Cheap tube amp12/12/2023 This is especially the case for a lot of Fender and Fender-esque amps.īecause you don’t really get that nice tube saturation happening until you’re really pumping the input, you basically can’t get the good stuff out of these amps at low volumes. With tube amps, you typically find this issue where once you crank the volume past say, 1 or 2, they just get incredibly loud. The other consideration is wattage and volume. They are also easier to lug around to gigs, and considering most larger venues will mic up your amp anyway, the size on stage doesn’t matter so much. If it’s smaller, it takes up less space in your room, or in the back of your car. The first is the physical size of the amp. There are two big reasons why guitarists opt to purchase a small tube amp. But, you’ve also got rack-mounted units like the Laney IRT Studio, which I’d also consider a small amp, compared to say, a 100w Marshall JCM head. On the physical dimensions front, it depends a little on whether we are talking about a combo amp or a head.įor a combo, a small tube amp typically has just one speaker, which might be up to 12 inches in diameter.įor heads, most small tube amps are ‘lunchbox’ style (carryable with one hand), like the Orange Dual Terror. Most small tube amps come in around 10-15w, and you could probably get up to around 25 watts before it’s no longer called a ‘small’ tube amp. ‘Small’ is kind of a subjective term, and so there isn’t really any particular definition of what makes a small tube amp.įor most people though, there are two things to take into consideration: Plus, they give you the opportunity to try out some different tube types and manufacturers to slightly modify the sound of your guitar tone. I mean, it’s a little more complicated than that, but that’s the gist of things anyway.Ĭompare these amps to the newer (but still pretty well-established) solid-state amps, which use transistors in the place of tubes, and you start to get the difference.įrom a sound perspective, tube amps tend to be warmer and more ‘natural’ sounding but moreover are often thought to be more responsive to different kinds of playing. Once guitarists started really pushing their guitar amps, they started to realize that the tubes break up in a beautifully complex kind of way, a way which we now know as overdrive.Īnd so, nowadays, most tube amps have some valves in the preamp circuit which are designed to give the guitar its tone and grit, and then some cleaner ones sitting in the power amp circuit to take care of volume duties. These tubes are what amplifies the sound of your guitar so that your guitar can be heard through the speakers. Tube guitar amps use a special kind of component called the vacuum tube (called valve by our British friends), inside the circuitry. From 1×12” combos to lunchbox-style tube amp heads, we’ve got ‘em all, and we’ve sure as heck got one here that’s going to do the job for you.īut first, let’s start with a little recap on tube amps, for anyone who is either a newcomer or has been out of the tube amp game for a while. In this article, we’re going to take a look at 11 of the best small tube amps on the market. That is, unless you manage to bag yourself a small tube amp. On the other hand, the majority of smaller amps tend to be aimed at the beginner market (often dubbed ‘ practice amps’), and consequently sound not much better than a 4-year-old child trying to play the violin. The problem is, most tube guitar amps are big, loud, and bulky units – not so great for those of us living in inner-city apartments, or just looking for a portable solution to rock out with. Maybe it just can’t be beaten, maybe there’s a bit of snobbery going on (to be honest, it’s probably a bit of both), but these golden guitar amplifiers really do sound fantastic. Despite solid-state and even digital modeling amps having been around for several years now (and sounding pretty damn good), we guitarists just can’t seem to get enough of that vintage tubey goodness.
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