Recommend an amp?

  • Thread starter Thread starter ibanezrocks
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As for bias,.... some amps are more sensitive to what you use for power tubes, some are not,... most EL84 based amps tend not to be so picky about what brand of tube, and just how 'balanced' they are,.... other types, like 6L6 based amps, and EL34 based amps are a bit pickier about what you put in them,...... they usually want matched pairs,... and quads,.... depending on what the amp is,....... amps using only one power tube,.... such as low wattage Fender Champs, and others are not picky at all,.... and are what is considered ...semi-self-biasing,.... THD makes an amp that is based on this premise,..... you can generally use any power tube that will fit into the socket,.... that would be,... 6V6,6L6,EL34,5881,6550,KT66,KT88, and others,.... as for the Pre-amp tubes,... that section of a tube amp is not a problem at all when it comes to the tubes you use, you can generally use any flavor of preamp tube that fits, with varying results for output and tone depending on brand and type,...... the highest gain will be the 12AX7, and some of it's varients,..7025,( a low noise version) and the gain usually is less with any other type, such as 12AT7,or AU7,... several others will also work,..... 5751, 12AV7,12AY7,12AZ7,12DW7, 12DT7,.. and others,....all with different results in the effect on tone,.....

If you are lucky,.. you will run into someone such as myself who has lots of varieties of all of those mentioned above, and will let you experiment with different combinations to suit your tastes,...

Which is what it is all about when it comes to the search for tone,.... every guitar will have its own unique sound with each amp,... as with each combo of tubes,.... without using any stomp boxes of any kind,.... just the amp with whatever it offers,..... the tone is by choice determined by the players tastes, and such, as well as all I have mentioned, and the speaker is also a factor,..... many choices there too,......

Some people who are real picky, are always searching for some other special combination,.... never satisfied with what they have,.....

If you really want something to fit your own tastes,.... DO NOT BE IN A HURRY,....

there are many many choices out there, including local talent building you one from scratch,...... I would begin my search at your favorite shop, and be sure to aquaint yourself with the tech in the back room,... they can be extremely helpfull in directing you to an amp if you let them know just what you are looking for,......

Hope this rant helps,....!!!!!!

Good luck..!!!

Steve :D
 
ibanezrocks said:
could anyone recommend a tube amp for under 500 dollars(american) that has a good distortion, and a decent clean, as well as built in reverb?
also i have never owned and know very little about tube amps, so a little extra explanation goes a long way.
thanks
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Without looking too deep into this, and going by *exactly* what you stated, the Marshall AVT50 combo is the amp you're looking for.
 
I wouldn't call the Marshall AVT50 a tube amp. It has tube circuitry in the pre-amp section, but the rest of it is solid state. I got one I thought I was going to use as a practice amp, but I was very disappointed with the tone, so I took it back. Very two-dimensional sound. Just my 2 centimos!
 
I just tried the Traynor YCV40WR out today, as well as a few fender hotrods. I was really disappointed with the hotrods distortion, but the traynor cheered me up pretty quickly. does anyone have anything to say about that amp, good or bad?
Also what does that presence knob do? I could hear a slight difference, but what does it actually do to the sound?
 
hate to be negative here.

but the avt stuff does suck. why spend money on it when you could probally spend the same or a fraction more and get something the rips.

- jay.
 
If someone has already mentioned this, sorry


I just bought a Hot Rod Deluxe and man I love it! If it's reverb you are looking for, then that's it. You don't get much better than Fender reverb. 40 watts, it's perfect!!!!
 
I play on a Traynor YCV80, which has slightly different controls on it than the 40, but close enough...

I think that between tech support and bang for the buck, you can't beat Traynor. Other amps might sound better, but you can't touch them for the price. Geez, I think this is the only subject that I ever post about around here.

As for the sound, treat the treble knob as if it were the presence knob. Try turning it all or most of the way down, and it'll kill that high-presence grit. Unless you're into that sort of buzzsaw sound, then have at it. I play with a pretty low-gain setting and its relatively smooth. I keep the gain at around 3 or 3 1/2 on the normal crunch channel. Simply stepping on the boost kicks it up into as much distortion as I'd ever want.

One other suggestion: be sure and crank it! ;)

:edit:
I looked and it looks like the YCV40 is pretty comparably priced to the 40W Fender Deville. It might be worth playing them side by side.

Also, the Traynors have an auto-bias for the tubes ;)
 
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ibanezrocks said:
I just tried the Traynor YCV40WR out today, as well as a few fender hotrods. I was really disappointed with the hotrods distortion, but the traynor cheered me up pretty quickly. does anyone have anything to say about that amp, good or bad?
Also what does that presence knob do? I could hear a slight difference, but what does it actually do to the sound?
Click to expand...

Presence, I believe, effects how present your guitar is over the active channel, in this case distortion. I was dissapointed in the distortion on the hot rod until I cranked the presence and that got rid of a lot of the mudd. Also if you get a chip from www.torressengineering.com then you'll might dig the distortion more. You'll never get metal sounds out of a hot rod.

And one more thing, I got a volume box from carl's custom guitars on ebay; It was $20 and it basically acts as a power brake. You can play the master at ten and make it any volume you want. Tube saturation city!! Put a distotion pedal on and your ano can sound pretty insane.
 
thanks for all the replies, I'll probably just wait until I've played around with everything to make a decision, because I want something that I can get plenty of good sounds out of. I definitely need more distortion than I got out of the fenders, so I dont think I'll go with a fender. I don't really trust the marshalls based on what I've heard about them, unless I can find a good old used one.

has anyone tried the brian may special from vox? I've played it and it is incredibly nice, I wish they made it more than 10 watts, but I read that it can be used to boost another amp, and I was wondering if this is something that is very unique to this amp. Also if this was used to boost a tube amp would that overdrive the tube amp and would it give a good distortion, or does overdriving the input too much give bad distortion?
 
i have teh brian may amp it has a nice sustaining distortion. for the price you cantgo wrong. its very loud and looks cool. my vox tonelab has a "maytone" preset that sounds very good too.
 
have u used the boost circuit to overdrive another amp with it yet?
i have played it and i wouldnt care about any negative comments on its normal sound because i just love it too much, so im just really curious about the boost circuit it has.
 
heard something usefull

guitar center has lowerd thier prices on the blue voodoo 120h's. the told me they were going for around 300 bucks. good distortion, exellent clean and has reverb for both channels. not a bad amp. try one out.
 
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