Headphones and valve / tube amps

[Oby]

I was recently chasing a similar thing. I wanted the classic valve amp sound but mostly wanted to use headphones.
It's not 100% valve it's hybrid but I ended up getting an Orange Micro Terror.
So am I happy? Well I also have a very nice Fender Mustang GT modelling amp, a classic Roland JC-160 (the 4x10 version of the JC-120) and a couple of Orange combo amps including a Crush Bass 50 and a funky little Pignose amp. I haven't used any of them since I got the Micro Terror. Highly recommend it. It's incredibly powerful and versatile.
I disconnected the speakers in the JC-160 and attached a 1/4" socket. Plugged the Micro Terror in and couldn't get it past 3 on the volume dial without shaking the whole house.
FYI all the other options I looked at for a pure valve amp were just too expensive and my old ears couldn't really the difference anyway.

[Oby]

Another idea totally away from valves just to confuse you. A friend of mine has a drop-in tone control pot from Guitar Fetish which is a pre-amp and effect unit all contained on a tiny circuit board on the back of the pot. It was very nice playing through headphones plugged directly into the guitar. You can get them with different effect built-in too.

[jugglindan]

Another idea totally away from valves just to confuse you. A friend of mine has a drop-in tone control pot from Guitar Fetish which is a pre-amp and effect unit all contained on a tiny circuit board on the back of the pot. It was very nice playing through headphones plugged directly into the guitar. You can get them with different effect built-in too.

Can you switch it off easily to play normally through an amp? It reminds me of the AmPlug, which is a convenient option for headphone practice. I have never tried one so can't comment on the sound.

[Bakersdozen]

Can you switch it off easily to play normally through an amp? It reminds me of the AmPlug, which is a convenient option for headphone practice. I have never tried one so can't comment on the sound.

The Amplugs are pretty cool. Great for just being able to riff with headphones anywhere. And easy to just chuck in the case.

[king casey]

I have a Vox amplug that I fooled around with for a while.
Battery life is annoyingly brief and the main reason it's swimming around in the drawer.

cheers, Mark.

[Joe Garfield]

This might be it:
https://youtu.be/_6kWsb3wOnk

[Oby]

Wow that Blackbird is sweet. Very tempting.
There's also some pretty good valve preamps from Douk. The Nobsound NS-01E might be a pure valve not hybrid but I'm not sure. Their Black Bear models have an op amp chip for the headphones but the Nobsound doesn't mention anything about an op amp chip.

[Joe Garfield]

I came across that Orange amp - good suggestion!

I also found this: AMT SS-11. This particular video made me fall in love with it and almost buy it. But it's hard to find many other videos that sound that good:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihrdaQbTT8U

The tone, but particularly the attack response is just phenomenal.

[Joe Garfield]

Well, I bought the Blackbird. It seems like a nice high end unit and there's instructions to change tubes and tweak the bias to shape the tone. My whole life I've wanted to play through tubes and I'm tired of always wishing I got the better thing.

https://www.effectrode.com/products/...m-tube-preamp/

Now if only my guitar kit would show up!! =)

[McCreed]

Glad your search is over and hopefully you found "the one"!

I like the irony of you finding what you wanted from an Aussie guitarist's demo! He's a damn fine player (I mean foin) and does excellent videos though.