Low wattage and big sound, as conventional wisdom would put it, don't quite go together. Conventional wisdom might, if fact, say "come on; you have got to be kidding when you say a big sound coming out of an amp with low wattage," right? The folks at VHT think otherwise and encourage you to scrap that old knowledge of yours as out comes the VHT Classic 6 Tube Amplifier.

The Classic 6 is a rather simple low-wattage tube amp. Now, when you see the word "tube", you might think, "hmm, this is getting to sound a bit better." Inspired by stories of famous records that were recorded with a low-wattage single-ended amp that sounded gigantic, the Classic 6 is designed for players who want to develop a sound they can call their own. The Classic 6 is designed with a 12" speaker to allow a broad range of customization options. With a simple and uncluttered signal path and a specially designed output transformer, the amp can be turned up loud without getting the amp fried while maintaining an impressive tone.

With simplicity being key, the Classic 6 has two controls, volume and tone, and has both high and low inputs. The preamp is a single 12AX7 tube, and the power amp is 6V6. Not driving it too much will make it sound like a classic American-style tube amp, and cranking it up makes it break like an old-school British amp. The tone control is basically a high-frequency cut so players can have good control over the amount of harmonics coming out. With a simple yet sophisticated design and few controls, you can (ironically) get a lot of versatility in terms of sound thus making it useful for a lot of purposes including rehearsals, recording, and small-venue gigs.

The Classic 6's simple operation allows you to focus on what you love doing, and that's making music while getting that individualized sound you want. The VHT Classic 6 is priced at $549.99.