'Cheap' Low watt Valve combos

[Tonebender]

We have been a little spoilt of late what with alot of Mainstream amp manufacturers producing relatively 'cheap' small low watt valve combos like the Epi valve Junior, The Peavey nano, Fender/Gretsch Champ 600, Fender Vibrochamp, Orange TT etc.

I was wondering if many of you guys and gals on the board own one?

The idea of a small portable valve amp that i could use of an evening with perhaps just a Rooster or an overdrive pedal does appeal. Most of these little suckers i have tried though suffer from boxiness, lack of tone adjustment and cheap speakers. Has anyone bought one of these and can comment??
For instance i've seen the Peavey 5 watt valve nano for £69.......but are they any good???

Im probably just putting off the inevitable of shelling out on a Minimat or GT4.........

[Sauniere]

Vox just released the AC4. I thought I read somewhere that the combo was $250. Head version also available. Sounds pretty nice!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uw9xW3SWqqM

[muffin man]

I think your too late on the GT4 last time i looked they had all gone.
My advice would be to bite the bullet and buy either a minimat or if you can find a second hand one a littlerock.
At least both of these are so much more than a practice amp.
Last time i looked there was a minimat combo on ebay.co.uk

[redeyeflight]

ya know...I gotta put my vote in for the blackheart 5 watt head. It's freakin ridiculously inexpensive (aka costs TONS less than prolly most folks on this forum spend on a single pedal...myself incl...lol) and it sounds pretty damn good. These things are like 250 USD for a 1x12 combo. Uses a single el-84 and a couple of 12ax7's, class a, 5 watts switchable to three watts, volume, bass, and treble. Also pretty damn loud...I've definately used mine for rehersals and gotten away with it easy. Check em out!! They apparently are also easy to mod and make em sound better for not that much more dough...

[jimi_dylan]

The idea of a small portable valve amp that i could use of an evening with perhaps just a Rooster or an overdrive pedal does appeal. Most of these little suckers i have tried though suffer from boxiness, lack of tone adjustment and cheap speakers.

I agree that small portable combos are appealing. I have a custom Fargen small combo that goes from 0.5 to 5 watts (a doubling in volume), but I assume your budget is not >$500. However, if I were to get another small 5 watt combo near that price to use with a topnotch germanium booster pedal, I would pay a smidgin more and get this little masterpiece: http://swartamps.com/amplifiers_tweed_tone_6v6se.htm
New: $850
Used: $625 on ebay last week
I really like how it sounds: http://swartamps.com/sounds-spacetone_6v6_greg_v.htm

[i love sharin foo]

I got this little guy last month as a gift:


It's an Orange AD5. It doesn't have much headroom at all but the dirt sounds fantastic. It works super great with a booster and fuzz pedals. Being open back and with just a 10" speaker, it has a little trouble letting super lows ring out like the would with a bigger cab, but it still sounds nice. I'd like to get one of the Weber 10" Fane inspired model speakers to try in it. Also, it's quiet enough that you can crank the volume and play all day long without tinnitis. It's natural gain tone isn't real smooth.. it's more of a crunchy, rough tone. It doesn't seem to have much in common, in terms of tone, with something like the Orange AD30, which is a good thing IMHO. It reminds me a little bit of yhe older Orange/ Matamps which is a very good thing.

[jimi_dylan]

This looks like $135 of fun (but could sound like $135 of shit, don't know):
http://www.olcircuits.com/olc_tubecricket.html

[mhat]

This looks like $135 of fun (but could sound like $135 of shit, don't know):
http://www.olcircuits.com/olc_tubecricket.html

I'm building one of these right now. It's on hold 'cos work's gone mad. It had to be worth a punt for that money. I bought it before the pound started to slide so it was even better value then.

Assuming I finish it before I'm old and grey I'll record some samples.

cheers,
Mike

[JP30]

I have fender Champ600. it's cheap.
$150.00 in the ebay all day...

not loud at all. bit muddy when cranked up.
not clear or crispiest amp that have tried.
1x6 speaker doesn't too much to me... but it has good bass to it.
it has Lineout so I can plug that into 1x12 and it sounds better to my liking.
I been thinking about having it modded.

Gretsch makes 5w 1x6 combo, and it cheap...
Blackheart 5w combo 's got 1x12.... but it's over $350.00
(what ? $350.00 for an amp ? that's too much... )
Crate makes 5w tube amp. never heard it with own years, but it's under $100.00 so does Ephiphone.

anyways Champ 600 is cheap, muddy and fun.

[jimi_dylan]

This looks like $135 of fun (but could sound like $135 of shit, don't know):
http://www.olcircuits.com/olc_tubecricket.html

I'm building one of these right now. It's on hold 'cos work's gone mad. It had to be worth a punt for that money. I bought it before the pound started to slide so it was even better value then.

Assuming I finish it before I'm old and grey I'll record some samples.

cheers,
Mike

Nice! Hope it sounds good. I bet it would be fun to experiment with different tubes.