SuperBaby vs. Univalve vs. Gibson GA-5 vs. Mini Cat

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Join Date: May 2003

Posts: 630





SuperBaby vs. Univalve vs. Gibson GA-5 vs. Mini Cat


I've got bad amp GAS! I'm seriously thinking about getting a small, high-quality amp for home playing and home recording. So I'm interested in any input folks might have about the following amps:

Gibson GA-5--I imagine this one is pretty good. But, I haven't had a chance to play one, and I can't find anyone who stocks them around here (Ann Arbor, MI). I'm very curious about this amp, but I'm wondering if an amp with no tone knob would do the trick for me?

Univalve--I hear these are great. I haven't had a chance to try one. These seem like the most deluxe option, with the most controls, and of course I'd have to get a cabinet to hear the thing.

Superbaby--These look really cool, but I haven't had a chance to try one. Any owners out there? Again, limited controls, but it looks like high-quality to me.

Bad Cat Mini Cat--I tried one of these at a guitar show over the weekend, and I was very impressed. Really, really nice sound at a manageable volume. Also extremely portable. I was ready to jump on this, but I thought I ought to learn a little bit about the rest of the small amp/semi-booteek martket before I plunged.

Any thoughts or opinions on these amps are welcome. Any other suggestions in this range?

I certainly can't answer most of your questions but I have spent a few hours with a friends Univalve and a Mojo cab with a V-30. Nice combination esp with the latitude to change tubes to zero in on the tone your looking for a particular sound.

The Superbaby has intriqed me, at least what I see and hear on their website.

Another option might be a Peter's amp, he has some nice gear too.

I have been ultra impressed with the Vintone amps, well amp that I've had the privilage to play on two occasions. Not cheap but top of the line for low power and recording. I've played the Simplex and WOW! Class act although expensive with a wait time for building.

In that I'm sixty something and living on a 'fixed' income now and don't have the expendable cash I usta have I've opted to go the kit route. There are many good kit suppliers on the market including Allen, Doberman, Marsh, Mission, STF Electronics to name a few.

I've just recently received a Champ clone kit from Marsh, reasonable priced and top grade pieces parts including a Mojo tweed 8" cab with a Weber Signature spkr. Reasonably priced and looks like the build time should be six to twenty hours depending on previous experience with basic electronics and soldering. As a Ham I've been playing with Ham radios for years so it won't be a prob for me. As another point of note, Mike Marsh is a super nice and a very knowledgable guy who I spent an hour+ with on the phone talking geetar, music and amps while ordering.

I'm sure you'll get some good info from this thread as allot of us are leaving the 20-40-50-100 watt amps silent in our 'play' rooms and going to the low power rigs for home amusement and recording.

Good luck on your tone quest, I'll be following this thread.

Hammer on..........Blair

I've got a Fender Princeton II, a Super Champ and a THD Univalve... all three are excellent amps, and are all worthy of consideration. The Princeton II is a touch louder and a bit more versatile than the Super Champ - you have a bit more control over things... but the Super Champ has a really sweet tone, and while you lose the reverb in "lead mode", it has a bit better lead channel tone IMO. Both of these amps were Paul Rivera designed while he was at Fender, and while they were only made from 1982 - 1986, they are still available used via Ebay fairly frequently, although prices have been going up pretty steadily. But if it's a smaller amp for home practice and recording you're after, they're definitely worth looking into. They're the last of the "point to point" wired Fender amps.

The Univalve is an incredibly versatile amp if you have a good selection of QUALITY tubes for it. I'm using Mullards and Telefunkens in V1 and V2 (preamp tubes) and swap out a Svetlana EL34, GE 6L6GC or Groove Tubes NOS 6V6 in the power tube position, depending on the tone I'm after. We had a "Musicplayer BBQ" here at my studio (I moderate the EQ Magazine Project Studio forum over at www.musicplayer.com ) on August 1st, and someone brought over their THD for the jam sessions we were doing, and I was so impressed that I bought one. He was running a 6550 for the power tube, and I definitely plan on getting one of those for my THD.

I have not tried the other amps you mentioned - sorry I can't offer opinions on them. What sort of tone are you after, and what types of guitars are you using?

You're going to get 100 different opinions, but you had the answer all by yourself! The Minicat is a hard working, reallly well built piece of tone. Badcat doesn't make any crap, everything is top drawer from parts to finish. Mark Sampson doesn't walk with loosers.

My buddy's got a Univalve, and we've had several 'wine-tastings' using the amp. For example, I dug through my boxes and boxes of 6V6 pulls and NOS , and tried Tung Sols, two or three different RCA and GE variations, Sylvanias, etc.

The 6V6's that sounded best in that amp, were a couple of different Japanese tubes, one labeled "LRE" and the other "Realistic' [no shit]. A lot of fun, and an eye opener.

He even gigs with his Uni into a 2x12 cab!

The best thing about a Uni is you have use for all of those unmatched tubes.

If you can find one to try, check out a Savage Macht 6. Awesome little amp, 6 watt class A (for real), 12" speaker, 6V6 power tube. No reverb but a sickly sweet tremolo. Fantastic cleans, gets plenty snarly as you turn it up. The best description I can think of is vintage Vibro-Champ on steroids.

I demoed one and had to order my own on the spot. Mine will come with a Celestion G12H30 like the model I tried out. I don't want to alter what I heard at all :)

The only one I've tried is the GA-5.

It was louder than I thought it could be, and everything you read about cranking a tiny old tube amp. Sweet musical overdrive when turn it about half way up. That aspect of the amp was just unreal with a Hamer Artist, a PSR SE-Soapbar and a Tele. :yay
But to me, at lower volume, the clean sound was nothing special. Maybe it was the size of the speaker and cabinet. The clean sound was too localized. A reverb pedal might give it some dimension.