Reeves or?

Magic Amps Z-Series and Brit MKII TB 86

The Reeves inquiry shows you have good taste!

 

If you're looking for the hiwatt type sound I would also highly suggest checking out the D'art model from Tonic. Killer hiwatt style tones.

 

I have the Reeves C12 combo. Pretty versatile small amp in the EL84 side of the tone spectrum. Mine has the Tonkerlite speaker so it is as light as a SS combo.

 

That entirely depends on the drummer.

IEM's and the small club owners and FOH will love you.

 

I have used my C12 in a small rehearsal space with a drummer bass and another guitar and ad no problems being heard.

 

for The Who tones, none of those Reeves are going to get you there.
If you talk to the owner, he'll tell you those lower wattage amps are more Marshall-esque, I believe.
They only resemble Hiwatts cosmetically.
for convincing HiWatt grunt for around the same price as a Custom 30 and still at reasonable volumes, look into the Custom 50 PS.
also, look into the HiTone stuff from vintagehiwattrestorations and the Marwatt from DST Engineering.

 

Look at a Biacrown Hiwatt.

 

actually, the 30 is more JTM 45 inspired, and if you read the description of the 12 it says "JTM Plexi" sound. I've had some email conversations with the owner about the line, and basically to get into Hiwatt territory, you need to go 50.

 

Previous reviews have stated that the Reeves 12 is a mighty big sounding 12 watter.
It may not deliver ideal Live at Leeds Hiwatt tones, but that doesn't take away
from the quality of this lower powered offering.

A 50 watt Hiwatt circuit is going to stay relatively clean unless pushed to the limits
and while that my be ideal for some applications, the Custom 12 gets you into
breakup at a much more comfortable volume.

 

The problem is getting EL-34 sound out of EL84s or EF86s or even 6v6s. I have a Hylight era Hiwatt DR504 4 holer and I've never heard anything that didn't have EL-34s in the power section come close. This also goes for the Tech 21 Leeds pedal, Catalinbreads Wiio pedal, and all the models Line 6 have in their arsenal pre HD series(haven't heard it so I can't say). So, if you want that Hiwatt sound, you really only gonna get close with a Sound City or the Hi-Tone type stuff.

Having said that, I would say go try a real Hiwatt to hear what the amp really sounds like. Townshend and Pages Hiwatts were both modified to their specs, and Live at Leeds was done with a Supafuzz through dimed amps all controlled by the volume pot on the guitar. A stock Hiwatt will not have this sound unless you have the Supafuzz to go with it. There are some clones and BYOC kits for the Supafuzz, which is a good thing, as original units go for Klon size dollars.

Check out as much stuff as you can, and let your ears decide. Some guys half baked sounding Plexi clone might suck as a "PLexi" per se, but could be a killer amp for the tone that YOU are looking for. If you have the money, the 65 Amps stuff is really awesome!

 

I have an 18 watt Reeves that I love- would buying the 12 watt be redundant or do they sound that different from each other

 

It's mostly going to be about headroom and break up zones between the two.

You can voice them both differently just by chosing different speakers.

More Brit, More Bluesy or more Americana

 

Very different...the 18 has much more grind and volume.

Bill