Small guitar amp heads

[RussFM]

As bassists, we have a wide range a small amp heads, GK, MarkBass, Ashdown Little Giants, GB Shuttles, etc. But what's out there for the guitarist aside from huge heads built to fit on a 4x12? Apart from the Crate Powerblock that was out a few years ago, there doesn't seem to be a lot of options, does anyone know of anything similar?

My guitarist is currently without transport, and could do with something like a Little Giant/Shuttle to take to practices and gigs where he can borrow a cab, but I can't find anything suitable. He used to play through a Marshall Mode Four, so pretty much anything would be smaller, but nothing seems particularly portable.

[bumfrog]

[quote name='RussFM' post='497894' date='May 26 2009, 12:04 PM']As bassists, we have a wide range a small amp heads, GK, MarkBass, Ashdown Little Giants, GB Shuttles, etc. But what's out there for the guitarist aside from huge heads built to fit on a 4x12? Apart from the Crate Powerblock that was out a few years ago, there doesn't seem to be a lot of options, does anyone know of anything similar?

My guitarist is currently without transport, and could do with something like a Little Giant/Shuttle to take to practices and gigs where he can borrow a cab, but I can't find anything suitable. He used to play through a Marshall Mode Four, so pretty much anything would be smaller, but nothing seems particularly portable.[/quote]

this is what he needs

Vox ac4 head

[url="http://www.imuso.co.uk/ProductDetail.asp?StockCode=EG02796"]http://www.imuso.co.uk/ProductDetail.asp?StockCode=EG02796[/url]

or one of the blackheart heads....
[url="http://www.blackhearteng.com/index.html"]http://www.blackhearteng.com/index.html[/url]

Edited May 26, 2009 by bumfrog

[razze06]

[url="http://www.orangeamps.com/tinyterror/"]Orange tiny terror[/url]?

Not very loud, but maybe enough?

[RussFM]

Ah yes, I should mention we often play gigs without PA support for the drums or amps, so these 5w valve amps probably aren't going to cut it?

[Mr. Foxen]

Guitar preamp into a lightweight poweramp set flat. A GT2 into a small bass amp would probably work.

[john_the_bass]

[quote name='RussFM' post='497943' date='May 26 2009, 12:55 PM']Ah yes, I should mention we often play gigs without PA support for the drums or amps, so these 5w valve amps probably aren't going to cut it?[/quote]
I am currently using a Matamp Minimat in the house (small head - 4 watts which scales down to about 1/4 watts if necessary) and I gigged on Saturday night with my Mesa Express 5:50 switched to 5 watts - it was still too loud!

[bumfrog]

[quote name='RussFM' post='497943' date='May 26 2009, 12:55 PM']Ah yes, I should mention we often play gigs without PA support for the drums or amps, so these 5w valve amps probably aren't going to cut it?[/quote]

think you'd be surprised tbh.... get him to go and try some.

I know blackheart do a 15w head too.

[BOD2]

15 Watts of valve power through a good cabinet (1 x 12" or a 2 x 12") will be plenty loud ! Plus you can crank it up and get the power valves to start distorting - that is the key to the valve guitar sound, power amp distortion.

The only potential drawback to (most of) these lower power valve amps is that they tend to be single channel. So if your guitarist is used to having 2 or more different sounding channels at the flick of a footswitch then he may have to rethink his ideas a bit. It might be time to learn what the knob marked "Volume" on his guitar actually does....

[skankdelvar]

First thing to do is get away from the idea of head + cab.

A small 1x12 30-50w valve combo should do the job - loads around. Mesas , as mentioned above, are fantastic - Fenders can be a little shrill without some tweaking. And a Rivera R55 is b*stard loud and delivers fender clean to modern filth. £300-ish secondhand? And you just about can take it on the bus.

Open backed 1x12's can be a bit directional and lose punch off-axis. To help, ensure its placed about 1 - 2 feet from a wall and it should disperse nicely. A weber beam-blocker also helps with dispersal, I'm told.

Edited May 26, 2009 by skankdelvar

[BOD2]

[quote name='skankdelvar' post='498065' date='May 26 2009, 03:45 PM'].... A weber beam-blocker also helps with dispersal, I'm told.[/quote]

Yes, but aren't the DiLithium Crystals you need to power that quite hard to get a hold off....?

[attachment=25995:Scotty.jpg]

[bumfrog]

[quote name='skankdelvar' post='498065' date='May 26 2009, 03:45 PM']A small 1x12 30-50w valve combo should do the job[/quote]

I'd have said that if you are playing any venue and a 30w isn't loud enough when not mic'd up, it must be a concert hall of stadium.

As a rule of thumb I don't think I've ever played anywhere without a pa that a 15w valve hasn't been able to handle, generally if you are getting to louder then that, it's going to get mic'd up anyways.


but just to echo what you said about combos, if it's portability then I'd deffo go for that option.

forgot about the vox Night Train as well [url="http://www.voxamps.com/us/modernclassic/nighttrain/"]http://www.voxamps.com/us/modernclassic/nighttrain/[/url]

Edited May 26, 2009 by bumfrog

[nick]

I'd recommend a WEM Dominator.

Great little combos, not particularly fancy, proper retro look with a lovely tone. Only 17watts, but a loud 17watts - think of half an AC30!
Can still be picked up relatively cheap on Ebay, though have seen their prices starting to climb a bit recently.

Certainly a cheaper alternative to an AC15 or a classic Marshall 1974 18w, of which it's design was allegedly borrowed heavily from the Dominator.

[BottomEndian]

If your guitarist's drive is coming from a pedalboard (rather than the amp's drive channel), you might find that a simple solid-state bass head does the job. Plenty of clean power. That's what we do in my band. Les Paul > Big Muff > old 150W Carlsbro bass head > two 4x12s = massive sound with minimal weight.

Apart from the two 4x12s, obviously.

[Phyrexian]

[quote name='john_the_bass' post='497969' date='May 26 2009, 01:27 PM']I am currently using a Matamp Minimat in the house (small head - 4 watts which scales down to about 1/4 watts if necessary) and I gigged on Saturday night with my Mesa Express 5:50 switched to 5 watts - it was still too loud![/quote]


Hi,

how does that Matamp Minimat sound for bass guitar? Enough low end?

thanks,

Bart

[geoffbyrne]

The OP mentions the Crate Powerblock.





I use one of these for everything.

In my office, I have a small mixer - this has a couple of mikes running into the XLRs, a guitar into a Digitech Genesis into channel 3, a bass into an MXR-80+ into 4 and a Zoom 123 drum machine into 5.

My laptop is connected into the back via phonos and the desk is connected into it via two 1/4" jacks. Two 30W 16 Ohm speakers are run from it as monitors, plus my headphones come off the desk. The amp gives roughly 30W per side set up like this.

Add to this I take it to rehersals through a 12" Ampeg Walkabout with a Beyma speaker, using the MXR-80+ as the pre, giving 150W bridged.

I can also hook the Genesis into it & use it for guitar.

I've even used it as a small PA.

I believe these were £299 when they were first intoduced and when Sound Control blitzed them at £50 each I decided I couldn't miss out.

The only peeve I have with it is that there is a constant 'crunch' underlying it even when set up very clean.

G.

Edited December 9, 2009 by geoffbyrne

[lemmywinks]

This:
[url="http://www.orangeamps.com/products.asp?Action=View&ID=110"]http://www.orangeamps.com/products.asp?Act...View&ID=110[/url]

Or this:
[url="http://www.orangeamps.com/products.asp?Action=View&ID=78"]http://www.orangeamps.com/products.asp?Action=View&ID=78[/url]

[john_the_bass]

[quote name='Phyrexian' post='678928' date='Dec 9 2009, 11:38 AM']Hi,

how does that Matamp Minimat sound for bass guitar? Enough low end?

thanks,

Bart[/quote]

Never tried it and it's gone to its new owner now.

I do wish I'd bought a Power Block when they were £50