How to Get GREAT Tones at Low Volume!

Thank you so much

Any thoughts on chokes? I'm using a Rockcrusher with JCM 800 studio 20W which gives good tone but still too loud past 6-7. Also don't forget those tone pots on the LP!!!

Do you need a big tube amp on a v low volume or will this work with a fender 68 vibro champ too? I’m looking just for good cleans

Your a great guitar player, and get great sound, your way less of a good comedian, I think there are support groups for your lack of self awareness, perhaps Aspergers.....just saying....

Hey Jack, great info as always. I’m looking at Fender LT modelers. Bedroom volumes only. I don’t don’t need 50 watts but would the larger, 12” speaker of the 50 yield better, richer tones than the 8” speakers of the 25 at the same low decibel level? Or at low levels, does it matter?

I dig they way you play. There are some really good teachers, but I don't always like their approach, or tone choices. And you know what your talking about.

Everybody saia get a moddeler. I want to hear a tube amp, moddelers cost sometimes more than a tube amp and don´t sound like them, not even close. Look at the Fender Tone Master series, "That pedal Show" made an hour long video with a Fender Deluxe Reverb (tube reissue) vs a Fender Tone Master Deluxe Reverb (moddeler, Dsp), they made a fair comparison even connecting both amps to the same speaker to get It out of the equation, they try to like de moddeler but It was evident that vs the REAL amp there is no way. Get an attenuator, or a 5 watt amp , since you have a Laney, try the Laney Lionheart 5 watts (great cabinet, Celestion Heritage 12", spring reverb, two channels, only 5 watts), no moddeler can sound like the real amp IMHO.

Do like I do. Play unplugged. You will be surprised how much better you get ..!

Great vid, would you do a video dictionary at some point as so many words mid treble and so on are foreign i hear all the various jargon words and get lost. Also i know at beginning of vid your just messing about. Can you break that lick down All beginners want something to learn that sounds great Ummh so a Laney A1 80W would be fine at home with settings as shown?

Great video! I think the biggest problem you have with a twin (for example) is that there is very much a "minimum" volume at which it sound "complete" sonically. That isn't necessarily crazy loud but there you do have to get the speaker cones moving enough or it sounds thin and phasey. One way round this is to use lower wattage speakers. If you never play above 3 or 4 on a wild night you really don't need those 75w speakers. Put 25w speakers in..
The other thing is the twins with master volumes or one where you plan to add one: There's a bunch of information online about the various options suitable for the Fender LTP amps with fixed bias (which all have essentially the same circuit anyway just different retification and sized iron) but generally its accepted that the Trainwreck Type 2 is the one that works best. Its a Post Phase Inverter Master Volume: what that means is that it sits after the phase inverter and before the power tubes (it actually replaces the power tube grid resistors with a dual gang pot). This allows a fairly seamless attenuation as you turn the volume down and works really well. The only drawback is that you also lose negative feedback as you turn the volume down. This is almost always a good thing as these amps were desiged to sound "right" about 5 on the volume which no sane person will ever be allowed to do in 2023! The best thing about the TW T2 PPIMV is that on 10 its exactly the same as the non-mv electronically. So you can have the best of both worlds. Crisp clean cleans or classic Fender PI saturated overdrive.
One final trick I always find works well is to consider putting a larger value capacitor in the phase inverter coupling cap position. Fender uses 0.001uf in the twin. I much prefer 0.022uf. This cap basically acts as a bass cut to remove bass from the signal path prior to entering the phase inverter. This again was intended to sound "right" with a 100w twin on 5 not 1-3. It was also designed to work well with the old style lower sensitivty speakers which could be pushed harder a lower volumes. One ancillary benefit of increasing this capacitor slightly, all the extra bass that gets in to the phase inverter will drive it much harder.. giving you monster PI overdrive and compression at bar gig volume levels if using the PPIMV. In fact if you have ever played a Vox AC30 it works very much like that. Turn up the channel volumes, turn down the PPIMV and EQ to taste.
TL;DR A twin reverb can do bat mitzvahs and restaurant gigs without sounding like ass or loads of pedals. Although pedals remain a solid option ..

Modeler's just don't sound good to my ears, something about digitil i don't know what you would call it drone, squeal, echo, like I said I don't know what you would call it but it sounds horrible to my ears. I use a little Vox Pathfinder 10, real low volume but really sweet tone, inexpensive too.

Your Les Paul is beautiful, like the color

My problem is at clean channel. I need something for dynamics. the range is too big - when i hit hard note it sounds very loud. Iam happy with lead channel its sounds ok. My amp its bugera333 .

Too bad for me that I annoy myself even at bedroom volumes.

Hi Jack. Great videos in general.
Have you ever for this issue of low bedroom level tubeamp, tried an Orange Rocker Terror 15 watt on 0,5 watt?
Its also great on the drive channel and, I find it to have a nice amp overdrive on low volume.
So in essence you might want to try this amp to see if the amps drive does sound good or if its still in need of a overdrive pedal.
Atb Sofus

After nearly 20 years of playing guitar and its my main hobby your video has teached me how to get good sound at low volumes. I never thought to max out the EQ the thought of it sounded silly but man does it work for really low volumes. I would often play my electric unplugged but not now. Thanks a million

lol! Who wrote that song? Nice! Great video! Quick question…..are the WGS G12A and G12C the same as the Jupiter speakers you are using? Thank you ~cheers

I think just the opposite. I think you should crank up the amp in your bedroom and learn how to control it by using your touch and the volume and tone controls on your guitar to dial in the sound you want. You'll have to do it on stage and you'll learn you have the power in you to control the tone, attack, sustain, grit, crunch, or whatever with way you choose to play.

I went to a Van Halen show about 15 years ago and the treble was so loud and so bad that I had to leave! I was 22 or 23 years old and a very big live music fan but the sound was so incredibly bad! I stayed for 4 songs and, I'm not exaggerating, my ears rang for 2 days afterwards! That's what I thought of when you said the treble was cutting off the crowds heads.

That is a beautiful Tele! I have a Twin and also an AXE FXIII. The Twin was just sitting in my basement studio, so I decided to get some pedals (mainly Greer stuff) just because I couldn't stand to see the Twin not being used (68 Reissue).

I have a great distorted quiet sound out of an all-tube amp. It's the Sovtek Tube Midget 50H. Volume at 10 and Master at .2. I also like the Steve Via Carvin Legacy V3. It sounds great at low volume and has reverb.

Very informative, Jack! Thanks! I used to subscribe many guitar channels. I'm now down to a half-dozen, including this one. Down to the groovy half-duz!

Noticed the Kustom Coupe in the background. I had one but at 36 watts, it was heavy to move, more power than I needed, and I did not know how to apply pedals to it. In retrospect, many of the things you mention today would have helped. Good amp, just not for me.

I’ll try these settings on my VC15, let’s see. Mine is an old one also, made in uk with a 10 inch Jensen. Thank you for this video, Jack! Greetings from Brazil!

How about the Blackstar HT1R as a tube amp for sounding good overdriven at low volumes?

For the diy people like myself, building a 2 watt tube amplifier like Rob Robinette's deluxe or bassman micro is the true tip notch solution. True cranked tube amp tone at actual bedroom levels.

So how about these 5watt tube amps?

Is it only me thinking that amps are resonating better in love volume? I even lower the guitar volume a bit... The way I play is not lauder than an acoustic guitar.

Another great video!

This is a totally valid approach, but I always want to plug straight into the amp for maximal dynamics, especially when I have to play so quietly that headroom is already badly compromised. The key for me is a lower-volume speaker: either one of the now-discontinued Eminence FDM models, or an older worn-out vintage speaker with a looser response. Any speaker will need at least 0.3 - 1 W output to have a full excursion and enable these dynamics, and a modern high-sensitivity speaker will still produce at least 92 dBA with that power level, just a bit too much for "bedroom" playing. Knocking off another 6-10 dB with the speaker lets you get into that "louder TV volume" range which starts to work almost anywhere.

Getting the amp output down to the 1 W range with good tone is tricky, but can be done with a combination of methods. Use a lower-power amp, and take a few dB off with master volume, a few dB with an attenuator, a few dB with B+ voltage reduction, a few dB with a dummy load on the other speaker outputs, etc. Kept small enough, each of these changes will stack transparently, but sum up to a major volume reduction, bringing a 15 W amp down into the sub-watt range while retaining the tone and character specific to that topology. To me, it's a better result than 1 W amps which use preamp tubes in the power section - they just don't produce the same sound or feel.

your videos are so helpful and interesting. thank you!

Very timely video. I moved in with my fiancé to an apartment, and have been using this approach with my deluxe reverb, but part of my wants to just get a small amp, like a Vibrochamp or Supra delta king 10. Do you prefer the pedal/big amp approach, or a small amp?

Love the clean tone, gain tones not so much. I appreciate your efforts.

Don't forget "modest' in your description of the song writer😳

Great video - was exactly what I was looking for.

Great advice indeed (not to mention the great playing). Actually, I’m kind of doing almost the same thing already, so it’s interesting to see you using a very similar strategy. I have a “Custom” Vibrolux Reverb that I turn down to around two. I run it into my old TS10 (which is always turned on), but I only turn the drive up to around the halfway point. That gives me a little dirt if I turn up my Les Paul to around 8 or 9, but I usually play with the guitar’s volume at 5, 6, or 7. The TS10 is always on, and you’re absolutely right — it sounds like ass if the drive is cranked up too much. I’m also using a Torpedo Captor, which works nicely as a 20db attenuator and has the added benefit of, somehow, filtering all the noise out of this very noisy amp. I have no idea why, but it’s fantastic. Anyway, I’m babbling but I absolutely love noodling on my guitar while I watch a sporting event on the tv. So relaxing. and it’s better than knitting, right?😉👍

Very nice and timely post Jack. Now that I have your tips on working the tone controls and pedals for lower volumes (Which I never thought of trying) you may have saved me selling my Fender Bassman, which I love and have gigged for many years but could never use at home. I shall get it back out of storage and try your recommendations.

My Fender Chris Stapleton Princeton is also too loud for proper home use, so I use a Boss Tube Amp Expander hooked up with it, which solves the volume problem perfectly. One thing to note here is the Princeton has only one volume and one tone control, although I've just bought an EQ Pedal to use with it, so I can try your suggestions on the Princeton.

The best computer guitar amp sim for me is the Scuffham S-Gear, It's a guitar amp sim with incredible sounds at any volume.

Or use the Tone Master and put it to the lowest attenuator setting. I'm a huge fan

Got a Vox Night Train 15 G combo. It's a surprisingly versatile amp, good cleans and drive sounds at low to high volumes, due to circuit switching capability. Everything from home practice to small venues, with more interesting tones than a Blues Junior, not as boxy sounding. Plus, tube swap outs reveal a sleeping giant,

I own a Maven Peal @ 100 watts can turn down to 1Watt plus Sag is adjustable. Whilst it sounds very good it lacks the only thing that everything lacks - the speakers are not pushing air, they are just laying flat. The interaction of the speakers are a big part in getting the right feel. Best, Pete.

Ever since your first video on the VC30, they've been disappearing from used markets - fast.

Jack Fossett, undercover Influencer.

The electric guitar is a fundamentally different instrument at stage volume.

Great video Jack. Surprised how good both those big valve amps sounded at low volume. My Laney Lionheart L5 head sounds great at home levels.

Those pedals do sound great. I recently added an attenuator (Tone King Ironman II Mini) to my '68 Custom Deluxe and it pretty much solves these dilemmas.

First thing i think for a small room like i have and have been using for years .. Is Low watt Tube amps !!! On my Blues Jr. i am using also a Bugera PS 1 Power soak can cut the power way down.. Great for overdrive, boosts, etc... i get real great sounds with it ..Then i have the Marshall Origin 20 which has the 3 position watt settings , if i want to play lower and use overdrive and stuff i use the lowest setting , for louder i use middle this Marshall is the best marshal i ever Owned, My pedals are Tube screamer ts808 pro with the soul food, and wampler velevet fuzz, donner reverb, donner delay , and dd3 delay and a Keely compressor/sustainer , also i have a vox and a 5 watt tube monoprice 5 /1 watt which i took apart made my open cabinet for it and hooked up to a kustom 12" speaker cabinet ... But i think the key is with low watt amps you can adjust your sounds much easier for a small room and still have Big power to play a large room ...

Cool stuff! Do the same principles apply for a Blues Junior Tweed ? I find controlling the Treble quite difficult. Also any tips for OD for the same rig? I got a Sould Food a Blues Driver and an Orange Gateway which has a unique type of sound that I enjoy

Put an EQ pedal in the FX loop. Voila!

Nice vid as always! Never picked up on the tone stack difference at different volumes so thanks! I bought my first tube amp for my old cover band thinking a 40w Hot Rod Deluxe was perfect but boy wax it loud with 6L6 tubes. Being an electrician and tinkerer I went to jj6v6s tubes to drop the wattage but the sound was off. Lots of reading i decided to change the output transformer to a DRRI style and also the full frommel mod kit. Sound is awesome but anyone whom has done this knows that even a cranked DRRI is pretty loud as well for home any way. Then I saw your vid about the princeton reverb. I did not replace the HRD with it though. I got the 12" tweed canabis rex model which now that it is broken in is like a dream. Honestly I like having the 2 of them now. At home I'll either play the Princeton with my guitar straight in and crank it for dirt or If O want to get my pedalboard involved I will play the HRD as the main clean on just below edge of break up and I have a mic into the Princeton for my talkbox. Of you gig 2 or 3 different amps isn't a bad thing if the venues you play vary either imo. Gonna play with this setup you have going because while I can deal with rocking loud guitar my wife will appreciate it a tad lower. Thanks Jack!

Well, I use a Positive Grid Spark, and it sounds excellent along with background music. You definitely have to use the EQ.i also have a 10 band MXR mixer where I push the mids to get rid of fizziness.

It is still fizzy, but you don't hear it too much if you play Ong with background music. The sustain can be quite long and mellow with high gain.

The low grain crunch is a bit more difficult to get, but not impossible. It has a certain artificial quality so you can only use one or two amp channels.

The clean is great, but if course not as good as the real thing.