Best low-watt guitar amp

I've been researching on-line, but wondering if anyone has done the ground work and tried a few. I'm thinking 5-6 watts.

Guitarhacker
Ask this question to 100 guitarists and you'll get 500 recommendations

No doubt, for me it's my 70's Fender Champ. It's a great sounding little amp that breaks up nicely when cranked. I put a Weber speaker in it awhile back. I've never had issues with it, not bad for a 40 year old amp.
There's a lot of choices and variables, I guess it depends on what your going for. I recently saw some cool videos on the Orange Tiny Terror.
 
Rocky

Hey, go for the gold ... I have a Fargen Mini-Plex that is only 7 watts or so, and it is killer.  It emulates 3 different Marshall circuits with a switch, and you can swap among several different power tubes to get the sound you're after.  Tain't cheap, though.
 
I had a silver-faced Fender Champ that I never got a good sound out of, and tried an Orange Mini-Terror that sounded fizzy no matter which tubes I used in it.  Also had a Bad Cat Mini-Cat head (5 watts) that I could never get to sound right.  YMMV.

$269
http://www.zzounds.com/item--BLCHT1
 
$750
http://www.baroncustomamps.com/snott.php
 
$849-1049
http://www.emerysound.com/Superbaby.html
 
 
 

I was checking out the Marshall DSL 5 this morning. That looks like a contender.
 
Rocky

If you want mostly clean, then at 5 watts the Epiphone Valve Junior is pretty good, apart from the supplied speaker which, unless they've changed it from the one in mine, is very cheap and quite nasty. Switching it for a 4 ohm 8" Jensen makes a big difference. Nice clean sound, though no tone control, and well built for the price. Overdrives nicely when cranked a bit. Same applies to the old Fender champs of course, but on my side of the Atlantic they are quite rare and expensive (even rarer and more expensive if they're any good) so I've no real experience of them.

At really low wattage the Blackheart B1H1 takes some beating, especially at the price. Uses two 12AX7s in a simple, well made all valve circuit. Output's around 1/4 watt flat out and it breaks up into nice pick-sensitive power amp distortion at comfortable domestic levels. Again, no tone controls but the preamp circuit is essentially a Marshall JTM45 with bass/middle/treble all flat out, which gives a slightly mid scooped sound. Power section is half a 12AX7. Works very well into a ten or twelve inch Celestion greenback in an open-backed cab for a Hendrixy, 60s/70s "British" sound and feel. It gets a bit bass heavy for me with a closed cab.

Going up on power, the (7 or 15 watt switchable) Orange Tiny Terror covers the plexi-ish/Orange end of things very well, and the 15watt setting is pretty loud if you need it. Can handle gigging about the same as a Femder Deluxe. Even the 7 watt setting is pretty loud. No issue with re-biasing the Terror when changing valves either, as it's cathode biased similar to the Vox circuit. For my money the Orange is a better and more flexible amp than the AC5 or AC15.

If you're looking for an amp for low volume domestic/practice use remember that a 5 watt amp will deliver about half the volume of a 50 watter running into the same speaker. 5 watts is not quiet, it will give a trumpeter a run for their money and more than one live sound engineer has complained my Tiny Terror at 7 watts is "too loud". So picking a 5 watt amp that needs to be run pretty much flat out to get the sound you want may not be an option - master volume amps have a role even at low wattage.

Other than that, it really comes down to what you want to spend and what sound you are aiming for. There are hand-wired small amps that are superb but with prices to match. Not got one myself, but having played through one I rate the Fender Clapton Champ with tremolo as excellent.

Final thought - go for simple, basic valve (tube) amps if possible. The solid state/modelling stuff isn't the same unless you want brutal mega distortion with a huge mid cut :-)

I was tinkering around with that Blackstar 1w, last weekend, at GC. I liked it, except it was a combo with an 8" speaker, I believe. They didn't have it in the Head version, but I am really curious how it would sound through my 410 cabinet.

Does anyone have the VHT Special 6? I have been waiting for that amp to show up in a local store, so that I can demo it.

The Jet City Pico Valve is another one I have been looking to demo.

johnnyV
Most importantly is the type of music you play and which type of distortion you prefer. Also what type of guitar and Pick ups. 
I'm Country Rock, 60's Rock and Blues.  
I have a  22 Watt 72 Fender Princeton which is my main amp for over 25 years now, live and studio. It has been modified and upgraded.   I also have a 7 Watt 64 Gibson Skylark which is not really great for live but I use it for studio stuff.  7 watts is a little whimpy even when miked. I beleieve 20 watts is the perfect amount for having an gritty edge but still clear punch. I want to hit the strings and feel that percussiveness with string mutes. Small amps under 15 watts have no punch. Might as well use a distortion pedal.  
I've owned most major brands of amps over the years and once I "knew" what sound I wanted, I got the right amp. 20 - 30 watts, good tubes and the right speaker. I use Celestion Vintage 30's. 
 
I owned a music store back in the 90's and if you like the Marshall sound, look for a 10 watt Samick guitar amp. They were I dentical in tone and a lot of the parts as the Marshall 10 watt Valvestates. I think Marshall farmed out the Valvestate amps to the same plant that made Samicks ( Korea) 
 

 

 

"I'm Country Rock, 60's Rock and Blues.  " 
 
Me too :-)

Had a defective unit so I ended up returning it but otherwise, Blackstar made a good impression on me. I'm hoping to give them another try someday.
 
I've had my eyes on a Marshall DSL for a long time, but it just ain't the kind of priority required to fork out $600.
 
Hughes & Kettner make fantastic amps - be sure to check those out if you have a chance.
 
And even though the name is mostly synonymous with metal and high gain, the little 5 Watt tube Randall 10" combo I bought last spring is pretty awesome. For under $200, it's hard to beat. As it turns out, paired with the 3 P-90s in my Riviera, that little bastard sings like you wouldn't believe it.
 

Grem
I like you amp stand Rain!!

You might want to check out an amp with EL84 tubes. They break up easy and very well. Not as much bass as 6L6's, but still a very nice sound.

I got a Mesa Micro Recto. And it has 10-25w switches for each channel. Mostly used for sound purposes and not volume regulation! I run that through a Egnator Rebel 1x12 cab. Sounds great! Not nearly as clean as my MK IV though.

Thanks. That's something I've recycled - my wife ordered a bunch of those things for storage and didn't use all of them. Since I'm king of recycling/hacks... I actually have 3 or 4 real amp stands in a closet but for the Randall, because of the angle, nothing works like this. :)
 
That Micro Recto is on my list as well!

Fender Champ. They changed very little from Tweed through BF. Changing the speaker from alnico to ceramic will brighten it a little but those few watts are loud little watts. For something quieter I prefer a VOX Valvetronix or an old Flextone III. The Roland Micro-Cube isn't too bad either, battery powered too. I imagine those little 1W Marshall anniversary amps that were really over priced are some of the best. The Fender Blues Jr has a lot going for it too with a MV. I'm guessing that you want good tone at low volume and frankly, I can get better low volume tone from the Mesa Boogie Mark V, in the 10w setting and the MV and V turned down than I can with the Champ alone... but add a good pedal to the Champ and it is a game changer. The Little Smokey is a pretty bad little amp too.
Don't forget about using Yellow Jackets in a larger amp to lower the output.
http://www.yellowjacketstc.com/
 
J