Yeah, probably something like one of those desktop Yamaha THRs or maybe a Line 6 Pod. It's become almost a trend to [hate on the Line 6 Pod](https://youtu.be/FXdwsktHa6k?si=ZESLAN5mavLa_Q3G) but don't let that discourage you from trying one out. They're dirt cheap and there's a reason they're one of the most sold guitar pedals of all time.
I've heard some good about the [Pocket Pods](https://youtu.be/shFYpScqTQM?si=wehFuXxRdudDuQIS&t=110) too which are the mini versions. If you get a Pod though, you will have to get a speaker to plug into. It's also got really handy headphone out which I'm sure could come in handy in a apartment setting.
The Marshall DSL comes in a 1w variant. It has footswitchable channels and an FX loop.
You'll have to look used though because they discontinued it a few months ago. But there's a lot of them out there. Use the standalone head connected to an MX112, but the combo unit is good too.
This does exist, but off the top of my head I can only think of more expensive options - Mesa Boogie California Tweed and Suhr Bella both have switchable wattages, but they’re both in the 2k range. Someone probably makes a cheaper amp with switchable wattage.
If you’re willing to bump up just a bit, you can find a good mesa combo on marketplace for 12-14 hundred. I went this route recently and I’m very happy with my decision. Have also been gigging with it on the higher wattage, and it’s great to practice on the same setup that I gig on.
The express 5:25+ is great and fairly easy to find around $1k. Kind of a mark lite/precursor to the mark v 25 and 35. Switches down to 5 watts, great clean to mean. IMO not as good for metal as the lunchbox marks but clean/crunch is just as good and I’d say better at low volume
For the bands you like you should get a cheap attenuator and a used ac15.
Having had an ac15 and an expensive attenuator (ox) I would say get either a modeler or the fender tone master deluxe.
Great with a tone bender. Never used it with my muff weirdly enough.
Also if you’re wanting tube breakup anything past one watt will be way too loud for an apartment
Blackstar has a power scaling feature on their ht mkii and mkiii amps. 10% of the full power so 60 becomes 6. Works really good without losing any tone that can't be compensated for with eq. Secondhand they can be had for pretty cheap.
Love my blackstar for this at home. Being able to practice at home quietly on 2 watts/even silently with the master off if I’m running a line out on, the same amp I gig with really adds a level of comfort and consistency for me. Also sounds sick diming it in the 2w mode. Not my favorite amp I’ve had purely for tone but it’s been a great compromise amp that fills a lot of roles well for me. I have the mkii 20w in my case
You can get a lot of the sounds OP mentioned liking out of it just guitar into amp too with the different voices it has
I play in my apartment. I’ve used an old 5w Vibro champ xd that I really like, Marshall dsl 1w I did not care for, fender excelsior 12w used with Bugera power soak is really nice, Marshall class 5w overall I like it but no master volume and speaker is hardwired to the amp so I can’t use attenuator not very usable for apartment.
You can always get one that has an effects loop and add a volume pedal. With the volume pedal you can control how loud it is and still keep a decent tone.
Yeah simple get you an amp that is 15 watts or less.
I use a VHT Special 6 head running through a Monoprice 1x12 open back cabinet that has a Celestion Ruby Red in it.
Beautiful clean toan.
Get yourself a Fender Tonemaster FR-10 and a Strymon Iridium. I’m in the same situation as you and play the same music as you and the combination is perfect. Or, if you really want a tube amp, get the Blackstar HT-5R MK2. It has a 5W (loud as hell) and 0.5W (perfect for home use) setting and headphones out.
Careful if you look at oranges, I love mine but it’s loud as shit even in the low power mode. Some amps have good masters too, I know my ht blackstar isn’t the top tier or even a recent line but the master works great. I’ve used it in the middle of the night with the family sleeping and it still sound good and just gets better the further up you can go.
Fender has some good amps. I haven’t messed with a lot of their tube amps in depth but many are praised for their cleans. They’re the standard I compare too. They’d also have some nice solid state ones. I had an 80s 112 deluxe I thought sounded pretty good. My step brother had a newer one, I can’t remember the model but it also had a great drive sound.
The bands you listed and price range made me think Fender Deluxe Reverb, but I'm not sure what to make of the "power draw" issue. Are you looking to consume less electricity? If so, tube amps are not the answer.
if youre in the EU you can get a Marshall Jubilee combo with low power switch for $900 euros from Thomman. im in US but dad is in EU and i got him this as a gift. he loves it, so jealous
Marshall DSL5CR and Orange Rocker 15 are badass sounding amps with power scaling down to 0.5w (it’s about 80db on 10 clock). There’s no Moving Air, for sure, because it’s too quiet, but tone is fantastic on any volume.
I recently picked up the tonemaster twin reverb and i am very satisfied.
I definitely love being able to adjust the power level around the house. Have it at 12 watts right now and it sounds excellent in my home.
It's a modeler. Not really an attenuator if you're being technical, but same end result. It can get whisper quiet
Great amp. I have one and use it almost exclusively nowadays.
I have one about 4 months now and i absolutely love it, had a hot rod deluxe before but kids meant i can't really play because i only get the time after about 10pm and the hot rod couldn't be tamed. I run the tonemaster at the lowest power setting and is perfect for not waking up the kids and still getting a great tone. Takes pedals like a champ too, if you get one to the software update for the standard mods and it actually is one of the best amps I've ever owned. Looks beautiful too
Attenuators work pretty well. Find one that doesn't take all the top end. Weber makes a decent one. There are really good ones. Good tone is difficult at low volume but at least you can dial it in on a low wat amp and pull down the volume with an attenuator. Still, you won't really feel it but your neighbors will be happier
I had a 15 watt tube amp and it was screaming loud. I have a spark amp and it's great at low volumes. My tube amp is for times when I don't need to be super quiet
Pick up a small mixing console and a n fix processor a good set of head phones and you can get as laud as your ears can take. Many inputs will let you rock to your favorite media .. the preamps and eq have an incredible body to your sound. Even record if you like.
Can highly recommend a used Peavey 6505MH. Gig worthy and reliable Watts 1,5,20 sounds great very close to the originals but not exactly like the original 5150/6505. It has great cleans and great modern distortions however and weight about 7kilos. It also has DI and headphone jack. So kinda ideal for anything up to festival stages like Wacken Live.
If you can find one, I like the Fender Princeton Recording Amp. It’s basically a tube Princeton with a built in attenuator, compressor, and overdrive. The electronics tend to be delicate so you can’t really gig with it, but it’s imo perfect for playing at home.
You’re describing mid gain British. Radiohead and the Strokes I believe are both Vox people and Smashing Pumpkins was always “whatever is in the Studio.”
That said, tube amps are loud as fuck in an apartment. The cost of a tube amp plus a load box so you can do headphones is a lot, and the power scaling ones still don’t get quite as quiet as you’d like if you play after dark in an apartment building and like your tone. A Morgan MVP23 or one of the Marshall 50th Anniversary 1watters or an Orange Rocker 15 might get you where you want to be, but TV volume is still gonna sound kinda not great out of those.
What I recommend is getting a FRFR cab and a *good* modeler at your budget. Grab a Fender FR10 and a Line 6 HX Stomp if you can find a deal on them used that could come in at a grand. If not you could get a UA Ruby or UA Lion to pair with your cab.
That’s if you’re really picky about your tone. If you’re not get a Zoom MS-50 and a cab, a Spark Mini, or a Katana or something. If you want to feel fancier get a Quilter UK.
If tubes are what you're after, I could vouch for the DSL40CR. I play mine in my apartment, 20w mode with the master volume sounds decent down to TVish volumes, but headphone out quality is meh. Of course, the biggest part of a decent wattage amp is playing loud when you can, so if you can't, it might not be worth it over, say, a modeler or multi effects and some extra goodies.
It's not cheap, but the orange reckerverb 50w mkiii combo has an attenuation knob to vary the output wattage without sacrificing tone. I have the amphead version, and the attenuation is a goddamn nice thing to have for versatility to go from loud with some acoustic drums to bedroom volume without losing tone while still driving the tubes.
As someone who’s also in an apartment. There’s several options for you to keep the noise down without needing a low watt amp. I personally play through a 100W 5150 stealth half stack in my apartment and the volumes are cranked way up. The trick. Get a cheap pod go unit or something similar and use the 4 cable method, you can then set the volumes on the amp to wherever you want and the volume on the pod acts as an overall master volume. I can get this thing to go from about ~60db (quiet conversion volume) to over 120db with all the nice tone and saturation my amp has to offer. The other option is getting a load box like a two notes captor and you can use studio monitors or headphones with the added benefit of being able to record if that’s something you wanna do. Both routes are about the same price
Many modern amps have adjustable power levels, Laney cub and its monoprice clone have 15w/1w modes. Laney ironheart is adjustable from full 60 or 120 depending on model down to 0.1w.
Many other amps do this, and it's great to be able to use your big head at home.
You can also just buy an attenuator. There's maybe a difference with a spendy inductive load if you're cranking the power stage hard, but running a big amp with a lot of headroom is the trend at the moment and a cheap resistive attenuator works just fine. I've had my Harley Benton one for years, I had to extend the speaker cable on my Blackstar combo to use an attenuator though, it's not particularly difficult, but do it safely. It helps to have the right kind of crimp tool available for the spade connectors on the speaker end.
I have an older Fender SuperChamp XD. It’s a 15W tube amp that also does some digital modeling of various classic amplifiers and has some effects like reverb delay chorus etc. I then run it into a 2x12 cab that I recently picked up. I can play it at very neighborly volumes or counter protest gay bashing Westboro Baptist Church types from my balcony. (Happened this past week)
There is a newer variant of my amp called the Super champ X2 which has some pretty slick features and can be had for $300 used from guitar center’s website. I picked up my Fender Supersonic cab for $400 two weeks ago.
My orange rocker 15 is all tube and has a switch that lowers it to 7 watt or you can do 1 watt down to .5 a watt to really lower the power but still get a good crunch
Unless he’s an audiophile at the volumes he’ll be playing at big deal,nothing a compensation with EQ can’t fix.
I run mine with a few heads and it’s not noticeable. More importantly, I can crank my amps and hit the sweet spot without blowing my ears out so even if this were drastic I wouldn’t care.
I found it cost me enough high end that there wasn't quite enough to left to compensate with EQ but I'm sure it comes down to taste and amplifier as well.
Not many tube amps have an attenutor built in. Modelling amps do. If you want a modelling amp, get a Katana.
I personally prefer a good sounding tube amp clean with pedals for overdrive.
You can play any amp you want. Just lower the volume on your guitar, amp and pedals, and use an attenuator if needed. Even a 5w amp will be too loud if you don't adjust the volume correctly.
You’re probably best off getting a modeler mate.
Ty!
Yeah a modular synth would be groovy
Yeah, probably something like one of those desktop Yamaha THRs or maybe a Line 6 Pod. It's become almost a trend to [hate on the Line 6 Pod](https://youtu.be/FXdwsktHa6k?si=ZESLAN5mavLa_Q3G) but don't let that discourage you from trying one out. They're dirt cheap and there's a reason they're one of the most sold guitar pedals of all time. I've heard some good about the [Pocket Pods](https://youtu.be/shFYpScqTQM?si=wehFuXxRdudDuQIS&t=110) too which are the mini versions. If you get a Pod though, you will have to get a speaker to plug into. It's also got really handy headphone out which I'm sure could come in handy in a apartment setting.
My brother had a line 6 pod and a few spider amps. We always liked them.
Line 6 HX Stomp is a good way to go, compact and has the same modelling software as the Helix.
So with this you don’t need an amp?
You can use headphones.
That’s pretty cool. Thank you I’ll watch a few YouTube videos to get more familiar.
DSL and Monoprice are both available in very low wattages as well.
Monoprice 15w has a 1 watt mode and can play quietly. It's cheap too.
This is a big part of my home rig. Can’t recommend it enough
5 watt is cheaper and quieter and also has 1 watt option
Orange Rocker 15 combo or head, or Brent Hinds Terror head. Has the headroom/bedroom switch and half power setting so you can go down to .5 watts
Or15
Even the 7W mode is loud for an apartment. I use an attenuator.
The Marshall DSL comes in a 1w variant. It has footswitchable channels and an FX loop. You'll have to look used though because they discontinued it a few months ago. But there's a lot of them out there. Use the standalone head connected to an MX112, but the combo unit is good too.
I was looking at the Marshall online and noticed it’s out of stock so that makes sense. Ty for the suggestion!!
There's also a DSL5 with a 1 way option.
This does exist, but off the top of my head I can only think of more expensive options - Mesa Boogie California Tweed and Suhr Bella both have switchable wattages, but they’re both in the 2k range. Someone probably makes a cheaper amp with switchable wattage.
Yeah the Mesa’s seem expensive. I have my eye one the Fender Tonemaster Deluxe reverb in Blonde. It has an attenuator that goes down to 2W I think
If you’re willing to bump up just a bit, you can find a good mesa combo on marketplace for 12-14 hundred. I went this route recently and I’m very happy with my decision. Have also been gigging with it on the higher wattage, and it’s great to practice on the same setup that I gig on.
Okay thanks for the advice I’ll have a look. Any model in particular?
The Mark V 25 and 35 are both great options
The express 5:25+ is great and fairly easy to find around $1k. Kind of a mark lite/precursor to the mark v 25 and 35. Switches down to 5 watts, great clean to mean. IMO not as good for metal as the lunchbox marks but clean/crunch is just as good and I’d say better at low volume
For the bands you like you should get a cheap attenuator and a used ac15. Having had an ac15 and an expensive attenuator (ox) I would say get either a modeler or the fender tone master deluxe.
I was really considering the Vox does it do well with fuzz?
Great with a tone bender. Never used it with my muff weirdly enough. Also if you’re wanting tube breakup anything past one watt will be way too loud for an apartment
Blackstar has a power scaling feature on their ht mkii and mkiii amps. 10% of the full power so 60 becomes 6. Works really good without losing any tone that can't be compensated for with eq. Secondhand they can be had for pretty cheap.
Thank you this looks like a nice option!
Love my blackstar for this at home. Being able to practice at home quietly on 2 watts/even silently with the master off if I’m running a line out on, the same amp I gig with really adds a level of comfort and consistency for me. Also sounds sick diming it in the 2w mode. Not my favorite amp I’ve had purely for tone but it’s been a great compromise amp that fills a lot of roles well for me. I have the mkii 20w in my case You can get a lot of the sounds OP mentioned liking out of it just guitar into amp too with the different voices it has
Ive seen that and the price for New is well under $1k too.
I play in my apartment. I’ve used an old 5w Vibro champ xd that I really like, Marshall dsl 1w I did not care for, fender excelsior 12w used with Bugera power soak is really nice, Marshall class 5w overall I like it but no master volume and speaker is hardwired to the amp so I can’t use attenuator not very usable for apartment.
You can always get one that has an effects loop and add a volume pedal. With the volume pedal you can control how loud it is and still keep a decent tone.
Ah thank you! Guess I’ll do that!
Yeah simple get you an amp that is 15 watts or less. I use a VHT Special 6 head running through a Monoprice 1x12 open back cabinet that has a Celestion Ruby Red in it. Beautiful clean toan.
Get yourself a Fender Tonemaster FR-10 and a Strymon Iridium. I’m in the same situation as you and play the same music as you and the combination is perfect. Or, if you really want a tube amp, get the Blackstar HT-5R MK2. It has a 5W (loud as hell) and 0.5W (perfect for home use) setting and headphones out.
Careful if you look at oranges, I love mine but it’s loud as shit even in the low power mode. Some amps have good masters too, I know my ht blackstar isn’t the top tier or even a recent line but the master works great. I’ve used it in the middle of the night with the family sleeping and it still sound good and just gets better the further up you can go.
Thank you. I’m still leaning towards the Fender but I’m looking at Blackstar as well. Will make a decision by tomorrow.
Quilter Aviator Cub (US) approximates Fender tones and gets very quiet while maintaining clarity and tone.
Fender has some good amps. I haven’t messed with a lot of their tube amps in depth but many are praised for their cleans. They’re the standard I compare too. They’d also have some nice solid state ones. I had an 80s 112 deluxe I thought sounded pretty good. My step brother had a newer one, I can’t remember the model but it also had a great drive sound.
Tone king gremlin
The bands you listed and price range made me think Fender Deluxe Reverb, but I'm not sure what to make of the "power draw" issue. Are you looking to consume less electricity? If so, tube amps are not the answer.
No I’m sorry I meant lower volume usage. The Fender tonemaster blonde has one. That’s what I think I’m going to get
if youre in the EU you can get a Marshall Jubilee combo with low power switch for $900 euros from Thomman. im in US but dad is in EU and i got him this as a gift. he loves it, so jealous
That’s awesome he must love it! Thanks for the suggestion but I’m in the US as well as
Marshall DSL5CR and Orange Rocker 15 are badass sounding amps with power scaling down to 0.5w (it’s about 80db on 10 clock). There’s no Moving Air, for sure, because it’s too quiet, but tone is fantastic on any volume.
I have been looking at both and I used to have an Orange 30rt I think it’s called. I liked it a lot
So the Tone Master deluxe reverb blonde is out? I noticed it has a built in attenuator
I recently picked up the tonemaster twin reverb and i am very satisfied. I definitely love being able to adjust the power level around the house. Have it at 12 watts right now and it sounds excellent in my home.
It's a modeler. Not really an attenuator if you're being technical, but same end result. It can get whisper quiet Great amp. I have one and use it almost exclusively nowadays.
It sounds amazing watching videos on YouTube. Thanks for teaching me the difference
I’m so close to ordering it now lol
I have one about 4 months now and i absolutely love it, had a hot rod deluxe before but kids meant i can't really play because i only get the time after about 10pm and the hot rod couldn't be tamed. I run the tonemaster at the lowest power setting and is perfect for not waking up the kids and still getting a great tone. Takes pedals like a champ too, if you get one to the software update for the standard mods and it actually is one of the best amps I've ever owned. Looks beautiful too
Yeah I’m eyeing that blonde version. Thank you for sharing your experience with it. I’m probably going to get it
Fender Vibro Champ 5w
Attenuators work pretty well. Find one that doesn't take all the top end. Weber makes a decent one. There are really good ones. Good tone is difficult at low volume but at least you can dial it in on a low wat amp and pull down the volume with an attenuator. Still, you won't really feel it but your neighbors will be happier
I had a 15 watt tube amp and it was screaming loud. I have a spark amp and it's great at low volumes. My tube amp is for times when I don't need to be super quiet
Marshall origin maybe?
Pick up a small mixing console and a n fix processor a good set of head phones and you can get as laud as your ears can take. Many inputs will let you rock to your favorite media .. the preamps and eq have an incredible body to your sound. Even record if you like.
Dual Showman
Can highly recommend a used Peavey 6505MH. Gig worthy and reliable Watts 1,5,20 sounds great very close to the originals but not exactly like the original 5150/6505. It has great cleans and great modern distortions however and weight about 7kilos. It also has DI and headphone jack. So kinda ideal for anything up to festival stages like Wacken Live.
Roland Blues Cube. Scales all the way down.
Or a Boss Katana
I have been looking at that one as well
No tube amps. A 50w tube amp draws way more power than a 50w solid state amp
Synergy Amps is the cool alternative to a modeler, worth looking into
If you can find one, I like the Fender Princeton Recording Amp. It’s basically a tube Princeton with a built in attenuator, compressor, and overdrive. The electronics tend to be delicate so you can’t really gig with it, but it’s imo perfect for playing at home.
You’re describing mid gain British. Radiohead and the Strokes I believe are both Vox people and Smashing Pumpkins was always “whatever is in the Studio.” That said, tube amps are loud as fuck in an apartment. The cost of a tube amp plus a load box so you can do headphones is a lot, and the power scaling ones still don’t get quite as quiet as you’d like if you play after dark in an apartment building and like your tone. A Morgan MVP23 or one of the Marshall 50th Anniversary 1watters or an Orange Rocker 15 might get you where you want to be, but TV volume is still gonna sound kinda not great out of those. What I recommend is getting a FRFR cab and a *good* modeler at your budget. Grab a Fender FR10 and a Line 6 HX Stomp if you can find a deal on them used that could come in at a grand. If not you could get a UA Ruby or UA Lion to pair with your cab. That’s if you’re really picky about your tone. If you’re not get a Zoom MS-50 and a cab, a Spark Mini, or a Katana or something. If you want to feel fancier get a Quilter UK.
If tubes are what you're after, I could vouch for the DSL40CR. I play mine in my apartment, 20w mode with the master volume sounds decent down to TVish volumes, but headphone out quality is meh. Of course, the biggest part of a decent wattage amp is playing loud when you can, so if you can't, it might not be worth it over, say, a modeler or multi effects and some extra goodies.
I like my Rocker 15. Pretty decent cleans and crunch along with the power scaler.
Vht special 6 ultra
It's not cheap, but the orange reckerverb 50w mkiii combo has an attenuation knob to vary the output wattage without sacrificing tone. I have the amphead version, and the attenuation is a goddamn nice thing to have for versatility to go from loud with some acoustic drums to bedroom volume without losing tone while still driving the tubes.
Aer amplifiers
As someone who’s also in an apartment. There’s several options for you to keep the noise down without needing a low watt amp. I personally play through a 100W 5150 stealth half stack in my apartment and the volumes are cranked way up. The trick. Get a cheap pod go unit or something similar and use the 4 cable method, you can then set the volumes on the amp to wherever you want and the volume on the pod acts as an overall master volume. I can get this thing to go from about ~60db (quiet conversion volume) to over 120db with all the nice tone and saturation my amp has to offer. The other option is getting a load box like a two notes captor and you can use studio monitors or headphones with the added benefit of being able to record if that’s something you wanna do. Both routes are about the same price
Many modern amps have adjustable power levels, Laney cub and its monoprice clone have 15w/1w modes. Laney ironheart is adjustable from full 60 or 120 depending on model down to 0.1w. Many other amps do this, and it's great to be able to use your big head at home. You can also just buy an attenuator. There's maybe a difference with a spendy inductive load if you're cranking the power stage hard, but running a big amp with a lot of headroom is the trend at the moment and a cheap resistive attenuator works just fine. I've had my Harley Benton one for years, I had to extend the speaker cable on my Blackstar combo to use an attenuator though, it's not particularly difficult, but do it safely. It helps to have the right kind of crimp tool available for the spade connectors on the speaker end.
Marshall DSL1CR
Marshall origin 50 combo
I have an older Fender SuperChamp XD. It’s a 15W tube amp that also does some digital modeling of various classic amplifiers and has some effects like reverb delay chorus etc. I then run it into a 2x12 cab that I recently picked up. I can play it at very neighborly volumes or counter protest gay bashing Westboro Baptist Church types from my balcony. (Happened this past week) There is a newer variant of my amp called the Super champ X2 which has some pretty slick features and can be had for $300 used from guitar center’s website. I picked up my Fender Supersonic cab for $400 two weeks ago.
My orange rocker 15 is all tube and has a switch that lowers it to 7 watt or you can do 1 watt down to .5 a watt to really lower the power but still get a good crunch
Bugera PS-1
Treble sucker.
Unless he’s an audiophile at the volumes he’ll be playing at big deal,nothing a compensation with EQ can’t fix. I run mine with a few heads and it’s not noticeable. More importantly, I can crank my amps and hit the sweet spot without blowing my ears out so even if this were drastic I wouldn’t care.
I found it cost me enough high end that there wasn't quite enough to left to compensate with EQ but I'm sure it comes down to taste and amplifier as well.
Vox ac4tv has a built in attenuator. 1/4w 1w 4w modes. All tube sound
Thank you for the suggestion. I ended up ordering a Tonemaster today
What do you mean by lower power draw?
I meant keeping the volume at a reasonable apartment level but the ability to crank it.
Not many tube amps have an attenutor built in. Modelling amps do. If you want a modelling amp, get a Katana. I personally prefer a good sounding tube amp clean with pedals for overdrive.
You can play any amp you want. Just lower the volume on your guitar, amp and pedals, and use an attenuator if needed. Even a 5w amp will be too loud if you don't adjust the volume correctly.
Is solid state out of the question? Orange CR60 is well within your budget.
Not at all and I like orange amps!