''The Blues Junior is so perfect, I changed everything''

"you can absolutely piss a lot of people off with a 15 watt amp" - been there, done that ✔️

As a former miata owner and racer I totally appreciated the reference.

I'm a life long acoustic player who bought his first electric just two years ago. All of this is new to me and my head is reeling from all I've had to learn, and even more from all I still don't know. Your videos have been immensely helpful and much appreciated. I bought my guitar, and Ibanez AS93, without an amp. I began playing it through my Bose Comapct that I use for my acoustic act and it works pretty well at home. Some time ago, a friend gave me a Peavey Bandit 65 that I only use when I'm home alone, but it's been great for learning what all the knobs are supposed to do. Next on the list are some pedals. Thanks again.

"This is one of the best amps out there, I've completely renovated and rehauled it."

As a car guy, I can appreciate the miata reference 😂😂 miata is always the answer lmao

Great video and great advice telling people not to open their amplifier up. Most people do not realize that an amplifier can bite you if do not drain the caps before working on it. I have also repaired several amplifiers that have been butchered from DiY attemps at repairing amplifiers. I enjoy your content hope you continue to put out quality content.

I love living out of town, the freedom to crank tube amps without complaints at will is the best. I'm currently using a 50 watt custom built plexi clone and a custom built (Achillies amplification) tweed Bassman with 1/2 power mod and master volume controls added.

5:19 "This is the Mazda Miata of guitar amps" Now you're speaking my language

I still play my ac30 in the house xD. Its like riding a motorcycle indoors.

For my birthday I took the plunge and bought a Morgan AC20 combo. OMG! I absolutely love the sound out of this amp!!!! I never would have found out about it without you Rhett! Thanks for all you do!

Because of this video, I just picked up the Junior IV and I am in love. Although it’s stock, I’m still glad to listen to a good recommendation. Very good purchase. Thank you for all you provide the guitarist community!

Rhett: "For home use, I recommend amps below 15 watts". Also Rhett: proceeds to present only amps that are 15 watts or above

I like the Peavey classic 20 and 6505 20 watt heads. Pretty affordable with all the modern features. Both heads cover all the music styles pretty much. Even with the amps Rhett mentions, your sound is going to depend on how well you set them up and the guitars you use as well as your playing ability.

I just a Boss Katana head with it’s integrated speaker. Tilt it on its side and can even sit next to your feet in a desk. For quick guitar recording, you can use the USB out. And it’s not too expensive so this can be a backup/home only amp

In 1968 i heard a 68 twin and bassman. Love at first sight. The sound. the smell of the tubes and power was mind blowing.

Another great video Rhett. I use my Victory Sherrif 22 regular in my youtube videos, and I had a Fender Blues Junior for many years. Both are phenomenal amps, very different to each other but both highly recommended! 🙌 🎸

Love my Badcat Mini Cat! It has a 10” speaker, 5W, and a master volume. Sounds pretty small in the room but you get it mic’d up and in the mix and it kills!

I had 3 main home amps in the past: 1. a modeler (Yamaha THR), 2. a tube amp (Hughes & Ketter Tubemeister 18) and the third one actually blew my mind. It was a little Hotone Nano British Invasion plugged into a 1x12 with a V30 speaker, a reverb and delay on the fx-loop and an OCD driver plus a 7 band EQ in the front, and let tell you, WHAT A WALL OF SOUND that thing made! It was beautiful, i loved it so much that i sold the THR and the Tubemeister...

Orange Tiny Terror. Fully tubed 15W which can be switched to 7W. Fully screams at full level, but nice and clean and crisp when needed. Also just simply dial in the one tone knob for extra warmth and your enjoying sound. Great amp.

I live in an apartment building. I have a 5e3 clone, with a Celestion Blue 12” speaker...WAY TOO LOUD. I got a Dr.Z Break Lite attenuator to play it during the day, when neighbors, wife and son are away. These days, no one is away! I picked up a Strymon Iridium to play with headphones. That works pretty good? Upside, I get to have three different amps sounds that interact (well?) with my pedals, and I can play day, or night. Downside is the sweet old lady down the hall complains that “(she) never hears me playing guitar anymore”. Can’t please them all? Would love to play my amp in a “safe” room, with a great band. Miss how the pedals interact with a real amp, and speaker. Miss feeling the sound in my body as well as my ears. Hope everyone is safe out there. Peace

I rewatched the ac20 audio clip multiple times and am completely blown away. That tone is out of this world.

For home use, I love the Vox ac10 amps. For my own home practice, I recently got a Joyo AC tone which has really amazed me. It's great because us guitarists need lots of repetition and if you live with anyone else, even those small amps are going to be heard by whoever else is there. It's better to get some good sounding, comfortable earbuds and you can play all you want and nobody else is forced to listen to your boring repetition.

I’ve had many tube amps , and one of my favourite is the Orange OR15. Very simple controls , and easy to dial in good tone.

All good choices, but my fave’s the Vox AC10. It sounds amazing, and it’s small enough that it’s easy to bring to a band practice or a friend’s house just to jam. Thanks for another great video!

To be completely honest. You just make the (by far) best and most lovely Videos on this whole platform. You put so much effort in your videos and so much love, because you always use topics that really come from your heart and those are things that really make you think night and day. The way you explain what you think about some topics really just make me think „this guy loves what he does“ and so am I. You just speak directly out of my soul, the „Why I love The Edge of U2“ Video was just so amazingly done. Many people tried to explain the art of those „different“ guitarists like The Edge, but you just nailed it ! I‘m not a native English speaker, so I am a bit limited by what I want to express, but basically this is what it’s about . Thank you for your Channel mate. Cheers

I am fortunate to have a 50's era tweed deluxe. 12 watts it's phenomenal.

I picked up a Monoprice 15-watt recently for only $200 and it is a real Blue Junior contender with a 1-watt attenuation switch and spring reverb. It could use a different preamp tube in the V1 position for more headroom, but it rocks. Dollar for dollar the best value amp I've ever tried.

Newer and better tube amps are definitely something I think will easily motivated people to try more and play more. Amps of all kind are worth trying out, and there are endless possibilities! Awesome work!

I live in an apartment, I manage to get by with my Fender Concert amp (40 Watts) plugged into the low gain input. Volume stays around 2, but I don't need alot of volume to practice. Works great for me. Great Video! informative and sounds good. Thanks Rhett.

Had the Monoprice 5W tube amp (in Europe marketed by Thomann) for around € 100, put in a JJ preamp tube and a Warehouse 8" ceramic speaker - both for around € 50 an both notable improvements. Perfectlich happy with this for home use.

The newer Roland Micro Cube is my go to practice and teaching amp. Amp models that are very accurate, ample effects, reverb and delay, and an auxiliary in to play along with tunes or just simply use as a “boom box”. I even plug my laptop into it to play video games.

Film audio post engineer here. Make your dialogue mono and pan it down the middle. You are welcome ;) Oh and thanks for this awesome content and your passion for gear!

Excelent video, as usual. Something very important when talking about electric risks: I know an amp builder with more than 30 years of experience who got shocked when he was counting the caps of an open amp, pointing them with the pencil he was using to write notes down. Unfortunately, he slightly hit one of the caps with te tip of the pencil and he got a 400v shock coming through the graphite, right to his hand. His heart bit went down to 35, that was close! BE CAREFUL!

Probably not anyone’s first choice, but definitely great for anyone who’s a hobbyist or needs something for at home: Joyo Bantamp Blue Jay. It’s a micro hybrid tube amp voiced like a Fender Blues Jr. It’s super clean, has some of that tube magic, and is a great pedal platform amplifier for home use.

Great video Rhett, thank you ! In my opinion the SuperChampX2 is a better choice for home amp, because the sound is less "sparkling" that the one of the Blues Junior (or Hotrod Deluxe), which makes it more versatile (even sounds great for jazz!) and it has a distorsion channel with customizable presets). Kepp on the good work !

Its not a value amp, but for me ticks every criteria for a home amp: Fender Tone Master Deluxe Reverb. This is the first solid state amp I've owned in 30+ years of owning amps, and honestly, its almost perfect (just a bit expensive).

I thought I was crazy liking the smell of warm tubes, One of my favourite smells.

I bought a used Blues Jr in college. It was already a. Few years old at the time, the guy told me he never changed the tubes. I never changed the tubes and it’s still going strong.

Little note on the Blues Junior, since it doesn't have an effects loop I'd suggest going for de Hot Rod Deluxe. With a volume knob in the effects loop it really becomes a great home amp. More flexibility. And not too much more money to spend on. Anyways, keep it up, your videos are great. Cheers!!

Rhett is right on, Capacitors are no joke when it comes to storing power.

Hey, Rhett! Just want to say I’ve been a big fan of you and your videos since you had around 15k subs, and I just wanted congratulate you on what you’ve made this channel into. You should be proud of yourself, and keep the awesomeness coming!

Fender's Excelsior Pro is a little-known gem. All tube, 13 watts, 15" Eminence speaker. Exceptional clean tones up to midway on the volume dial, then blooms into a growly blues tone then full-blown ZZ Top snarl at the top. Excellent pedal platform. And at between $300-$500, you cannot go wrong. Only found on the used market.

Rhett: “If you live in an apartment, you can absolutely piss a lot of people off with a 15w amp” Me sitting with my 68 Fender Dual Showman with 2x15 cabinet: “heh”

I’ve got a Laney Lionheart L5T-112. Picked it up used. It’s one of the UK made ones before they started make them in China. Has a 12” greenback in it. Sounds great. Still really loud for 5 watts. I seldom go above 3 on the clean or drive channels.

Tone King amps are the Rolls Royce for home use imo. Particularly the Gremlin and the Falcon. They sound awesome, great build quality, and current ones all come with built in Iron Man attenuators.

I played for years through cheap amps and never got into it. When I found myself going for tone I realized that, while the sound on a playback may be better, playing through a valve amp is inspiring. It responds to my playing and I enjoy it more. I can't get that from the modeling home amps. Maybe the big jobs like the Nextone or something, but even the Katana didn't do it for me. Again, on a playback the tone is amazing, it just doesn't feel amazing like a valve amp. And I notice those who love them are the players who can just detach and play. They're not "feel" players, to me. If that's your style, you'll be happy. But if you're looking for an experience that inspires you to play spontaneously, you need that tube...

I use a Laney Lionheart - 5 watts of pure valve tone goodness - perfect!

I play through a Fender Hot Rod Deville 2x12, 50 watts. I love that amp. And I don’t care, I crank it up once in a while and the neighbors have never complained. Maybe it’s because I don’t do it so often and I only do it during the day, never at night.

I've had more amps than I can count (small and large). The best by far is my Marshall JTM1H. I run it on the 0.1 watt setting into a Vintage 30 loaded 4x12 and it sounds pretty much exactly like an old Marshall Plexi. I can't get satisfactory sound out of my Blues Junior Tweed or Princeton Reverb without having them way too loud for home use. Even 1 watt all valve amps can be very loud.

Its your friends Rhett. Your friends have told you tube amps are better. Most are but your seriously jaded and its apparent.

I have 3 amps by Wangs Amplification, the 2204HW (50 watt hand wired Marshall clone), OD-30 (30 watt modified Fender Bandmaster) and their Mini 5 (5 watt microhead) The Mini 5 is plenty loud and can still piss off the neighbors, spouse or roommates with the right speaker cabinet. Cranked, it gives this nice vintage style overdrive and responds well to the guitar controls. It takes pedals well too. I use all 3 for recording, but the Mini 5 is the amp I am most likely to use when my wife is home. The other amps mostly get used when I go out to jam with others.

Hughes & Kettner Tubemeister 5 watt. I use it primarily for recording, but recently bought a 1x12 cab, and it's the perfect apartment setup. I just adore the glassy clean tones.

Pedals > cranked 15w > reactive load > IR sim > 9" monitor Sweet power tube richness at music listening level with no latency

I use the Bugera V22 (old model). You can limit the watts to make it sing with less volume. It has a very good clean sound with a ton of headroom and it works nice with pedals. Really no complaints on my side.

Just a heads up on the safety note of modifications: most electronics have capacitors that hold a charge almost like a battery. There are simple ways to discharge that stored charge safely (KZfaq it). Be safe.

I've got a Bugera 55 watt, with a master volume, and that's the key. Running a 2-12 cabinet. I can use it at home, and take it out. The amp sounds great, and a good master volume lets you get the tone you want, or at least close to it.

I remember a few years ago talking to an amp tech on the phone because I was looking for a new amp at the time. He asked me a few questions and we talked about the style of music I liked to play. He mentioned the blues junior or the hot rod deluxe. I heard the hot rod deluxe and every time I hear it i'm like "this. This is my tone, this is what I need"

I have a Blackstar HT-5RH Mk II. It is switchable between 5W and 0.5W and has a simulated cab out which can go straight into my mixer so I can use it through my studio monitors. The functionality is really good and very convenient. Most importantly, my Strat just sounds great through it and really sparkly. 😊

“This is the Mazda Miata of guitar amps.” As a car guy, this earned you an instant like on the video haha

I have a Blackstar HT1R and it is perfect for home use. It sounds fantastic and takes pedals really well. I have finally got my Spark 40 too, and while it isn’t a valve amp, it is fantastic.

If your amp has an fx loop there’s an extremely easy solution for this. Put any digital volume pedal be it on an amp modeling pedal or whatever, in the loop. Volume control in the loop basically works exactly like an attenuators. Crank your tubes and turn the volume down as low as you want.

Keyboard player all my life and as i approach 50 i'm finally getting on board with guitars. Of all the vids I've seen thus far on youtube, your channel appeals most. Great content, reviews and approach. Liked and subscribed.

I have a 15w Fender Super Champ xd. It has 2-6v6’s and 1-12xa7. It’s also a modeling amp. To me it’s the best of both worlds, especially when practicing rite below my family. EXCELLENT VIDEO! Thnx bro 🤘🏻

Rhett's intro reminds me of the commercial where the guy walks on screen and says "I love refrigerators"

I can hardly tell a difference when listening, but I can surely tell the difference when playing. There's something magical between a guitarist and a tube amp that I've yet to see replicated in all my years of playing, though Tech 21 is a close 2nd.

I like the Peavey Classic 20 Mini head ... great tube amp sound, takes pedals well, inexpensive, and very flexible in terms of power output (20-watt, 5-watt, or 1-watt) for home use.

I love my little ZT Lunchbox for playing at home. Its solid state but it sounds beautiful. My Blues Junior 3 falls second to it in every category.

A 1W head into a 2x12 cab is all need. The Bugera G5 I've got is Switchable to 0.1W if you need to be sort of quiet, and 5W makes your bedroom feel like Wembley arena...

I play my Marshall stack at home with my master on 6. Yes it is the 100 watt.

The first amp I ever bought was a Kalamazoo Model 1. This is an EL84 single output tube amp and is the same circuit as the original Fender Champ. A single 10" speaker, one volume knob, and one tone control with the power switch integrated. Simple, sweet, light and it cost me $50. I could ask a lot more for it now but I will never sell it. It has a theoretical maximum power well under 10 watts but it is also WAY louder than that sounds. Volume at half, tone straight up, and it wails. Whack the volume all the way up and it gets nasty and huge. You can piss a lot of people off with 8 watts! Little old vintage amps rule. At the church I serve there is a Garnet 35 watt bass amp that is really wicked and sounds monstrous once it is turned up.

I tamed my Fender (ish) Chinese amp chassis (new old stock) with a switchable H-Bridge on the output. Speaker + three 8 ohm power resistors. Drops the power to 7.5 watts for practice, without changing the sound. I also adjusted the bias voltage, modded the preamp and tone circuits, upgraded and rerouted the wiring, heavy gauge with twisted pair heater cable. Fitted JJ tubes and Fender Eminence 12in 8 Ohm speaker. Sounds great.

Anyone who can crank a 10-watt amp in an apartment building or townhouse has very tolerant neighbours. I live in a condo building, and I can tell you that even my 5-watt Swart is WAY too loud for condo use. However, put the Swart Night Light Jr. attenuator on it and it's magic.

I own a Fender Super Champ x2 and while it's not a pure tube amp (hybrid), it uses tubes and sounds really really good at almost any volume. Also, it has a bunch of built in effects like reverb, delay, chorus, trem etc. And my fav feature is amp simulation. You can enjoy that signature fender clean sound and then jump into dirty, marshally territory with a press of a button! Also, it's really cheap so that's pretty neat lol

I’m running a Peavy Classic 30 with a bit of a twist. I use a HD500X (Helix ancestor) and run it directly into the effects return, bypassing the preamp. I model different preamps without cabs on the HD500X, as well as effects. This gives me complete control of the sound at my feet since the preamp controls are there, as well. On top of that, I’m using a JTV59 Variax with the data cable input. This allows two-way communication between the guitar and the board. I don’t need a battery in the Variax and with one preset switch, I can change amp, guitar, tuning, and effects. I jump from acoustic to clean to overdriven to slide, etc, pretty seamlessly. With one board, one guitar and one amp I have almost every guitar, amp, and effect at my disposal. I haul the guitar and board back and forth to rehearsal, but leave the amp at the rehearsal space. At home, I mainly use headphones from the board and occasionally plug in a speaker to the phones output. I develop tones and presets at home and enjoy tube power amp goodness on top at rehearsal & gigs. I think I’ve reached rig Nirvana.

I use the Bugera V22 Infinium at home. It takes pedals nicely and has been trouble free since I got it 6 years ago. 3 12AX7's and 2 EL84's help me dial in those wonderful Alex Lifeson tones. Talk about a guy who has a lot of tone in all his material. Thanks for the tube amp demo.

Rhett's face when he realized his power tube went out.

At the start of the lockdown, I was using my Fender Princeton Reverb which hit most of the bases but was a bit too loud. My Yamaha THR was the right volume but a bit flat and obviously doesn't have tubes. Since it arrived, I've only used the Spark. My tone is basically clean with delay and reverb so I'm not really pushing tubes into distortion ever. But if I wanted tube distortion, I have an Orange Tiny Terror which, in 7W mode sounds amazing.

Best one to me is the Koch Studiotone, 20W class A, all tubes. Koch speaker made by Jensen. You can mute the speaker (load box inside), there's a dry line out (to chain with an IR) but also a line out with speaker emulation with the choice of one 12" or 4 x 12" (great sound). It's small and It's the most complete recording or practice amp with top notch quality sound. I love it.

I have the Tone King Gremlin. It is a 5 watt 1x12 combo with a built-in attenuator. One can get tweed style power amp distortion at low volumes. Great amp.

I had a Blues Jr... tweed one. Sounded cool. Never lasted more than an hour without blowing the tubes up and frying a grid resistor in the process. Maybe I got a dud. Fender tech said he could fix it so it would never do that again, but it would be a mod and void the warranty. I'll let someone else have fun with that. Sold it and got a DSL40cr. So far so good.

Perfect timing! I’m looking for a good home amp now.

This is so cool! You asked about us, and I'm using a Laney L5T-112, because it's only 5 watts (single ended) and can make a ridiculous amount of different sorts of tones with no pedals or anything else at all. They have made a "Studio" version that is just a head, buy includes a passive loudspeaker dummy load, so you can record silently to your workstation, yet stay totally analog. I've never had one of those, but from this video, it sounds like it would be the perfect addition to your collection!

I am puzzled why he doesn’t have millions + subscribers…. The content, the production and information is friggin awesome!

Rhett got his new /13! Really looking forward to that vid!

I do agree with you that high wattage can can be great pedal platforms for home use. The Fender Hot Rod Deluxe is a perfect example, and you can also run it clean at a low volume by itself and obtain a beautiful Fender clean tone.

I bought a special addition 65 prinston reverb tweed reissue with the 12" Eminence canibus rex speaker from Sweetwater. I think I paid $800 during a promotional holiday sale. To my ears it sounds better than a blues junior. And it's a fantastic pedal platform. Set the volume at 3 and run an OCD order two overdrive pedals and I get awesome gain rich in harmonics at a very quiet comfortable levels.

I recently just bought a used ORANGE Rocker 15 Combo & I couldn't be happier! Bought a few pedals - all Cailtlinbread (Sabba Cadabra (overdrive); Talisman (plate reverb); Echorec (Bison drum head echo); Coriolis Effect (sustainer, wah, filter, pitch shifter, and harmonizer rolled into one))

My ht-5r with a vintage 30 has a great tone with great sustain and distortion.

Talks about the Blues Junior, changed everything in it, plays it to demonstrate, tube goes out. Love it. Should go on the Rick Beato show and share more wisdom

The only amp I had for years was a 135 watt Silverface Twin with SRO speakers in it. I was young then, and it was cool to be loud. Everybody was doing it. Tone was just a knob on the radio. Great guidance, Mr. Shull! Nice to see young people being socially responsible when it comes to their gear.

I know this video is now 2 years old. I just wanted to add, I have 7 amps, 3 of them are Fender Blues Jr.'s. Each has different combinations of tubes and speakers, for different sounds, and I gig with them! As a duo, or trio, we do a lot of small venues. I use these amps for that and they all have done a lot of work, so to speak. LOL I have never had a problem with any of them and they are rock solid! Each was around $500, and the 3 total the price of 1 of the "big name" brands. They have been an exceptional value! If you are looking for the best bang for your buck these are it!! I just want to add that this is my experience and as always, just my humble opinion. Cheers... --gary

A 100 watt Marshall full stack. When I play guitar, my neighbors also enjoy! 😆 Seriously though I have an Orange OR15 with an Orange 4x12. My house faces a major road so no complaints. 😬👍

Anbody else out there use VHT Special 12/20 or 12/20rt? I love it! “Pedal platform” amp. Single channel, 12 watts or 20 watts depending on the tubes: 12w w/6V6 or EL84; 20w w/ 6L6 or EL34. FX loop. Has a switch behind back of cabinet to adjust power bias when you swap the power tubes. Has a pot to adjust the wattage from respective max 12 or 20 down to around 1watt. (Like Rhetts Morgan AC20 deluxe) Has Standby switch and 3-position power switch - pentode-off-triode modes. It has multiple levels of power scaling and a load of other features. Both versions have a foot-switchable Boost. RT model has spring Reverb and Tremolo-foot-switchable. They came in combo and head versions. I also tried and liked the Special 6 Ultra. Had a lot of the same features with regular and Ultra gain inputs. Would scoop one up in a heartbeat. The combos came as a 112. The Special 6 was a 110 combo w/1 input. Sorry that was long. Like ‘em or leave ‘em? Just try one.

For my home use, I've found that the best candidate is the orange micro dark terror with its matching 1x8 cab. It's really really full amp feeling, with fx loop. And is I need to gig, it's powerful enough to power a 4x12 cab. Amazing little beast. Works really well also with loadboxes and IR Sim in my Daw. Love it!

My 1974 Fender Champ 5 watt. 1973 Fender Vibro Champ 5 watt. My 1974 Fender Princeton Reverb 15 watt. ALL Tone TO DIE FOR!

I just bought THE best tube amp for home use! (Got it used, otherwise it would've been way out of my reach) Milkman Half Pint, 5W goodness, trem, reverb, power scaling, Celestion 12" speaker. Nir-friggin-vana.

My Hughes & Ketner 1-12 combo will do 18w, 5w, and 1w. Also, has a Red Box Direct XLR out and speaker off feature. Great for jamming, gigging and recording!

I have a Suhr PT15 IR. Has 16 built in impulse responses (cabinets) for direct recording, that are assignable to each of the channels. The dirt channel has two footswitchable options for changing bright, gain and level settings. Voiced very marshall - aggressive upper mids - so i hope you like that: if you prefer softer, bloomy Dumble tones, you are better off pushing the clean channel with a pedal or with something. No power scaling, but the master volume is very effective, and you can run it at half power. For a budget option, the Blackstar St James has two models for output tubes: a 6L6 and an EL84, and has direct recording options not dissimilar to (if not as comprehensive as) the Suhr, for less than half the price.

4:17 It is a false myth. More speakers or bigger speakers only makes the sound fuller and bigger but it won’t increase the dB level no matter the area of the air that’s being pushed. Sound intensity calculation is based on the output power and the room area. More speakers can only sound louder when they are in phase and interfering with each other.