You cant go wrong with the current Orange Rocker 15, it sounds great has everything you want and is fully switchable between .5 watts, 1 watt, 7 watts and 15 watts via a full and half power toggle and an additional "headroom or bedroom" switch! https://www.zzounds.com/item--ORAROCKER15?siid=191469
Thanks everyone for the ideas, been rethinking this a little bit As for a combo the Orange Rocker 15 looks interesting Might also be interested in a separate head and cabinet such as: Bugera G5 Infinium @ 5w / with the Bugera 112TS 80w / 1 x 12 cab. or Marshall DSL1HR @1w / with Marshall MX112R 80w / 1 x 12 cab. Looks like the biggest knock on both of the separates is the "reverb", I believe a "pedal" can fix this if need be Been doing lots of reading - what are your thoughts on these 3 choices ? Thanks Joe
My suggestion is that if you're able you should play them all in person with your own guitar. Online reviews and advice from forums are great to narrow down your choices, but in the end the best judge is your own ears.
I third the Rocker 15. If you want to crank the power tubes in a small room its good to have something you can switch down to one watt or less. I've been playing around with an Origin 20 head recently through a variety of cabs. Hard to get better bang for your buck in old styley marshall tones IMO, and it switches down to .3 of a watt or so if you want. One I havent tried is the Peavey Classic 20 MH which has a one watt setting and a USB connection. There is lots of stuff out there but you won't know if it clicks for you until you try them. For instance a while back I had been gassing for a Blues Jr, but on impulse bought a used HR Deluxe 3 because it was cheap (figuring I could easily move it along if I didn't like it). To my happy surprise I was able to get some nice tones out of it at low volume with the drive up and the MV kept down - love the footswitchable 2 level Drive/More Drive boost too. Good hunting
Budget and type of music would help a lot. Boss Katana line is great for practice, I just found it uninspired. Marshall is tone in my head, and perfect match for sg with humbuckers. Dsl1watt works for budget, and already mentioned mini jubilee at high end. Rocker15 is cool too, but gotta like the orange tone. Do not disregard the EVH and peavey lunchbox heads either, although sound better cranked up. Hughes and kettner tubemeisters also sound really good. Ymmv.
Again, Thanks for all the info, I'll be headed to a GC that is in the area to see what they have available to try out on the floor in the next couple of days, leaning towards the Marshall DSL1HR w/ MarshallMX112R cab. w/ clestion 70/80 speaker, right now SW has that as a combo available for just under $600,
I just picked up my first sg yesterday day and it sounds amazing thru my Marshall dsl5c! I normally play on the 1 watt setting. Bonus it has a hedphone jack and line in for use only on the 1 watt setting. Does not sound as good thru the headphones not much headroom but its is excellent thru the celestion ten-30 10" speaker.
People are probably tired of me making the suggestion, but... I have a Marshall DSL40C w/ an Eminence Private Jack speaker swap. Yes, it's 40 watts and roughly 55 pounds of amplifier, but it sounds phenomenal at almost whisper-quiet volumes... And on the off chance I get to crank it, it sounds even more glorious. I play it almost daily at home and lug it back and forth to church every weekend, and it absolutely never sounds anything less than great. 600 bucks would absolutely get you a near-mint one on the used market, as well as a decent speaker. The DSL1 is good (I especially like the combo), but the 40 is just "MORE BETTER" in every conceivable way to the 20, the older 15, the 5, or the 1.
I have no doubt that the DSL40 sounds better than its smaller counterparts, but I can't really believe that its great at low volumes that are needed if you play in an apartment with a lot of neighbours. I already figured that "low volume" is VERY subjective. I have a Vox VT20X (20 Watt, hybrid modeling combo) and having the Master Volume on 12 o'clock I rarely turn the "power level" knob (which is an attenuator) up more than 9 o'clock. I don't think a 40 Watts all-tube amp would be suitable for such an environment.
I never woulda thunk it either, as when I ordered it, I had planned on getting a volume or EQ pedal to put in the loop to bring the volume down to reasonable levels when I ordered it. I also was planning on keeping my Katana 100 for when my baby was sleeping. I ended up doing neither as I found the DSL40C able to produce richer tones at sleeping-baby volumes than the Katana, and that there was no need to decrease volume further for me. If playing while the baby is sleeping in another room isn't "low volume," I dunno what is. I think it largely has to do with how the DSL40C produces it's tone - it's largely made up of cascading preamp gain stages, meaning that I have to get zero power amp compression to get a good sound.
If thats true (and the baby is not deaf) you really got my attention now. I am going to try the different DSL models on my next visit to the local guitar dealer. I would really like to know how they compare.
So my 5w Monoprice just arrived & is still in the box as I'm off to work. Since my initial post I'd been researching these more. The 5w & 15w get great reviews. 5w is basically a Champ with the 15w version leaning into Marshall territory. Both have the 1w option, speaker out, etc. 2 channels on the 15w checks both th OP's boxes. ...& the price. 20% off both right now. $79 for a Champ with an Eminence speaker is absurd. Same goes for the 15. I might get one of those too.
OK, sorry this has taken so long to reply with what I bought - Have ordered and received: Marshall DSL1HR, 1-watt Tube Head along with Marshall MX112R 80 watt 1 x 12 Extension Cabinet The size is just right for the room I have them in and the sound is even better than I hoped for Thanks to all for taking some time to share your ideas - I think I made the right choice :-) Joe
