Decided I wanted to jump into the world of tube amplification, and I really want a head (versus a combo) so I can experiment with different cabinet configurations...however, I'm not a performing musician so I dont need anything large enough to gig with.
I mainly play 80's rock (Judas Priest, Scorpions, Van Halen, etc), but want something that has a sweet clean (i.e. David Gilmour) sound as well.
Here are some amps I found in my price range, would really like some feedback from anyone who has some experience with these and may be able to steer me in the right direction.
Orange Amplifiers DA15H Dark Terror 15
Hughes & Kettner Tubemeister 18
Marshall Haze MHZ15
Hayden Mini-MoFo
Egnater Tweaker 15W
Jet City JCA22H
Ibanez TSA15H Tube Screamer
Unfortunately, the local music shop only had one of the seven listed (the H&K) which I liked very much (they also had the "Tiny Terror", but not sure if it sounds different from the Dark).
Tube amps are defionatly the right move. I would add a blackstar ht-5 to that list. tube wattage is different from solid state wattage, in which a 20 watt tube amp will be much louder the a 20 watt solid state. so 5 watts is a very good volume for at home. with it being 5 watts, it will allow you to push the tubes alot harder, thus getting a way more satisfying overdrive tone. as far as tiny terror compared to dark terror, the dark terror, like the name implies is straight up metal. Its a great sound, its just got way more gain on tap the the tiny terror does. the problem is, if your looking for sparkling cleans and heavy distortion, i would stay away from orange, because there vibe is the dirty clean thing. they are one channel amps ( the tiny terror series), so you would probably keep the amp running hot, and then just roll back the guitar's volume knob to get a clean tone. its a more old school approach, but defionatly sounds great, it just wont clean up all the way. hope this helped.
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