Is it worth buying a powerful tube amp for home purposes?

[Bobby1note]

Look around for a used Carr Mercury. It may be more than you wanna spend, but it will hold its' value.

Power is switchable to as low as 1/10watt.; (quote from Mercury)

"Our exclusive power attenuating circuit enables the Mercury to be played at 8, 2, 1/2 and only 1/10 watts, with no appreciable change in tone, yet the Mercury easily yields enough clean headroom for club work."

http://carramps.com/products/mercury

[posternutbag]

I am a big fan of the Fender Champion 600 Reissue. It is/was a little 6 watt tube amp with very simple controls. IMO, the perfect home practice amp.

[Bob Womack]

Oi! Think yer got enough opinions at this point?

Bob

[muscmp]

all of my BIG watt amps are in the garage waiting to be sold. my main amps, for home use, are a 59 princeton 5 watt, 63 gibson ga5t 5 watt, 65 sears silvertone 1482 15 watt and 56 gibson ga20t 20 watt that i use for clean sounds since it gets so loud. i rarely turn any of them up halfway, except when the wife is away. ha!

play music!

[TjthePhD]

There are amps in the 30-watt range that have EXCELLENT master volume controls ... but they usually aren't cheap. I use a Carol-Ann OD3r which is rated at 33 watts, and with the master volume I can play late at night and nobody in the other apartments can hear it unless they are outside my door. There is compression in the tone at very low levels, but it is acceptable to me. I can then take it to one of the campus music rooms and knock satellites out of orbit with the volume, and there is no need for a second amp. What works for you will, of course, vary.

[catdaddy]

Originally Posted by ewalling

I've just bought a really nice used Godin LGXT and I'm looking into getting a reasonably priced tube amp for it. My question is: would a tube amp of 40 watts be too powerful for home use? Part of the appeal of the tube amp is the sound breakup at higher volumes, but do they also sound better than solid state even at low, clean levels? Or would I be better to go for a 5-watter so that I could crank the volume up a bit?

I think a valid question is can you hear a difference. Lots of heated debate about that but here's a listening test you may want to take before you decide what to buy.


Here are the results:




Also worth mentioning that since you've stated that you don't want to get into buying a lot of effects the Fender Mustang has quite a full complement of effects built in.

[44Runner]

I have a Vox AC15C1 that I absolutely love. It is the perfect amp for me and the tone I like.

I also have a Bugera V5 which I also love. It is my quiet amp and also has great tone. It has a 5-1-.1 watt attenuator and a head phone jack.

As much as I love my Vox, if I could only have 1 it would be the Bugera. I really never need more than 5 Watts and I frequently need less...

[moon]

I did the test listening on a slightly muddy hi-fi and still guessed correctly that B was the tube amp.

The big problem with modelling amps is that they do not provide the rich, organic tweakability of the real thing. How could they? Pressing a button to call up a preset is very different to adjusting amp controls, listening, and slowly dialling in your sound. Modelling amps won't even respond to pedals in the same way. It takes a lot of the creativity out of music.

For example, Brian May doesn't sound like anyone except Brian May. Sure you can probably find lots of Brian May presets on various modelling boxes which allow anyone to play with an inferior May-a-like tone but the Brian Mays of this world did not discover their unique sound flicking through a list of presets on their modelling amps. They did it by exploring the possibilities of real gear. You're missing out on some vital learning with modelling amps.

[mjz]

Originally Posted by ewalling

My question is: would a tube amp of 40 watts be too powerful for home use?

I would say yes.

max

[catdaddy]

Originally Posted by moon

I did the test listening on a slightly muddy hi-fi and still guessed correctly that B was the tube amp.

The big problem with modelling amps is that they do not provide the rich, organic tweakability of the real thing. How could they? Pressing a button to call up a preset is very different to adjusting amp controls, listening, and slowly dialling in your sound. Modelling amps won't even respond to pedals in the same way. It takes a lot of the creativity out of music.

For example, Brian May doesn't sound like anyone except Brian May. Sure you can probably find lots of Brian May presets on various modelling boxes which allow anyone to play with an inferior May-a-like tone but the Brian Mays of this world did not discover their unique sound flicking through a list of presets on their modelling amps. They did it by exploring the possibilities of real gear. You're missing out on some vital learning with modelling amps.

I'm not advocating a modeling amp as the correct choice for anyone. I believe a tube amp is a marvelous almost organic creation. Though I think your view of modeling amps is somewhat outdated. The latest modeling amps such as the Mustang have features and controls that allow a person to be creative or derivative in a way that is beginning to blur the line between tube and SS.

[terrapin]

Originally Posted by catdaddy

I'm not advocating a modeling amp as the correct choice for anyone. I believe a tube amp is a marvelous almost organic creation. Though I think your view of modeling amps is somewhat outdated. The latest modeling amps such as the Mustang have features and controls that allow a person to be creative or derivative in a way that is beginning to blur the line between tube and SS.

If by "blur(ing) the line" you mean the versatility to push a button to call up a preset-facsimile of another amp then, yes, they have some versatility. But, they do ALOT of things in a mediocre fashion and usually nothing well. The Mustang is a good example of ALOT of versatility done in a passable fashion. But I would rather have a nice small wattage one-trick pony tube amp and get pedals for any bells and whistles I need or want. The Kemper Profiling amps are a different story, and Fractal Axe Axe Effects. Incredible technology, but they cost a fortune!

[catdaddy]

Originally Posted by terrapin

If by "blur(ing) the line" you mean the versatility to push a button to call up a preset-facsimile of another amp then, yes, they have some versatility. But, they do ALOT of things in a mediocre fashion and usually nothing well. The Mustang is a good example of ALOT of versatility done in a passable fashion. But I would rather have a nice small wattage one-trick pony tube amp and get pedals for any bells and whistles I need or want. The Kemper Profiling amps are a different story, and Fractal Axe Axe Effects. Incredible technology, but they cost a fortune!

No, actually I meant the depth of versatility (via a plethora of tweakable parameters) and control offered by the Fender Fuse software that is the essence of the Mustang line. Calling up a preset is a convenience, and it does offer that as well.

[ewalling]

Loads to chew over here. Thanks a lot for the ideas and suggestions, guys.

[zabdart]

Originally Posted by moon

5 watts is plenty cranked at home. It will sound like a very loud hi-fi - possibly loud enough to annoy neighbours depending on your living arrangements.

Quite so. Not all of us can sound like Jimi Hendrix or Stevie Ray Vaughn right out of the box. You don't need all that volume to practice at home... unless you've got a neighbor you really DON'T like.

[pieterh]

I guess you've had the range of opinions already!

I have a great re-wired Duncan Tube 84-40 which now has a power rating of about 16-17 watts. And because it has two channels I can get great crunch and distortion tones at family-friendly volumes

Then I bought the Tonebone Trimode, followed by a Vox AC4TV. One pre- and one power-amp tube, max rating 4 watts but switchable between 4, 1 and 0.25 watts. The amp is designed to break up quite easily so arguably it may not be the best option, though at 4 watts the amp is beautifully clean at around 9-10 o'clock on the volume control and an ok volume in the house. The lower settings are even more house and neighbour friendly and I get great crunch and even good distortion the higher up the volume goes.

I once did front of house sound for a blues guitarist using a silver face Fender Twin. House PA is d&b Qi line array, venue holds 500 people. Sound check was ok but I think she put the volume up for the actual gig and in the end there was no guitar left-right, and only a touch for the sake of balance in the front fills - the volume knob had crept up to 3... Tube watts deliver a lot of sound!