Amp Suggestion

JDOD

JDOD

therecordingrebels.com
Gents,

Been getting tube amp jealousy the last few months. I'm gonna set my Transtube Peavey up when I get the new house and if I'm not happy with it I'll bite the bullet and get a 1×12 tube amp around the 50W mark.

Question is, what?

Generally play hard rock, grunge and punk with occasional metal. Tried a Blackstar 40W with a vintage 30 in it today. That was good. Doesn't do metal, but I can solve that will a good pedal. Don't want to spend over £600. Stick to £500 if I can.

Never tried a 2nd hand amp. Risks?

Amp will generally be used for home recording with an SM57 in front of it.

If I gig it will only be pubs and clubs so will only have to compete with the drummer. No need for anything really fucking loud.
 
I dunno much these days. If I had that budget and those requirements, I would go on a quest for a used Sovtek amp - and I think I would be really happy with it if/when I found it
 
antichef said:
I dunno much these days. If I had that budget and those requirements, I would go on a quest for a used Sovtek amp - and I think I would be really happy with it if/when I found it
Click to expand...

I had a bandmate with one of those. I think it was 50 watts maybe? It was so cool, and so Russian. I even think it was called "Mig" or something like that. Kind of a Hi-Watt sort of look and sound to it. Really ballsy and crunchy.
 
Yeah, like this....
vHu2I.jpg
 
Not sure what the exchange rate is but I got a brand new Marshall DSL 40c (with a celestion cream back speaker) and it only ran $699. That might still be stretching the budget but I would say that out of all the amps that I own, with the exception of the Orange TH30 (twice as much as you want to spend), it's probably the most diverse as far as sounds you can get out of it.

I don't think it's risky at all to get a used amp as long as you can play around on it first. Most issues should be noticeable upon playing - be sure to crank it up loud before you buy it (if possible).
 
Greg_L said:
Buy it now!
Sovtek MIG 50 Amplifier | eBay
Click to expand...

Also a couple on Reverb: https://reverb.com/marketplace?query=sovtek+mig+50

pikingrin said:
Not sure what the exchange rate is but I got a brand new Marshall DSL 40c (with a celestion cream back speaker) and it only ran $699. That might still be stretching the budget but I would say that out of all the amps that I own, with the exception of the Orange TH30 (twice as much as you want to spend), it's probably the most diverse as far as sounds you can get out of it.

I don't think it's risky at all to get a used amp as long as you can play around on it first. Most issues should be noticeable upon playing - be sure to crank it up loud before you buy it (if possible).
Click to expand...

I just got the same amp! With ample help from the fellas in the tone thread, I was able to get at least one sweet searing tone out of it. It's a different gain structure than I'm used to, but I'm still learning what all it can do. I'm not a metal guy so I don't really know what it's capable of in that realm.
 
I went through a few orange amps in the last couple of years - started with a Tiny Terror and couldn't do much with it. Moved to a TH100 for a while. That was nice, but sounded kind of flat unless you went for the clean channel or a high gain sound (which it could totally pull off). From there I went to the new OR100 which I really like - sounds great at a bunch of different gain levels.
 
Thankfully shipping costs preclude me from getting that Sovtek. My Mrs would utterly hate the way it looks! (remember for her, it will just be an ornament)

500 quid is 750 bucks - give or take a couple either way.

This is the one I played through today and thought was pretty handy - I want to go back there with a couple of my guitars and a couple of pedals to see what it's like when I go for more than a hard rock sound.
HT Club 40 SE Guitar Amplifier - Blackstar

Not sure I get what all the two channels are for on the DSL. There doesn't appear to be a "clean" channel. Can you compensate for this by just turning the gain completely down on one of the channels?
There is also no "master" volume knob, is this a problem when going for higher gain sounds when you haven't got the space for loud noises? (of you have red wine head)
 
JDOD said:
Thankfully shipping costs preclude me from getting that Sovtek. My Mrs would utterly hate the way it looks! (remember for her, it will just be an ornament)

500 quid is 750 bucks - give or take a couple either way.

This is the one I played through today and thought was pretty handy - I want to go back there with a couple of my guitars and a couple of pedals to see what it's like when I go for more than a hard rock sound.
HT Club 40 SE Guitar Amplifier - Blackstar

Not sure I get what all the two channels are for on the DSL. There doesn't appear to be a "clean" channel. Can you compensate for this by just turning the gain completely down on one of the channels?
There is also no "master" volume knob, is this a problem when going for higher gain sounds when you haven't got the space for loud noises? (of you have red wine head)
Click to expand...

With any tube amp, the magic happens when the power section is pushed pretty hard. This means getting it loud. 40 or 50 watts pushing a tube amp is very loud. If you don't have the space to be able to crank an amp, I'd have a hard time recommending a tube amp. They sound compressed and kinda lifeless when they're not being pushed. Even a 5-watt tube amp can be pretty darn loud.

The sound that the tone thread guys helped me achieve with the DSL was on the clean channel, with the gain and volume almost all the way up, then with an overdrive pedal adding a little extra saturation. A 40-watt tube amp at those settings is extremely loud in a small-ish room. But it sounds AMAZING. But I have to wear headphones and listen through a microphone. My bare ears in this situation wouldn't last long. But the DSL does have clean settings and 2 channels, so you can set the Classic channel to a clean sound and the Ultra channel to a saturated mess. Honestly though, I haven't liked any of the sounds on the Ultra channel yet. It's too buzzy and harsh, especially considering how awesome the nuclear settings are on the clean channel. I think it'd be worth your time to find one in a shop and spend some time playing it obnoxiously loud to see if it can attain what you're after at a volume that's acceptable in your home.
 
JDOD said:
Not sure I get what all the two channels are for on the DSL. There doesn't appear to be a "clean" channel. Can you compensate for this by just turning the gain completely down on one of the channels?
There is also no "master" volume knob, is this a problem when going for higher gain sounds when you haven't got the space for loud noises? (of you have red wine head)
Click to expand...
The DSL has two channels, four modes. The "Classic" channel has a clean and crunch mode, and the cleans are quite good. Crunch mode can be a little flubby. The "Ultra" channel is high modern gain that will rip your face off, shit in the skin, and slap it back onto your skull. Proceed with caution. Each channel has it's own volume, and it's own reverb. The glaring problem with the DSL is the shared EQ. EQ one side of the amp, and the other side is fucked. If you switch back and forth, it can be a problem. Treat it as a single channel amp and pick a side.
 
Tadpui said:
With any tube amp, the magic happens when the power section is pushed pretty hard. This means getting it loud. 40 or 50 watts pushing a tube amp is very loud. If you don't have the space to be able to crank an amp, I'd have a hard time recommending a tube amp. They sound compressed and kinda lifeless when they're not being pushed. Even a 5-watt tube amp can be pretty darn loud.

The sound that the tone thread guys helped me achieve with the DSL was on the clean channel, with the gain and volume almost all the way up, then with an overdrive pedal adding a little extra saturation. A 40-watt tube amp at those settings is extremely loud in a small-ish room. But it sounds AMAZING. But I have to wear headphones and listen through a microphone. My bare ears in this situation wouldn't last long. But the DSL does have clean settings and 2 channels, so you can set the Classic channel to a clean sound and the Ultra channel to a saturated mess. Honestly though, I haven't liked any of the sounds on the Ultra channel yet. It's too buzzy and harsh, especially considering how awesome the nuclear settings are on the clean channel. I think it'd be worth your time to find one in a shop and spend some time playing it obnoxiously loud to see if it can attain what you're after at a volume that's acceptable in your home.
Click to expand...

One of the benefits of the DSL for home use IMO is that it develops most of it's tone in the preamp section. Sure, crank it loud, but even at lesser volumes it maintains it's sound because it doesn't rely on power section meltdown. It's not like the old Marshalls where they had to break windows to sound "right". The problem with low volume recording though is the speaker stays stiff. Speakers just sound better when they're moving air.
 
Greg, have you taken a look at that Blackstar amp I mentioned? What you think of the spec?

I liked the fact that you just had one clean, one dirty with a vol. on each channel then a master vol. Seems like a good set up for me as I can work on stuff, get something I like. Then when actually playing a track through I can crank it a bit to get the speaker working - much like I do already.
 
JDOD said:
Greg, have you taken a look at that Blackstar amp I mentioned? What you think of the spec?
Click to expand...

I don't like Blackstar amps. Little ones, big ones, they're all just blah to me. That's just how I hear them. Generic and uninspiring.
 
Greg_L said:
The DSL has two channels, four modes. The "Classic" channel has a clean and crunch mode, and the cleans are quite good. Crunch mode can be a little flubby. The "Ultra" channel is high modern gain that will rip your face off, shit in the skin, and slap it back onto your skull. Proceed with caution. Each channel has it's own volume, and it's own reverb. The glaring problem with the DSL is the shared EQ. EQ one side of the amp, and the other side is fucked. If you switch back and forth, it can be a problem. Treat it as a single channel amp and pick a side.
Click to expand...
^What he said...

I don't ever use it past the "classic" channel as the "ultra" channel doesn't give me anything close to what I'm looking for as far as tone goes (I'm not a metal player). The classic, IMO, has plenty of gain at it's disposal and any half decent overdrive can push it into awesomeness - throw a fuzz in front of it and it will melt the paint off your walls. I played around with the channels for a few weeks when I first got it and it's got a load of possibilities but the shared EQ, like Greg said, kills it. Set it for the ultra and the classic is screwed and vice versa.
 
Cheers, guys. I will have to go to the bigger shops in Cardiff where I can try the Marshall too. I quite liked the blackstar actually.

I want to take a couple of guitars and a pedal or two along to try amps properly

Any other suggestions?

Thinking about it again, I may have just been so enamoured with it cos I was playing loud through a real amp as opposed to Gearbox.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top