Cornell Romany - yay or nay?

bigfuzz

So I've been pondering getting something smaller to use at home since my recent move to a 'modern' apartment. 'Modern' in the sense that the walls seem to be minimalist in soundproofing. My DRRi seems to rock and roll a bit too much for my decreasingly friendly neighbours. So the idea of having a similarly voiced amp with a step down (whatever it's called) switch to go to really quiet volumes appeals to me. The fact that this is handwired in the UK has kept me interested.

I've no idea how popular Cornell's are on this forum, but if anyone has had/still has one of these I'd love to hear your thoughts.

guitarcookie1

I had one, it was one of the three-position attenuated versions & even the quietest setting was too loud for the house.
Nice amp though..

ThePrettyDamned

I'd suggest a yammy thr for proper quiet practice, but no idea if you want a UK wired jobby.  Marshall have some 1 watters, but they're well expensive for what they are... And that might be 1 loud watt.

stickyfiddle

Lovely things for clean but even on the lowest setting can be pretty loud wound up. Depends where you are though- might be too much for a terrace but fine for a detached house!

Lodious

I had one. I really liked it, the bass gets a bit loose on the lowest power setting, but still useable IMHO.  On the lowest setting I could use it cranked in the house without causing too much upset. They are lovely to look at and really nicely made. I only sold it as I'm not too into single ended amps.

 

If I was in your position, I'd consider getting a powersoak of some description and keep the amp you've got (unless you are specifically after the Cornell).

crunchman

I'd get power scaling installed on your DRRI.  There are various options that reduce the voltage to the power valves.  I have it on my Lazy J.  It's much better than the attenuation on my old Romany Plus.

ToneControl

I tried every power amp down to 1w

even in a detached house I got complaints

only solution was modelling or an ISO cab, with headphones after 9pm (I moved before the pitchforks came out)

ROOG

ToneControl said:

I tried every power amp down to 1w

even in a detached house I got complaints

only solution was modelling or an ISO cab, with headphones after 9pm (I moved before the pitchforks came out)

Not quite every amp, but more than I'm prepared to tell the missus about, Fenders running through L-pads, other smaller combos and I have finally settled on my favourite home use amp by some margin, Yamaha THR running on rechargeable batteries, just one guitar lead and away you go. 

bigfuzz

I've found myself using the garageband app on my phone and the irig jack thingy, makes me cry inside knowing the DRRi is sat there..

bigfuzz

So what attenuator boxes would you recommend? I'm not really that technical with installing something on the amp (scared I'd break it).

crunchman

Weber Minimass seems to work well with Fender style amps.  It won't sound great at really low volumes though. Sorry to harp on but  I don't think it would cost a lot more to get a tech to install power scaling in the amp.  

bigfuzz

i'm finding it hard to locate a local tech in SE london, without a car I'm in a right pickle!

Lew

On the other hand if you turn it up loud enough you wont be able to hear the neighbours. If I have one complaint about my neighbours it's that when they bang the walls they don't do it in time. Really puts me off.

guitarcookie1

I used a mini mass with mine but if you were using a >1w setting you could make your own?

bigfuzz

@lew i wish i could do this. there's nothing better than a cranked DRRi (why i bought it)

crunchman

If you wanted to try out a Minimass I've got one lying around.

Skipped

Romany - Wonderful amps but not for an apartment.
I am not keen on the attenuation and I don't like the Cut control.
But pushed a little, and using the tone controls,  the Plus model might be my favourite amp ever.

ArchtopDave

I use a Romany Plus at home on the 2 watt setting, as I play clean virtually all the time.

I do have the advantage of living in what was originally a stable block. It was built in either the 19th, or possibly 18th Century, and the walls are 2 foot of solid stone.

maw4neu

Great amps . . . Awesome tone . . . The Plus is the one to buy though . . . Second hand if possible as they are pretty expensive . . Regards

crunchman

Having owned and sold a Romany Plus, I'd stick with with the Deluxe Reverb.  If I had my choise of those two amps I'd definitely go for the Deluxe Reverb.

The Princeton Reverb may be worth a look. The 10" speaker in the PRRI isn't as efficient as the 12" in the DRRI.  Still wouldn't be able to crank it at home, but it may be in the range where you could use an attenuator on a less intrusive setting.  The one I tried was a great sounding amp.

bigfuzz

@crunchman the problem is that i don't want a boxy poor tone because i'm playing in here. I'm just coming to the conclusion that I can't get the tone I want quietly