new or used tube amp

  • Thread starter Thread starter tc4b
  • Start date Start date
tc4b said:
I'm FINALLY ditching my line 6 amp in favor of a tube amp. I don't have a specific tone I'm going for, just the opposite of my current digital amp. If my amp were poultry, I'd say I've been eating a steady diet of processed chicken patties. Now I'm looking for something more like eating the head off a live bird. If my analogy makes any sense. I don't need good cleans, but something more like the speaker cab is full of gravel and/or warm snot.

I know it's an over-correction to my sterile-sounding line 6, but it's just how i want my guitar to sound for awhile. My question is, should I buy a new tube amp (I like the blackheart in my pricerange, maybe extend a little for the blues jr) or an old used one (right now I'm looking at 60's Gibson Skylarks). I'll most likely put either an 808 or a fulltone ocd in front of whatever I buy, in case that matters.

ANy other suggestions on amps are also welcome. I'm looking to spend about $400.
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Take your guitar and amp down to the local GC and plug in your setup to a radial tonebone tube drive pedal. You MAY just find the tone you are looking for. Seriously good crunch from this pedal. I own the fender hot rod deville and love the clean channel but the overdrive is really kind of bleh. Hooked up this pedal and it sounds awesome.

Instead of spending 400 bucks you could get by with spending half of that and have some serious scratch left over for other gear.

Just a thought.
 
there are also old ampegs, reverbrockets, gemini IIs ect. out there for under four hundred bucks and it is hard to beat their sound.
 
i went used.

Came close to Blues Jr. but seems buying an older one, US made, is better and is what made the name so popular as I understand it.

got a small tube marshall combo used, and its really fun and gets a great distortion at low volumes too...but wound up replacing the tubes really quick so maybe figure that in to the cost of a used one.

Epi Valve Jr requires foot pedals as I understand it. Only played one once, really and it was pure fun, and great price. Seems many want to add pre-amps to them though.

just 2 more cents to confuse you:rolleyes:
 
Agree with the used route for amps. Picked up a Hot Rod DeVille 2x12 for $440 on craigslist. Downside is, I'm pretty sure the place I went to to try it out was a meth house. Probably stolen, who knows? It did need new tubes, but even adding that in, it was still $350 less than new, and it sounds great. Now I couldn't be happier.

The place Roguetitan linked looks pretty good.
 
i got a fender hot rod deluxe on craigslist for $450. great amp, i love it
 
antichef said:
If you can find an old bassman inside your budget, go for that.

I'm a fan of the Gibson Skylark, but if there's one way that they're the opposite of your line 6, it would be versatility :D -- I've got two of the "crestline" models without tremolo, which means they have just an on/off switch and a volume knob. They sound pretty different from one another -- the first one I got is so bright that I can't even use it with some guitars I have that sound bright to begin with.

I bought the second one for parts, and wound up getting it overhauled a the local amp tech shop -- you should be prepared to seek/make repairs if you go with an old one.

I know there are many models of skylark across the years -- mine use 6AQ5 or EL90 power tubes, which can be hard to find (the other tubes aren't too common either -- 6EU7 for preamp, 6C4 for phase inverter, and 6X4 for rectifier).

If you get a chance to try out your guitar(s) before buying, do it -- the skylarks really bring out the sound of the guitar, sometimes for better, sometimes for worse.
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I have one of those exact amps! I love it. It can be a little bright with certain guitars, but when you turn it up, it smokes and it doesn't peel the paint off the walls. Best $225 I've ever spent on gear!
 
update

Just an update, after MUCH deliberation, I ended up with the blackheart, for these reasons:
1) I don't want to add a cab right now
2) I'm no expert, so basic is good right now
3) Didn't care for the competition, incl epi valve jr
4) I plan to trade up, but not for a year or more, and only if I stop liking this one
5) Didn't want to break the bank on a secondary instrument (I'm a pianist)

And of course,

6) I like it a lot. Just do.

Got an OCD to dirty it up beyond it's own nice distortion, and scored a crybaby for $45 incl shipping, just because I like wah but hate the cheezeball one included in my current multifx pedal.

So, about $460 alltogether, not too bad.

I'm having an absolute blast right about now, and will post some clips of what's making me so happy after I mess around with the OCD some more. Thanks to all here who helped out.
 
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