Okay... live in a duplex w/ hardwoods... play a Ric 360 and have an extremely loud Vox AC-30... that means less than happy downstairs neighbors. Aside from playing with headphones and a cheap-o practice amp (boy, the tone just sucks), does anyone have any recommendations for a small, nice tubey amp that is good for low volumes? Someone suggested a Carr Mercury (yeah, it's a little pricey), but I haven't heard one. Any others?
Yea, I'd like some suggestions too. I only have a giant 120 watt amp that was built for heavy music right now (peavey xxx). If the volume knob goes past 1, the neighbors come knocking down my door.
Another suggestion is a Fender Princeton. One 10" speaker. Small and easy to move. Makes a great apartment practice amp. Or another suggestion would be to buy one of those Rockmans so you can play through a headset.
It depends on what you want the amp to do. However, because you have a Vox and a Rickenbacker, I would suggest the following (besides Fender Champs and Princetons): The Gibson GA-15 from a few years ago is a wonderful amp that isn't too loud (about the same as AC-15). Very nice, Class-A sound. Make sure to get the brown tolex version, as the newer, black tolex ones don't sound as good. Similarly, Trace Elliot made an amp called the Vellocette (or something like that) that was actually the model for the GA-15 mentioned above. Harder to find, but supposedly sound even better. Top Hat makes a small practice amp that people like alot. Forget what it's called though. The old Ampeg Jet amps are supposed to sound nice as well (very round and even tone - not as bright as Fenders) THD makes an amp called the Univalve that can use one of any tube (EL-34, 6L6, 6V6, 6550, 5881). It comes in a head only format, so you'd need a cab. The other option is to buy an attenuator for your Vox. THD makes a nice one (I used it on a pro recording and it sounds great). I can sympathize with your plight. I am fortunate that I have a studio where I can crank my Vox AC-50 as loud as I want.
Fender Blues Junior. Awesome amp. I put a Celestion Greenback in mine and replaced with the Groove Tubes with JJ Tesla's.. Unbeatable.
ill second that. i have a bassman 50 w/ a couple 12's and wouldnt trade it for anything, but if was going for something smaller i would get me one of them princeton chorus amps. i love the built-in chorus and the tone is great.
I got a Randall RG12RM, it's like 11 by 11 inches and it has an okay sound. Sometimes i even plug my bass in it and it can take it without problems of blowing up. I got it when MARS was closing, that was at least a year ago and it still has no problems. you can get some really good prices on music stuff at musicansfriend.com this website is just like MARS, the prices are okay. anyways this amp is light, it doesn't weight more than 10 or 15 pounds, and it takes very little room.
I have an old silverface Fender Champ (tube) that I use in my small apartment that sounds pretty good at low volumes. It doesn't have a master volume pot so for overdrive, I use one of those little puke-green Ibanez tube-screamer pedals.
