6l6 options less than $500

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owwmyfoot

slave to the grind
What 6l6 based amplifiers are available, new or used (and be realistic), within this price range? The pignose g40v with mods would be cool IMO as a 6l6 based home jammer.
 
Take a look at Traynor's line of Custom Valve amps. Most of them use 5881/6L6 tubes and are a great value for blues, rock, and hard rock. They're certainly NOT metal amps though, if that's what you're looking for.

I can't believe how the prices of these amps have skyrocketed since I bought mine! I got the 80-watt 2x12 3 or 4 years ago for less than $600 shipped. Now the 40-watters are going for $750!

They do make a 20-watt version, maybe that one would fall into your price range. But I'm not sure if it uses 5881/6L6 tubes or EL84.

The Peavey ValveKing falls into your price range and it's a 6L6-based amp.

Also the Peavey Windsor Studio 20-watter says it will accomodate 6L6 tubes, amongst others. It's $400 new at MF.com.

I've never heard of this amp before, but I just stumbled across the Peavey Vypyr 60-watter modelling tube amp. Reasonable price, 6L6 tube power section, plus all of the modelling mumbo-jumbo that's so popular nowadays.

Well, hopefully this will at least get you off the ground in your search for the right tube amp for you.
 
Thanks for the suggestions, I'll look at those. I'm planning on making a purchase sometime within the next 6 months...I like to plan way way way in advance. I try not to impulse buy anything. The modeling stuff is out...I'm sort of a simple guy when it comes to amps. I have a mesa road king on loan to me that has more bells and whistles than you can imagine and I hate it. It's a great amp for playing live but not for recording, even with an attenuator.

Amp prices really have skyrocketed across the board it seems. The aforementioned pignose amp has nearly doubled in price since it came out.
 
I have a mesa road king on loan to me that has more bells and whistles than you can imagine and I hate it. It's a great amp for playing live but not for recording, even with an attenuator.

:eek:

Feel free to loan it my way, if you can't get into it. I've had no problem getting good tones out of my Rectoverb, but I've been resisting the urge to splurge for the Roadster for like, oh, all but the first week I owned the thing, lol.

Please don't take this the wrong way, because with the complexity of anything in the Mesa lineup, and ESPECIALLY the Road Kings, this is totally not an insult, but if you're completely unable to get a tone you're happy with out of it, I'd be more inclined to attribute it to user error than anything else.

What are you plugging into it, and what are your settings?
 
You're not going to find many options at that price point. Besides what's been listed there's the AXL Akita 30 which has a nice clean tone but I didn't care for the overdriven sound as much. This is actually a hybrid with a solid state preamp section and a 6L6 power amp section.

You could pick up a used Fender Blues Deville for around there. If you're very patient and keep digging you might be able to find a heavily used '59 Bassman reissue in the $700 range.

If you're handing with a soldering iron, a bunch of people really like the Ceriatone kits http://www.ceriatone.com. They have a 6L6 combo around that price range.
 
BTW- Here's some links to clips I did to demo the Akita AT30 and Pignose G40v for FrugalGuitarist.com

Here is a clip of the G40v with the gain cranked up. An SX SST57 was used in the number 4 position for the rhythm guitars and bridge position for the leads. The drums, bass, and acoustic guitar tracks were programmed using Yellow Tools Independence Free. The amp was miced with a single SM57 off axis and the entire mix was treated with SIR.

Here is a clip of the Akita AT30 featuring the amp's excellent clean channel treated with a stereo delay and compressor and the high gain channel the gain set very low. This clip also features the First Act SFA Edition Sheena CE240, neck pickup for the clean tones and bridge for the grittier tones. The drums and bass were programmed using Yellow Tools Independence Free. The clean tones were close miced on axis with a single SM57 and the higher gain tones miced off axis from about 2 feet away.
 
Play these, and form your own opinions!
  1. Crate V50-112. $200 as a blow-out price from MF. Smaller, but enough power to practice, jam, and record.
  2. Bugera 6262-212. $650 new, less used. Much bigger, but has more bells and whistles.
  3. Kustom '36 Coupe. About $700 new, but less used.
  4. Peavey Valve King 112. $419 at MF. The 212 has Resonance and Presence, but they're $600 or so.
  5. Try the Roland Blues Cube. Yeah, they ain't got 6L6's, but it is a cool amplifier that comes in a variety of options, and they're dirt cheap.
If you have to go new, how do you top the Crate V50-112? If you shop around, any of these amps used will be a fine choice. If it is for practice and recording, the mic won't know the difference ;). It will pick up some nice tube tone. And you'll get a feel for different amplifiers. Have some fun doing this!
 
Cool! Thanks for the ideas. The fender deville would be awesome but I guess I'd have to save for a while. I wish I could forget about all of my bills and just spend money on music equipment. :(

That pignose sounds good! Have you done anything to it? I've heard people complain about the stock tubes and speaker, but judging from your clip it sounds pretty darn good to me.

The roadking is just wayyy too much for me. The tube switching options are neat but the amp just wont do what I want it to. It doesn't matter because I have to give it back to my friend when he comes home from his semester abroad anyway. I think I like the lonestar and mark series amplifiers better.

Thank you all for the ideas! I think I'm gonna get either the pignose or the fender deville if I can save that much cash.
 
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