Best amp for playing at home?

[Darrell Criswell]

What is your favorite amp for just playing at home if cost isn't much of an object. Do you still like to play the ones people typically gig with or do you like something else for a small room and just to play to yourself. Or are there smaller amps with great tone that you like better? Thanks!!!

[Chris Brooks]

Darrell, I just use a Roland Cube 30 for my practice amp. They are cheap, sound good enough, and you can find 'em everywhere. I bought mine used from Guitar Center.

[Brooks Montgomery]

I’m enjoying the Fender Tonemaster Twin Reverb. The attenuator switch allows you to play at 1 watt, 5 watts, 12, 20, 40, 85 watts.

And lately also my older Quilter Tone Block 201 with the Peavey Session LTD 400 pre-amp pedal. The tone block has adjustable wattage from 1 to 200 watts. I’ve been gigging lately with this rig because it is compact and I can D.I. out to the PA.
And the Peavey pedal solved the limited EQ issues I had with the 201 Tone Block. Cool pedal.

Caveat: hack amateur that gigs local dive bars and county fairs etc. In-other-words, discount what I say and listen to the pros.

[Glenn Stanfield]

My latest hobby has been building tube amps, specifically 100 watt Dumble style. These amps have a clean section of the preamp, and a selectable Overdrive section. All distortion is made in the preamp, the power amp is "HiFi Like" and very clean. Consequently they sound great at bedroom practice levels, even if you want some overdriven distortion. They can also keep up with a Rock drummer if the need arises. I've currently got a couple of this type at home, soon to finish a third.

My favorite, that I actually keep in my living room, is called a Steel String Singer. It's a VERY clean sounding 100 watt amp with spring reverb pushing a couple of EVM12Ls in a custom 2x12 cabinet. Again, sounds great at both bedroom levels or cranked. This one takes pedals very well.

There are several companies that make amps similar to this, Amplified Nation and Two Rock to name a few. You did say if money isn't a big consideration, these are not inexpensive amps.

I'm just a hobbiest player that happens to enjoy making tube amps, like previous post(s) have said, take what I say with a grain of salt as I believe I'm more of the exception than the rule.

[Bobby Martin]

Get a Fender Champion 40 or Champion II 50. Inexpensive, decent tone and effects, lightweight.

[Fred]

I've been using a Quilter Travis Toy 12 which is basically a Tone Block 202 and a 12" cabinet. Before that I used a Quilter Tone Block 201 and a 12" cabinet. I'd use the same thing for rehearsals or gigs. It's simple, it's small, it sounds pretty good quiet and better loud.

[Jack Hanson]

My old silverface Princeton Reverb with its stock "Fender Special Design" swapped out for a JBL K110 sounds pretty sweet.

[K Maul]

If you don’t mind spending money either Quilter or Evans are my choices.
For less money the Boss Katanas get good reviews but I’ve never had one.

[Douglas Schuch]

I think the issue is not the amp, per se, but the speaker. If you only play E9, then it's less of a big deal, but if you play C6, you need an amp and speaker that can give you those deep bass notes. I personally have all sorts of amps, from Champ/Princeton circuit tube amps to my Sesh 400 into a Straight Ahead power amp. I use the small amps for blues harmonica and when guitar players come by to jam/rehearse. But I don't find them suitable at all for pedal steel. So I use my regular gig amps. Since they are Class D solid state and I like a very clean, crisp tone, they scale down no problem. But I have a small studio to practice in.

If I had to come up with a minimal SIZE rig, I might consider one of those Quilter mini-amps - I've got two, an Interblock 45 and a Micro-block 45. There is currently a Micro-Block 45 listed here on the forum). I use these to power my blues harmonica rigs. For stand-alone use, the Interblock is the better choice due to it's 3-way EQ tone stack, but if used with a preamp of any sort that has tone controls, then the Micro-Block is fine.

The issue, again, will be finding a speaker that works well with it. I have learned (the hard way!) that the tone of your speaker is significantly affected by the size of the cabinet. Building a minimal cab to hold it will curtain the lower end. The 10" speakers I have were chosen for a Blues amp tone (think breakup), not steel. Others will have to advise you on which 10" speaker for steel in a bedroom rig.

If you are a tube guy, again, that's not my realm of knowledge. I tried a Milkman THE AMP 7 years ago didn't fall in love with it. But others DO seem to love it, so that's an option. But for bedroom playing I would think more like 5-10 watts would be best. Check out Greg Cutshaw's website - I seem to recall he build a number of small kit tube amps - that might help you narrow it down.

Conclusion - to be honest, if you are using a Quilter TB 202 or a Peavey-type preamp into a small power amp, there is no reason why you can't use that unless you want to have two rigs (home and gig) or just want to keep your gig gear packed and ready to go in a moment's notice.

[Dave Mudgett]

My old silverface Princeton Reverb with its stock "Fender Special Design" swapped out for a JBL K110 sounds pretty sweet.

I second this. I also put the original Oxford in a box and replaced it with an '80s JBL MI-series 10" speaker. It sounds phenomenal for pedal steel at low volumes. Even the low notes. The key is not to push it, and I assume that's the intent here. People I sometimes record with frequently just ask me to bring this amp.

I had a chance at the Nashville Guitar Show several years back to buy a pair of pristine JBL K110 speakers at a reasonable price. I was preoccupied with other stuff and didn't get them. I've been kicking myself ever since. As good as the MI-series speakers are, I like the K-series better.