Let's see the tiny low wattage tube amps you love

[Texsunburst59]

Was this something Fender made at some point or boutique? Such a killer rig with the blue pups.

Thanks BG.

No it was custom made for me by a local doctor who worked on and built Fender amps for fun.

As far as I know, it’s the first one ever built.

After posting pics of it years ago, there have been many others who’ve copied its design.

 

[TubeStack]

Happy NAD, @jellodog! Looks like a cool and fun amp.

Here’s a 1W JTM I used to have, from the 50th anniversary series.
I really enjoyed this amp at the time.

 

[jellodog]

Happy NAD, @jellodog! Looks like a cool and fun amp.

Here’s a 1W JTM I used to have, from the 50th anniversary series.
I really enjoyed this amp at the time.

View attachment 9881

Amazing! Such a beautiful photo - that LP with its warm browns and that golden faceplate / piping. LOVE IT!

Heh. I just noticed that the volume knob is labelled "Loudness". Classic JTM stuff

 

[norminal]

Happy NAD, @jellodog! Looks like a cool and fun amp.

Here’s a 1W JTM I used to have, from the 50th anniversary series.
I really enjoyed this amp at the time.

View attachment 9881

I’ve had huge GAS for one of these and the DSL1CR.

 

[hemmelight]

Always wanted one of the JMPs since finding out that Jacob Deraps has used one (along with the JCM) for years as a home amp.
I wonder if there are any clone kits available somewhere??

 

[itchyfingers]

I feel like every amp has it's sweet spot - I love small amps for smaller rooms and big amps for big rooms or outdoor shows. Kinda like modelers vs tubes, there's no need for mutual exclusivity. These are my lil guys...

Talk about tiny tubes, this thing is adorable until you turn it on, then it sound like a pissed off Marshall! It's crazy how much volume you can get out of this thing thats the size of a pedal. Must be the thimble sized power tubes...

Hiwatt Hi-5, 420 Holiday Limited Edition. Its currently half of my wet/dry rig with a tweed Vibrolux, and I'll switch back and forth between the clean/high gain channels. Does not sound like a DR-103, but its a perfect amp for the music room or for jamming with the drummer across the street, cranked wide open.

I think the Vibro Champs are slightly bigger than 5W, but I've seen a couple others in this thread so...

 

[jellodog]

I think the Vibro Champs are slightly bigger than 5W, but I've seen a couple others in this thread so...

Fantastic! I can't believe that you guys are managing to submit smaller and smaller amps!

I thought Vibro-Champs were around 6w? I've changed the overly prescriptive 5w thread title and preamble to accomodate. All are welcome!

Of the 3 amps posted - do you have a favourite?

 

[metropolis_4]

I’ve only owned 2 that qualify:

THD Univalve. This was “meh”. Cool idea but I never found the tones very inspiring. Kind of flat and dull. But it was super fun to experiment with tubes!

/13 JRT 9/15. This amp was amazing in the 9w setting and it had some massive transformers that kept things tight and gig-able at that setting.


I tended to live in the 15-18w realm as that seemed like the perfect zone for me for gigging level with the kind of tones I wanted

 

[krankenstein]

Returned both but liked the sound of dsl1. Would look Uber cool if had matching 1x8'' cabs. In the end I'm a big iron guy, full size amps look and sound just right. Also would like to try evh lbx

 

[norminal]

View attachment 9886
View attachment 9888

Returned both but liked the sound of dsl1. Would look Uber cool if had matching 1x8'' cabs. In the end I'm a big iron guy, full size amps look and sound just right. Also would like to try evh lbx

I almost bought an HT1 but was put off by the lack of effects loop. Very unfortunate omission IMO.

 

[krankenstein]

I almost bought an HT1 but was put off by the lack of effects loop. Very unfortunate omission IMO.

I dunno about the mk2 combo but head sounds awful with closed back / front loaded v30's. I'd recommend dsl1 it has FX loop and comes with foot switch.

 

[la szum]

My take is that <= 5W amps are in that weird purgatory where they are often too loud for home use, but not always loud enough for stage. On top of that the smaller transformers etc they tend to have will make them have less "oomph" to the sound than a higher powered amp.

I'll take a higher power amp that is power scalable any day.

Oh, you in trouble now, boi.

 

[Whizzinby]

My take is that <= 5W amps are in that weird purgatory where they are often too loud for home use

Home use doesn’t necessarily mean mouse-fart-levels.

If 5w is too loud, you just aren’t in the market for an amplifier tbh. (And there is nothing wrong with that)

 

[laxu]

Home use doesn’t necessarily mean mouse-fart-levels.

If 5w is too loud, you just aren’t in the market for an amplifier tbh. (And there is nothing wrong with that)

It doesn't, but if 5W is too loud, then you could also run a higher powered amp which at least has the features to control its volume vs drive in a more sensible way.

That's another part that I don't like about many of these very low watt amps. The feature set is pared down so far that it's basically "turn it down and use pedals" or "just get a more versatile amp"

I can pretty much guarantee that say a modern 20-100W master volume amp is paradoxically easier to control for volume and tone, regardless of what genre you play.

But I do agree that if you need mouse fart levels, just get a digital modeler and headphones. It will sound better.

 

[yeky83]

It doesn't, but if 5W is too loud, then you could also run a higher powered amp which at least has the features to control its volume vs drive in a more sensible way.

That's another part that I don't like about many of these very low watt amps. The feature set is pared down so far that it's basically "turn it down and use pedals" or "just get a more versatile amp"

I can pretty much guarantee that say a modern 20-100W master volume amp is paradoxically easier to control for volume and tone, regardless of what genre you play.

But I do agree that if you need mouse fart levels, just get a digital modeler and headphones. It will sound better.

Buncha small watt amps with both gain & volume right on this thread...

 

[laxu]

Buncha small watt amps with both gain & volume right on this thread...

Which are still a minority in the "5W and under" category specifically. Go up to 10+ watts and you start to get the "standard" feature set as defacto.

 

[jellodog]

That's another part that I don't like about many of these very low watt amps.

But... this thread was intended for people that love them?

(and to celebrate them or share the joy)

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

But... this thread was intended for people that love them?

(and to celebrate them or share the joy)

 

[FuzzyAce]

Here was my stage amp for a few years when I was gigging .

I set it up front of the stage and angled it back at me like monitor and ran it through the monitors if I couldn’t hear it enough.

My 5 watt Fender Vibro Champ Piggyback
View attachment 9866

to the amp:

 

[itchyfingers]

Fantastic! I can't believe that you guys are managing to submit smaller and smaller amps!

I thought Vibro-Champs were around 6w? I've changed the overly prescriptive 5w thread title and preamble to accomodate. All are welcome!

Of the 3 amps posted - do you have a favourite?

I challenge everyone to find a smaller tube amp than the ZVEX, lol. Tough to call out a favorite, but the Hiwatt definitely gets the most play time of the lil guys.