One (low-watt) Amp to Do-It-All ....

[László]

Saw a great demo last night on YouTube where a guy did an item on recording in home studio using a 5 watt amp.

The amp in question is the Gibson Flacon 5. It sounds epic. Tube driven too. Cons? Light on bells and whistles. But miced up it sounded like a 100 watt stack - yet it was sounding at speaking volume in the room. Very late night and neighbour friendly.

Talking epic - the price is kinda epic too. Weight=s $1500 plus (US) and £1600 plus (UK).

But that said... I want one. Hassle free and easy as pie.

It's built by Mesa in Petaluma. For me, that's a plus, provided you have a good dealer to work with.

 

[László]

25 WATTS is still WAY too high if you plan on using it for a bedroom amp.

I suppose that depends on the bedroom... but yes, I understand what you're saying. This will be used in a small studio setting (the primary room is just over 400 sq. feet) and 99% of this amps use will be clean. Yes, the Fillmore 25 would have done the job but it was $100 more expensive than the Fillmore 50. Go figure!

I have a studio in my house that's similar in size, about 440 Sq. Ft, and I run a Mesa Fillmore 50 into a variety of cabs. It's not too much amp for the room, unless I crank the bejeezus out of it (which - ahem - I've kinda been known to do from time to time ).

It's a head, and I run it via an amp and cab switcher into a Mesa 4x10 with Creambacks, A PRS closed back with2 x V30s, a Lone Star combo with 2x C90s, and a DG30 ported cab with 2 x V30s. Sounds great with every cab I've tried it with (there have been a few others). It's a very versatile and useful amp.

It has a good master volume control, too. Chances are you'll like it.

BTW, I loaded mine with NOS GE 12AX7WA preamp tubes and some Telefunken cryo-treated 6L6s. It really sounds great, and I think the amp is definitely worthy of NOS tubes. It's not that it sounds more than subtly different, the NOS tubes just make me not get antsy for other gear because it never gets too harsh or annoying; there's more long-term satisfaction for whatever reason.

I should add that I'm mostly an "edge of breakup" player.

 

[ViperDoc]

My personal all-rounder is the Carr Telstar. Just an amazing sounding amp, there's nothing like it. EL84/6L6 in push-pull? It's phenomenal. The cleans are sparkly and vocal, the overdrive is smooth and full-bodied, the onboard tube reverb is lush and harmonic, the tone control is simple-yet-selectable...One of the best amps ever made. It takes OD pedals like a champ, too.

 

[László]

My personal all-rounder is the Carr Telstar. Just an amazing sounding amp, there's nothing like it. EL84/6L6 in push-pull? It's phenomenal. The cleans are sparkly and vocal, the overdrive is smooth and full-bodied, the onboard tube reverb is lush and harmonic, the tone control is simple-yet-selectable...One of the best amps ever made. It takes OD pedals like a champ, too.

Carr has some pretty darn nice amps.

 

[GGJJGG]

Any Supro fans? This guy seems to squeeze a lot out of the 1605 reverb

 

[ViperDoc]

Carr has some pretty darn nice amps.

Indeed. Check out the new Belray, looks like a Marshall-Vox-Fender shapeshifter!

But the Telstar reigns supreme. Just unbelievable tone.

 

[László]

Any Supro fans? This guy seems to squeeze a lot out of the 1605 reverb

I'm not a fan of the amp by itself. It has very limited dynamic range and the consequence is that it sounds one-dimensional. The frequency response is also quite restricted.

But there's a silver lining: those very limitations are what might make it blend well with highly dynamic amps.

Mix the two signals and you have something a lot like parallel compression, only with the fillip of including a different timbre, thus creating additional tone complexity. That kind of thing can work if the signal is split and sent to both amps at the same time, or if two separate passes are recorded for a different vibe and the chorusing effect of two signals that are slightly different in timing.

The player is very good, though.

 

[GGJJGG]

I'm not a fan of the amp by itself. It has very limited dynamic range and the consequence is that it sounds one-dimensional. The frequency response is also quite restricted.

But there's a silver lining: those very limitations are what might make it blend well with highly dynamic amps.

Mix the two signals and you have something a lot like parallel compression, only with the fillip of including a different timbre, thus creating additional tone complexity. That kind of thing can work if the signal is split and sent to both amps at the same time, or if two separate passes are recorded for a different vibe and the chorusing effect of two signals that are slightly different in timing.

The player is very good, though.

Magnatone Starlite 5 watt?

 

[László]

Magnatone Starlite 5 watt?

Sweet amp, nice vibe.

Their 22W Twilighter is a great sounding amp, too. And loud!