What's your favorite small amp and speaker?

[Colossal]

Practically speaking, small amps can be easier on the back if you gig, easier on the ears, neighbors, and soundman, can have exceptional and inspirational tone, are easier and cheaper to assemble and maintain, and are great for recording. Historically speaking, many iconic, small designs have provided the foundation for countless recordings that continue to stand the test of time.

What's your favorite small amp, speaker(s), and guitar combination, and why?
Princeton? Champ? 18W Marshall? Tweed Deluxe? Blackface Deluxe Reverb? Spitfire? Your own design? SE or PP?

I'd have to say, for me, a Tweed Deluxe with a Celestion Blue and a Les Paul is a pretty incredible combination. The touch sensitivity of the circuit, the warm, organic tone, the resonant pine cab (with a honey glazed patina on the Tweed), the clarity of the Blue speaker...really great Also, the chimey, jangly, Voxy qualities of the 18W Lite IIb circuit with a 20W Greenback is hard to beat, and a Telecaster into a Spitfire head with a 1x12 cab with a 55Hz G12H30 Heritage is killer.

[joeboo88]

Hiya Dave.
I built Steve Luckeys version of the 6v6 Plexi (20 watts) I find I’m playing it the most of all my amps
On Mark Fowler’s recommendation I bought a Warehouse Veteran 30, and together sound awesome, I can hear SRV LED Zep
And Jimi flavour with this. I built it from lips and butts....lol but it sounds great.
I also like RJ’s little 3ish watt SE 6bm8 amp, he designed
Peace, brother...

[xtian]

My go-to gigging amp (when mic'd and PA'd) is my Monkeymatic Tamalpais, built into a Fender HRD cabinet. I added voltage scaling for the power tubes only, and now I can dial just the right amount of grit for the desired stage volume. I have been happy with the Celestion V-Type speaker, the first one I've owned.

Fender Princeton remains my favorite "small" combo (smaller than 1x12").

[Colossal]

Hiya Dave.
I built Steve Luckeys version of the 6v6 Plexi (20 watts) I find I’m playing it the most of all my amps
On Mark Fowler’s recommendation I bought a Warehouse Veteran 30, and together sound awesome, I can hear SRV LED Zep
And Jimi flavour with this. I built it from lips and butts....lol but it sounds great.
I also like RJ’s little 3ish watt SE 6bm8 amp, he designed
Peace, brother...

Hi Joe,

I built a 6V6 Plexi some 9 or 10 years with a Vibroverb PT (440VDC on the plates!), a 10H choke (in series with a 5k resistor), and a Marshall 20W 2061 OT (7k6 primary). It was a great amp! Definitely had a Led Zepp/Rush vibe. It was loud mated with a 2x12 closed back loaded with Greenbacks

I hope you and yours have a great holiday season.

[Colossal]

Fender Princeton remains my favorite "small" combo (smaller than 1x12").

A while back, I serviced a modded Princeton with 6L6 power tubes and a 25 or 30W Eminence something-or-other. I didn't much care for the Eminence, it was rather polite and quite bland, but while I had it, I ran it to a 1x12 ported back with an EVM12L Classic. The EV made the amp just come alive and sounded almost Dumbly right at the sweet spot, on the verge of breakup (just before the cathodyne blatted out...it needed that big grid resistor mod).

[didit]

Easy answer. '64 Deluxe Reverb with D120F. It is almost not small, as it weighs. It's wonderful warm sparkle clean, though pushed there's a throatiness. A truly small and also really fine choice is properly re-refined Princeton, with tweaks to boost PI swing & more. A few efficient firm bottomed 10" speakers variously worked well, and in my judgement better then a 12" in the smallish stock cabinet.

best .. Ian

[JazzGuitarGimp]

Well, I have been cheating lately: I am playing a Fender / Roland GC-1 strat (equipped with the hex pickup and Roland VG electronics) into a Boss GP-10 (Guitar, Pickup, Amp, Speaker, Mic, and Mic Placement modeling with a ton of usable built-in effects). That plugs into a Polytone Mega Brute amp (10" x 10" x 6", 80 watts), plugged into a small, open back single 12" carpeted cab with an EVM12L in it. The Polytone has an 8" speaker in it, and sounds decent without an extension cab in small- to mid-sized clubs - even with a seven string guitar, surprisingly...

[M Fowler]

For clean a TW Rocket combo loaded with WGS Veteran 30.

For dirty the Hot Rod Tweed combo with WGS Veteran 30.

[Scumback Speakers]

I've always been a fan of the old Gibson Gibsonette combos with 10 or 12 inch speakers from the late 50's or early 60's. Once you pair them with the right NOS tubes and a decent speaker, they're very close to a Marshall in a box, or maybe a hopped up tweed Fender tone. Something about the dual 6V6 single ended Class A tone is pretty intoxicating.

[joeboo88]

Mr Speakers. What model # Gibson are you referring? I would like to look up a schematic , sounds interesting....
Thanks, Joe

[Scumback Speakers]

It's the Gibson Gibsonette GA-8. Dual 6V6 single ended Class A amp. The one I like is 1958 version with the 10" Jensen, although it was called a Discoverer in 1961 with a 12" Jensen.

Email me and I'll send you a schematic, so you don't have to work hard.

[Colossal]

It's the Gibson Gibsonette GA-8. Dual 6V6 single ended Class A amp. The one I like is 1958 version with the 10" Jensen, although it was called a Discoverer in 1961 with a 12" Jensen.

Email me and I'll send you a schematic, so you don't have to work hard.

Hi Jim,

I'd be interested in seeing that schematic. Is it one of these (see below)? Do you prefer yours with a 10 or 12" speaker?

gibson ga-8.png

GA-8.png

[M Fowler]

It's funny because it was easier for to find a Gibson amp as a kid before a Fender out in farm country and they sounded so good.

That Gibsonnette GA-8 is a great example and the one I played had a 10".

On clean-up week 2 years ago my son Martin found a Gibson GA-5 in working condition.

Mark

[bluesoverlord]

Dave Hunter's Two-Stroke. Yeah, it was my first build (love), but it still sounds so damn good. It is so simple with little in the way between the guitar and the speaker. After 12 other builds ranging in size and complexity (I'm on an ODS now), it still can't be beat to my ears. I'm never giving it away.

Steve

[M Fowler]

Years ago I bought a chassis from the owner of Victoria Amps and he sent me a bunch of flyers of his amps plus December 2007/VOL.9 NO.2 The Last Polka Tone Quest report with lots of info on Gibson amps of the past which I have attached a link below.

http://www.victoriaamplifier.com/wp-con ... /tq_ek.pdf