Not everyone can afford to drop $1000 or more on a handmade tube amp, or even $500. If you're one of these people, are you relegated to crappy solid-state tone? Fortunately, not anymore!
Here are a few of my favorite sub-$500 tube amps....
Epiphone Valve Jr Halfstack - $249 - I don't even know how this price is possible. This amp rocks. A little thin sounding out of the box, but if you're going for that John Lennon Revolution sound, this'll do it. Also comes in a 8" combo version, but you know how i feel about 8" speakers...The halfstack uses a 1x12, btw...
Blackheart Little Giant 5-watt Combo - $349 - another amazing buy. This combo is actually the same as its half-stack model, but costs less and is more compact. There's also a 15 watt model for $449. Both are a little meatier sounding than the epiphone.
Fender Blues Junior - $479 Another cool amp. Between this and the blackheart-15 i'd say it's probably more a matter of personal preference, so try them both out.
Even though these are all 5 and 15 watt amps, you'd be surprised how much volume they actually produce. If raised to roughly ear level with an amp stand, you can easily reherse with any of these and be loud enough to be heard, and they also work fine as montitors at shows, as long as the entire band is miked. Also, there are some cool handwired refit kits for the epi and blackheart 5 watt units, so for another $100 or so, you can vastly improve the quality of the amps.
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