This is the best advice I can give any guitar player. Before we move onto our list let me give you a few pieces of advice for purchasing an amp.ġ) Do not over analyze everything when purchasing your new guitar amp regardless of the size. You may be feeling a little overwhelmed with choices and learning about amps if you are new to guitar. How to choose the right small low watt guitar amp? Ok, I will now try to pull us out of the tube amp rabbit hole and get us back on track with our guide to the best small low-watt tube amps. Lastly before getting totally off topic, I recommend you to checkout our Should You Buy A Small Low-Watt Tube Guitar Amp article to make sure a low-watt guitar amp is right for your situation. Our Guide to the Different Guitar Amps Tone is an overview of different guitar amplifier manufactures and what types of tones to expect from each. Our Understanding Tube Ampspost walks through different tube types in addition to different guitar amp classes. Luckily, I have put together a couple of quick guides to get you up to speed in no time flat. As you can see, if you are new to tube amps it can get a little overwhelming. You will also want to know some about the different classes of guitar amps (Class A, A/B and B amps). In addition to power tubes there are also preamp tubes to consider (i.e. For instance in a tube amp, there are power tubes to consider along with different variations (i.e. There are lots of terminology that is thrown around and it will be helpful during your search if you have a good understanding. You will need to do some experimenting and learn a bit about tubes to make the best decision. Unfortunately it is not as easy as deciding what wattage and start cranking out the perfect guitar tone you have in your head. Understanding Tube Guitar Ampsīefore jumping into a guitar tube amplifier it is good to understand a little background on how tube amplifiers work. I’ve split down our favorite compact or low-watt amps into a variety of usage scenarios to help you pick the best amp for your guitar tone.īefore we get started on our list, let’s cover some basics of guitar tube amps. You don’t have to do any of the legwork because I did it all for you. Because there are so many options, finding the best low watt tube amp can be challenging. Tube guitar amps with output powers ranging from 1 watt to 15 watts are readily available nowadays. It’s only natural that we want to emulate our idols, but with the latest low-watt tube amps driven through a PA system, we no longer need to travel about with a Marshall stack. Guitarists are no longer necessary to deliver such a high volume to the crowd due to the recent advancements in PA technology. A smaller club might be adequately filled by a 15-watt tube amplifier, while anything less would provide excellent cranked sound at a volume that won’t irritate your neighbors.Ĭoncerts have also seen a rise in the use of modest low-watt tube amplifiers in recent years. This isn’t to suggest that a “low-watt” amplifier can’t create enough air to be heard in a club setting or be loud enough to annoy your neighbors. Saturation level rises earlier, and you get the gritty, aggressive sound at lower levels. The power tubes are more easily driven, and the tone is fatter giving you a wide range of clean sound and overdriven sound along with the dame onboard effects and simple control found in solid-state amps. This is where low-wattage tube amps come in handy. Of course you are also going to lose that vacuum tube saturation and responsiveness that only a tube amp can give. You can use one amp regardless of the watts of power for both playing gigs and still turn it down to for a near silent practice session at home. One of the reasons a lot of people choose a solid-state amp is due to it is hard to overdrive tubes in a home environment. This is due to the power amplifier tubes not saturating as much, and the tone being thin or weak. This is not taking advantage of what the amp was designed for and can get boring really quick. Picture having a large Marshall stack and not being able to turn the volume much past one to keep it at a manageable volume. Updated 03/16/22 to include new low-watt tube amp models. Are you wondering why someone would want to find the best small low watt tube amps? To sound pleasant, a lot of tube amplifiers must be turned up to levels that is uncomfortable for a house or recording environment.
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