16 posts
I am still in the market for a nice low wattage amp it must have 6V6's in it and a full tone stack, I am not a fan of the EL sound at all. I know others love it and that is fine with me but I like the darker toned rounder sound of 6L6/6V6 amps. I am looking for something in the 15 20 watt range with on board reverb if possible. The Fender Deluxe and those clone amps are too bright for my old (70 year) ears. I love the Hot Rod Deluxe but it is pretty loud and is too heavy for my old bones to carry around much (although I work out at the Gym 3x weekly and do life heavy weights), the HRD is too unwieldy. I want something less than 30 lbs and not much bigger than a one twelve combo just a little bigger than the speaker. I did have a Fender Pro Junior about 5 years back that was just the right size but it had EL's in it, and consequently too bright and brittle toned for my taste.
Any suggestions?
Doesn't one of the Egnators fall into that category?
Depends on your budget. But I'll say two words: Bogner Duende. You can pick up a used one for around $1400ish. Best amp I ever owned. Only one I ever have missed. Beautiful cleans, killer rock sounds that responded very well with pedals. Once I had it dialed in (which took the least amount of time of any amp I've owned) I rarely had to move the knobs (sometimes I would dial down the gain when I wanted a bluesier tone). I had the 30watt 6L6 version (which is discontinued), but have heard the 6V6 versions are where it's at anyway.
Also might look at a Rivera Venus 3.
Egnater Tweaker. No reverb but everything else on your list.
Yep....that Tweaker is just a badass little amp. Slap a favorite drive pedal in front of one (in addition to its own drive) and you've got a ton of great tones. I sampled my Jetter Red 2 drive pedal through a Tweaker and a Dr. Z side by side and couldn't pick a winner. And the Egnater was half the $.
THD UniValve might be right up your alley. Like the Egnator it has no reverb, but it's a nice quality piece that you can smack essentially any combination of single power tube and 2 preamp tubes to shape its tone to whatever you want. Interesting possibilities for sure.
And I may be spoiling the water with this, but... The Line 6 DT-25 is pretty nice as well, with a nice reverb built in. It's all tube with some L6 magic in the preamp stage. A lot different than the Spider Valve, for sure. Excellent response, bloom, and feel. I've only demo'd it, but I was really surprised at how well they pulled this off. It's worthy of a test drive, and has a nice half power switch to get you down to bedroom volumes when you need to.
Thanks good suggestions there...
univalve is probably not the amp if you're looking for smooth and round - it's pretty damn bright no matter what tubes you use.
bivalve is supposed to be a little more mellow but I've never tried one.
flexi with 6L6s is really great. haven't tried 6v6 in it, but it can run them - would expect good things.
Kabala — Oct 29, 2012Yep....that Tweaker is just a badass little amp. Slap a favorite drive pedal in front of one (in addition to its own drive) and you've got a ton of great tones. I sampled my Jetter Red 2 drive pedal through a Tweaker and a Dr. Z side by side and couldn't pick a winner. And the Egnater was half the $.
I played a Dr Z amp several years back, 18 watts or so, eighteen hundred bucks, and it was far too bright for my taste. It was sure hi fidelity as far as tube amps goes though. But I could not get it in my tone zone even with the trebs turned way down. I passed on it.
Gotta go to GC an try the Tweaker I guess. I am also interested in the Laney Cub 12R even though it uses EL 84's it is cheap and I hear great things about it.
Have you guys seen the new Marshall DSL 15 watt head?
Played it, loved it.
I'd love to try one of those!
DBM, you need to also check out a VHT 12/20. The stock head is $499 at MF without discounts etc. Used, in the $300s. Getting very good reviews,and has a great feature set!!
DreamTheaterRules — Oct 31, 2012I'd love to try one of those!
DBM, you need to also check out a VHT 12/20. The stock head is $499 at MF without discounts etc. Used, in the $300s. Getting very good reviews,and has a great feature set!!
$524.99 for the combo, looks real interesting Howie. I don't know what the Depth control is, but I am hoping it has to do with mids and bass etc.
DBM, for a non full tone stack amp (it actually has a full stack but a "fixed" one) it supposedly sounds GREAT. And, just what you like... Fender Blackface is how it's voiced and pulling the boost switch makes it more Tweed.
The Depth knob progressively rolls off base and into the mids. This function is to tighten up the bottom as you use more gain. It works GREAT on my Special 6 Ultra. That is one killer little amp! I just played it again last night with my new PRS and it sounds wonderful! In fact, the ONLY think I'd do to that amp is somehow make it channel switching. In this price range, I understand... But you have to unplug from the clean channel and plug into the gain channel. The clean channel signal literally doesn't even go through the gain channels first stages. (And no, and A/B switch won't do it because if you plug into both, you only get the clean channel. DANG IT. That was my immediate idea when I heard about it.
Anyway, this is a "big brother" to my Ultra. Two 6v6's at 12 watts OR throw a switch (which corrects voltages for the 6L6) and put two 6L6's in it and it's 20 watts. Lots of amps let you switch tubes, but this is doing it RIGHT by changing to the appropriate voltages for 6L6, 5881's (which people LOVE in these) and El34s.
My S6 Ultra has more gain than you'll ever use. It can easily allow you to leave those tube pedals you love at home if you want to and use the amps gain. I'm telling you, I really liked this amp when I got it, then kind of rotated to my others... plugged it in again the other day and it didn't sound so great. making noise etc... replaced the tube that was going bad and WOW, it sounds better than ever! I was VERY impressed last night by this little amp!
The reviews on this amp are impressive... Guys buying them for their practice amps, falling in love and selling higher end Fender and even boutique brands because they like the 12/20 as well or better.
I STRONGLY recommend you look at this amp. If I get to audition one, I'll let you know. But the word is, it's really a great amp for cheap.
Thanks Howie, great review I will have to go look at one very soon.
Fender Super Champ XD. 6V6 tubes. 15 tube watts. And cheap as hell.
I tried one a few years back, and it was nice, had that nice fender cleans, too bright for my old ears however, so I passed on it. Maybe I will go look at the new one. Can't hurt to go see...