guitar amps

[ross]

i bought an amp off ebay, and im really excited to get it! it will be my first tube amp, and i can finally get rid of this POS peavey bandit 112 :) just thought i would share. haha

[imaguitargod]

Ah the warmth of a tube amp, I know it well.

[texas blues]

What tube amp?

[chuk hell]

I think both tube and SS have their places. In the end it's all about tone.

[thehotpepper.com]

What tube amp?

Vacuum tubes.

[texas blues]

No no no... Marshall Plexi? Fender Champ, Deluxe or Bassman? What tube amp? Exactly?

[thehotpepper.com]

LOL. Thought it said "What's a tube amp?"

[texas blues]

Left to right, 5E3 Deluxe and 5F1 Champ. Pure Tweed Horsepower!!
Note Miss Piggy trying to steal some photo action.
http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u46/chezrobert/Live0008.jpg

[ross]

mesa boogie rectoverb

i love the way boogies sound, and being as its a rectifier it will produce killer gain

[ross]

ill post a shot when i get it set up. im gonna have to rearrange my room to accommodate it

[ross]

I think both tube and SS have their places. In the end it's all about tone.

very true chuck. the peavey was not cutting it for me. i even put in a celestion vintage 30 speaker. even with a podxt live i couldnt get the tone i wanted. hopefully i can get good tone and just use the xt live for delay, phase, wah, etc and use the red channel on the amp for gain. at night in an effort to not wake the neighbors ill probably have to use gain settings on the xt instead of the amp. hah

[texas blues]

Is that a double recto? Combo or head? Lots of "chunk" I would think with the right speaker/cab. Crank it!!

[ross]

Is that a double recto? Combo or head? Lots of "chunk" I would think with the right speaker/cab. Crank it!!

nah, a rectoverb is a single rec. i cant afford a dual, they are like 500 - 1000 more, AND they are way too powerful. 100w tube amp 2x12 would blow the roof off my house. i dont play professionally :)

http://mesaboogie.com/Product_Info/Rectifier_Series/The_Single_Rectifiers/Rect-O-Verb_/rect-o-verb_.html

is what i got. its basically a 50w rectifier head. it will drive a 4x12 if i so desire. at some point im going to get another 1x12 speaker cab to match it, and have a 2x12. but not any time soon. ive read that turning this amp over about 6 is painful to the ears, haha

[ross]

how do those amps sound? are they fenders? i played through a fender tube amp a while ago, but it wasnt a tweed amp.

[texas blues]

Ross, the two tweeds are Fender clones by Michael Clark. I pretty much play them with no effects with a LP con P90's. The Deluxe tweed is 12 watts and the Lil Bit (Champ) is 4 watts, albeit LOUD tube watts. If you like Neil Young's guitar sound, this is the rig. Smooooooooth overdrive tube sound. Great blues tone. I've owned in the past 100 watt Marshalls, Musicman,Fender Champs, Gibson Skylark, Alamo, et.al... notice the Peavey Decade snuck in on the side in the pic. My favs have always been the smaller amps. Better on the ears and on the back.

[ross]

yeah im probably going to consider doing some of my playing with earplugs in. sucks, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

musicman makes amps? i have 2 musicman guitars, didnt know they made amps tho

[ross]

and yeah, i should be fair to my peavey. its about 9 years old, and its been through hell, and it still works. i cant say anything bad about it. if this damn mesa hadnt cost so much i would keep it so i could set up a stereo chorus or delay.

[texas blues]

The Musicman I had was a 2x12 combo and had a high-lo power switch with the high about 80 watts. It had tubes but with diode rectifier. Never could bond with it and sold it..too heavy too.
Some guys liked them but like other things Musicman...they went the way of the buffalo and the dinasour

[ross]

you should try out music man guitars. i cant speak for all of them, but i have 2 john petrucci signature models (6 and 7 string) and they are incredible guitars. my fender strat and les paul have been gathering dust since the purchase of these guitars. the neck plays so good, and you can get all kinds of sound out of them. really, quality instruments.

[texas blues]

I heard that if you play as fast as Petrucci on one of his signature guitars that there is a distinct possibility of destroying our solar system. I'm not much of a shredder anyway but I might consider the V Buckethead plays. Playing that guitar only sends out an electromagnetic pulse outward to a 25 mile radius, knocking out all motor vehicles and electrical components...as least thats what they said on 60 Minutes.

[ross]

I heard that if you play as fast as Petrucci on one of his signature guitars that there is a distinct possibility of destroying our solar system. I'm not much of a shredder anyway but I might consider the V Buckethead plays. Playing that guitar only sends out an electromagnetic pulse outward to a 25 mile radius, knocking out all motor vehicles and electrical components...as least thats what they said on 60 Minutes.


hahaha

if i could play as fast as him, it would be insane. im not that good, yet. its just really amazing the tone you can get out of the guitar all around. i think it might have something to do with the pickups too. once you hear some dimarzio pickups there is really no reason to ever have any other pickups in your guitars. my les paul has the 490s or whatever you call them, and they sound muddy and like shit basically in comparison. im really excited for my new amp tho, maybe it will awaken my les paul!

[texas blues]

Years ago I had a Dimarzio X2N in a guitar. The thing picked up Martian communications it was so powerful but it also was a tone dumpster...just blah. The recto should open up your 490's just fine. If not my suggestion would be the Seymour Duncan PAF classics. In this case less is more....I think the SD is the same p/u or very close to Slash's. Course he is a Marshall guy with only an eq and wah in the chain.

[ross]

Years ago I had a Dimarzio X2N in a guitar. The thing picked up Martian communications it was so powerful but it also was a tone dumpster...just blah. The recto should open up your 490's just fine. If not my suggestion would be the Seymour Duncan PAF classics. In this case less is more....I think the SD is the same p/u or very close to Slash's. Course he is a Marshall guy with only an eq and wah in the chain.

im not a marshall fan :( unless you have like a tsl 2000 head and a 4x12.

i did hear a newer marshall head that my friend uses and it sounded awesome. some 4 channel marshall, mode-4 or something? it sounded good, but way too much power for my needs.

[ross]

oh god. it came today. it sounds so good. this, however, is my first tube amp (hopefully my last), and i have a bunch of rack effects that i used to make my ss amp sound better. plugged into this mesa, it just muddies up the tone. any suggestions on effects to look into? i havent plugged up my floor effects yet, but i think they will be ok. the rack effects were: eq, comp, and a bbe 362. i also have a furman power console thing, but im not gonna get rid of that. lol help? :)

[texas blues]

Depends on what sound you are looking for. What effects do you have on the floor? Are effects necessary for your sound? The main reason to have a tube amp is for the tube sound i.e. smooth overdrive. If you are getting that dialed in already why add anything? The more stuff you add in the chain takes you farther and farther away from the actual sound you wanted in the first place.

[ross]

Depends on what sound you are looking for. What effects do you have on the floor? Are effects necessary for your sound? The main reason to have a tube amp is for the tube sound i.e. smooth overdrive. If you are getting that dialed in already why add anything? The more stuff you add in the chain takes you farther and farther away from the actual sound you wanted in the first place.


this is the point where its obvious i have too much gear for a tube amp. i have a podxt live floor unit which i was using for amp modeling effects (zeroed out now because of the tube amp), but there are settings to bypass the amp models, cab models, and basically just use the pod as a delay / chorus / wah / phase etc board. the gain will come solely from the mesa, as it is incredible, even at a low volume.

i have a boss ns-2 also, which is a killer gate, and a boss ce-5 which is also a great chorus pedal. so basically i think it will go:

amp -> ns-2 -> pod -> ce-5 -> guitar. yes?

[Sickmont]

this is the point where its obvious i have too much gear for a tube amp. i have a podxt live floor unit which i was using for amp modeling effects (zeroed out now because of the tube amp), but there are settings to bypass the amp models, cab models, and basically just use the pod as a delay / chorus / wah / phase etc board. the gain will come solely from the mesa, as it is incredible, even at a low volume.

i have a boss ns-2 also, which is a killer gate, and a boss ce-5 which is also a great chorus pedal. so basically i think it will go:

amp -> ns-2 -> pod -> ce-5 -> guitar. yes?


I'd just get a Morley and play straight through that.

[ross]

I'd just get a Morley and play straight through that.

i want more than just a wah....

i love delay and phase coupled with heavy gain. man it makes for awesome leads

[Sickmont]

My preference nowadays is to keep things as simple as possible. I used to(in the pre-digital days) have tons of pedals for all kinds of different effects and i got rid of most of them to get a Digitech board then i got tired of that and finally discovered that i just like to play guitar, without(mostly) any extra stuff.

[texas blues]

I think you are on the right track and minimalizing the rig keeps the integrity of the amp and guitar coming through. If it sounds good...it is good! Seems the older I get the more I go away from effects and go for pure guitar and amp sound.

[Sickmont]

I think you are on the right track and minimalizing the rig keeps the integrity of the amp and guitar coming through. If it sounds good...it is good! Seems the older I get the more I go away from effects and go for pure guitar and amp sound.

I concur. I've even backed away from most of the distortion and crunch and prefer to play (mostly) clean. I just realized that i've turned into my dad!:shocked:

[ross]

the clean sounds so good that i dont want to even mess with it. but for lead i gotta have delay. there is no lead without delay haha

[texas blues]

Put the cabinet in the bathroom. You'll be surprised how much you don't need the delay.

[ross]

Put the cabinet in the bathroom. You'll be surprised how much you don't need the delay.

HAHA

i dont know about that!

[ross]

hmmmm after messing with it for more than an hour nothing is working well. the amp sounds phenomenal by itself, but i really want to add the whole effects lineup to the mix. perhaps the effects loop on the amp would work? ideas?

[ross]

this pod is a piece of shit. im about to sell it on ebay. it does awesome with a ss amp. but it sucks a turd with this tube amp. hell it doesnt even make sound. perhaps i have a wrong hookup, but im willing to bet it the pod that blows, and not me.

[xgrafcorex]

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Vox-Valvetronix-AD50VT-50W-Guitar-Combo-Amp-?sku=482615&src=3SOSWXXA

that is my first and only tube amp. i love it! ha my favorite part is strumming the guitar and letting the tubes kick in slowly. sounds pretty cool..i guess i wasn't used to it from the other amp i had that just turned on right away. used to play through some 15 watt crate (for about 7 years!) this vox has some effects and whatnot..but honestly, i just alternate between the different distortions from time to time and tweak the treb/mid/bass knobs here and there.

hope you get your set up sorted out.

[ross]

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Vox-Valvetronix-AD50VT-50W-Guitar-Combo-Amp-?sku=482615&src=3SOSWXXA

that is my first and only tube amp. i love it! ha my favorite part is strumming the guitar and letting the tubes kick in slowly. sounds pretty cool..i guess i wasn't used to it from the other amp i had that just turned on right away. used to play through some 15 watt crate (for about 7 years!) this vox has some effects and whatnot..but honestly, i just alternate between the different distortions from time to time and tweak the treb/mid/bass knobs here and there.

hope you get your set up sorted out.

yea i have made an executive decision. im going to sell all of my effects and buy a tc electronics g major and a foot board. this pod thing is incredible with a SS amp, but it is horrid with a tube.

[chuk hell]

Ross,

I have a 100w tube amp but I run through a digitech box for modeling and tone shaping. The trick is to run through the clean channel only. This may sort of defeat the purpose of a tube amp in the first place but it works for me.

I also use a Boss heavy Metal box in front of a crybaby on the floor. Crunchy-fuzzy!

[ross]

Ross,

I have a 100w tube amp but I run through a digitech box for modeling and tone shaping. The trick is to run through the clean channel only. This may sort of defeat the purpose of a tube amp in the first place but it works for me.

I also use a Boss heavy Metal box in front of a crybaby on the floor. Crunchy-fuzzy!

yeah i listed the pod on ebay. i dont want to use the gain from it, because the gain from the amp is insane. i do have to get a wah tho! any suggestions? i had a crybaby but it broke - and i sold it on ebay, lol - but i need to get another one. of course the obvious choice is a cry baby, but anyone using any of the moded ones?

[texas blues]

I have heard good stuff about the Bad Horsey. Amongst Crybaby's there are several to chose from. Mine is model GCB-95 and I like it well enough. Vox also makes one that is supposed to me pretty transparent but good sounding...Real McCoy? Try as many as you can with your guitar and see which you like the best. I use my wah not so much for wah but set it in the middle for a midrange tone on lead stuff although I rarely use it. I dial in my amp, with the guitar volume all the way up and find a lead tone and volume I am comfortable with and just roll off the volume for a bit for non lead stuff. If I need more punch I might add a Boss BD-2 for a little more poop but often don't need that. For what its worth also, Keeley will mod just about any pedal you need.

[ross]

i think the model 95 is the one i sold on ebay. thats just the basic cry baby yes? i really like the dunlop wah sound. though, i guess all wahs basically do the same thing anyway.

[ross]

pod is gone, g major coming in. net cost is me +20-30 dollars. not bad really. i hope the g major is worth a damn.. tc makes good stuff from what i hear though

[ross]

i realized i posted a thread on guitars a long time ago - so i moved the pictures over there..

[chuk hell]

We went over to our drummer's house for practice tonight.

I got to play through an Orange "Tiny Terror".

http://orangeamps.com/tinyterror/

Great little amp with some killer tone. Not what I'd want for onstage but a great little practice/studio amp.

[ross]

We went over to our drummer's house for practice tonight.

I got to play through an Orange "Tiny Terror".

http://orangeamps.com/tinyterror/

Great little amp with some killer tone. Not what I'd want for onstage but a great little practice/studio amp.

interesting amp!

[Sickmont]

We went over to our drummer's house for practice tonight.

I got to play through an Orange "Tiny Terror".

http://orangeamps.com/tinyterror/

Great little amp with some killer tone. Not what I'd want for onstage but a great little practice/studio amp.

Ya, Orange makes some really nice amps.