5 Fantastic Small Amplifiers (Low Wattage)

5 Fantastic Small Amplifiers (Low Wattage)For those of us who are getting on a bit or live in an apartment up lots of stairs, or generally can't be bothered to carry huge heavy amplifiers anymore, here is a list of 5 fantastic small (and low wattage amplifiers) which you might want to have a look at if you are in the market for such an amp.It is important to realise the tradeoff's though. Some of these amps really aren't suitable for full on metal or other styles, where a lot of the sound comes from the sound of the cab and the amount of air being moved. There are also a lot of issues with low wattage amps and their clean sound. There is no doubt that a little 15 W amp can keep up with a loud band or drummer...BUT and it is a big BUT to get these kind of levels from a low wattage amp the amp will break up into distortion. The only way to get crystal cleans not on the verge of break up is to have an amp with a large clean headroom, and these are generally above 50 Watts. But for Blues Rock styles the nice break up tone of a low-wattage amp might be exactly what you are looking for! So here are a few of what I think are totally fantastic little amps, which are lightweight and sound fantastic!1) Fender Blues Junior IIIThis is my main gigging amp at the moment (well the Tweed version with the Jensen speaker) and I love it. It breaks up really nicely and is totally responsive to variations in2) Egnater TweakerWow this amp sounds amazing!! Try one if you can, this is an amp that really inspired me to keep on playing and playing and playing. The fact you can ...well tweak!....you sound means that there is endless tonal posibilities.3) Orange Tiny TerrorThe amp which started the lunchbox wave of amps we now have. It is tiny and it is terrrrooorific! I great rock amp, very simple, gives an amazing rock tone, it is so small and light (although you would need to pair it with a cab of course!), although it isn't too great on the clean side of things!4) Blackstar HT-5Blackstar are the new (well newish) shinning star in the amp world. The HT-5 is simply a fantastic amp with a wide range of tones from it's two channels, helped by the Blackstar ISF function which can be swept from American sounding to British sounding, which opens up the tonal spectrum. If you want something with a bit more grunt, there is the Blackstar HT-20 head and combo which has a bit more headroom, and sounds fantastic5) Tech 21 - Trademark 60Now, first off this is a solid state amp…so no valves in this beast! But, it uses analogue modelling, rather than Digital modelling, and iti sounds fantastic! It is based on similar circuitry found in the Sansamp products. The amp is light, you can throw it in a car easily, it is also loud too. I personally like the clean channel more than the dirt channel as I find I can't quite dial in the sound that I want, but pairing the amp with a distortion pedal it really does rock. It isn't valve valve, but it is really good (and light!). The amp has an emulated out which can be plugged directly into a PA or recording desk, which also saves on set up time. I also really like the reverb unit. It is my go to back up amp currently and has also been gigging extensively!So what about you guys? What do you think?PeaceNeil