Grab Yourself A Deal On A Tube Amplifier!

ranjam said:
Shawn; Yep. 'Designed in USA, Manufactured in China'.
Click to expand...
Yep.... I looked at my Palomino 2x12 I keep at church, and that sucker says 'Designed in USA, Manufactured in Thailand'!!! The speakers look different than the 1x12 I keep at home, which was made in USA. I dunno.... they sound the same to me!
mikemorgan said:
My V18's built in China. Says so on the back. I don't care. I'm running an old Digitech GSP in front of it with my G&L Bluesboy and can hardly wipe the smile off my face.
Click to expand...
:D :D :D :D

WhiteStrat said:
Oh you know the drill too well.
...when I came home with a used $325 Blues Jr--she was thrilled. It wasn't like I spent $325--it was like I saved almost $1700! :D
Click to expand...

Yep, I know the drill, fer sure :cool:
 
Does the v18 compare at all in tone and feel to a older (65-78) Champ? I've had my friends champ for 6 months or so and when he takes it back I'm going to miss it big time. Been thinking I'd try and find a Blackface vibro-Champ. Unless this v18 would work. From what I'm reading here the v18 clean is not so clean... which to me sounds a bit like when you crank the Champ. It's not really Distortion but more speaker break up and cranked tube saturation. ? . Yes-No ?

I might have to take the day off tomorrow and go suffer a day at Guitar Center.
Why do you guys have to post shit like this! :D
EB-That was some nice playing in that clip.

& WhiteStrat... your post on the 421s cracked me up. That was a good one.

B.
 
Booda said:
Does the v18 compare at all in tone and feel to a older (65-78) Champ? I've had my friends champ for 6 months or so and when he takes it back I'm going to miss it big time. Been thinking I'd try and find a Blackface vibro-Champ. Unless this v18 would work. From what I'm reading here the v18 clean is not so clean... which to me sounds a bit like when you crank the Champ. It's not really Distortion but more speaker break up and cranked tube saturation. ? . Yes-No ?

I might have to take the day off tomorrow and go suffer a day at Guitar Center.
Why do you guys have to post shit like this! :D
EB-That was some nice playing in that clip.

& WhiteStrat... your post on the 421s cracked me up. That was a good one.

B.
Click to expand...

Booda,
The V-18 should be similar in some ways, but different in others. The Champ was I'm pretty sure a single-ended class A tube amp with a single 6V6 tube in tyhe power section, which in and of itself will sound a bit different than an EL84 based amp. The Champ is 5 watts, and the V-18 is more like 15. Which means, while the V18 will certainly take you into the speaker breakup/power tube distortion like the Champ, it will be louder than the Champ when it does. Although it may not be as bad as you think. Scientists say that the perceived volume works like this: if you want an amp half as loud as a 50 watt, then you would need to use a 5 watt amp. That's of course if all other things are equal, such as speaker efficiency etc, which it never is! I don't know what to tell you about the comparison to the champ, but I know that if you get a V-18, and you're able to crank that sucker like it needs to be cranked, and if you have even a $20 Behringer compressor to boost the input and hit it good and hard, you're gonna have a big ole rock n roll smile on yer face. All that for $149.00?? I've spent more than that on women I can't even remember their names... :o

Peace!

~Shawn

ps... thanks for the compliment!
 
Just ordered new speakers, a set of tubes with an extra couple 12a_7s to play with, and a handful of resistors and opamps, all for highly recommended tweaks.

Doubled my investment. I would probably replace the tubes in any new amp, but the pair of the fake greenbacks is $150ish shipped, so the $95 cab is now $245. Still cheaper than Avatar, so a good value, but...
 
ermghoti said:
Just ordered new speakers, a set of tubes with an extra couple 12a_7s to play with, and a handful of resistors and opamps, all for highly recommended tweaks.

Doubled my investment. I would probably replace the tubes in any new amp, but the pair of the fake greenbacks is $150ish shipped, so the $95 cab is now $245. Still cheaper than Avatar, so a good value, but...
Click to expand...

Shoot.... you're gonna have like the "secret weapon." That's awesome! :D
A $2000 rig for $650 ain't a bad deal.

Peace!

~Shawn
 
eyema_believer said:
Shoot.... you're gonna have like the "secret weapon." That's awesome! :D
Click to expand...

If by "secret weapon" you mean "electric burns" you're probably right.

eyema_believer said:
A $2000 rig for $650 ain't a bad deal.

Peace!

~Shawn
Click to expand...

Well, it needs to compete with my Mesa Boogie Mk IIB, which I got for $800 used a few years (well, seventeen is a few, right?) ago. :D

Still, it should come out way more JTM flavored, and noticeably quieter.
 
so i was on the fence about picking up one of the v-18 112's as a practice/recording amp, then i saw that MF had a stratch and dent for $113.99 and had to do it. will post a review and clips when it comes in!
 
I'll be happy to experiment with this thing, but apart from the hiss (cheap opamps, a $10 fix) and a physical rattle in the upper right corner of the cab, this amp rocks straight out of the shipping box.
 
arcaxis said:
From the block diagram in the V18 manual it appears like they may have introduced an OP amp into the signal chain with the addition of the line output. In the V16, with the exception of the reverb circuit , there are no OP amps.
Click to expand...

That was likely it. Somebody looking over the schematic was mystified as to why the opamp would be in the tone stack recovery at all, and theorized it was to utilize the other half of the one used in the line out, in order to keep some accountant quiet.
 
Go for it!

DrewPeterson7 said:
I actually kind of dug the old VC-5 I played once (precursor to this). It was a decent enough clean, had a pretty contemporary high gain sound, and the single tone knob actually had a fairly useable array of settings.
Click to expand...

Dude hell yeah! The vintage club series is awesome. I have one (the 50 watt 3x10 model). I love it for blues/jazz/indie/rock. It doesn't really do metal too well but that's what the 5150 is for. :p I'm thinking of upgrading its speakers!

The new v series amps are very nice! People knock crate but this particular line of amps is pretty good. Stock they are great, but with some mods you can make them into better-than-boutique quality amps. The el84s sound nice and provide a much more feasible approach to getting that beautiful tube od. Not sure how the ventilation is on these though. I would stick a fan behind it if it has no fan installed. My vc gets very hot when I run it full blast.

Get it while it's cheap.
 
owwmyfoot said:
Dude hell yeah! The vintage club series is awesome. I have one (the 50 watt 3x10 model). I love it for blues/jazz/indie/rock. It doesn't really do metal too well but that's what the 5150 is for. :p I'm thinking of upgrading its speakers!

The new v series amps are very nice! People knock crate but this particular line of amps is pretty good. Stock they are great, but with some mods you can make them into better-than-boutique quality amps. The el84s sound nice and provide a much more feasible approach to getting that beautiful tube od. Not sure how the ventilation is on these though. I would stick a fan behind it if it has no fan installed. My vc gets very hot when I run it full blast.

Get it while it's cheap.
Click to expand...

hey i've got the 50 watt 3x10 as well! love that amp. i replaced the stock speakers with three veterans from WGS http://warehousespeakers.com/products.php?cat=8&PHPSESSID=d916736a2ac31bda9dd96aa856551fd9 and they make this amp sound so much better. they clean up the top end and control the bass much better than the stock ones.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top