Small watt amp advice

[MontyW]

I don't come by the forum that often but I thought I would try you guys for some objective advice.

My situation is that I'm no longer hitting the gigs and I'm downsizing everything from where I live to my gear.  I have some really nice amps that are just collecting dust at home as they are too loud to play at home.

I've decided to sell most of my amps / cabs apart my all time fav Cornell 18/20 and I'm keeping that coz its gorgeous and if I get a call to rock a few tunes at a gig I can pick it up with a few Sobbat pedals and I'm good to go.

This a long way of asking what small watt amp can I use at home?  I'm immediately thinking another Cornell - the Plexi 7 with a 12 inch speaker, but can anyone else chime in with any other options or should I stop and get a "baby" Cornell?  Styles I cover are mainly your hot Texas Blues SRV / AC/DC / ZZ Top - you know the score and sometimes a bit of Slash.

I'm also planning of doing some recording.  I'm fully set with my DAW, mic pres, SM57 and Royer 121 ribbon, so you can see I'm in a very fortunate position.  A pal of mine in the US who has gone through a similar downsizing exercise has ditched all but a few amps and gone Axe Fx II - even to the extent that he uses his Axe as his interface and into a valve mic pre and into his DAW for recording and play back.

So, I'm asking should I also consider the modelling route?

I've been racking my brain trying t work out the pros and cons of all these options.

Any thoughts?

[Andrew W]

I'd suggest trying out the Cornell Romany Plus too. I have that (I used to have a Plexi 7 too) and I love it. It can do all you ask apart, possibly, from Slash. I loved the Plexi 7 but it's nowhere near as tonally flexible as the Romany.

[Brow]

Sorry for the slight thread derail but I'm selling a 4w hand built Matamp head if it's something you'd be interested in at all?

[MontyW]

Thanks for the offer of Matamp, but its not what I think I'm looking for.

So many options - I was even looking at attenuating my Cornell 18/20 when in 10 watt mode.  Any body got any thoughts on if this is possible to drop the volume to home playing, possibly with a Swart Night Light?

Also, any modeller want to chime in about the possihility of a Fractal being a suitable solution?

[Gizmo]

If you like the sound of your amp you could either get a high end attenuator like an iron man or something similar which works well and allow you to keep the sound of your favourite amp, or you could use a DI with a load and cab simulator. Loads of options for these. The torpedo range are good but expensive although no more than buying a plexi 7 for example.
You could get something like a suhr Corso which is really flexible and sounds really good. You can use your existing cornell cab or turn the attenuator (build in) to full load and use its DI out and then either speakers or headphones for really late night stuff.
If your considering spending Axe money then you have a lot of options. Prob best is Kemper. This is closest ive heard to a real amp and you can even record your cornell and then keep that tone at lower volume.

[Toe-Knee]

You could use a load box/attenuator and cab impulses and get far better results than say a torpedo or something with built in cab simulation.

Also attenuators are a lot better than they used to be.

Another option would be using really non efficient speakers to drop your volume or something like the eminence FDM speakers which are also fantastic,

[blue]

It's quite a bit away from the hand made Cornell stuff, but because you mentioned Slash, you should at least take a look at the Marshall SL-5.  It's actually a remarkably good little amp, with a great clean channel and nicely responsive overdrive channel.  Overall, it may not tick the boxes of what you're after, but then again, it might surprise you.

[Philly Q]

It's quite a bit away from the hand made Cornell stuff, but because you mentioned Slash, you should at least take a look at the Marshall SL-5. 

The last of the limited edition 50th Anniversary 1w Marshall heads and combos have been going relatively cheap recently.

http://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/electric_amps_detail.asp?stock=14060215593132

http://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/electric_amps_detail.asp?stock=14060215215432

[MontyW]

You could use a load box/attenuator and cab impulses and get far better results than say a torpedo or something with built in cab simulation.

Also attenuators are a lot better than they used to be.

Another option would be using really non efficient speakers to drop your volume or something like the eminence FDM speakers which are also fantastic,

Hmm you've raised a possible solution... I'd forgotten about the Koch Loadbox.  If I remember rightly its quite a good piece of kit.  So straight to my DAW with some impulses - thanks for the info!

[dave_mc]

I'd just be concerned that those small single enders normally don't sound the same as bigger amps. In most cases they're not really a way to get the sound of a big amp cranked at lower volumes, they're a way to get the sound of a small amp cranked. Which is fine if that's what you want, but not the way they're normally advertised...

[FELINEGUITARS]

I liked my Cornell Romany (was an early one called Stinger) but would love a Marshall flavoured one running a single EL34.

Martin at MJW made me a couple of power amps that run with a single EL34 and are rated at 10w - wouldn't be without them!

[bucketshred]

Sorry for the slight thread derail but I'm selling a 4w hand built Matamp head if it's something you'd be interested in at all?

MiniMat?

[Brow]

Sorry for the slight thread derail but I'm selling a 4w hand built Matamp head if it's something you'd be interested in at all?

MiniMat?

Nah, Little Rock 

[GuitarIv]

Just overread this post and thought I must chime in. If you're looking for a bang for the buck solution for playing at home at reasonable sound levels with a good range of tonal possibilities I have to recommend the Orange Micro Terror. I was at my local music store when I saw this little innocent looking box for the first time and had to try it out. The results I got out of it were unbelievable, so I had to spend those 100 bucks to buy it the same day. I'm mostly using it in combination with a Tubescreamer in front for metal, but this thing is dammned loud and it covers a huge amount of tonal territories. Some sound examples of me using it for Metal:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wxp4Z0qhlXY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZ0kkiwYsnc

Just look it up on Youtube, lots of great review and demo vids and as said the thing is cheap, but you get sooo much bang for the buck 

Cheers!

[Telerocker]

Morgan PR12 does the Texas thang.