GuitarNuts™ Amplifier Page

My amp is smaller than your amp!  Okay, so you're not likely to hear kids making that boast on the playground any time soon.  Still, many guitarists are finally awakening to the fact that it isn't necessary, or even desireable, to have a monster amp with four big-bottle power tubes and 500 pounds worth of transformers to sound good.  Some bands have even tumbled to the fact that if you reduce the volume of the instrument amps you can then use a lower-power, less-expensive, PA system for the vocals and acoustic instruments!  Even a 20 or 30 watt combo can easily handle most any venue up to the point where you need to mic the cab and run through the house PA to reach the back of the room anyway.  While we here at GuitarNuts certainly don't have anything against big amps, the trend is toward smaller amps and that is the trend we'll be following most closely here.

07/08/2000 – The guitarist cannot begin to make intelligent gear decisions without a basic understanding of tone, power, and volume.  Many experienced guitarists still nurse and cherish "facts" that are so incorrect as to be pure fantasy.  Some of these guitarists have achieved great tone, but have done so only after years of very expensive trial and error – and without really understanding what they did to finally get the killer tone they were looking for.  This brief article debunks most of the common myths and provides guitarists, beginner and expert alike, with the tools needed to plan an intelligent gear acquisition strategy.

07/09/2000 – Recent research indicates that complete cranked tube amp tone can be achieved at about 1 watt per speaker or a little more (see recent articles on 3-stage amplification architecture at amptone.com). 

Note that 1 watt through an efficient guitar speaker is still loud – about as loud as a horn played at full volume and easily loud enough to get you tossed out of your apartment!

The AX84 Project is a site devoted to homebrewed amps.  It began several years ago as a very modest effort to design and build a 5 watt single-ended tube amp.  Presently there are several amp designs featured; including the original AX84 P1, Steven Deflts "Moonlight" 1 watt push/pull amp, as well as some larger amps.

The "Low-Watt Project" – I've begun a new project investigating ways to modify, or build, versatile tube amplifiers that will distort sweetly at high and low volumes.  Track the progress of the project, including photos of the first modification, here.