Best small, low-watt tube amps. How'd we do?

With smaller tube amps being all the rage, we were curious to uncover what the most popular ones are, and which are getting recommended the most. We spent a bunch of time researching, and even tested out several in person.

How'd we do? Best Small Tube Amps

you left out a number of infinitely better-made and better-sounding cheapies than the Bugera V5 (which is a dead lift of the ac4TV circuit with inferior components)....

value for dollar? what about the VHT 5 watt champ style head? Jet city pico valve? marshall class 5 or DSL5?

also, define small? the Blues Junior is way louder in practice than any other amp on the list including the comparably rated micro terror pushing the same amount of air as a deluxe reverb, ac15 with a celestion blue, marshall 18 watt, etc... definitely a mid-sized amp, though a compact one... I don't think fender has a budget small tube amp anymore (though they used to have that champion600)

Thanks for the feedback.

It was tough to cut it down to the "top 5" format, because to your point there are SO many of these! The raw ordering came from a tally of recommendations by guitarists around the web (so kind of a popularity contest in a way), and we went in and tried to validate it with our reviews.

Fair point about the Bugera V5. To be fair we liked it. Aside from sounding pretty good, the inclusion of reverb, a headphones out, plus its price tag do make it a great value. I would have bought the AC4TV on the spot for bedroom practice if it had onboard reverb + headphones output.

The Marshall DSL5 is great but it's on the higher end of the budget range, not sure that's in the running for "best bang for the buck." Speaking of Marshall, in terms of tonal versatility I have to say we were most impressed with the Blackstar HT-5R. Have you ever played with that one?

And you're totally right about the Blues Junior being LOUD, in fact we were curious why it gets recommended so often for quiet home practice. We included that as a disclaimer in the guide. It's too bad Fender doesn't currently have a budget small tube amp. And yes, the Fender Champion 600 did come up a few times as a recommendation.