What amp for an appartment

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jimi972

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Hy. I would like to buy some valve amp. I need something that can be played on room level but I wanted to sound right. I like Marshall sound so I?m looking for something that would sound like Marshall.
Did someone tried a 50w amp with attenuator? Does attenutor reduce enough a volume of a crancked amp that can be played in an appartment without disturbing the neibours.
Currently i use Line6 emulators which sounds preatty good for an emulation but lacks dynamics.
I watched Paul Gilbert and he had a Marshall with attenuator in some small club but the thing was still loud.
 
It really depends on how tollerant your neighbours are. I use a JTM-45 with a Marshall powerbreak, and set at the lowest level with the amp cranked it's still too loud to play for long without someone telling me to shut up!!

I really think for a cranked Marshall at bedroom levels a modelling amp is your best option, I like the Tech-21 Trademark 10, but a Pod or similar through a decent set of speakers id pretty good.
 
I have a fender performer 650, its about 15 years old and it gives a great distorted tone at very low or no volume. I play mainly heavy rock and this is the best low volume heavy tone i have ever had....no powerbreak. I will always keep this amp for this reason, and as a bonus it has that Fender clean tone at all volumes.......i love it.

Mick
 
Hi jimi972, type this into ebay and check out the Blackheart BH5 that has been modded by Rat Amps. I have one and it has solved the problem of neighbour complaints.
Item number: 350160837509

Pete.
 
Alternatively, I have one for sale - his ?350 model for ?250 including UK delivery.

(I know I convinced Pete to get one, but I'm a swine when it comes to hanging on to things and more than covered my Marshall needs by picking up JohnA's 18W Ceriatone just before xmas!)

Edit: Phew, sorry about the 4 pages of replies! Our proxy server went insane. Huzzah for self-moderation.

The ?350 model also offers a twin preamp as well as the twin rectifier, so you can toggle between a fender/marshall sound. The one thing it's lacking is an effects loop (though it was me who suggested it to Andy!).
 
maybe something with power-scaling or variable wattage? not too well up on attenuators, but from what i hear, if you attenuate too much you lose much of the tone... though i'm assuming it's similar with power-scaling and variable wattage too, as a lot of the "tone" is just volume...

off the top of my head, cornell does a small wattage plexi with wattage variable down to a fraction of a watt (i've only tried the romany plus, though), and martamp has various models which are available with power scaling (though i haven't tried those).

that's assuming you're in the UK, which you might not be. and i'd agree with john in that you're going to have to get it very quiet indeed for an apartment...

EDIT: just to point out, even 5 watts or so will be way too loud if you want to crank it- i have a valve junior... my neighbours are fine, but my own ears aren't... :lol:
 
The RAT head we're talking about has power scaling (the London Power licensed scaling rather than attenuation), just so you know. It works beautifully.
 
yeah, something along those lines would be a good idea... 5 watts sounds small, but it's not, especially in an enclosed smallish space (and especially in an apartment!). :)
 
Put it this way - if I crank it above 4 with the power scaling on 100%, I get complaints from my very tolerant and long-suffering wife, let alone the neighbours! :D
 
:D Yep! 100 percent of available power. Scale that down to 0% and you've got no volume.

I currently have it plugged into an Orange PPC212, and it's set to Master - 10, Power scale - 100%, channel volume - 1.8. I had to catch a glass which was rattling its merry way across the computer desk...
 
DO NOT LAUGH AT THIS....
Fender G-DEC..
I saw a clip of Eric Johnson using them and he uses them backstage to warm up before shows.
If a tone freak like Johnson uses and endorses them there must be something to it.
I saw a clip of him using the amps and he had NONE of his onstage gear with him...just a strat straight into the amp and he STILL got his signature tone from it.
 
Picked one up for my father in law (the G-Dec Junior) and my brother-in-law has a G-Dec 30. Considering the utter garbage I learned to play with cost more than the 30, both of them are amazing value for money (if a little noisy).
 
villager said:
tech 21 trademark 10, or trademark 30

all the tone at low volume...

Great little amps! wish I still had mine! The powerbreak I use to get my JTM-45 and 4x12 NEARLY quiet enough to use in the house cost twice as much as the Trademark-10 and at the levels I need to get down to, the Marshall probably doesn't sound as good!
 
i can thoroughly reccomend the new Blackstar HT5
sounds like a cranked marshall but only 5 watts
with a celestion speaker ....
have a look at the Blackstar website
 
+1 on the Blackheart.

It does make a Love Rock sound completely superb.

I'm not sure it suits single coils though, My G&L stratalike sounds (shrugs shoulders) well... pretty average through it, though it rings like a bell through the right amp. Or maybe I don't suit single coils.
:-?
 
I should have also said...

AlanN's modded Blackheart sounds great to my ears; in fact, had it been a combo rather than just a head I would have bought it from him. It's probably a bit more flexible than the Blackstar.
 
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