![]() I've tried pedals and digital modeling vs tube amps and when the volume is very low they are all about the same. They work fine as all have good gradual master volumes so they go from a whisper to very very loud. I use 35 and 45 watt Victory and Bogner tube amps and a 100W BluGuitar hybrid at home. All amps sound better a bit louder, usually at that point where it's too loud for apartment use. Ultimately your main enemy is volume itself. You will never get powertube distortion out of them without using an attenuator and that's perfectly fine, it's not at all necessary on modern master volume amps. If you can't turn up a 20 watt amp you can't turn up a 5W amp either. They have a nice and gradual master volume so you can set them to pretty low volume.īut understand that low wattage is not going to help you. Especially if you want more than 1 sound.I like the Egnater Rebel series. With a $500 budget, if you are planning to use it at home at all, and if you are planning to do any computer recording, I would not recommend a tube amp. Most tube amps, further, cannot be used with headphones directly and cannot record direct to computer. Even this minimum volume can be too loud for bedroom use, depending on the speaker size and configuration. Tube amps sound HORRIBLE at low volume they need to be cranked up to sound their best, but it's not just good or better-tube amps need to be at a certain minimum volume, when the power tubes kick in, or they sound terrible. I have half a dozen tube amps not because I really want that many but because each of them sounds different and the only way to get different tones with tubes is to use different amps.Īlso with modeling, you can get any amount of breakup at any volume, and you can play quietly without it sounding bad. First of all you are not stuck with 1 tone per amp. Modeling tech has come a LONG way in the past 20 years, and there are a lot of advantages to using modeling, especially if you are on a budget. Tube amps are really not as good a choice as they used to be. Tell us more about what you're using it for, and crucially what kind of tone you want, and then we can answer the question of a good recommendation for low headroom and <$500. What kind of clean tone do you want? There are all sorts of definitions of "clean." What Stevie Ray Vaughan calls "clean" is drastically different from what James Hetfield calls "clean" which is drastically different, again, from what Chet Atkins calls "clean" which is drastically different, yet again, from what Joe Pass calls "clean." What kind of music do you play? Are there some artists whose tone you really like, or even specific songs? A great clean amp for, say, '60s surf music is totally different from a "great clean sound" for, say, country, or jazz, or metal, or Texas blues, etc.What type of sound do you want? Keep in mind that "dirty" could mean anything from a Mesa/Boogie Metallica tone to a Fender-esque Stevie Ray Vaughan tone.Are you open to buying used or do you want a new amp?.How many channels do you need and how much gain do you want on the second channel (if any)?.Do you need built-in reverb or any other effects (amp vibrato, top boost, etc)?.Do you use any effects that would benefit from having an effects loop?.Do you need something portable - light, tough, small footprint? Or is heavier and more fragile acceptable?.What is your application? Will you be using this for bedroom/headphone practice, rehearsal/jam sessions, gigging (mic'ed) or studio recording, direct-to-computer recording, busking.?.Maybe if you are buying used and find a good deal.Īnytime you're amp shopping, there are really a list of questions you need to have answers to aside from just headroom (wattage) and budget. I generally don't recommend to my students that they even spend less than $500 on a tube amp, period, not with modeling tech as good as it is today. To which I would say, you are actually likely to get better tone with a modeling amp at that price, because a really excellent tube amp + cab is going to cost more than $500 even used. What you are really asking about is a good value low-watt amp. The best low-wattage tube amp I've ever played was a helluva lot more than $500. Tube amps, especially the low-watt type, can get VERY expensive. Well the title and the original post are asking very different questions. ![]()
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