_Pip

ICBM said:

munckee said:

Phil_aka_Pip said:

Harley-Benton GA5, Epiphone Valve Junior. Good straight in from guitar, take pedals well. Best of both worlds.

What Phil said, would add fender champion 600 or the gretsch equivalent, nothing beats a good clean valve amp sound and then add pedals as required.

The problem is that the Valve Junior - even the later versions - don't do a good clean sound, it's muddy and boxy. Actually they don't do a good overdriven sound either...

The Champion 600 is marginally better but it's really an amp for an old-school blues overdrive than a good pedal amp.

A *proper* Fender Champ is great clean, but they're starting to be really big money now, even the 70s ones.

That's just your opinion Sir. I love it