Small practice amps?

[TRA]

Since having a baby I don't have a room to practice in or store my guitar equipment. I'm looking for a small practice amp that can sit in the corner and be inconspicuous in my living room, but I want something that sounds good. (No Crate GX15s) I was considering a Valve Jr. with my Sansamp GT2 or my DIY Randall preamp in front of it, but wanted to see if any of you have an opinion. I don't like wearing headphones so a POD is out. Having a nice little amp that sounds good is what I need.

Thoughts?

 

[Zack Uidl]

Roland Cube. Any one of those will work, even the micro will sound good (not for recording, but definitely the best practice amps I have every heard)

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

I am starting to hate my V jr.

 

[AllanD]

I am starting to hate my V jr.

Why is that? I've been thinking about buying one for a while.

 

[lolzgreg]

Kill two birds with one stone? Run a POD x3 Live or a Boss GT-8 through the effects return of a decent small amp and you have good tone!

 

[Harry Hughes]

Bear in mind, small Valve amps are not quiet at all.
As you're aware, 100/150 watt valve amps are made not for volume, but so people don't even have to turn them up all the way so they have plenty of headroom.
Yes, a 5 watt valve junior is not as loud as any 100 watt head with external cab, true, but you're going to be massively disappointed if you buy one with the expectation of being able to crank the power amp so it sounds rich and juicy and have it still be quiet.
5 watts is half the volume of 50 watts, and 50 watts is LOUD in tube amp terms. 5 watts is loud enough to still cause you plenty of good ear damage.
I remember a while ago playing a Mesa Boogie Lone Star Special class A amp, on the 5 watt mode. I shit you not I could not turn the master volume over about 3 without having someone tell me that it was too loud.
Basically, in essence, lower wattage valve amps are for people who know their shit about amps and want an amp with lower headroom. They were not designed and are not intended for home practice.
You're looking at either buying an attenuator, or seeking an amp with less than 1 watt if you want juicy valve power amp vibes without scaring the shit outta your kid.
Otherwise, look into solid state options.

 

[ze kink]

I'm digging my Vox DA5. I've had two Micro Cubes earlier, this is kind of like them, just sounds better.

 

[Metaltastic]

My Roland Cube 30 is undoubtedly the best sounding and most convenient practice amp I've ever played, with the possible exception of the Peavey Vypyr, but I've heard those can be finnicky in terms of reliability and problems booting up (believe it or not, now you have to worry about an amp not booting up ). It dominates any of the Voxes or Line 6's out there though (I compared them when I was shopping for a practice amp with my friend)

 

[Virgil.]

I just picked up a Peavey Vypyr Tube 60 last week. The thing sounds amazing. It gets louder than my Laney half-stack, and I have only turned up the volume on the Vypyr to 5 (out of 13). LOL.

As far as reliability, i've had no problems so far. Yes, I have heard of some horror stories, but i've also read that Peavey has shipped them out a new amp to replace it. So, worst case, if it breaks, you get a new one. I've also only really heard the horror stories for the Solid-state versions of the amp, not the Tube versions.

I would suggest you go and play it and try one out. For the price, it is an awesome amp!

 

[006]

The Vypyr amps really seem like the way to go as of late, I have a Valve Jr. myself and it's NOT quiet. The volume only acts as a volume really for a small portion of the pot's travel, at first it is quiet and clean, after a certain point it's the same volume (loud) just gets more and more saturated sounding is all. It's cool for cleans/vintage sounding stuff but definitely not as a low volume practice amp. I'd see about making a clip but my cabinet is at the practice space - show on Thurs maybe I'll bring my cab home for that then. I personally have been looking for a small amp to keep in the room to fuck around on and the Vypyr is what I keep ending up on.

 

[~BURNY~]

I'm gasing for one of these

I already have a non modded one... Cool amp but 5 watt can be very loud...