Home amp/noise making device dilemma

[head_strong]

Right, first off, my apologies if this makes no snese, I am thinking out loud and I may infact come to a conclusion by the end of this post.

Im sure many of you have gone through this at some stage and I would appreciate your thoughts and opinoins.

I have been playing guitar for a few years now (6ish?) so consider myself somewhat competant and take pride in soudnign decent etc (still rubbish really haha). I have briefly played in bands in the past (at Uni) so have always had an amp that could (just) be heard at practice. These days I only play at home (although would like to get back into a band at somepoint).

I have recently sold off my amp (5w tube which I played thorugh a 2x12) as I was finding it was too loud (for use at home)/needed to be wound up a tad to sound how I wanted it. I also have a line6 toneport which I use for silent practice (but it just doesnt feel right playing through a computer)

I have been thinkign of getting another low watt amp in the form of a small combo. However I suspect I will run into the same issue with volume levels etc.

So what to do? Do I only use an amp in the weekends when I can play during the day and just play through my computer during the week? Do I try get somethign that will give be decent tone at bedroom levels (I think im too snobbish to go SS....)? Do I ditch an amp altogether and just use a pod/toneport through headphones and then get an amp when I actually need others to hear me/when Im good enough for a band?

Please help,

Dazed and confussed

[jeremyb]

What about one of the 1W tube amps that are available these days? can sound a bit thin compared to a higher wattage amp?

I don't usually play my AC15 at night cause of the kids, but the master volume on it can really cut down the output to a nice bedroom volume, but still keep it on the boil

[head_strong]

The issue I have with the super low watt tube amps (vox ac4 with its 3 output levels for example) is they are almost always mated with a stupuidly small speaker and will just sound liek balls. I want a combo for ease of use. That and I dont think I can justify spending 400-500 on somethign that will never leave the house

I was going to grab the laney 12r that was for sale on here (15w and <1w inputs!) but missed the boat. They seem to pop up on the tard occasionaly.

[sopachrga]

The other option would be go for something that will be awesome when you go out gigging again, but can be ramped down (Rather than getting something quiet then figuring out how to make it loud in a band room).
The Marshall AFD (Slash sig) has power scaling and can be wound right down to 0.1 watts (If I'm remembering correctly).

It'll still sound damn good at home in the evenings, but on the weekend when everyone is out you can crank it right up.

[head_strong]

That is a valid point, however my budget probably is the biggets thing holding me back....~$500

PErhaps I just need to harden up and piss the neighbours off

[Slowy]

Depends on the tones you want for a start. I use a 12 watt amp at home. Clean tones are no problem at low volume. The right pedal can crunch things up a bit. My Timmy is amazing at giving juicy low volume tone.

But then it stops. The DLS is too loud and my Sybil fuzz pedal refuses to do anything without some proper volume.

I've come to the conclusion that high and low volume tones are different and just accept it. YMMV.

[Delayman]

You could try the sansamp character pedal route. I have done this, and one benefit is consistency. My sound is roughly the same no matter what volume, and whether I'm going direct to PC, into the PA, etc. I had a Marshall Jubilee that was never getting cranked, and was overwhelming for my normal gig (church) anyway. One frustration used to be that volume and tone interact on a valve amp, so what sounded good at stage volume didn't sound good at home and vice versa.

One thing I'd like to try is the whole iso-cab thing with a mic mounted inside, but for now the sansamp is a good compromise.

I have sansamp liverpool, british, and paradriver, but the british is the one i use.

[head_strong]

I have a dirty little secret for dirt (It didnt quite agree with my last amp) so I guess there should be no issue with getting nice bedroom tones with a ~15w amp.

[jeremyb]

That is a valid point, however my budget probably is the biggets thing holding me back....~$500

PErhaps I just need to harden up and piss the neighbours off

I think you'd be best to stick with solid state in that kinda price range, no worries with volume then

[Conway]

Well, some may recall the problems I've had with my neighbours complaining about my noise at night from my 15 watt Mesa (which doesn't sound so good down really low). My solution was a Blackstar HT5, which sounds great out loud and has a headphone socket for after 10pm. The headphone sound is excellent.

[Conway]

The Blackstar secondhand is in the price bracket too. I got a HT5 head for $320.

[head_strong]

Yeh the ht-5 is on my lsit, however Im a bit worried that it wont suit my taste. Videos etc seem to only focus on the mad gainz and I want somethign that has decent cleans and a nice crunch. What are your throughts on it for usew other than metal type stuff?

[Danger Mouse]

I know tone snobbery is pointing you away from SS, but for home practice a Roland Cube would be a good amp. Despite it's SS internals, there's some surprisingly good tones hiding in those amps. If you can get one off TM cheap enough (one on there for $150/$180 buy now) you can put the rest in the bank and save up for something more gig friendly to go with it.

I use an H&K Blue 15W SS amp at home, has some quite reasonable tones, using it means I get to keep my hearing and good neighbour relationships (the Greenstone of Doom really wants to be played at MV5 and above, but you don't want to be in the same room as it at that volume).

[Delayman]

Forgot to mention with the sansamp setup, my main amp at home is a keyboard amp.

[Conway]

Yeh the ht-5 is on my lsit, however Im a bit worried that it wont suit my taste. Videos etc seem to only focus on the mad gainz and I want somethign that has decent cleans and a nice crunch. What are your throughts on it for usew other than metal type stuff?

I really only use the clean channel which is very nice. The 3 band EQ and US>UK tone shaping helps you dial in a good tonal range. The overdrive channel on low gain is quite Marshallesque, ie. you can get a good crunch. I never use high gain.