50 and 100W tube head users:

[B2D]

This thread mean to collect responses from ONLY users of tube guitar amp heads in the 50-100 watt range.... 40's and 100+ is OK to play too.

What cab setup do you use, what application are you using these amps for, and why.

No hypothetical scenarios. I want to know what you actually use and why.

Discuss.

 

[MetalManiac]

Re: 50 and 100W tube head users:

< 6505 Peavey amp 100 watt head and a OOP Genz Benz ported 2x12 cabinet.
Because , I find that the 100 watt amplifier headroom is necessary for the big sound I'm looking for, and as far as the cabinet, it punches harder than the 4x12 Marshalls I have. In fact, I hope to stack two Genz Benz 2x12's eventually as my high gain rig.
( sorry for the hypothetical here)Essentially, I'm thinking down the road , with two of the Genz Benz 2x12's, I could run one 100 watt 6505 into one , and one 100/120 watt Mesa Dual Rectifier into the other , and have an amazing beast of a high gain set-up.

 

[SirJackdeFuzz]

Re: 50 and 100W tube head users:

50W Bassman (AB165 - non Master Volume)

50W Orange Thunderverb

100W block letter 5150


(see my sig)



. . . . all of this fire power is used for either Blues Rock, Classic Rock, or Hard Rock, or Stoner/Sludge-N-DOOM

 

[SirJackdeFuzz]

Re: 50 and 100W tube head users:

Double post - yikes.

. . . . all of this fire power is used for either Blues Rock, Classic Rock, or Hard Rock, or Stoner/Sludge-N-DOOM


For 99% of Stoner, Sludge & DOOM, you need BIG amps.

Not for their head room, but for their LOW END pushing capabilities !

Low End eats A LOT of power . . . as we all know !

 

[hydro]

Re: 50 and 100W tube head users:

Mesa Express 5:50+ into a 1x12 open back (small gigs/my quieter band) or into a Mesa 4x12 (bigger gigs/my louder band). Switch to 25 watt mode for the smaller setup usually.

The 5:50+ is plenty loud enough; started favoring it over my 100 watt dual recto. Better cleans in the 5:50, better dirt/low end on the recto but I always had trouble matching channel volume levels on the recto and really only need two channels anyway for what I do.

With the Express I can do any size club and play heavy or more psych/mellow cleans. I like 6L6 based amps, just my personal taste.

Maybe I could get by with a 2x12 instead of a 4x12 but I just like the thump and I want to feel the amp behind me when I play heavy. Plus, lugging a 4x12 isn't that much worse than a 2x12 and they occupy almost the same stage real estate.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: 50 and 100W tube head users:

I've always used 412 or 212 cabs with V30's, but after I started loading my 212 combo amps with cooler speakers, and using them as 212's for heads, I'm getting a more refined taste in speakers.

I guess what I'm saying is that my closed back cabs will start seeing speakers like the two Celestion Creambacks 65/75, and Emi Swamp Thangs. They will replace or be mixed with V30's and H30's. I may ignore most other speakers.

 

[hydro]

Re: 50 and 100W tube head users:

I've always used 412 or 212 cabs with V30's, but after I started loading my 212 combo amps with cooler speakers, and using them as 212's for heads, I'm getting a more refined taste in speakers.

I guess what I'm saying is that my closed back cabs will start seeing speakers like the two Celestion Creambacks 65/75, and Emi Swamp Thangs. They will replace or be mixed with V30's and H30's. I may ignore most other speakers.

+1 on this; my Mesa 4x12 has V30s and I just don't care for them. Am thinking about swapping with Swamp Thangs, or possibly Mesa C90 Black Shadows.
I tried a Swamp Thang in a 1x12 and liked it a lot, need to log some more time on it before I commit.

 

[DreX]

Re: 50 and 100W tube head users:

Marshall JCM 1000 TSL 100w into a 1960B cab, for the stated reason others have said, for loud cleans and a thunderous low end, and to let pedals influence the overdriven tone more. It even has a power cut button that supposed to allow you to get a pushed sound at lower volumes, but I prefer not to use it. I'll admit, I don't think I use it entirely how it was intended, and that it would be too loud if I did.

 

[astrozombie]

Re: 50 and 100W tube head users:

Honestly these are the cabs I could get my hands on. I'm only using them because they have
Eminence and celestion speakers, respectively. I needed a 212 for being even a bigger pain in the butt towards my neighbors and also the Marshall was too heavy for long drives. I'm not on tour!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Toe-Knee]

Re: 50 and 100W tube head users:

I have my MkIIC+ and SLO.

Both are run into a custom Roadkill 2x12 cab loaded with Eminence Legend V128's

I've built and tried many amps at various wattage and i've found that 50w minimum is where the punchy tight in your face tones start.

Lower wattage amps tend to lack detail and balls in my experience. Especially with regards to low end. It is either anaemic or bloaty and undefined with lower than 50w amps

 

[dominus]

Re: 50 and 100W tube head users:

None.

If it's a tube amp, it goes to this:

Effects loop goes to computer for power amp sim and cabinet IRs.

 

[Surgeon]

Re: 50 and 100W tube head users:

Orange Thunderverb 50
Mesa Rectoverb (50W)

I'm using a custom-made Saxon cab straight diagonal 2x12 with Eminence Governors (V30s).

They cover pretty much all my bases. The rectoverb does the Mesa high-gain stuff in spades for my '90s punk to metal stuff. It sounds amazing, great master volume applications (so works good in the house) and it's got way better clean tones than people realize. Live or at home it serves me well.

The Thunderverb does every thing great too. The attenuator places it a bit better for home use than the RoV. It does high-gain exceptionnaly well (british flavor of it of course) and everything from crunch to metal. The cleans are good in the house but I haven't tested them fully in band situation yet.

The 2x12 cab is amazing and both heads are played through it most of the times.

I do use a home-made 1x12 with an Eminence Reignmaker (FMD technology) in the house when I need to quiet things a bit more.

 

[everdrone]

Re: 50 and 100W tube head users:

orange thunderverb 50 user here too :beerchug:

I use orange 212 closed back cab; it weighs 62 pounds and is bulky for my second story apartment, so I plan to downsize

this setup has extreme amounts of bass for my sludgy doom chugging. But alas, my style of music is not that popular so it does not get used as much as my bassguitar gear does... if it wasn't the perfect head for me that I had been searching for many years I would sell it cause it does not get used that much; I currently have a craigslist ad up hoping for a jam session


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[Top-L]

Re: 50 and 100W tube head users:

Peavey JSX 6L6 -> Randall Iso Cab (miked w/ JSX speaker), through PA. Use this daily. With the iso I can dial in the right amount of saturation.

I found that even though it is a close miked single 12", 100watt speaker, the full wattage really makes the amp punch/sing. Running the JSX in 60watt mode by pulling two tubes doesnt sound as full, doesnt punch or sing the same way. There is something magical about 100watt heads, which is why it has endured even though it is too loud for most venues. I think the 100watt tube head has enough headroom and can still really move air. It saturates in just the right proportion to volume of air being moved. Lower wattage heads seem to saturate too early and lack punch/dynamics.

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: 50 and 100W tube head users:

2x15 or 4x12 cabs. Mostly for recording, but also for venues with nice P.A.s. Otherwise, that's too much speaker to make any sense, if I actually want the band to sound good.

My amps are an Ampeg V4 (100W), an Ampeg Super Rocket (100W combo, but I often put it through a 4x12), and an Ampeg Reverberocket (50W head). In the past, I've had a JCM900 (100W) and a JCM2000 TSL122 (100W).

 

[Boogie Bill]

Re: 50 and 100W tube head users:

My small amps are a Mesa DC-3 112 V30 35-watt combo, or a Maverick 212 V30 30 watt Class A combo. I like using the DC-3 with a Mesa 112 EVM Thiele cab, or as my small amp for jam sessions, etc. I will often use the Maverick on top of a 212 V30 Horizontal Recto cab. BTW, The Mav and the DC-3 are very different sounding amps, even with the same 4xEL84 tubes. The EL84s have a rounder, frequency-and dynamically-limited tone. The Class A Maverick is very versatile, getting tones from Twin Reverb cleans to Vox chime to Plexi-snarl. That's a nice little low-power half stack. I would say that overall I prefer the sound of the 6L6 amps--it's what I grew up with. The 6L6 has good dynamics and a wide range, from lows to highs, and is to me very natural sounding; but the 84's do have that charming round tone.

My bigger amps are also Mesas. I have two Mark III combos and a Mark IV combo, and again I typically use a 112 Thiele with them. My newest amp is a Mark V 112 C90 combo, with a matching 112 V30 Thiele-ported Wide-Body Closed back cab. Mostly I have been using the Mark IV combo over the last few years, but I am transitioning to the Mark V. Great tones in this amp.

My BIG amp is a 200-watt Mesa Mark III Coliseum head. I have two 412 Mesa Half-Back cabs and a 212 HB cab I can use. Typically I use the LOW POWER setting because the amp is so dynamic--notes just explode out of the amp on the FULL POWER setting.

I really like the HB cabs. I get the same open top/closed back bottom with the combo + Thiele combination.

I play guitar and do lead vocals in a G/B/K/D cover band. We do a very wide range of material, from jazz, blues, country, classic rock bluegrass and originals. I sometimes take as many as seven instruments to a gig, including my Number One G&L Legacy, a back-up for the Legacy, a 2HB like a Les Paul or 335, acoustic, 12-string(s) and 5-string banjo. The trick is to use the right amp for the venue and the material.

Enough?

Bill

 

[MatelotFripon]

Re: 50 and 100W tube head users:

I play through a vintage 1968 Elk Twin 60 head. Those were Japanese-made Fender copies, point-to-point, hand-made, amazing amps !
It has a clean channel and a vibrato channel just like Fender's …It's very loud, versatile and super clean ! Handles effects very well and does not saturate easily .
I run this baby into an old 2x12 marshall hall-stack most of the time, but I like to plug it in my Ampeg 2x15 cab for fun !

 

[aleclee]

Re: 50 and 100W tube head users:

Over the years I've played with a variety of 2x12s. I briefly owned a (cheap) 4x12 but I didn't think it added much relative to my ported 2x12s.

I used them for everything from practice to playing out. Though most of my amps had good master volumes, they still needed to be too loud when I had a small kid in the house. I've since gone to the digital side and am in the process of selling off my tube amps and cabs.

 

[Rory61]

Re: 50 and 100W tube head users:

50 watt Mesa Rectoverb on a tilt back amp stand for smaller clubs, and a Marshall 100 watt Slash Jubilee through a Marshall 4x12 with Greenbacks for bigger places or outdoors.

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: 50 and 100W tube head users:

Mesa Road King (2x12" combo)
Splawn Quickrod - 2x12" cabinet

I run both at 50W for the most part, except when I want ultimate headroom from the Mesa, so I do 100W 6L6.

I play everything from blues an classic rock to "stoner" and "doom" metal/rock and classic metal.