DON'T WANT TUBE AMP DISTORTION

Bfeeney

Bfeeney

Active member
I'm thinking about getting a low watt (<10) cheap tube amp just for cleans. This amp is a novalty thing, I have a Peavey Vypyr 30 head/cab which kicks ass, I just always wanted a tube amp (not for $2000+ though). All the amps that meet the watt/$$ criteria only have a volume control, which is fine, don't really care. What I don't like is the volume is also a gain, so the higher up it is the dirtier it is. Kinda defeats the purpose with it being only for cleans. I have NO experience with tube stuff, can I do some swapping and make the vol. just a vol.? Maybe put in tubes that need a lot of push to get them to get dirty then putting them in a little 2-5 watt amp with no push to it? I don't know, I'm new at tubes & talking out my a$$.
 
Re: DON'T WANT TUBE AMP DISTORTION

Anything less than 15 tube watts is going to break up most likely more than you wish. Tube swaps won't change it to do what you want. You'll just be chasing your tail. You need to step up to 40 or 50 tube watts to get solid loud cleans. I'm speaking in general terms.
 
Re: DON'T WANT TUBE AMP DISTORTION

I have a 5-watt Marshall Class 5. I don't play it when I'm in a "clean" mood.
 
Re: DON'T WANT TUBE AMP DISTORTION

Alright, unbelievablely great news, My friend GAVE me his Marshall JCM900 SL-X head for free! Hell yeah! Well not exactly free, he said it keeps blowing fuses so I have to track that down. Is there an area I should look at first to fix it? Are they known for arching? Hopefully this will fix easily and my clean amp problem solved (with a Marshall!!!!!)
 
Re: DON'T WANT TUBE AMP DISTORTION

Sure with the gain down the SLX will be clean... but i wouldnt ever accuse them of being good cleans. Using one for cleans is kinda like using a ferrari to pull a manure cart. Its a great score get the amp fixed and it will do killer distortion sounds for you. look elsewhere for great cleans.
 
Re: DON'T WANT TUBE AMP DISTORTION

You might surprise yourself with how much you like tube distortion once you get that Marshall fixed.

As others have said, you don't get a good clean tone from a low wattage tube amp. I have a Peavey Valve King Royal 8 (5 watt class A tube amp), and it has very little clean tone. I use it as a practice amp most of the time and constantly got yelled at by a former band leader to get a cleaner tone out of it, despite me telling him why it was unable to get clean. After a while I stopped bringing that amp and starting bringing my Roland Cube 60, which while not a tube, has better cleans that 90% of the tube amps I've ever played.
 
Re: DON'T WANT TUBE AMP DISTORTION

I tore it apart on my lunch break and saw it's the main fuse that's blown. I looked at the circuit boards and all the trinky-dinks on the boards and it all looked fine. What about the transformers (2), do they go bad?
 
Re: DON'T WANT TUBE AMP DISTORTION

Bfeeney said:
I tore it apart on my lunch break and saw it's the main fuse that's blown. I looked at the circuit boards and all the trinky-dinks on the boards and it all looked fine. What about the transformers (2), do they go bad?
Click to expand...

Based on posts you've made thus far I'm going to give you some friendly advise...

You have nothing in the amp so spend a little cash and TAKE IT TO A PRO AND HAVE IT FIXED.

Just trust me...you'll be safer in the long run and the amp just might live to rock another day.


All this said a JCM900SLX isn't going to be very loud and clean at all but for free you can't complain!
 
Re: DON'T WANT TUBE AMP DISTORTION

When I see you say you don't want tube amp distortion, my question is, "Why not?" You see, it sounds awesome, even in small doses.
 
Re: DON'T WANT TUBE AMP DISTORTION

misterwhizzy said:
When I see you say you don't want tube amp distortion, my question is, "Why not?" You see, it sounds awesome, even in small doses.
Click to expand...

I have a Peavey Vypyr 30 head with 12 amp sims w/overdrives on all, 1/2 of those are REALLY overdriven on the 'clean' channels. Plus the 3 distortions built into it. Plus my Ibanez SM-7 Smash Box. I think I have distortion covered.

As for taking it to a shop, I called a place around me and they said $65/hour+ parts. That's fine, I have to swallow my pride though, I LOVE doing this stuff & learning so I can help the next guy. BUT!!!!!!! it is a real Marshall (not the MG stuff) and how often do those just fall in your lap? Don't want to go and f*ck it up.
 
Re: DON'T WANT TUBE AMP DISTORTION

Brother I can tell by reading your posts that as handy as you might be you have no clue whats going on inside that amp and this is not a good way to learn...it's a good way to smoke an amp and a good way to get hurt or even dead messing around where you shouldn't be messing around.

If the amp is popping fuses it might very well be a transformer or transformers already but if it's not and you go messing around you can make it transformers quickly.

You have a FREE amp...$65 an hour for a tech is WELL worth it...
 
Re: DON'T WANT TUBE AMP DISTORTION

You're gonna rethink all that talk about having distortion covered when you discover the gain knob on that Marshall :headbang:
 
Re: DON'T WANT TUBE AMP DISTORTION

I love the warmth of the single knob Epi Valve Jr which is made for tube swaps- so i THINK (someone like glassman could answer this) u could do a 12at7 & be happy with the knob on 6, :but for the money, the Bugera 5w has bass, treble & reverb (AND an adjustable wattage button for when you grow up & drive tubes. Just kidding! Im a religious nut about tube distortion.)

But seriously, there's squeaky shiny clean, like the solid state Roland StereoChorus or "Enter Sandman";, and then there's clear and clean, like The Beatles, Stones, The Cure, REM, etc. etc. where the tubes add an indetectable smidge of .4% harmonic distortion- kinda like the difference between tape/records vs. Cd/ mp3. It doesn't sound "distorted" to your ear, but it feels like holy water in your gut. Most popular music with "clean" channel elec gtr is recorded on tube amps (like Fender, Vox, Ampeg) because the ever-so-slight mush of the tubes imparts a dreamy, optimum listenability because one's brain is seduced into constructing a perception of a magical incomplete tone, instead of tuning out certain harsh, repititious frequencies which causes a certain fatigue that makes the mind lose interest.

In other words, compare a tube distortion on 11 to a regular distortion pedal or Vypyr saturation on 11. Or compare your Vypyr clean to tube clean. If one makes you feel like " okay, enough, i puttin the gtr down now" & the other makes you feel like "dang, i could play this all night", then the difference in love-of-guitar isn't so subtle.
 
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