# Small tube amp shootout



## blam (Feb 18, 2011)

Been seeing a few small amp threads and stmbled upon this as I'm also looking for a small amp

Class 5 vs super champ xd vs ac4 vs ht5

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Dc3E4OxKWI&feature=youtube_gdata_player


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## TWRC (Apr 22, 2011)

Must resist...AC4 calling me...


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## blam (Feb 18, 2011)

I really liked the marshall in that shoot out.


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## Bevo (Nov 24, 2006)

I tried the Fender and Marshall and went with HT-5, its perfect for the music I play.
Its still pretty loud so I cheat it with a volume pedal and its damn good through a 1-12 cab, through the 4-12 its pretty damn cool!!


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## cheezyridr (Jun 8, 2009)

they never played any lead tones thru the vox or the marshall using the humbuckers. they never played any cleans from they humbuckers on the blackstar either. reviewer seemed to heavily favor the strat. to my ear, it seemed like the blackstar and the marshall sounded best, judging by the review. but the review coulda been better imo


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## blam (Feb 18, 2011)

I agree. I like how he mixed it up, but I'm a humbucker guy (for now anyways)I did like how the single coils sounded through the vox though.I'm having a hard time finding anyone with a class5 in stock for me to try out but I'm leaning towards the vox right now.


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## hardasmum (Apr 23, 2008)

After awhile all these low wattage amps start to sound pretty similar to me, perhaps more so when overdriven. I have an AC4 myself, but my decision probably came down to finding a used one at a good price and I dig the retro diamond grill cloth.  

Nice to have a decent sounding portable amp. Any of these would put a smile on my face.


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## Bevo (Nov 24, 2006)

My bud has the Class 5 and just died on him mid song and he can't get it going again...weird?

The Blackstar I have is very clean if you want it not that I play it that much, the gain is just to much fun!!


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## david henman (Feb 3, 2006)

Bevo said:


> The Blackstar I have is very clean if you want it not that I play it that much, the gain is just to much fun!!


...i agree! this is by far the best gain channel i have ever played through.

i haven't managed to warm up to the clean channel, however.


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## blam (Feb 18, 2011)

I like the clean channel on the HT-5 more than the Overdrive, personally.


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## Bevo (Nov 24, 2006)

I accidently tried the clean channel with my TS-7 set to super low gain of about 1-2 and the volume turned down on the pedal up on the amp to 4 or so.
It was much better with a touch of bite if you dug in and a great tone.

The HT-5 really likes to be played with and responds to all sorts of pedals and devices.


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## CSBen (Mar 1, 2011)

Don't mean to ad another one to the mix, but I'm supprised to not have seen any of the Swart 5w single ended amps mentionned. Any of these would blow them out of the water imho; perhaps not a fair comparison either when looking at the overall built quality, components and finish.


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## blam (Feb 18, 2011)

The swart is also 4x the cost of some of those amps.


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

blam said:


> The swart is also 4x the cost of some of those amps.


Bingo. My 5 watt practice amp is for practicing. I want something small that sounds good and is pretty cheap. I've heard the Swarts and they're great, but I just don't have that kind of cash for a practice amp.


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## blam (Feb 18, 2011)

Word. $900 for part time late night practice is loco


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## CSBen (Mar 1, 2011)

blam said:


> Word. $900 for part time late night practice is loco


I was expecting that reaction, so I'm not too shocked : )

If you believe a 5W 6V6 amp (or its bigger brother the SRT Tweed with the 6L6, 6V6 or EL-34 tube option w/ 12" mojotone speaker) is a practice amp only, I think you need to try one out in person !! 

Like I had mentioned in a previous post, it isn't a fair comparison, but for a few hundred more, you are getting 4x more amp as well, for not just late night practice so in the end, is it that much more $$?


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

well then you have to decide if this is going to be a practice amp only, or an amp you want to take out to jams or shows. That determines the budget.

Right now my practice amp is my gigging amp, it works well. I wouldn't mind a insert-whatever-here 112 combo that's light in weight to take to jams though.


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## CSBen (Mar 1, 2011)

Budda said:


> well then you have to decide if this is going to be a practice amp only, or an amp you want to take out to jams or shows. That determines the budget.
> 
> Right now my practice amp is my gigging amp, it works well. I wouldn't mind a insert-whatever-here 112 combo that's light in weight to take to jams though.


Yeah that's what is really appealing about those combos - 29lbs.

LOVE my Maz Jr NR w/ 2x10 cabinet still over pretty much anything, but its a tad more than 29lbs!


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

CSBen said:


> I was expecting that reaction, so I'm not too shocked : )
> 
> If you believe a 5W 6V6 amp (or its bigger brother the SRT Tweed with the 6L6, 6V6 or EL-34 tube option w/ 12" mojotone speaker) is a practice amp only, I think you need to try one out in person !!
> 
> Like I had mentioned in a previous post, it isn't a fair comparison, but for a few hundred more, you are getting 4x more amp as well, for not just late night practice so in the end, is it that much more $$?


I know from experience how loud a 4-5w amp can get, but for me, the reason I bought my AC4 is because of its power output options. I use it mostly on the 1/4w and 1w settings and have used it with a drummer on the 4w setting, but realistically, when I'm playing out, it's my JTM45 that gets called up to bat.

If you want a small amp that you can gig with as well, I'm sure the Swart is worth the extra dough, but I think most of the people looking at these 6w and under amps are looking specifically for something to practice with.


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## blam (Feb 18, 2011)

i had the chance to take home a class 5 on the weekend. after spending about 2 hours with it, i will conclude its a great sounding amp. fantastic actually. 

the downside is this is far from a bedroom amp unless you only play cleans, which it does not have much of.at about 3 or 4 on the dial, it starts to break up a little bit with humbuckers. it's also far past bedroom levels at this point. you get a really nice overdrive going at about 5/6 mark and it only gets better from there.

i had the volume at about 6-7 and my guitar's volume at 3 and this would have been enough for my neighbour to be knocking on my door. with my guitar volume at 7, it sounded great, but it was uncomfortably loud for me to be in the same room as that amp without ear protection.

i unfortunately had to take it back. that amp is officially off my list after 3 months of waffling back and forth. instead I have ordered an attenuator for my AC15 for the time being.


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