Hello all. I currently run a Nocaster->TU-2->
FD2TR100->CloneClone->AD-80->2x10 6L6
Bogner Shiva....hehe!......anyway, I will admit
that I do not think the Shiva is great with pedals.
It also is a little cumbersome due to the nearly
ridiculous weight. I am searching for a small
all tube practice size amp w/ reverb that will
respond better to pedals. Idealy it would be
nearly the size of a Blues Junior or smaller &
reverb is a 100% MUST!!! Any reccomendations
& advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks

A black face Princton Reverb would probably be cool if you can find a good one . You already mentioned the Blues Jr. which I think is the best practice amp out there . In fact I think it's the best ( production ) amp Fender has made in the last 10 years . My .02 - KL .

Thanks for the reply klasaine, the BF Princeton Reverb is what I seem to keep coming back to. With all these "hotshot" boutique companies I thought that someone may have made an alternative by now?

BTW, I just wnated to say that I have a Blues Junior (unmodded), which I love. I am just a little weary of the dependability at high volumes.... And.....Is It loud enough to compete with a huge set of Ludwigs? I had to crank my Hot Rod Deluxe (40W compared to 15W for the JR.) to get good crunch & it lost a ton of it's sweetness.

It won't compete with the Ludwigs . I wish Fender would just turn that amp into a 2 - 12 , 40 watter . I do a mic'd gig at a casino with my Blues Jr. - obviously loud enough for that , and even though it's a lame gig my tones' OK . Do you like Mesa stuff ? they have those little Subway Blues and Subway Rocket amps . Soldano also makes a 20 watt w/a 10" in it .

What about the DrZ MAZ18? Of course, why would you pay $1550 for a practice amp?

Just get the BJ. I LOVE mine.

Good Luck

Try the Gibson GA 15RV. It's 15 Watts of incredible amp with a nice reverb. I love the amp. Beautiful tone.

You might look at the Tone King Comet 20. The cabinet is large, but the weight is light. It was made with Tele's in mind.

I think the tweed channel does better with effects. I just got the 40A and am still coming to grips with it. The AD-80 gets lost on mine on the blackface channel when the reverb's cranked. Comes through okay with little or no reverb, and very good on the tweed (lead) side. Chorus works well. You might want to look into a tremelo pedal if you go this route, or consider the older (discontinued) Continental 20, which has tremelo instead of an effects loop, and a smaller cabinet.

Actually, there are a lot of manufacturers - what kind of tone are you going for? I only mentioned Tone King because you said you were looking at Fenders.

That should have been Tone King Imperial.
http://www.toneking.com/Products/top.html


Check out the Allen Accomplice, which is hand wired, PTP and can even be put in a Blues Jr. chassis! 20 or 30 watts, depending on tubes.

Actually, 20 watts is already getting pretty big for a 'practice' amp. What's your purpose and how much power do you want?

For something truly practice-sized, check out the Allen Class Act. At 10, 7, 4 or even 3 watts (!), depending on the tube type you use, you can get power tube saturtion at very reasonable volumes.
http://www.allenamps.com/

A small amp that gets major raves is the 18 watt SonicCord Bantam. El-34, handbuilt, reasonable price. Definitely worth checking out.
http://www.soniccord.com/pro2.htm

You might look at the 5 watt, 8" speakered, 6V6 powered TopHat Portly Cadets and their EL-84 cousins, the Prince Royale.
http://www.tophatamps.com/prod07.htm

Alessandro makes some real "high-end" stuff in beautiful wood cabinets. They have the 6v6 Plott Hound and the EL-84 Beagle, both at 10 watts.
http://www.alessandro-products.com/amps.html

There's lots of great stuff out there, depending on what you want.

Ooops! Most of that second list don't have reverb, though you could always use a Fender tank or the Little Lanilei reverb pedal. Or (boutique) the Victoria tremelo-reverb tank (I forget the name right now).

Speaking of Little Lanilei, they make a line of raved about small sized amps (7 and 33 watts), if their type of thing floats your boat:
http://www.songworks.com/index2.htm

Soldano makes the 20 watt Astroverb head.
http://www.soldano.com/products.htm

No, I haven't played all this stuff, just some of the names I've come across in doing my own searches from time to time.

Of course, there's always vintage Fender too.