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Quiet Amp for Home Use
- Thread starter Amplified
- Start date
Since your budget is $3,000, buy any amp you'd love for like $1,500 and spend the rest of your budget on some kind of liquid nitrogen cooling device to cool the amp. Even if the amp has the loudest fan in the world, the fan will never be on.
Seconded- matter of fact this is my only head for practice and gigging- hasn't failed me yet.
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Just within your budget.
Looks good. Will check it out. Was thinking the Aguilar DB751, but there are fans inside also.
I have a dedicated music room, so disturbing the family is a non-issue. Hate playing through headphones.
When I had a Trace Elliot 715SM combo, it kept cool with fins - no fan. More importantly, it sounded great at very low volume. Maybe you can still get one used.
I now have an Ashdowm MAG 300H + MAG 115 Deep cabinet. Quiet fan and great sound (subharmonics and all) but completely useless at very low volume.
I turn on the preamp on my G&L L-1500 bass and plug headphones directly into the output jack. I turn down the instrument volume to avoid distortion and nobody else can hear me practice.
From 1998 to 2015, I used an Ibanez Rock & Play for Bass to play along with music on cassette tapes. Great tool for playing along with music without anybody else hearing. I recently got a Tascam Bass Trainer. It's practically the same but allows playing along with CDs.
I now have an Ashdowm MAG 300H + MAG 115 Deep cabinet. Quiet fan and great sound (subharmonics and all) but completely useless at very low volume.
I turn on the preamp on my G&L L-1500 bass and plug headphones directly into the output jack. I turn down the instrument volume to avoid distortion and nobody else can hear me practice.
From 1998 to 2015, I used an Ibanez Rock & Play for Bass to play along with music on cassette tapes. Great tool for playing along with music without anybody else hearing. I recently got a Tascam Bass Trainer. It's practically the same but allows playing along with CDs.
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You should buy 20 rechargeable pig nose hog 30s and put them all around your house, yard, and driveway
I have an SWR Workingman's 10. 80 watts, 10" speaker and tweeter, lots of ins and outs. Works great for home, recording and coffee house gigs.
3k is your budget for a practice amp? Wow that's high. Pretty much any old solid state combo I've used has no fan, with a few exceptions. Or just get a preamp and use headphones or hook up to a stereo or a computer. Or you could get any amp you want and install a liquid cooling system like some people do with their computers. That would be an interesting innovation for musicians who do not want a fan sounding in their studio.
Also, if you like your current amp you can just invest in a better fan to install. They have silent ones.
Also, if you like your current amp you can just invest in a better fan to install. They have silent ones.
If you're just talking a head, I second Acoustic Image amps. Zero annoying fan noise for low volume practicing at home.
Big Hoss
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- Sep 5, 2014
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Assuming this is a serious question I'll posit a few suggestions.
I'm assuming you bought the tone hammer because you'd also like to use this for gigs. Also assuming you don't like it at home because the fan is too loud.
There are tons of air cooled tube amps of various vintages and prices. It depends on the tone you're looking for as well as any feature sets that are "must have." Many of the older amps don't have DI out or fx loops. A lot of them don't have a dummy load so you can run them without a cabinet for recording.
Another poster recommended a heritage b15. They're supposedly fantastic amps but I've never played one in person. You can get an original one for much less but it won't have all the modern features.
If you want the Aguilar sound without the fan you can always scrounge up an older AG500. They have heathens and no fans. Dead quiet. Lots of sounds. Similar power to the TH500. The dual channel version has foot switchable distortion which is the same circuit their agro pedal is based on. Someone told me that both amps have a similar tone circuit too but I've never had a chance to A/B them. I will be stopping by Aguilar this week so I can probably ask. Also Aguilar has made a ton of amps that are no longer in production. I'm sure there are a few without fans.
However since your budget is so high I'll recommend you the monique preamp. I played through one once with the matching demeter minnie 800 and it was the tone of the gods. It also has a godly price tag of almost 3000 for the whole enchilada.
I'm assuming you bought the tone hammer because you'd also like to use this for gigs. Also assuming you don't like it at home because the fan is too loud.
There are tons of air cooled tube amps of various vintages and prices. It depends on the tone you're looking for as well as any feature sets that are "must have." Many of the older amps don't have DI out or fx loops. A lot of them don't have a dummy load so you can run them without a cabinet for recording.
Another poster recommended a heritage b15. They're supposedly fantastic amps but I've never played one in person. You can get an original one for much less but it won't have all the modern features.
If you want the Aguilar sound without the fan you can always scrounge up an older AG500. They have heathens and no fans. Dead quiet. Lots of sounds. Similar power to the TH500. The dual channel version has foot switchable distortion which is the same circuit their agro pedal is based on. Someone told me that both amps have a similar tone circuit too but I've never had a chance to A/B them. I will be stopping by Aguilar this week so I can probably ask. Also Aguilar has made a ton of amps that are no longer in production. I'm sure there are a few without fans.
However since your budget is so high I'll recommend you the monique preamp. I played through one once with the matching demeter minnie 800 and it was the tone of the gods. It also has a godly price tag of almost 3000 for the whole enchilada.
