40-50w tube head suggestions for club gigs.

Re: 40-50w tube head suggestions for club gigs.

Jeff_H said:
I've been looking at this too. The big seller for me is the independent tone controls for each channel.... I'm tired of shared EQ on 2 channel amps. The distributor also offers several "factory" mods. One is the Low Gear mod, which reduces gain a bit on Ch. 2 and voices the amp more for classic rock. They will also mod the footswitch to allow the gain or solo function to be controlled from the footswitch rather than from the front of the amp. I think that way it was $599. A good low price option.

Spawn also makes a 50w version of most of his amps, including the Quick Rod, which is the 2 channel beast. I don't know if he offers power scaling, but I bet he can or would do it. In the end, this is what I want. I just don't know if I can justify the price for a head and matching 2x12.

B2D, I think you would really like the Quick Rod, because it does every Marshall from Oleic to ultra hot nodded JCM 800. Even though I think it sounds better than a Marshall, it might be a bit redundant to your JVM. The Amelia is an interesting budget friendly option and I think it would suit your needs with money to spare. It is supposed to take pedals well and have a very decent clean channel. If it does do those things, I think it would cover your cover band needs. Can't recall if it does power scaling. Probably not at it's pricepoint.

I guess the new DSL40c or whatever it's called is an option too. Independent EQ's and master volume, effects loop and power scaling.... all well under $1000.
Click to expand...

Scott Splawn makes AMAZING amps. Most feature a half power switch. But more than that he incorporated a Fx loop volume control which lets you get cranked Marshall tone at bedroom volume.
LOVE my Quickrod.
 
Re: 40-50w tube head suggestions for club gigs.

Jeff_H said:
I've been looking at this too. The big seller for me is the independent tone controls for each channel.... I'm tired of shared EQ on 2 channel amps. The distributor also offers several "factory" mods. One is the Low Gear mod, which reduces gain a bit on Ch. 2 and voices the amp more for classic rock. They will also mod the footswitch to allow the gain or solo function to be controlled from the footswitch rather than from the front of the amp. I think that way it was $599. A good low price option.

Spawn also makes a 50w version of most of his amps, including the Quick Rod, which is the 2 channel beast. I don't know if he offers power scaling, but I bet he can or would do it. In the end, this is what I want. I just don't know if I can justify the price for a head and matching 2x12.

B2D, I think you would really like the Quick Rod, because it does every Marshall from Oleic to ultra hot nodded JCM 800. Even though I think it sounds better than a Marshall, it might be a bit redundant to your JVM. The Amelia is an interesting budget friendly option and I think it would suit your needs with money to spare. It is supposed to take pedals well and have a very decent clean channel. If it does do those things, I think it would cover your cover band needs. Can't recall if it does power scaling. Probably not at it's pricepoint.

I guess the new DSL40c or whatever it's called is an option too. Independent EQ's and master volume, effects loop and power scaling.... all well under $1000.
Click to expand...

I just got my Amelia and HOLY SHEEP!

I got mine straight from the Jet City AmpFactory store on Reverb so it comes with a mod to fix a channel switch pop and a couple small things that hasn't been implemented on the ones straight from the Chinese factory that Musician's Fiend sells, yet. That fix is being implemented in the next run.

The clean is CLEAN. It's glorious!

The dirty channel without the OD is great for classic rock to me. In fact, there's a setting in there that really nails the AC/DC sound. The OD is a freakin' flamethrower. It's really awesome.
 
Re: 40-50w tube head suggestions for club gigs.

Jeff_H said:
I guess the new DSL40c or whatever it's called is an option too. Independent EQ's and master volume, effects loop and power scaling.... all well under $1000.
Click to expand...

they still don't have independent EQ for each channel but the best thing is that you can now footswitch the clean and crunch on the green channel and the OD1 and OD2 on the red channel which has been something the DSLs always needed for sure.
 
Re: 40-50w tube head suggestions for club gigs.

GilmourD said:
I just got my Amelia and HOLY SHEEP!

I got mine straight from the Jet City AmpFactory store on Reverb so it comes with a mod to fix a channel switch pop and a couple small things that hasn't been implemented on the ones straight from the Chinese factory that Musician's Fiend sells, yet. That fix is being implemented in the next run.

The clean is CLEAN. It's glorious!

The dirty channel without the OD is great for classic rock to me. In fact, there's a setting in there that really nails the AC/DC sound. The OD is a freakin' flamethrower. It's really awesome.
Click to expand...

You bought the one on Reverb with the low gear mod and the footswitchable OD mod, didn't you? If I end up buying an Amelia, that's what I want, and I'd buy from the amp factory too.

I need to cover blues and classic rock, 60's thru 80's and including some 80's metal, and it sounds like this amp will do that. Plus a head and matching 2x12 is well under $1K. A Spawn Quick Rod 50W is my dream amp, but it's more than twice the $$ and that's hard for an at home player to justify. Really glad to hear that you like yours so much and even better to hear about the clean channel. That's usually where 2 channel EL34 amps fall short.

gtjr.......I really really jones for a Quick Rod. I've been to Scotts shop many times and he worked on my old JCM 800 amp and 4x12. What a great guy and amp builder.
 
Re: 40-50w tube head suggestions for club gigs.

FuseG4 said:
they still don't have independent EQ for each channel but the best thing is that you can now footswitch the clean and crunch on the green channel and the OD1 and OD2 on the red channel which has been something the DSLs always needed for sure.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I goofed on that. I got crazy with the mode switching between greed and red. Thanks for setting me straight.
 
Re: 40-50w tube head suggestions for club gigs.

Jeff_H said:
You bought the one on Reverb with the low gear mod and the footswitchable OD mod, didn't you? If I end up buying an Amelia, that's what I want, and I'd buy from the amp factory too.

I need to cover blues and classic rock, 60's thru 80's and including some 80's metal, and it sounds like this amp will do that. Plus a head and matching 2x12 is well under $1K. A Spawn Quick Rod 50W is my dream amp, but it's more than twice the $$ and that's hard for an at home player to justify. Really glad to hear that you like yours so much and even better to hear about the clean channel. That's usually where 2 channel EL34 amps fall short.

gtjr.......I really really jones for a Quick Rod. I've been to Scotts shop many times and he worked on my old JCM 800 amp and 4x12. What a great guy and amp builder.
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That’s awesome! I’m jealous that you’ve been to the shop.
I’m in the process of ordering one of his SS1 guitars!!
 
Re: 40-50w tube head suggestions for club gigs.

Gtrjunior said:
That’s awesome! I’m jealous that you’ve been to the shop.
I’m in the process of ordering one of his SS1 guitars!!
Click to expand...

Man, his guitars are awesome as well. I'm positive you'll be thrilled with it. I'll be looking forward to your NGD thread and review.

If I still lived within an hour of his shop I know I would already own one of his amps. His shop was, the last time I saw it, a very modest affair, but he was very proud of it. He is such a personable guy, he even took the time to give me a tour of the woodshop and at that time, ~2005, they were just getting into making some of their own custom enclosures... either that or really expanding them. It's been over 10 years since I've been there so I don't remember exactly.

All he did the first time I met him was fix the faulty wiring on a Marshall 4x12 I'd bought and change the grill cloth, but he treated me like the only customer in the shop. I'll always remember that about him.
 
Re: 40-50w tube head suggestions for club gigs.

I guess? The clean channel is not too bad if your a pedal guy.
 
Re: 40-50w tube head suggestions for club gigs.

Ben1962 said:
I guess? The clean channel is not too bad if your a pedal guy.
Click to expand...

Are you talking about the Quickrod?
If so...the clean channel is amazing on these amps.
The earliest models were different but the changes Scott has made has brought the clean channel into a completely different territory. I get as many compliments on the clean channel as I do the distortion channels.
 
Re: 40-50w tube head suggestions for club gigs.

You might look into a Kustom 72 Coupe. They were designed by the 5150 guy, James Brown, after he left Peavey.

Wonderful sounding amps but music is subjective so your mileage may vary.

KustomCoupe72.jpg
 
Re: 40-50w tube head suggestions for club gigs.

As far as the Quick Rod is concerned... how does it compare to the Friedman BE50 or the Dirty Shirley? Those amps are currently out of my budget but if the QR has some of that easy, fluid, articulate, organic feeling I'd be open to trying one out.

I hate it when amps feel real stuff and unforgiving, like you have to fight them to give up the goods.
 
Re: 40-50w tube head suggestions for club gigs.

B2D said:
As far as the Quick Rod is concerned... how does it compare to the Friedman BE50 or the Dirty Shirley? Those amps are currently out of my budget but if the QR has some of that easy, fluid, articulate, organic feeling I'd be open to trying one out.

I hate it when amps feel real stuff and unforgiving, like you have to fight them to give up the goods.
Click to expand...

My Quickrod has the Drop B+ option which give the amp more “sag and feel”. I have played a BE100 and also an SS100 but never a dirty Shirley so I can’t say on that end. But I LOVE my QR.
with the Drop B+ engages my plate voltage drops to about 405-415 (I don’t exactly remember but somewhere in that ballpark) down from about 475v.
My 2204’s plate voltage is around 475v(again iirc, it’s been a while since I biased that amp) and I never noticed it feeing stiff.
I’d recommend, if at all possible playing a QR before buying. Check your local CL and see if someone is selling one.
 
Re: 40-50w tube head suggestions for club gigs.

Gtrjunior said:
My Quickrod has the Drop B+ option which give the amp more “sag and feel”. I have played a BE100 and also an SS100 but never a dirty Shirley so I can’t say on that end. But I LOVE my QR.
with the Drop B+ engages my plate voltage drops to about 405-415 (I don’t exactly remember but somewhere in that ballpark) down from about 475v.
My 2204’s plate voltage is around 475v(again iirc, it’s been a while since I biased that amp) and I never noticed it feeing stiff.
I’d recommend, if at all possible playing a QR before buying. Check your local CL and see if someone is selling one.
Click to expand...

I think that's what I'm gonna have to do. I'm willing to make the drive, I think I'd just need to let the person know I'm 'test driving' and make it worth their time or something.
 
Re: 40-50w tube head suggestions for club gigs.

Tremoverb,,,,,,,,,,pull one pair and you're down to 50w.
Orange channel's vintage hi-gain is just a great channel on it's own and stacks amazingly well with boost/od/dist/fuzz pedals.
 
Re: 40-50w tube head suggestions for club gigs.

It blows your budget, but Mesa TC50. Now that the TC-100 is out and people are "upgrading" it might be easier to score a used 50 for a little above your price range.

3 channels with a dedicated solo volume boost, effects loop and reverb. It doesn't have a half power mode, but the master volume works well enough that it's not really necessary. Thanks to the Tight/Normal option in each channel you can do both low and high gain with the amp responding correctly (doesn't sound stiff as a board with the gain turned down like a lot of other high gain amps).

Alternatively, you can drop a set of Mesa 6V6s in it without needing to rebias, which brings the amp down to around 25w without choking the amp out, although the difference in feel from EL34 to 6V6 is pretty substantial.
 
Re: 40-50w tube head suggestions for club gigs.

dave74 said:
Tremoverb,,,,,,,,,,pull one pair and you're down to 50w.
Orange channel's vintage hi-gain is just a great channel on it's own and stacks amazingly well with boost/od/dist/fuzz pedals.
Click to expand...

I used to have a big Tremoverb head. I miss it. It was an awesome beast.

some_dude said:
It blows your budget, but Mesa TC50. Now that the TC-100 is out and people are "upgrading" it might be easier to score a used 50 for a little above your price range.

3 channels with a dedicated solo volume boost, effects loop and reverb. It doesn't have a half power mode, but the master volume works well enough that it's not really necessary. Thanks to the Tight/Normal option in each channel you can do both low and high gain with the amp responding correctly (doesn't sound stiff as a board with the gain turned down like a lot of other high gain amps).

Alternatively, you can drop a set of Mesa 6V6s in it without needing to rebias, which brings the amp down to around 25w without choking the amp out, although the difference in feel from EL34 to 6V6 is pretty substantial.
Click to expand...

You know, I'd been looking at the TC50. It's not far enough out of my budget on a used basis for me to dismiss it. ;)
 
Re: 40-50w tube head suggestions for club gigs.

Used Mesa Express Plus 5:50.

Two foot switchable channels. Each channel has two gain modes that are manually switchable on the amp.

It has a foot switchable graphic e.q.

It has a foot switchable and fine tunable solo boost.

Foot switchable reverb.

Three power modes: 50W class AB, 25W class A (sounds incredible), and 5W class A.

All in a very easy to understand layout. And they are under a grand used.

You might even be able to find the 2x12 version if you are patient enough. This is the killer way to go IMO. It is a crap-ton of amp for the money on the used market, and will do a very good job in a cover band.
 
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Re: 40-50w tube head suggestions for club gigs.

I pointed out a typo, which got fixed, so I removed that content. Instead, something useful for the post, a picture of the Mesa Express 5:50 under discussion.

express_550_plus_format_head_nav.png

And, something I just discovered looking for it: the entire Express line has been discontinued by Mesa!

That's a shame, they were the great bargain in the Mesa range.
 
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Re: 40-50w tube head suggestions for club gigs.

dr0 said:
The Mesa site says it's 25 watts in class AB, 15 watts in class A, and 5 at the minimum setting.

The OP is looking for a bit more amp, 40-50 watts. So the Mesa 50:5 has all the same features at the power there looking for, but 6L6 sound.

That might be the ticket.
Click to expand...

Typo. I put 5:25 instead of 5:50.

Read the power modes I posted, and you will see that this obviously just a typo on the model name.

I will edit my initial post now.
 
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