HT5 combo or Tiny Terror Combo or Laney Lionheart L5T

lorez · Post by **lorez** » Thu Dec 17, 2009 1:20 pm

I'm looking at getting a new amp and replacing my VOX AD15VT with either a HT5 Combo, Tiny Terror Combo or the Laney Lionheart L5T combo and wondered what peoples opinions of them are and if there are any others (in a similar price bracket) that I should condsider trying before making a decision on which to buy?

Thanks for the help in advance.

Thom · Post by **Thom** » Thu Dec 17, 2009 1:56 pm

Welcome.
Not able to answer the question exactly as I don't have any of the combo versions, but I do have the HT-5 and the TT heads. I run them through one or two Orange 1x12s with V30 speakers.
First question would be - what do you want it for? Home use only? Recording? Gigging or band practice? I think that the 5 watts are not going to stand up to being in a band unless miced up.
The HT-5 and TT are really different. TT is more powerfull obviously, but does have a half power switch. For a small amp it is loud!
I would say it depends what type of sound you are going for. The HT-5 wins hands down for high gain stuff and has a dedicated clean channel and footswitch. The clean channel is ok, not bad at all but nothing spectacular - will not get you those sparkly Fender clean tones. However, it doesn't do mid or low gain drive particularly well - it's more of an all or nothing amp.
The TT is the opposite, it sounds wonderful on the edge of breakup or for crunch sounds, but I didn't really like it so much with the gain up full. It's probably just loud enough to play in a band if the drummer is not too loud and you don't mind a little colour to your clean sound.
Of the two - the HT-5 is what I would choose but that's mostly because I like playing with high gain and having the 2 channels.
Really, the only thing you should do is play them if you can and see what suits you.

Pullover · Post by **Pullover** » Thu Dec 17, 2009 2:16 pm

What about the Orange AD-5. It's a great Class A EL84 amp with a 16 ohm speaker out. I have one and it sounds great on it's own or plugged into a cab (When it's plugged into a cab you still get sound out of the internal speaker so you can use it as a monitor).

lorez · Post by **lorez** » Thu Dec 17, 2009 3:18 pm

Thanks for the quick response Thom, the amp is mainly for home use, for practice and home recording so I will take on board your comments when i go and try them out. Would you also recommend maybe trying something like a Fender Blues Jnr if I'm concerned about the clean tones?

Pullover, I will add that on to my list of things to look at. Thanks

Thom · Post by **Thom** » Thu Dec 17, 2009 3:30 pm

I'd recommend trying out as many amps as you can!

I guess it depends on whether you want to get your dirt from pedals or from the amp itself.
I've recently got a Fender Princeton (not the same price ballpark I know) because I wanted wonderful cleans - which my other small amps didn't have - and then get dirt from pedals.
Have a look at the Bugera amps as well - they seem to be pretty good and cheap as well.
In terms of home use and recording the HT-5 has an emulated out on it that has 1x12 and 4x12 voicing which also doubles as a headphone socket so useful for those late night sessions!

benecol · Post by **benecol** » Thu Dec 17, 2009 8:49 pm

I am contractually obligated to suggest you contact Matamp and have them build you a Minimat combo (like I did); will cost you a shade over (like Â£20 more) than a TT and a 1x12 cab would cost, and you'll get an amp handmade to your spec. Get one with boost instead of reverb, and you'll have an amp with an attenuator that goes from clean, through to Champ, through to bionic Matamp/Orange fuzzy overdrive. I love mine to bits.

lorez · Post by **lorez** » Thu Dec 17, 2009 10:18 pm

benecol wrote:I am contractually obligated to suggest you contact Matamp and have them build you a Minimat combo (like I did); will cost you a shade over (like Â£20 more) than a TT and a 1x12 cab would cost, and you'll get an amp handmade to your spec. Get one with boost instead of reverb, and you'll have an amp with an attenuator that goes from clean, through to Champ, through to bionic Matamp/Orange fuzzy overdrive. I love mine to bits.

Thanks for the tip and I will give them a call tomorrow to talk through a few things. Many moons ago I used to live near their factor so that was a blast from the past. The King St and First Lady combos look interesting but my first lady might not be happy you put me on to them

As an edit: has anyone played the Laney Lionhearts? Just wondering what peoples opinion of them were?

SAVEStheDAY · Post by **SAVEStheDAY** » Fri Dec 18, 2009 12:25 am

At first I was really impressed with my HT5, but the honeymoon didn't really last. It seems so one dimensional to me. A couple weeks ago I picked up the new 20 watt Jet City JCA20H head and I'm really digging it. It was designed by Soldano, and while it's not exactly a small SLO it has plenty of gain for most, and it cleans up nicely too. They make a 20 watt combo (with a 12" speaker instead of a 10" like the HT5) which is only $500 on Musicians Friend right now (Though not in stock). If you see one in a store I highly recommend checking it out.

mickie08 · Post by **mickie08** » Fri Dec 18, 2009 12:32 am

how does it sound? How much head room. What are the clean verses drive sounds? An el based 20 watt head with master voume and full eq sounds pretty damned tempting for 299. Can you lower the wattage?

chisa · Post by **chisa** » Fri Dec 18, 2009 12:33 am

benecol wrote:I am contractually obligated to suggest you contact Matamp and have them build you a Minimat combo (like I did); will cost you a shade over (like Â£20 more) than a TT and a 1x12 cab would cost, and you'll get an amp handmade to your spec. Get one with boost instead of reverb, and you'll have an amp with an attenuator that goes from clean, through to Champ, through to bionic Matamp/Orange fuzzy overdrive. I love mine to bits.

wow, i didn't realise i lived so close to a famous amp builder

SAVEStheDAY · Post by **SAVEStheDAY** » Fri Dec 18, 2009 1:29 am

mickie08 wrote:how does it sound? How much head room. What are the clean verses drive sounds? An el based 20 watt head with master voume and full eq sounds pretty damned tempting for 299. Can you lower the wattage?

I'd say this is about as basic a rock amp as you can get. At bedroom level the cleans are great, but if the plan is to gig with this amp you're probably going to have at least some dirt. It responds really well to the guitar volume control, which is good since it's just one channel. It won't do high gain without help, but it does cover some nice territory stopping somewhere just short of there (So far I've used guitars equipped with a Duncan Invader, Full Shred, and JB). I've never owned an EL84 amp before, but I'm in love with this one. The night it came I ran it through my recto 4x12 and Genz Benz G-flex and was pleased with the way it handled both cabs. Unfortunately it's got me thinking I should pick up a more neutral sounding 2x12, because that seems to be the sweet spot for this head. Worth pointing out is that there's no effects loop (Even the HT5 has that!) and no half/lower power switch. Neither of these were a big deal for me.

mickie08 · Post by **mickie08** » Fri Dec 18, 2009 4:07 am

by no real clean at volume, is it more along the lines of a tiny terror?

I have no issues with that as I have had both the TT and the HT5 in the past. The TT I gigged with regularly and the ht5 I got for home use (would have never gigged with it I do not think.

I may have to pony up and buy one. the head is 299 and it is a Soldano head. I saw a demo that was pretty cool as well...

Thanks for the info.

SAVEStheDAY · Post by **SAVEStheDAY** » Fri Dec 18, 2009 4:35 am

I haven't played a tiny terror, but I would guess you have a little more headroom with the Jet City based on specs alone. I'll have to grab something with lower output pickups (Maybe my stock DeArmond M75) and dial in some clean sounds tomorrow after work. I've been so in love with the distortion that I haven't used it for much else!

mickie08 · Post by **mickie08** » Fri Dec 18, 2009 4:55 am

cool. I am typically a singel coil/tele guy. I used the TT as a farily clean amp with just a little dirt and that seemed to work well for gigging with some pedals. I do love having the gain on tap though especially for recording.

Now I have to decide what model. Everything I have read is pretty glowing about them and the price is awesome.