SMALL/MINI AMPS: any recommendations for recording (at low volume)?

I record in a small and way-too-reflective room, so I tend to do it at pretty low volume. I can get great clean sounds for single-note stuff and leads, but when it comes to chords and rhythm things, it all just gets ... unruly. I think it's largely the amp's fault. Spiky transients, some muddy clarity-killing lows, and one particularly unruly high frequency (which I suspect might actually have to do with room reflections). I can lay on the compression and make deep, narrow EQ cuts to get things manageable and sounding good, but man would it be nice to have the smoothness and clarity of a good, mellow-sounding amp for playing rhythm -- just something clean and crisp, no big hummy lows or sudden snappy peaks in the highs.

So: anyone know of any mini or small amps that have a good tone at low volume? Because part of me is starting to think that for this kind of recording, I might actually get a better sound just setting a like pocket amp next to a condenser mic, rather than fighting with the room sound or trying to get manageable tones at low volume.

(Note: I've tried plenty of possible solutions to this having to do with guitar setup or different micing, etc., but if you have any suggestions that haven't occurred to me, I'd be happy to hear them.)

Haha the bit about a pocket amp is neither a joke nor specifically what I'm asking about -- pretty much if there's anything between there and a 25-watt that you've noticed has a nice and manageable tone around normal room listening volume, I'd love to go try it.

A friend of mine has a 5 watt Epiphone tube amp that will crank if you ever want to rock out. It sounds good at low volume too. I'd definitely do a test run at a music store before you decide.

http://www.americanmusical.com/ProductImages/Large/p32223.jpg

also this thread I started last year: RFI: these new small valve (or tube if you prefer) amps

I didn't buy anything in the end due to no money.

Yeah, I was just looking at that Epiphone! Although now I'm starting to wonder if I might not be best off getting one of those Roland Mini Cubes with the amp modeling and running a direct line out of it for recording -- I use a lot of synths and drum machines anyway, so maybe it's not worth fighting with amps and room acoustics for a mic sound when a line might fit the aesthetic better anyway.

Fender Champ 600 is looking pretty cool too. On the pedal thread I posted about the fender amp modeler - Sansamp "Blonde". After playing with it for a while it was a good $150 purchase.

Is there any reason why there are no cheap amps that can be flashed with weird new effects from the computer? Everything in this vein is crazy expensive. Are we being rooked?

If I understand what you're asking correctly, I think the issue is pretty much the same as any other software -- a bunch of development money goes into creating a decent-sounding modeling algorithm, but the algorithm itself can be distributed cheaply, for software and hardware both. So the companies have to set up a system of price points to keep profit up -- start with cheap, deliberately handicapped boxes with three buttons that are a pain in the ass to use, and then go up to the expensive model that actually does everything you developed it to.

e.g., I have a $50 Digitech multi-effects pedal with basically the same modeling software all their other stuff uses, but it is of course designed to be just shoddy, frustrating, and limited enough that anyone would prefer the next model up (and ditto for the next model up, and the next one...)

Scoundrels! They shall pay for their avarice! ah they won't.

Has anyone tried this BTW?
http://jesusonic.com/
I guess using a laptop as an amp isn't exactly cheap, but if you've already got one...

I've not used Jesusonic specifically, but all the JS effects are built into REAPER. The guitar amp modelling is pretty good, if a bit basic. I've had problems using the Chorus effect, as it seems to suffer from digital distortion, but most of the other effects work well enough.

Also, it doesn't have to be a laptop, you can use a regular desktop PC.

Fender SuperChamp XD has worked for me. Mikes up well, has a standard clean Fender channel and another which couples with a bunch of software amp emulations. The power section is tubes.

I've also had quite good results with various tones produced by the Roger Linn Adrenalinn and the Korg PX4 and 5D's.

The roland cubes are pretty grebt.

If you must have the toobs, I would take the Champion 600 over the Epiphone VJ, and the new Vox AC4 over both. And maybe a silverface champ over all of 'em.

It doesn't sound like you need crunch from this, but if you did the Bümbox Lead 1 would be more than worth the three bills or so they fetch on ebay and the Blackstar HT-5 would be of interest. Or for a couple grand there's always the miniplex...

"Staggering" half watt

I forgot to update this: I grabbed a Micro Cube, really happy with it.

The funny thing is that it doesn't completely solve the problem I'm having, which is sort of just inherent in playing a hollow-body with the stock humbuckers: I can get it sounding great in the room, but if I run a line out there's a bunch of low sustaining mud crowding the sound, and if I mic it at room volume the mic needs to be close enough that the proximity effect emphasizes those same muddy frequencies. But I guess I can either just high-pass any guitars I record, or else buy an EQ pedal and try and filter them out in advance.

haha wow, it's only been two days, they must be really annoyed by me at the store now -- bought an EQ pedal, returned Micro Cube, returned EQ pedal, gave up and got Pod xt

haha please let it be a guitar center.
BTW how do you record such things? Isn't there a lot of computer fidgetry that can do these filters and such?

Radical surgery after recording poor tone, while it can be done, is often an aggravating chore and imperfect solution.

Tom Scholz made a second small fortune for himself during the Eighties inventing and making boxes to get around these types of problems.

Yeah, fixing it in the computer has drawbacks: you're sort of working in the dark while you're recording, you wind up wasting recording headroom on offensive sounds you're going to try and cut out later, and then often you have to waste a bunch of processing power on cleaning up the signal and don't have any left to actually mix with it (unless you render the cleaned-up signals and then start a whole new process and blah blah blah) ...

For any kind of line-in recording, the thing about the PODxt is that it puts out a really controlled sound -- I don't know if it's the compressors or the frequency control or what, but the output is smooth and usually feels like it's already been mixed, making it really easy to fit in new parts and layers ... so, yeah, I guess I will no longer bother with any impossible low-volume quests for air and naturalism when such a low-headache option is right there.

I've thought of getting an Axetrak but haven't been pressed to do it. And it's not a low cost solution by any means. However, I've never actually needed it.