Small Vacuum tube amp?

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mikehalloran
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Re: Small Vacuum tube amp?

Post by mikehalloran »

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mhschmieder
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Re: Small Vacuum tube amp?

Post by mhschmieder »

Oh, I misinterpreted the description of the bass horn to be a baffle to avoid bass frequency buildup. Yeah, that's a very different speaker design and is probably more concerned with driving suitable crossover frequencies (likely managed inside the driver design itself) and probably isn't going to be the main factor in picking a small-wattage guitar amp head.

The power soak approach will probably be the best way to go, unless you find a super-low-wattage head (vs. combo) that does what you want.

I owned a couple for awhile, as placeholder while backlisted (a LONG time) for a Mesa Royal Atlantic head. The Jet City "Soldano-designed" 20-watt head was pretty good, but only in dirty mode; whereas the Blackstar 5-watter put out a LOT more power than the rating would suggest and had a tonal character not dissimilar to the Mesa Royal Atlantic (but less versatile and a bit less detailed). More of a modern sound overall, but it recorded quite well.
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Re: Small Vacuum tube amp?

Post by twistedtom »

This cab under thePeavey is the one.Image
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Re: Small Vacuum tube amp?

Post by mhschmieder »

As it happens, one of Jet City's 20w heads is Stupid Deal of the Day at Musician's Fiend today:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/stupid?s ... rc=3TP3DRR

That isn't the one I owned, unless it's just a faceplate variant.

This is a quick hit-and-run due to the timing of these sales, so I haven't checked the details or whether someone else already posted it.
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mhschmieder
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Re: Small Vacuum tube amp?

Post by mhschmieder »

That deal of the day on the Jet City amp might be a good way to go, even if only as a placeholder, as the description shows it to be an improvement on the JCA20 I owned for awhile and more capable of producing good clean tones:

Product Description

The Jet City Vintage 20W tube head is based on their popular JCA20H. The 20HV version is a simple, single-channel amp. Completely re-voiced, it's a bit cleaner, a bit darker, and the power section has been opened up. In addition to the Presence control, Jet City has also added a depth switch based on Soldano's famous Depth control. They've also included a post-master effects loop.
Features

Controls: Preamp Gain, Bass, Middle, Treble, Master, Presence, Depth switch
Solid state effects loop by Mojo
20W
Three 12AX7 and Two EL84 tubes

Given these revisions, it might start getting you into Vox territory...
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