Home practice amp

[Kinki fuzz]

I need something not expensive (or DIY!), low power, and good sounding.

I currently use a marshall MS2, 2W, enough power and volume for me, but sounds shitty. Any better option you know?

Thanks!

[Kinki fuzz]

btw, don't care if it doesn't have overdrive option, got some cool pedals for that

[marmaliser]

Epiphone Valve Junior ?  Takes pedals nicely and can get loud if needs be

[eldanko]

I've always thought the Egnater Rebel 20 was a great little amp for low volume stuff. Really small form factor, too. I think a couple of folks on here actually own one.

[drezdn]

A fun, cheap DIY build would be the 20 W Tiny Giant amp from musicpcb.

[RobA]

I need something not expensive (or DIY!), low power, and good sounding.

I currently use a marshall MS2, 2W, enough power and volume for me, but sounds shitty. Any better option you know?

Thanks!

Since these terms mean different things to different people, can you tell us what you mean by low power and good sounding? A couple of examples would be good. Do you need it to be low power with a saturated power amp tube distortion or just low volume while clean?

I have a Marshall Class 5. It's relatively cheap and does sound good. But, low power is a relative term here. When it's in 5 Watt mode, it is still way too loud for living room levels. When I use the low power switch which is supposed to knock it down to well less than a watt, it still is loud. Too loud to play late at night with closed windows for example. But, it is quite enough to practice with during the day and still sound like a Marshall.

I mucked around with one of the little Blackstar amps in a shop. If you are looking for modern high gain at practice levels, it would be worth checking out.

[GhostofJohnToad]

I have been using my ss Fender Mustang 1 a lot lately.  For under $100 I consider it fantastic for what it does.  The clean sounds are very good.  It takes certain pedals pretty good and also sounds decent for recording ideas.  Not to sound too fanboy, but probably the best 100 bux I've spent on guitar equipment in a long time.

[midwayfair]

-Tim is selling a Supro clone in the emporium for an absurdly low price.

-I think the AC 4 with an upgraded speaker is the best distorted cheap production small amp I've ever heard. It has basically no headroom at all and it sounds very alive.

-The Valve Junior is a beloved modding platform, and it sounds pretty good on its own.

"Power" is largely irrelevant. It matters what the manufacturer did with that power and what kind of speaker you run it through. A 2W amp can put out insane amounts of volume if you let it (and the 2W amp by East Amps is a good example of that ... it's louder than my Imperial's rhythm channel). Sometimes simply running a small amp through a bigger speaker (like a 12" for something that normally has an 8") can make a big difference. And in any case, 2W is only 50% as loud as 20W, not ... 10%.

Sometimes a simple tube change can also run the gain on a bigger amp down enough to make the difference. I use 12AY7s in place of 12AX7s. The gain is 40% vs. 100%. Hrmmm, what other ratio is that close to? And you can swap out preamp tubes before a show if you need the extra volume back. Picked up that trick with my HRD.

[garcho]

A fun, cheap DIY build would be the 20 W Tiny Giant amp from musicpcb.

+1

[Kinki fuzz]

I need something not expensive (or DIY!), low power, and good sounding.

I currently use a marshall MS2, 2W, enough power and volume for me, but sounds shitty. Any better option you know?

Thanks!

Since these terms mean different things to different people, can you tell us what you mean by low power and good sounding? A couple of examples would be good. Do you need it to be low power with a saturated power amp tube distortion or just low volume while clean?

I have a Marshall Class 5. It's relatively cheap and does sound good. But, low power is a relative term here. When it's in 5 Watt mode, it is still way too loud for living room levels. When I use the low power switch which is supposed to knock it down to well less than a watt, it still is loud. Too loud to play late at night with closed windows for example. But, it is quite enough to practice with during the day and still sound like a Marshall.

I mucked around with one of the little Blackstar amps in a shop. If you are looking for modern high gain at practice levels, it would be worth checking out.

Feature side, I need something that will take pedals well, not joking, I will use them even for clean sounds. Don't need saturation at all, will use pedals for that. Don't need tubes.

Volume side (yeah, power was not the best word), don't need much. As much as a home radio or a stereo at normal listening room volumes.

[Kinki fuzz]

A fun, cheap DIY build would be the 20 W Tiny Giant amp from musicpcb.

Interesting... and what could I use as speaker/cabinet for one of those?

[drezdn]

Here's what the Tiny Giant build doc says...

"The Tiny Giant will put out 20 watts into a 4 ohm speaker cabinet, and 12 watts into an 8 ohm cabinet. "

I use mine with a cheap 8ohm speaker I got from a surplus store.

[aballen]

Personally I don't think you can beat the firefly, 1.5 watts of tubey DIY goodness.

I have on in my office, its really perfect for small rooms.

[atreidesheir]

you could build a ruby or little gem and run it through a computer speaker or any handy speaker.  If you need a 386 chip I could mail you one.  They both sound really good. 

[RobA]

-Tim is selling a Supro clone in the emporium for an absurdly low price.

This link? http://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=10214.0

Oooh! That looks cool!