The Watering Hole

I am looking for a good 15-20 watt all tube combo amp with a single 12" speaker. I don't want any modeler amp, I just want a good sounding amp, not real bright, it has to be lightweight, less than 30 lbs. And it has to have a good sounding reverb and a full tone stack.

By the way I don't need a boutique amp, a reliable mass produced amp is the price range I am looking for.

Hi Dbm,
I would consider the new Blues Junior. ;)

Ciao
Marco

I'm gonna recommend the Vox Night Train.  Versatile little amp.  When pushed dirty and hit with a booster, it sounds awesome.  Cleans are nice too.  It's Vox, what do you expect on the cleans.  LOL.   ;)

I  Voxman did a video on Youtube of it.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXldsy4mz6M

I've tried it and it's a rockin' little amp.  It's not a combo, but with the little 112, it's close enough.  Comes with a carrying bag for the head.  

Thanks the Blues Jr is at the forefront as is the Laney Cub12R, The night train has no on board reverb, although that is not a deal killer.

Dbm,
That still leaves a tremendous price range, could you be more specific?

Egnater Tweaker. Variety of great sounds on its own and it seems to also love a pedal or two in front for even more toanz. Friendly price.  

+1.  I have the head/cab, Hard to beat in it's price range, and WAY versatile.  

I didn't recommend the Tweaker, even though I do love mine, because it's got no reverb.  I think the smallest Egnater combo that does have reverb is the Rebel 30, and that's kind of a big cab, 30 watts.

Tweaker is in the running, reverb pedals are relatively cheap. But Carvin has  the VT16 Vintage Micro Amp Head http://www.carvinguitars.com/products/VT16 all features in there $399 I could hook it up to one of my 1-12 cabs. It is also in the running.

You can get a Laney Cub 12 for that much, it's a 1x12 combo, with a 15w and a 1w option, and it has reverb. Note that all these cheap tube amps have digital reverb... spring reverb is too costly to implement on a sub-$400 amp.

With Carvin amps, I always find that I want to like them, and I always end up disappointed.

Here's another one to check out that is very nice for the price.

Blackstar HT-5R.  And it has verb.   ;)  

http://www.blackstaramps.co.uk/products/ht-5r/

I'd go Tweaker and a verb pedal.  Then you can get a WIDE variety of great tones, plus any kind of verb you want.  

I'd go Tweaker and a verb pedal.  Then you can get a WIDE variety of great tones, plus any kind of verb you want.  My Line 6 Verbzilla works great in the Tweaker loop and gives all kinds of different verbs.  

I still recall how sweet the Jetter Red pedal sounded when I first slapped it in front of a Tweaker at the store. Solid amp.

Best thing is, all of these suggestions are nearly always on hand at GC, should be easy enough to grab a guitar and compare a few of them side by side.

DreamTheaterRules — May 22, 2012I'd go Tweaker and a verb pedal.  Then you can get a WIDE variety of great tones, plus any kind of verb you want.  My Line 6 Verbzilla works great in the Tweaker loop and gives all kinds of different verbs.  

You can say that again! And you did.

I like the tweaker but I don't find it to have that spanky bottom end that some of my other amps have.  

Here's a decent demo of the Laney... not a great player, but he runs through a wide variety of knob settings, all on 1 watt I think...  I like the cleans better than the Tweaker, though I think the Tweaker is more flexible.  I'd guess DBM is looking to find a set-and-forget sound...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDoMKR_LFNo

What do you mean spanky?  I mean, what do you mean, "spanky?"   ;D

The Tweaker has a pretty big bottom end.  Bruce said he didn't want people to say it sounded like just another lunchbox amp. When they asked what he meant, he said "most of them sound as small as they look." He wanted this one to have more bottom end so it sounded bigger.  When I go for more classic clean strat tones, I often have it down to around 9:00 to 10:00 and "tight" switch on.  

My cabs are back near a wall but I almost never turn the bass past noon.  3 of my 5 cabs are closed back though.  

DreamTheaterRules — May 22, 2012What do you mean spanky?  I mean, what do you mean, "spanky?"   ;D

The Tweaker has a pretty big bottom end.  Bruce said he didn't want people to say it sounded like just another lunchbox amp. When they asked what he meant, he said "most of them sound as small as they look." He wanted this one to have more bottom end so it sounded bigger.  When I go for more classic clean strat tones, I often have it down to around 9:00 to 10:00 and "tight" switch on.  

My cabs are back near a wall but I almost never turn the bass past noon.  3 of my 5 cabs are closed back though.  

Your tone is famous for its brightness, DTR. ;)

I'm just saying, I've got the tweaker in the same room as 5 other tube amps, from 5 watts to 60 watts, and they all have better bottom end than the tweaker.  Not that it bugs me much, because in a jam situation that shit cuts right through--you can always hear it in the recordings...  It could be down to the combo's G12H30 speaker (though I've played the Sovtek, HFS, and Epiphone Valve Jr. all through the tweaker speaker and thought they sounded great).

I often have the bass up at 3 o'clock plus on that amp.

I am finding the Laney (at least in the clips) has more of what my other amps, like the HFS have... that spanky, warm, snappy bottom end.

charger — May 22, 2012

Here's a decent demo of the Laney... not a great player, but he runs through a wide variety of knob settings, all on 1 watt I think...  I like the cleans better than the Tweaker, though I think the Tweaker is more flexible.  I'd guess DBM is looking to find a set-and-forget sound...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDoMKR_LFNo

Thanks for the link to the Laney. I am really looking for an amp with a nice reverb, and no gimmicks needed, just a nice clean sound. Not too awful bright like the Fender Reissues.

I want it to be super light weight, and have an on board 12" speaker. I can put my tube distortion stomp in front for a nice overdrive. I don't need any gimmicks like delays, chorus etc. Those are nice and all but I don't use them anymore. I have made it a clear choice to play simple music using simple gear. The reason is this; I am almost 70 years old and like 99% of the older generation I am losing my memory function, and believe me it will happen to most of you. So I can't recollect quickly like I used to. So it is major and minor scales and major and minor pentatonics for me. Back in the day I used all kinds of modal scales. I played a lot back in the day with diminished and other fancier scales. But I still want to play music, and be good at what I do. Since the scales I use generally are fried into my brain from long use, it does not require any thinking or quick decision jumps from scale to scale or arpeggio to arpeggio.

Likewise I want my equipment to be simple. I have advertised for some folks, and I found a good drummer and several bass players. When I told them I have 3 full sets of original tunes and some decent covers all recorded, they were ecstatic and think we could work out as soon as they learned my tunes. Once I get that going, I can delete the drums and bass from all my BT's, and hopefully, as we play out, we can attract a good keys guy, then I could delete the recorded BT's from the band and go all live. I have the Hot Rod Deluxe which will play any room with the 2 EVM12L's in one twelve cabs hooked up to the HRD, now I want something simpler and smaller for smaller venues/rehearsal.

The Laney looks good for that. But I am also thinking a Carvin Micro head 16 watt, it will do everything I need and may not need an additional stomp if the dirt cleans up halfway with guitar volume control.

You'll be like all the "classic" rock guys, touring into their 60s and even 70s!