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are there small tube amps?

#21
Most tube amps will be used but a friend of mine had a Bass biased Vox AC30 stashed away for 45 years. He sold it on Ebay for over £2000 to a Belgian dealer who also collected another one from the coast before driving back to Belgium! Selmer did 50w heads but they sell for £300 + used. I don['t like the idea of using any old P.A. amps for bass - they could be deployed for their original purpose. I found a Carlsbro viper in Oxfam charity shop for £60 a couple of years ago. 1 speaker and plenty of e.q. not certain about tubes though? I have not used it much. see my stereo bass rig 1975-6 called Tonehenge with Altec 15" bass speakers + 200watt stereo bass amp.
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#22
I use a late 60's univox 1236 bass head that I restored. It runs between 40-50w and is nice and smooth :)

However, for apartment use I really wish I had a nice solid state combo with a headphone out, and I say this as a die hard tube guy. Maybe I just have cranky neighbors or thin walls, but even on super low settings in the middle of the day, I've landed myself a fair number of noise complaints.

All that aside though, small tube amps are fun. Unfortunately, there aren't many in production now, at least not from a practice amp price-point. I'd say to scour ebay and the for sale forums here for some late 60's/early 70's heads and combos, and remember just because a brand is less popular and sells cheaper, doesn't mean you can't have a great sounding amp after some TLC.
 
#25
I think you would be as happy or happier with solid state. I have a Vox AC30 also I have a GK 400RB combo. I was like, oh yeah tubes are the secret to killer tone. Well, yes this is true for guitar, but not necessarily bass. I prefer my GK over the Vox, when playing bass. It is more verstaile, controllable, and works good at any volumes. I guess GK is 280 watts solid state vs. Like 40 watts tube on the AC30. Really the high watts of a bass amp are what makes them sound good in their solid stateness.
 
#27
hdracer said:
Epiphone Valve Junior. Change the output transformer a d some good tubes and it makes the perfect practice amp. You can find them used for $80-100 add in the transformer & tubes and you are well under $200. Add a nice 115 cab and you have a nice "Poor mans" Ampeg
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Yeah, I have a friend who has one in his studio, and have used it for bass for some rehearsals - it's nice at low volumes, quite small and portable, and pretty cheap if you can find one.
 
#28
Depending in what you're trying to accomplish tonally (and how loud you need to get), a Kustom Defender at $99 may be an option. All tube, one knob, pretty cool. I bought one for guitar but I've run bass through it to get some cool sounds as well. I wouldn't gig with it, but for studio stuff (and maybe even practice) it's cool.
 
#30
dustinfennessey said:
Have you used one of these on bass? Wondering how it sounds for a nice little practice amp if you can get the low dirt/grit :)
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Actually no. I use this:

nc12.jpg


5C1 Champ circuit I built from this old PA head. Very dirty at low volume and tons of fun!
 
#32
TuckLM said:
I'm looking for micro-powered all tube bass amp. Something on the order of 2 to 15 watts.
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Reeves Amps builds both 6W and 12W tube amps. I think the 12W has a combo form. The speaker should be okay for bass 2 low volume. Gibson makes a 5 watt tube amp, can't recall the name.

Spectrum said:
Another n00b question: can you take a guitar tube combo and swap out the speaker for a bass speaker? Would you need to swap out other stuff? Close the back of the cabinet?
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One could do that, but the results would likely be terrible. Bass speakers need to in an enclosure designed and tune for that specific speaker. Even so, many bass cabs are not designed all that well. Converting a guitar combo would make for a useless bass combo.

PunkRocker33133 said:
I love my bassmam, and they pop up all the time for less than 400. So that's always an option
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Please note there are many different Bassman amps of different wattages (mostly between 50W and 135W), different eras, and different circuits (various blackface, silverface, blond, tweed). Good condition 60s era blackface Bassmans heads will sell for far more than $400 since they are so popular among guitar players.

beatsbears said:
Many of the more modern ones may likely have an XLR out, but most of these will also probably be over 100 watts
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XLR outs are typically for pre-amp DI to send to a PA mixer. These bypass the power section.
 
#34
beatsbears said:
I use a late 60's univox 1236 bass head that I restored. It runs between 40-50w and is nice and smooth :)

However, for apartment use I really wish I had a nice solid state combo with a headphone out, and I say this as a die hard tube guy. Maybe I just have cranky neighbors or thin walls, but even on super low settings in the middle of the day, I've landed myself a fair number of noise complaints.

All that aside though, small tube amps are fun. Unfortunately, there aren't many in production now, at least not from a practice amp price-point. I'd say to scour ebay and the for sale forums here for some late 60's/early 70's heads and combos, and remember just because a brand is less popular and sells cheaper, doesn't mean you can't have a great sounding amp after some TLC.
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+1 on the univox. i have a 71ish 1245 - about 50 watts. sounds great. were meant to be marshall clones when built.

Musicman hd 130 go for 400-500 and have the 130/65 watt switch which makes it gig worthy too
 
#36
Watts means nothing, it's what the cabinet(s) can do with the power fed to them.
A high sensitivity (efficency) cabinet makes all the difference.

Reading the history of things, bass players played through guitar amps for many years. Dedicated bass amps were rare.

Have a look at some retro styling amps
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Open back I bet, but Probably just fine for practice.

For the same price you can buy a full gigging rig. Then later buy something you think will be some signature sound for you.
 
#40
seamonkey said:
Watts means nothing, it's what the cabinet(s) can do with the power fed to them.
A high sensitivity (efficency) cabinet makes all the difference.
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Watts are directly correlated with clean headroom. Certainly, speaker cabs are critical for overall volume, tone, dispersion, and frequency range.

seamonkey said:
Reading the history of things, bass players played through guitar amps for many years. Dedicated bass amps were rare.
Click to expand...
There weren't any good bass amps with useful volume on the market until the late 60s. Electric guitar amps hit the market in the 50s, so it wasn't that many years.
 

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