[sevenstringgod]

Sorry guys If I've started plenty of annoying threads, just want help making the right choices here and I've got it so far so thanks a lot.

Any suggestions for a hi gain head that sounds good at bedroom level volumes that is going to be used to play stuff from Dream Theater, Steve Vai and such to Unearth, melodeath and metalcore? Thanks.

[TMM]

Does it also need higher volume for other situations?

An Engl E530 preamp is a nice solution, since it has a 1.5w poweramp built-in. You can use that for bedroom / recording, and add an actual poweramp for other situations.

[Bevo]

Was playing my Fireball this morning at 6 am and while it was quiet it did sound good. Keep in mind palm muting and punch will not be available.

I had the volume so low the strings were as loud and the speakers, got an hours playing in so I was happy!

[pink freud]

Blackstar HT5
Orange Tiny Terror/Dual Terror
Soldano Astroverb (boosted)
Bad Cat Minicat (boosted)

[snuif09]

a solid state amp a tube amp always is loud when you want a good tone at low volume levels it wont sound that good

[newamerikangospel]

Blackstar HT5

[sevenstringgod]

Yeah, it does need higher volume for practice and an occasional gig every now and then nothing major.

[TMM]

Originally Posted by sevenstringgod

Yeah, it does need higher volume for practice and an occasional gig every now and then nothing major.

E530 + poweramp will do well for you then

[Demeyes]

Originally Posted by TMM

E530 + poweramp will do well for you then

Thats the setup I've got and it's good for quieter practice. You can keep the power amp low or use the built in one and still get nice tones from the pre. Then when you need the louder volume you just crank your power amp and your off.
You could go for a low wattage tube amp but most of those seem to be aimed at the classic rock side of things so you'll definately want to drive it with a pedal, even then it's going to be voiced more towards that and not what you're after.

[cardinal]

If you've got the cash, I've heard that all of the Diezel's sound great at bedroom volumes, but I don't have any first hand experience with them at all.

[zimbloth]

Originally Posted by cardinal

If you've got the cash, I've heard that all of the Diezel's sound great at bedroom volumes, but I don't have any first hand experience with them at all.

Definitely not true, Diezels are not bedroom friendly amps. Diezel themselves will tell you this. At least on the distortion channels. The cleans sound great low. The only exception is the Diezel Einstein combo which sounds good at low volumes.

Tube amps I can think of that do sound ok/good at low volumes: Fryette Pittbull UL/CL/CLX, ENGL Invader/Fireball, Mesa Boogies that aren't Rectos (including the Caliber, Dual Caliber, Mark series, Nomad, etc), certain Peaveys, etc.

That said, any decent tube amp being used at moderate volumes should be accompanied with a Hot Plate so you can crank the amp and then attenuate the volume down. This is how to get great tone from powerful tube amps. Even my 22w Mesa Studio 22 Caliber is too loud at its sweet spot for my home use, so I use a Hot Plate.

That said, if I was primarily a bedroom/home player and not in a band, I would just use an Axe-FX thru some monitors and call it a day.

[MaxOfMetal]

Use any amp you want.

[cardinal]

Zimbloth: thanks for clearing that up. Appreciate the info from a guy who knows his stuff.

[troyguitar]

Originally Posted by zimbloth

Tube amps I can think of that do sound ok/good at low volumes: Fryette Pittbull UL/CL/CLX, ENGL Invader/Fireball, Mesa Boogies that aren't Rectos (including the Caliber, Dual Caliber, Mark series, Nomad, etc), certain Peaveys, etc.

I disagree with the Mesas, at least the DC-5, Mark IIB, IIC+, and III all sound "OK at best" at bedroom levels to me. The same goes for the 6505(+).

IMO the absolute best bang for the buck for bedroom playing is the DigiTech RP255 or 250. I play through my RP250 into relatively cheap monitors here at home despite having the IIC+ and 6505+ sitting 5 feet away. The sound is WAY better until I get up to photo-on-wall-shaking volumes, then the real amps begin to take over.

[zimbloth]

Originally Posted by troyguitar

I disagree with the Mesas, at least the DC-5, Mark IIB, IIC+, and III all sound "OK at best" at bedroom levels to me. The same goes for the 6505(+).

IMO the absolute best bang for the buck for bedroom playing is the DigiTech RP255 or 250. I play through my RP250 into relatively cheap monitors here at home despite having the IIC+ and 6505+ sitting 5 feet away. The sound is WAY better until I get up to photo-on-wall-shaking volumes, then the real amps begin to take over.

Troy this thread is about tube amps, not Digitech modelers. Obviously digital stuff is going to be more bedroom friendly. Also "ok at best" is good for a tube amp. My point was the older Mesas tend to get a usable sound at low volumes which can make it cool to noodle with at home, whereas some amps such as Rectos are a disaster at anything other than cranked levels

Originally Posted by cardinal

Zimbloth: thanks for clearing that up. Appreciate the info from a guy who knows his stuff.

np dude.

Originally Posted by MaxOfMetal

Use any amp you want.

Indeed, but I already mentioned that in my post

[NickBen]

Ya I agree about Diezels...I played a VH4 and Herbert at pretty low volumes and it sounded alright, but when you crank it

[kmanick]

My Mark IV sounds great at low volumes ,so does my 5150 II
I run them both thru a hotplate ,boost them and run an EQ in the loop.
granted they both sound way better when cranked but surprisingly enough especially the Mark IV because you can ramp it down to 15 watts, the hoptplate comes thru for me.
Nick is right though the Axe-FX is "the Bedroom" amp to have that thing sounds amazing.

[troyguitar]

Originally Posted by zimbloth

Troy this thread is about tube amps, not Digitech modelers. Obviously digital stuff is going to be more bedroom friendly. Also "ok at best" is good for a tube amp. My point was the older Mesas tend to get a usable sound at low volumes which can make it cool to noodle with at home, whereas some amps such as Rectos are a disaster at anything other than cranked levels

I suppose you're right, but I don't see the point in spending hundreds/thousands on something that will sound worse than a $75 modeler. The tone of a nice tube amp at bedroom levels is not something worth considering at all IMO. The sound quality of cheap modelers these days makes compromising on a tube amp completely unnecessary.

[zimbloth]

Originally Posted by troyguitar

I suppose you're right, but I don't see the point in spending hundreds/thousands on something that will sound worse than a $75 modeler. The tone of a nice tube amp at bedroom levels is not something worth considering at all IMO. The sound quality of cheap modelers these days makes compromising on a tube amp completely unnecessary.

Well, I've never been satisfied with the tone of cheap modelers. Many of the amps I mentioned I think sound a lot better at low volumes than a $75 modeler. However, as many people have been pointing out, the easy solution to getting great tone from a tube amp at home is simply to use a Hot Plate.

That said, I own an Axe-FX and use it with monitors at my store. I love it. If I was not in a band thats probably all I'd use. So in theory digital stuff is more home-friendly yes, but there are still ways to get great tube tone at low volumes. My Mesa Studio 22 combo I have here at home sounds amazing at low volumes, as many EL84 amps do. My Pittbull CLX head sounds really cool at low volumes too.

EDIT: I forgot I actually have a Behringer GMX212 combo that sounds pretty cool, but my point remains

[Dusty201087]

I have a Bugera 333xl combo (120 watts) and it actually sounds okay at bedroom levels. If you want to crank it though, I suggest getting a THD hotplate. That's what I'm doing, and I expect that this thing will really shine through when I get it

[EdgeCrusher]

The Mark III will nail the tones your looking for.

I had a Mesa DC-5 that was way too loud to use in my apartment (they need a volume taper mod to useable at low levels), but my Mark III sounds awesome at low levels. It just doesn't really rely on power tube saturation as much as most amps do. I can crank up the input volume and lead master knobs while leaving the master volume at 0-1 and have tons of sustain and harmonic content. I rarely even bother to turn it down to 15w, since I get that extra bit of girth and bass at 75w, and and the level is still very manageable. No other tube amp I've tried can do it (without a hotplate anyway).

The Mark IV combo I tried was loud as shit compared to my III for some reason. It went from nothing to way too loud with no in between, just like the DC-5. The taper on the III is much smoother.

[troyguitar]

I think we've got different ideas of "bedroom levels" and probably "good tone" as well (my favorite tones were recorded by John Sykes 20 years ago) so I'll leave it at that.

[zimbloth]

Originally Posted by troyguitar

I think we've got different ideas of "bedroom levels" and probably "good tone" as well (my favorite tones were recorded by John Sykes 20 years ago) so I'll leave it at that.

There weren't $75 modelers 20 years ago, so probably not. Anyways, it's pretty simple: some amps sound better at lower volumes than others, and the ones that don't will with a Hot Plate. Not a big deal

Bedroom levels generally means loud enough to hear, but not loud enough that would bother someone if they were in the next room.

[troyguitar]

What does that have to do with anything?

The point was that we're probably playing at different volumes and going for different tones so of course we'll disagree on amp selection.

[Bevo]

If you guys get a chance to try out that Blackheart Killer Ant through a decent cab do so, its a 1 watt blast. Just put your distortion pedal in front of it.

Not sure what the cost is but up here I seen them new for $120 in a head.