Small Valve Amp for pennies , opinions

gpw5150

Dave_Mc said:

gpw5150 said:

The Pro Jnr is good, but I am biased as I have a USA built one for sale on fleabay.

However, I do recommend the Panama Conqueror if you can get one, it is basically a hand wired 5f2a circuit with a 12 inch speaker in a versatile package of either head/cab or combo with 10 or 12 inch speaker.

I had one which I do regret selling.  

I could be wrong, but wasn't there some kind of controversy surrounding those Panama amps? Bit like the Freekish Blues/Vertex rebranding type of thing IIRC.

Oooh, i dunno.  They were made in Panama….!

There is one for sale for £250 in the southwest.  Quick tube swap and bosh, great amp!

Revolutions

Buy my Traynor YGM-3. Fender Deluxe Reverb sounds, hand-wired from the 70s, for less than £500.

https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/264302/f-s-traynor-ygm-3-1970s-hand-wired-1x12-celestion-v30-price-drop-450#latest

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

snowblind said:

Seconding the suggestion for Laneys. Oddly (or maybe not due to the weight) the smaller ones tend to go for more money than the 2x12s but they fall well within your budget and they sound good. Better than the Bassbreaker I would say.

I suggest a Laney too, but not the VC15. My choice would be the Laney Cub Super 12 - basically the updated and improved version of the original Cub.

Very dinky for a 12", tones from clean/crunch through to enough gain for classic rock, has an excellent digital reverb, and an adjustable and foot switchable boost circuit. The cherry on the cake is that it has a 1w mode so you can get real cranked valve tones at neighbour-friendly volumes. 

Should be under you budget either new or used.

https://www.musicradar.com/reviews/laney-cub-super12

TheMarlin

If you can find a Vox AC4, then go for it. I heard/played the handwired 1x12 version, sounded excellent. Much envy

Dave_Mc

gpw5150 said:

Dave_Mc said:

gpw5150 said:

The Pro Jnr is good, but I am biased as I have a USA built one for sale on fleabay.

However, I do recommend the Panama Conqueror if you can get one, it is basically a hand wired 5f2a circuit with a 12 inch speaker in a versatile package of either head/cab or combo with 10 or 12 inch speaker.

I had one which I do regret selling.  

I could be wrong, but wasn't there some kind of controversy surrounding those Panama amps? Bit like the Freekish Blues/Vertex rebranding type of thing IIRC.

Oooh, i dunno.  They were made in Panama….!

There is one for sale for £250 in the southwest.  Quick tube swap and bosh, great amp!

As I said, I could be misremembering, but I was under the impression that the controversy was that they actually weren't made in Panama and looked suspiciously similar (under the hood) to other much cheaper amps made (presumably) in China or similar. But I could be wrong and/or misremembering.

E.g. 

rlw

Blues King/Delta King is an excellent amp but best as a 12"

spev11

In a wild swing I've been looking at amp kits, Modulus kits specifically, not sure which one to get yet but I'm wondering If I can stuff it into the SubZero 1x10 cab that I have here, and whether It would go in at the front rather than at the back like most of them seem to be. Even tilted a bit. It's a spare cab so I'm happy enough to attack it with a jigsaw. I'm flitting between the Tweed Deluxe kit ( either head or combo depending on whether I can get it into the cab I have),Tweed Princetown or the Tweedle Dee Head kit.
 If I went for the Princetown (As this is leading the charge for simplicity if nothing else) given its meant to be mounted vertically at the back of a combo would the valve be ok If i mounted at 45 degrees in the front of the cab  ? ( or an angle near to 45 so it clears the speaker, I'm happy to remake the baffle and move the speaker a bit if needed)

Maybe I should start another thread? 

Squareheadedfreak

The blackheart range is surprisingly good for the money, many undee £300, large transformers, massively over specced components, very simple to use, have a few for my son

Voxman

Laney Cub 12R, 15w. I have the Mk1 and upgraded the speaker to a Celestion Vintage 30. Newer ones have a gain boost. Hugely under rated all valve amps with a 1w and 15w input, excellent digital reverb, fx loop and 8/16ohm extn cab out, very Marshall like.  Did a couple of demos on you tube with a LP and a strat. 

spev11

I keep looking at Laneys but I think (and I'm not certain) but I'm looking for Fendery cleans, I have an Orange Supercrush for everything else. 
 As I don't have a local shop to pop in and try stuff out its a bit of a lottery. I don't know if i'm confident enough to build something from Modulus or not. If I'm not then I really have little idea currently what to go for apart from this idea of "Fendery Clean" , It's probably all bollox and I'll just end up with a another Jazz Chorus 

Dave_Mc

spev11 said:

I keep looking at Laneys but I think (and I'm not certain) but I'm looking for Fendery cleans, I have an Orange Supercrush for everything else. 
 As I don't have a local shop to pop in and try stuff out its a bit of a lottery. I don't know if i'm confident enough to build something from Modulus or not. If I'm not then I really have little idea currently what to go for apart from this idea of "Fendery Clean" , It's probably all bollox and I'll just end up with a another Jazz Chorus 

Just bear in mind that Tweed cleans are pretty different from Black Panel cleans... most people (citation needed!) probably mean "Black Panel cleans" when they say "Fender cleans"...

Littlejonny

As mentioned above - Laney VC15 are good amps and seem to go for peanuts all the time

impmann

I don't think anyone has mentioned it but the Blackstar Studio 10s are nice - I actually have a boxed, as new Artisan 10AE complete with a cover that I will be looking to sell for less than half your budget. The cleans are tasty and it'll do the vintage Brit amp crunch too...

Deadman

I’m in the same boat at the moment. I’ve got a PG spark mini for the house which I love, but I want something valvey for the office/after hours jamming. Volume isn’t a real issue but I don’t want a half stack or anything daft. I found some great YouTube vids of the Marshall DSL1 so have thought about that, as I’m not at all arsed about any particular sound, just a bit of gentle valve overdrive will do me.

How are you getting on Spev? Made and decisions yet? 

spev11

No not yet, as much as I'd love to build something I really want a Princeton and thats out of my budget, both used and to build. I swing wildly from one day to the next as to what to do 
Every now and again I catch myself looking at the Tonex and then I realise i'll hate it.
I'm bordering on selling the supercrush and pooling the cash into one do it all amp (which I know doesn't exist)

Its the joyous merry-go-round of looking for something that really doesn't exist.
I've swung so far away from my original criteria of a small good looking fun little amp to plug and play to looking for a holy grail thing that covers all bases (these dont really exist unless I go modelling amp which I cant do, too many options)

spev11

impmann said:

I don't think anyone has mentioned it but the Blackstar Studio 10s are nice - I actually have a boxed, as new Artisan 10AE complete with a cover that I will be looking to sell for less than half your budget. The cleans are tasty and it'll do the vintage Brit amp crunch too...

thats tempting but most of my angst with amps is the bloody knobs on the top. I've sold great amps because it annoyed me sooooooo much

Deadman

Oh I know the feeling, believe me

Honestly, I’m so happy with the PG Mini that I’ve thought about getting a powered cab for the office to go with it and binning the idea of valves. That itch isn’t gonna get scratched though. 

I love the idea of a Princeton too, and it’s in budget (second hand) and there would be occasions where I’d no doubt LOVE the sounds (e.g. I play Smiths songs) but is it the one for me? I think it’d be overkill. I also don’t know if the Pearl Jam, or punk, or heavier stuff I like to mess with would sound any good? I’ve got a couple of pedals having said that so maybe it would do me.

It’s a flipping head scratcher for sure. And I’ve had so many amps now that I think I’m just being daft. Having said that, I’d still love one nice valve amp to keep forever. Again, I’m currently looking at so many options, namely: VOX AC4 HW, Marshall DSL1 (or 5?), Princeton Reverb, Supro Delta King, etc etc. Some of the offerings in the classifieds have tempted me too of late (Cornell Traveller being the main one). 

munckee

I’ve got a 65 Princeton reissue and with an attenuator I find I don’t bother with the pedal board much any more. Covers anything I play which stops before metal so nirvana QOTSA etc all sounds good. 

I’ve also got a super champ x 2 which to be fair is nearly as good as the Princeton, can’t quite match the cleans and the reverb and tremolo on the Princeton is heavenly. 

spev11

I do love a nice reverb and tremolo, i'm either gonna sack the idea off or save up the pennies until I can afford a 65 princeton (or rob a bank/post office executive)

wrinkleygit

There’s a lot to be said for a Super Champ XD, not much money these days, massive thread on here somewhere.