What is the ultimate bedroom tube amp?

[big_teee]

It may be overkill, but I have a pair of 50 Watters in my bedroom.
They are both equipped with Individual channel volumes, and a Master Volume.
My 2204 has the preamp volume, the pre Phase Master Vol, and Post Phase Master Volume.
It can be played with lots of gain and crunch at low volume.
Terry

[Chuck H]

Right. This is another option for bedroom use. As I came up playing guitar there were two kinds of amps, classics ala Marshall non MV and Fender BF types and then the Mesa Boogie types that used a Master volume. Then moving into the 90's there was a whole bevy of high gain MV amp option. Many sounded just fine and the MV was how players got lower volumes. If we're going t make sacrifices anyway with attenuators or mini watt amps, why not a master volume amp? Or even just turning your amp waaaay down and use a stomp box. Brass tacks are that MV amps and stomp boxes don't sound like a cranked up full size amp. But niether does an attenuated amp or a mini watt amp. Whatever gets a lower volume tone you can accept is the right amp to use. Some guy's are happy playing through their computer using digital simulators. I'd rather grate my shins with a salted wood rasp.

[big_teee]

Right. This is another option for bedroom use. As I came up playing guitar there were two kinds of amps, classics ala Marshall non MV and Fender BF types and then the Mesa Boogie types that used a Master volume. Then moving into the 90's there was a whole bevy of high gain MV amp option. Many sounded just fine and the MV was how players got lower volumes. If we're going t make sacrifices anyway with attenuators or mini watt amps, why not a master volume amp? Or even just turning your amp waaaay down and use a stomp box. Brass tacks are that MV amps and stomp boxes don't sound like a cranked up full size amp. But niether does an attenuated amp or a mini watt amp. Whatever gets a lower volume tone you can accept is the right amp to use. Some guy's are happy playing through their computer using digital simulators. I'd rather grate my shins with a salted wood rasp.

Chuck, Your right it doesn't sound quite as good, turned down, but acceptable.
There are those days when everyone is gone and I let it rip.
IMO Nothing sounds as good as a full blown Marshall, with all the overtones and Harmonics!
Terry

[bob p]

I play all the time when everyone else in the house is sleeping. I've never delved into building ultra-low-power amps. I just use a master volume amp with a highly configurable preamp. My choice for an ultra-quiet living room amp might surprise you -- it's a Mesa/Boogie MK IV.

Why? It's got 3 highly adjustable / footswitchable preamp channels and a master volume that lets you get rid of the dB. With any decent preamp and a MV you can make an amp scream at whisper quiet levels.

Part of the irony in my choice is that I don't use an attenuator during late hours -- primarily because an amp that's voiced in the preamp doesn't need all the power stage dB reduction, and secondarily because I don't think cranking an output section that's biased cold does much of anything for the tone. With the Mk IV, it's all about the preamp.

[big_teee]

Some guy's are happy playing through their computer using digital simulators. I'd rather grate my shins with a salted wood rasp.

I have a visual on that.
Another option is an amp with head Phones.
B_T

[deci belle]

with a salted wood rasp.

hahahhaa!!

My BF Showman has a Marshall channel modded with a MV and It suits my bedroom situation surprisingly well. In fact it's great!!

[BeemerBoy]

If you're not going to build something, buy a Rock Block and be happy!

If I didn't own one and if I wasn't happy with mine, I wouldn't suggest it but its a very very versatile, very kool little amp.

Pricey but kool!

[EFK]

After 18 years of marriage, I think the ultimate bedroom amp would be any amp that would get my wife to lose the underwear.

[Chuck H]

After 18 years of marriage, I think the ultimate bedroom amp would be any amp that would get my wife to lose the underwear.

That's easy. It's the one you never play through. Choosing instead to spend all the time you would playing wooing her. Then, maybe, if you paint the kitchen and/or buy her an expensive gift...

[Ramsay]

I really tire of hearing this. How exactly do they suck tone??? My own attenuator is home made and uses an active load but is still variable power via a resistance. So it's technically a combination resistive and reactive device. There is a difference between cranked and full attenuation. Just like there's a difference between the tone of my 20 watt amp and some little half watt Chinese made junker. Half the battle is VOLUME. You can never have all the tone of your loud amp at quiet attenuated levels BECAUSE IT'S NOT AS LOUD. Just like a little half watt amp is not as loud. It's when you lose volume that you lose tone. And you lose volume with either an attenuator OR a cheapy mini watt thing. At least with the attenuator you still have a real amp when you remove or bypass it. With a mini watt thing you get a bedroom amp and that's all. There are many proponents for the mini watt thing but tell me this... If you normally play through, say, a 5f6a Bassman but it's too loud for home practice, will you get closer to your tone at bedroom levels by attenuating the Bassman or by switching to a mass produced mini watt thing with a completely different circuit and gain structure???

If your attenuator dissapoints you that much then I guess it does suck (tone). But I don't think all attenuators are created equal. Then again, I've used purely resistive attenuators with acceptible results. Acceptible being a relative term. When I consider the option of attenuating the amp I want to play through or buying some little Chinese unitasking turd I usually opt for the attenuator.

Rant over

Chuck H

I apologize!!
The resistive attenuators don't suck the tone at all.
But mine it is used at bedrom level with the serial resistors (two) seted for 60 ohms. So the sound lacks a few of sustain, but still so good for my ears and don't lacks timbre.
Below a link with photos of my self-made attenuator and I love it!!
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d.../Ramsay545.jpg
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d.../Ramsay546.jpg
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d.../Ramsay547.jpg
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d.../Ramsay548.jpg

[Chuck H]

Nice, quality work. The Air brake uses a similar load and most players think it's great.

Here's a schem of the one I built:

[Ramsay]

Interesting!!
What is the emprove of your attenuator side by side to anothers attenuators??
How do you obtained this coils in a range of mH??
This coils are open air, right??
Clarify for me, please!!
I thank you in advance if you can.

[Chuck H]

The inductors are available from Parts Express or any other speaker building site. They're used for speaker crossover circuits. The difference in tone is not huge, but worth it. The "feel" and tone of the amp is the same from full output down to about -12dB. At bedroom levels any attenuator I've heard does "suck" some tone. But the active circuit does sound a little better at bedroom levels and a lot better at higher volumes.

The 12.5mH inductor does have a core. Otherwise it would be the size of a football.

OK... Here's a secret... On a public forum... Ha!?! The .5mH inductor is actually two .25mH inductors in series, but out of phase. I place two copper shields with an insulator between them to avoid cancelling the inductance, which they would. But what I found is that the no core small value inductors emit so much EMF that they can cause feedback problems with single coil pickups. By stacking two series, out of phase inductors, and insulating them from each other, I keep the inductance but beyond the shields each inductor is emitting EMF that is out of phase with the other. This cancels the feedback with the pickup.

The active speaker load is designed to be somewhat the same impedance curves as a Marshall 4X12 cab loaded with Greenbacks. I filched it from Randall Aiken's site (which is always worth checking out).

[Muskratt]

Best Bedroom Rocker Size!

[carlg]

Good advice in this thread already but I'll add that one good thing you can do for your bedroom rig is to put some kind of hollow body with body mounted pickups in there. A number of things happen at higher volume - you have enough power to push a 12" speaker into compression and breakup, your ears get pressed into compression and breakup, your chest resonates and your pant legs flap, and the sound field becomes strong enough to vibrate the guitar creating that beautiful sustain and rumble we all want.

There's nothing you can do about the human stuff, you're going to lose that if you play quietly. Our ears just don't hear things the same at low and high volume, even if the sound wave itself looks identical on a scope. That's why there are loudness controls on stereos, to modify the sound at quiet levels to seem as full as it did at louder ones.

There's no cheap way to keep the pushed speaker sound either because even a 15 watt speaker pushed until it crunches is very loud so you need an isolation cab if you want to keep that part of the sound. (bulky/$$$)

That leaves only one thing, the sustain and feedback through the guitar. You can get that at a lower volume with a hollowbody. Position yourself so you've got the speaker playing right into the guitar. If it's a dedicated bedroom rig you can find some really microphonic old pickups for it or wind your own and maybe don't pot them or at least try not to fully do it. Then you're set up for the old "sing through the guitar pickup" stage move too.