1/2 - 5 watt tube amps are everywhere these days. The commercial ones are (mostly) made in China but easy to upgrade or modify, and they're cheap. I'm getting addicted to them because they're so great for recording. I usually use one at rehearsal, too (through a 1x12 cabinet) because we don't play at excessive volumes, generally, when practicing.

I have a few now, but want more:

Epiphone Valve, Jr. 5w amp head - I've added a Standby switch, gain switch, and brightness switch. It still has a wonderful, dark sound.

Blackheart BH5H "Little Giant" 5w amp head - Kind of "classic rock" sounding. I love it. It also has a 3w/5w switch.

Kustom "The Defender" 5w head - I just got this. It's surprisingly loud, great gain (almost too much!), all tube. I need to upgrade the tubes, though.

Hand-built 1/2 watt amp head - Fender Champ clone - Someone built this for me. It's probably my favorite for recording, especially for Against Nature these days. It's built inside a recycled computer chassis...and it's amazing sounding. Sometimes I use a Rangemaster treble booster clone with it.

What others are there? Marshall Class 5 combo? I need it badly. Orange Tiny Terror? Need it (but it's too expensive). What's that model that switches between 1/4 watt, 1 watt, and 5 watts? Bugera? I need them all.

JB

i have a Tiny Terror, nice little amp, switches from 7 - 15 watt. no complaints about the sound here

i'm interested to see how loud this one can go, never truly cranked it yet!

The Marshall Class 5 combo is supposed to be pretty good, though the Tiny Terror is possibly a little OTT to be classed as low wattage, it's a 15w amp that can switch down to 7w. If 15w is considered low, then there's also Laney's LC/VC15 combo's, and their new "Lionheart" and "Cub" range, both with a 5w combo.

Mass produced, there's the Fender Champ 600, which is supposed to be pretty good.

If you want a "proper" low wattage valve amp, and possibly one of the longest running of the current trend for low wattage valve amps, is the good old Matamp MiniMat head. Hand built in Yorkshire.

They also make a few other low wattage heads, like the "First Lady" (7w Nominal), where you can have the choice of switching between 2 different power valves, or the King Street Classic (15w Nominal). They also make the 1224, where you can switch between valve output stages and go from 3w to 50w - Class A 1 or 2 valves, Class A/B 2 or 4 valves.

http://www.matamp.co.uk/home.htm

A related question from someone who knows bugger all about amplifiers. What's the lowest wattage that is practical to use with a full band for rehearsals and gigs (obviously small gigs not Wembley)?

I see a lot of 20 and 30 watt heads on sale - would they be loud enough? In a rehearsal last week I was using a JCM800 50W head and as the only guitarist I got as far as "4" on the volume!

Since a 50w amp is only twice as loud as a 5w amp, something in between would probably work? The Kustom 5w head I just bought is shockingly loud even through a 1x12. I've wanted an 18w Marshall clone for some time--18w is probably just the right volume: not deafening but certainly loud when turned all the way up. Isn't that Tiny Terror a rather loud 15w? Blackheart (which is made by Crate) and Vox (I think) make inexpensive 15w amp heads as well. If money isn't scarce, then there are dozens of more expensive amps between 15w and 50w.

As I mentioned, I often use only a 5w amp head for rehearsal because we don't play too loud when we practice, and we also face the amps toward the drums and set up in a triangle of sorts (and we're in a small room). This way we can hear what we're doing, and the drums sound better because Steve doesn't have to play so hard.

For a gig, however, all bets are off and we take the big guns.

J

I want that Minimat...but boy, it's expensive. I haven't heard of the others, but now I must look into them. Wow.

I guess it depends on how loud you want to get at rehearsals (and if Jay's brough his Acoustic rig along!).

A lot of it depends on whether you're using the amp for the drive, or whether you're using a pedal in front of it. One of the big reasons for using lower wattage valve amps would be to get power valve distortion (Volume on 11), which is much smoother than pre-amp distortion (gain set high, volume set low-ish). Another way of acheiving this would be to use an attenuator (THD HotPlate or similar), it all depends on the kind of sound you're after.

Being punishingly loud at rehearsals is pretty cathartic though, and it gets you used to being punishingly loud at gigs.

And buy some earplugs.

I've been wanting one of these little guys for a while, too: http://zvexamps.com/amp_view.html

Just too expensive! I wish I could build one.

J

I just found out about this company: http://www.valvepower.co.uk/

Oh, brother, I need one of those! But they don't ship to the US.

J

John... try these guys: http://www.ampmaker.com/

They DO ship their kits to the US.

Oh, my. I can almost convince myself that I really could build one of those kits. Such a great price, too. 18w Marshall clone...hell, yes. Thank you so much for that link. I just might get serious about this!

J

John, they have all the instructions for the kits as downloadable PDF's on the site, just think of it as a bit of a bigger BYOC pedal kit! Not done one myself, but tempted (if I had the time! That 5w amp looks sweet). Like the pedal kits, you just have to remember that you need to take your time. Plus the fact that you're learning about how to set the amp up & bias it yourself, which can't be a bad thing for maintaining your other amps.

The only "downside" to the ampmaker site, is that they only supply the amp chassis & parts, if you want the sleeve from them, it's an additional cost.