Tube amps on a budget...

ditto, we have a winner. and so we return to the OP - whether one is a pro player or not, he is still justified in looking for a tube amp, albeit on a budget. If that's the sound one prefers. So let's get back to the OP - tube amps on a budget. :D

Lt. Bob said:
ditto ..... and Toker ...... I'm as professional as it gets. I've done somewhere in the neighborhood of 13,000 gigs ...... I've done a minimum of 5 gigs a week to as many as 10 and 12 gigs a week since 1969. No, you've never heard of me and I'm just a hired gun that plays regional gigs but I'm in far more demand than I'm able to fill and I basically walk in ANY gig I want ..... play a bit, and get it.
While I don't disagree with the basic premise of what you're saying, you keep talking about what 'professional' players will and won't do and you're flat out wrong. I know and work with top notch players all the time and their equipment requirements are all over the map and include Peavey ............ period. That player that uses cheap ass Carvin SS amps has played with big name acts regularly and is the absolute best player I've ever even seen and he doesn't give a crap what he plays thru. Actually, I personally think he carries that a bit too far but if you heard him play, you would want to run right out and buy a Carvin SS.
The fact is that you want to speak for pros but are saying things that simply aren't what the hundreds of full time pros that I know and work with say or feel.
Do I have amp preferences? Of course I do ........ but within certain limits ....... I can play on whatever I have to and make it sound acceptable ........ that's not an opinion ...... it's a fact that I can back up anytime you find yourself in Fl.
One more thing ...... I thought I covered this nicely in my first post which you ignored but I don't disagree with you on Mesa's ...... they are very reliable ...... maybe the most reliable I've ever used except for my '70's Ampegs ......
but the idea that all those other amps are total crap is simply not the case.
It doesn't sound like you actually mean 'pros' when you talk about it since I know plenty of full time pros that use Peavey. It sounds like you're mainly talking about wealthy pros which is a whole different subject.
Click to expand...
 
ocnor said:
Just out of curiosity in which part of Florida are you located?
Click to expand...
Live in Deland ...... mostly play along the coast from say as North as St Augustine to down around Ponce Inlet. I've only lived here 2 years so I'm finally starting to branch out from that area. It's not like back in Baton Rouge where I'd lived my entire life and knew everyone ...... but I started managing at least 5 gigs a week about the 3rd week I moved here and didn't know a single person. I've been pretty pleased with how easy it's been to gig although I have to do a lot of single act gigs to work as much as I need to.
 
in my experience all the Mesa Boogies that Ive owned or tried lacked 'personality' in their tone...F50, F30 25:5...etc

they sounded good and seemed very well built but they all left me very uninspired.

most of my recording these days is done mostly with a Gibson GA-5 les paul jr 5 watt amp. I also highly recomend the Fender Champ 600 (w/ new JJ Tubes) a marshall 1974X, Vox AC15CC (with weber blue dog and new JJ tubes) and when I feel like tweaking I LOVE the Emery Sound Microbaby AND Superbaby heads...Look them up they are VERY cool and too expensive for a hand built boutique amps.

All these tones leave me VERY inspired but to each his own and after owning MANY quality tube amps these are the ones I kept around.
 
Light said:
Best clean sound? One of my guitars, through my amp (cranked across the board), with the guitars volume set about 6, or crank the guitar volume too and play softly. You don't get that kind of dynamic control from preamp distortion.
Click to expand...

Well, to be fair, when I'm dialing up a clean sound, I'm not exactly piling on the preamp distortion. I like a touch of grit but not much more than that, and most of the time I CAN rely on my poweramp for that (with the help of a THD Hot Plate).

I think the bigger issue with preamp distortion isn't the source of the distortion, it's the amount of diistortion. I have no trouble getting warm, rich, harmonically complex, dynamically responsive distortion out of my Mesa. I simply don't turn the gain up much more than halfway, sometimes lower depending on the playing situation. However, if you take a Rectifier and wind the gain all the way up, then yeah, I agree - touch sensitivity goes completely to hell, everything gets saggy and mushy, and complexity goes right out the window.

So, for me, personally, it's a combination of a moderately distorted but still touch sensitive preamp for the basic gain structure, coupled with a bit of poweramp saturation for added compression, that works best. It's not that I'm adverse to a non-master-volume amp that would do this for me, but I have yet to find a 5-watt amp with a high gain tube preamp that I could wind most of the way up in my bedroom, exactly.

Prior to cascading gain staged master volume amps, you simply couldn't generate the sort of saturation a Mesa is capable of. The first few generations of Mesa players (spin "Abraxis, for instance) didn't even try. It's those of us who grew up with a gain knob that goes to 10 and thought nothing of maxing it out since, well, you can, that are probably ruining master volume amps for you.

I've heard some phenominal tones out of amps with master volumes, and having played a few non-master-volume amps in my day too, I simply don't buy that only non-master-volume amps have good tone.
 
DrewPeterson7 said:
I've heard some phenominal tones out of amps with master volumes, and having played a few non-master-volume amps in my day too, I simply don't buy that only non-master-volume amps have good tone.
Click to expand...
Like everything ..... I think there are good ones and bad ones.
I have an Ampeg V-2 with a master volume that sounds great and, in general, sounds the same no matter where you set the master ...... just louder or softer.
I had a Twin with a master that totally sucked unless you turned the master all the way up, thus effectively taking it out of the equation.
And I don't like my blues Jr. much ..... it has a master, but I like my Orange Tiny Terror and it has essentially a master.
 
Rickson Gracie said:
in my experience all the Mesa Boogies that Ive owned or tried lacked 'personality' in their tone...F50, F30 25:5...etc

they sounded good and seemed very well built but they all left me very uninspired.

most of my recording these days is done mostly with a Gibson GA-5 les paul jr 5 watt amp. I also highly recomend the Fender Champ 600 (w/ new JJ Tubes) a marshall 1974X, Vox AC15CC (with weber blue dog and new JJ tubes) and when I feel like tweaking I LOVE the Emery Sound Microbaby AND Superbaby heads...Look them up they are VERY cool and too expensive for a hand built boutique amps.

All these tones leave me VERY inspired but to each his own and after owning MANY quality tube amps these are the ones I kept around.
Click to expand...


Not all Boogies are great.
Just most.:D

Check out the MK III, and MK IV.


And, Lt. Bob...
Yes, I meant successful pros. Major acts. I've worked with more than a few, and have been in my share of multi-million dollar studios......no Peavey, and certainly no Crate.

As far as your Orange amp goes....I've never come across one for reasons that escape me, but really would like to, as I have never heard a bad thing about them. Do you have any sound clips of one? I really wanna shop for one, but if I buy one more amp I will end up divorced.

I did not ignore you first post. I simply didn't see where it needed a response.
 
a late 60ies or early 70ies YGM 2 Guitar mate. Its got a closed back and that ac30ish sound, it has an amazing crunch and takes an overdrive pedal really well. Its essentially what i was looking for. Cheap (279 after taxes), tube, close back, 12 inch, pedal friendly, and even has the extras of being point to point, and tremelo+reverb.
 
Toker41 said:
Not all Boogies are great.
Just most.:D

Check out the MK III, and MK IV.


And, Lt. Bob...
Yes, I meant successful pros. Major acts. I've worked with more than a few, and have been in my share of multi-million dollar studios......no Peavey, and certainly no Crate.

As far as your Orange amp goes....I've never come across one for reasons that escape me, but really would like to, as I have never heard a bad thing about them. Do you have any sound clips of one? I really wanna shop for one, but if I buy one more amp I will end up divorced.

I did not ignore you first post. I simply didn't see where it needed a response.
Click to expand...



www.myspace.com/rabbittransit


left guitar is an ernie ball through an orange tiny terror with a orange 4x12 cab

right guitar is a telecaster through an orange rocker 30 combo on top of an orange 4x12 cab


songs are not done being mixed yet so the tracks are somewhat raw.. what you hear is pretty much identical to the tone of the amp
 
MatchBookNotes said:
a late 60ies or early 70ies YGM 2 Guitar mate. Its got a closed back and that ac30ish sound, it has an amazing crunch and takes an overdrive pedal really well. Its essentially what i was looking for. Cheap (279 after taxes), tube, close back, 12 inch, pedal friendly, and even has the extras of being point to point, and tremelo+reverb.
Click to expand...

NICE!! I was going to say - imo - the best budget tube amp is going to be a Traynor, but they cost a little more (the new ones do). I think they sound as good as (and better to my ears) any Peavey, but the way I feel right now I'd take a Peavey over a Fender just because the PV is MIA, and I'd take a Fender over any chinese budget tubester..... but I have to admit that I did go back to the Crates more than once when I was killing my lunch hour in GC, and they are MIA I believe.

For me the words "budget tube amp" and "Traynor" always go together really well!
 
You can't deny that Mesa/Boogie amplifiers are good. But they aren't exactly affordable either.

Its all an opinion, anyways. I'm sure some dude out there got some crazy good tone out of a Marshall MG. I personally liked the Peavey ValveKing (when I owned one). Right now I'm playing through a B-52 ST6012 and a Crate Vintage Club 30. That Crate sure breaks a lot, but I love it when it works :D Love both of those amps to death.
 
Toker41 said:
I never said Boogie was the only good amp. I simply said not to waste money on crap only to end up spending more money later.
Click to expand...

I used to consider this arrogance, and of course spent many wasted dollars trying to go cheap.

In the long run, its great advice. Think about it, better to have one good amp, good cable, and one good guitar....if its your "dream" or "income" or "# 1 hobby"...why the hell not get something good.

in hindsight I'd wished I had done this. one good well reviewed, well built, amp instead of 45 shit amps that required numerous work and trades and money lost still trying to achieve a good sound.

I see it in my kids around here, they practice at my home about 3 bands....and their all wasting money on shit Behringer amps that sound good and then they fall apart soon afterwards, or the line 6 that burns out or only sounds good at low volumes.....fake cheap plastic shit microphones 5 for $59.. instead of a well built SM57 that can last a lifetime.

can the kids afford a $1200 amp....seems like a lot. but in hindsight the cheap gear is the waste of money.

wisdom is wasted on the old.:(
 
tbone88 said:
The guitarist in my band has a Peavey ValveKing 112. It's an all tube combo with a 12" speaker. The internet price is about $400 and it sounds really good.
Click to expand...

i hear this a lot about the Peavey reading around...

so maybe $400, not $1200 as I mentioned, for a good well built amp.
 
MatchBookNotes said:
a late 60ies or early 70ies YGM 2 Guitar mate. Its got a closed back and that ac30ish sound, it has an amazing crunch and takes an overdrive pedal really well. Its essentially what i was looking for. Cheap (279 after taxes), tube, close back, 12 inch, pedal friendly, and even has the extras of being point to point, and tremelo+reverb.
Click to expand...

Congrats, man! I'd love to see a few pictures and if you've got a recording setup a few clips!
 
 
Obi-Wan zenabI said:
Peavey:

MX VTX Series...

http://cgi.ebay.com/VINTAGE-PEAVEY-...hash=item180265646746&_trksid=p3286.m14.l1318

212 Classic VTX Series ...

http://cgi.ebay.com/Peavey-212-Clas...hash=item380046880730&_trksid=p3286.m14.l1318

Triumph PAC-60 ...

http://cgi.ebay.com/Peavey-Triumph-...hash=item280247902213&_trksid=p3286.m14.l1318

Deuce ...

http://cgi.ebay.com/vintage-peavey-...hash=item290246737781&_trksid=p3286.m14.l1318

Music Man made 'em too:

Here's a 112 RD...

http://cgi.ebay.com/Music-Man-112-R...hash=item330254917440&_trksid=p3286.m14.l1318

Shop away, and don't hurt too many Vikings!
Click to expand...

Cool. :D I think I remember seeing one of those MM's on the cover of Clapton's "The Cream of Clapton" anthology.

Now, off to slaughter a few vikings. :D Not a big ebayer, but I'll keep my eyes open and maybe snag one some day to screw with. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top