In your opinion the best tube amp tonally that you can get nowadays

[everdrone]

Re: In your opinion the best tube amp tonally that you can get nowadays

I'm not into fanboism of tube amp or anything I practice with my 90 bucks vox mini 3 but with that you cant get the tube saturation sound

Orange Amplification for jamming with a drummer and other musicians :14: tube tone is harmonically very rich and cuts through the mix pleasantly; last night I saw a band that used only a line 6 for guitar amp and you could not even hear the guitar except for guitar solos, even though there were two pro audio guys constantly monitoring the mix! all you could hear was bass, singing, drums, and guitar solos. could not hear the rhythym guitar at all, even for covers where I know what the guitar riffs are.

for very quiet apartments like mine, tube amps are way too loud, they are designed to be loud! even if only 1/4 watt. I recommend modelers only and IR impulses; ideally a Kemper or AxeFXII

 

[NewWave]

Re: In your opinion the best tube amp tonally that you can get nowadays

Orange Amplification for jamming with a drummer and other musicians :14: tube tone is harmonically very rich and cuts through the mix pleasantly; last night I saw a band that used only a line 6 for guitar amp and you could not even hear the guitar except for guitar solos, even though there were two pro audio guys constantly monitoring the mix! all you could hear was bass, singing, drums, and guitar solos. could not hear the rhythym guitar at all, even for covers where I know what the guitar riffs are.

for very quiet apartments like mine, tube amps are way too loud, they are designed to be loud! even if only 1/4 watt. I recommend modelers only and IR impulses; ideally a Kemper or AxeFXII

Well.. you're not goint to gigg in your apartment room right? :33: I know tube amps are made to be loud thats why they use tube amp in the 50s-70s because there is no micing small amp+pa = stadium level equation back then.

The thing about tube amps in my opinion and why I like them is when they start to clip it starts to have some "attitude". Longer sustain, more warmth, more grit and they react to pickup in a way that no solid state can.

Why not get a small solid state for practice and a 10-20 watt tube for gigging with 112? You can get the sound you need at usable volume?

 

[everdrone]

Re: In your opinion the best tube amp tonally that you can get nowadays

ya, I use modelers for all my recordings, cause you need to push lots of air to get good heavy rock guitar tones!

live, I use tube amp for guitar, and modeler and solid state for bass amps. guitar is so in your face at shows, I really believe in tube tone, the harmonics are much better. bass = no one really can tell unless you are recording methinkz...

 

[DesertRose]

Re: In your opinion the best tube amp tonally that you can get nowadays

Best sounding is kindda subjective.

Nowadays there are so many varieties of amps I can choose from to give me the sound I want.
I mainly use dirt pedals to boost my sound whichever, so a single channel amp is for me.

I would opt for a Boogie or Marshall

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: In your opinion the best tube amp tonally that you can get nowadays

I really like the versatility of the Marshall Vintage Modern. With a little time learning how to tweak it, you can get some extremely lush clean tones and the best crunch in the business.

 

[Hellion]

Re: In your opinion the best tube amp tonally that you can get nowadays

Is money an object? If it's not, I'd recommend a Soldano SLO. If it is, then look for something used. Something Mesa or Marshall (even though I'm not a big fan of EL-34 tubes).

 

[some_dude]

Re: In your opinion the best tube amp tonally that you can get nowadays

I play blues to distorted rock and roll mostly.

Dual Rectifier for me.

Normally I wouldn't mention it in a thread like this but you seem to be after atypical responses so I'll give mine.

Just because an amp is capable of super high gain doesn't mean you need to use all of it. Nor does it mean that the non sup high gain channels aren't capable of some great low-to-mid gain drive levels. In my case I use a Recto on the tweed channel with the tube rectifier on and the voltage sagged. It's a nice soft clip with a nice sag to it's response that isn't at all like the face melting experience you'd probably expect from a high gain amp.

And for what it's worth, Warren Haynes uses a high gain Soldano SLO with the gain on 4 while Billy Gibbons uses a Marshall JMP-1 with the gain full up.

 

[briggleman]

Re: In your opinion the best tube amp tonally that you can get nowadays

If it has the word MESA on it!

 

[That90'sGuy]

Re: In your opinion the best tube amp tonally that you can get nowadays

Taste is so subjective, but for me, I think I find I like the silverface/blackface Fender stuff the most. I have a 5e3 tweed-ish Fender clone, but there's something about the headroom, the clarity and the sheer shimmer and depth of my SF Vibrolux Reverb that I love. The tweed is great when I want that early Marshall kinda midrange honk and I like that you can control various shades of dirt with your pick attack, but the tone is never as pure as when you're playing into a clean Fender.

I've done the Bogner thing (great "jack of all trades" amp... best I've heard actually), Vox, Bad Cat, Hughes and Kettner, Fargen.... but at the end of the day I'm the most inspired by a good 'ole clean classic Fender tone. I do like the Mesa Express I played not too long ago and I remember liking their Lone Star Special and the Stiletto outdid Marshall. I've played a lot of boutique stuff, but the 3 best amps that standout in my mind would be the Matchless Chieftain, Carr Slant 6V and the Savage Blitz 50.

 

[MetalManiac]

Re: In your opinion the best tube amp tonally that you can get nowadays

Bogners gotta be right up there. My Shiva has, dare I say, almost more silky,deep and luxurious cleans than the Blackfaces I am so accustomed to regarding as the Holy Grail of classic tone.
That said, nothing beats the rich, palpable crisp bright organic breakup of an old Blackface that *I know of.Thats one dimension that can't be replicated with ANY new amp;the overdrive/natural distortion of an old Blackface.

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: In your opinion the best tube amp tonally that you can get nowadays

Blackface Fender Bassman.

Can you still buy this amp today? Read the original post.. ;o)

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: In your opinion the best tube amp tonally that you can get nowadays

The Fender Deluxe Reverb amp is pretty hard to beat..The reissue..

 

[Jay 77]

Re: In your opinion the best tube amp tonally that you can get nowadays

Whatever costs the most, obviously. Duh.

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: In your opinion the best tube amp tonally that you can get nowadays

Whatever costs the most, obviously. Duh.

You're joking right? ;o)

 

[MetalManiac]

Re: In your opinion the best tube amp tonally that you can get nowadays

The Fender Deluxe Reverb amp is pretty hard to beat..The reissue..

Those reissue Fender amps do sound great, but sound 'Silverface'( overhyped too glassy cleans and no real organic substance) not 'Blackface'.
The Bogner Shiva does capture Blackface cleans, almost even in a way nicer...but only a Blackface Fender can capture the great organic classic distortion/overdrive of a Fender Blackface amp. Even the Bogner distortion is terrible in comparison, and its the best try at it, way better than the aweful Fender reissues.
BTW, modelling amps are pure crap..MUCH much worse than the best old solid state. The fact you dont know that troubles me.

 

[Jay 77]

Re: In your opinion the best tube amp tonally that you can get nowadays

You're joking right? ;o)

 

[guitfiddle]

Re: In your opinion the best tube amp tonally that you can get nowadays

Dual Rectifier for me.

Normally I wouldn't mention it in a thread like this but you seem to be after atypical responses so I'll give mine.

Just because an amp is capable of super high gain doesn't mean you need to use all of it. Nor does it mean that the non sup high gain channels aren't capable of some great low-to-mid gain drive levels. In my case I use a Recto on the tweed channel with the tube rectifier on and the voltage sagged. It's a nice soft clip with a nice sag to it's response that isn't at all like the face melting experience you'd probably expect from a high gain amp.

And for what it's worth, Warren Haynes uses a high gain Soldano SLO with the gain on 4 while Billy Gibbons uses a Marshall JMP-1 with the gain full up.

This is a great post. I use a model of the red channel of an XTC on my Randall modular amp, but turn the gain down to 4 or so, and the channel volume up to around 8. Sounds fine and bluesy.

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: In your opinion the best tube amp tonally that you can get nowadays

Those reissue Fender amps do sound great, but sound 'Silverface'( overhyped too glassy cleans and no real organic substance) not 'Blackface'.
The Bogner Shiva does capture Blackface cleans, almost even in a way nicer...but only a Blackface Fender can capture the great organic classic distortion/overdrive of a Fender Blackface amp. Even the Bogner distortion is terrible in comparison, and its the best try at it, way betterthan the aweful Fender reissues.
BTW, modelling amps are pure crap

They need a little tweaking and the speaker is too tight sounding on them..Probably like what an original BF Deluxe sounded like "new"...Gotta remove that bright cap also!

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: In your opinion the best tube amp tonally that you can get nowadays

See I knew it... ;o)

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: In your opinion the best tube amp tonally that you can get nowadays

Can't buy this guy new today,but I can and have done everything our band does and needs to do,with this amp and some pedals..