Ever hear a 15watt amp cranked.

[ManInTheBox]

It is still too loud. And while the blues junior sounds good, it doesn't sound like a tone master, or a cranked black face.

I want to add a fender amp to my little stable. I currently have a 60watt combo. It's getting harder and harder to get the wife and kids out of the house so I can crank it. So i don't want to do that again, but like I said the blues junior don't sound like a super.

So what is the best way to get that super reverb sound in my home at low volumes? Yellow jackets? Thd? Digital modelling?

[michael saulnier]

I can get awesome tone at virtually ANY volume by using my THD UniValve as a pre-amp for my Fender HR Deluxe.

 

The THD has a line out with a volume control that allows me to crank it and then adjust the output to the volume level I need. It works better than the built in HotPlate!

 

I found my UniValve used on e-bay for around $600 and I've regularly seen others for that price as well.

 

guitplayer

[jetboy]

I'm using a hotplate outboard unit and a barber burn unit for that extra drive and I get pretty good tone at after midnight levels. and when the wife and kids are gone I can still crank it.

 

I sold my super and bought a boutique 15 watter and it was still too loud and didn't sound as good with the master volume way down, I added the hot plate and even without the burn unit got a lot closer. with the burn unit or some similar quality over drive/distortion you'll get what you want within reason and when you are alone you can still make your ear drums bleed.

[strat0124]

For recording or gigging? Put the Jr in a closet and surround it with thick blankets, cushions, whatever. Close mic it at around half volume, should be the sheeit. Gigging with that amp, set it on the floor and NOT on a stand. Helps to get it behind a speaker column, so you can crank it. To me the Blues jr sounds more JTM45ish or sometimes Voxlike, so it is its own animal. I used to run a Blues Jr. and a Pro Jr together out gigging. Sounds fab, but yes it does get smoking loud to get a good tone, and the reason I set them both up so the floor and/or reflection techniques to crank em up.

I've always thought it odd using a 100 watt amp in a pub, and front ending it with a distortion device. Which leads me to believe that folks like solid state preamp tone. But publicly tout being a tube purist!

[roy d]

Yeah... too loud. I played a 6 watt GT amp at Myle's house that could make your ears bleed! And sounded amazing. Just goes to show that there is a lot more to volume that just the wattage of the amp.

 

To make things softer, you might try some really inefficient speakers and/or fewer speakers. Wire that super to just one 10 and an inefficient one at that and you'll drop the volume considerably. Likely it will still be louder than you want so you may want to add some kind of power soak between the amp and the speakers. Even then, the tone will change as part of your tone comes from pushing the speaker as well.

 

Which leads us to a final solution... a little tiny tiny amp like the zvx http://zvexamps.com/ Looks like a winner to me if only it wasn't so expensive.