Modeling amp or tube amp -- help.

[jclogston]

Hi -
I need advice on my next amp purchase.
First some background. I live in an apartment and I play for leisure. I play play mostly old school metal, i.e., testament, metallica, megadeth, king diamond.
Anyway i have owned several amps, the last 2 being a mesa boogie nomad 45 and a tech 21 trademark 10. I liked the nomad alot however at the time i felt that i wasn't really using it to its full potential as i couldn't crank it up. But despite that, i still liked the lower volume sounds it had (from my understanding preamp distortion plays a huge part in mesa boogie amps). So i sold it and ended up with the tech 21 tm10. Not a bad amp, but after a year with it, the clean sounds were very dull sounding to me. As a result i sold it and am now ampless.
So now looking for the "next amp". I was looking at modeling amps, namely the vox ad15. I tried it out and it sounds pretty good. However, i stopped by my local musicgoround and they had 2 mesa boogie rocket 44 for $500. Don't know if that is a good price or not, but i have always been interested in picking up subway rocket. Granted the rocket is larger and higher wattage, the price looks attractive considering i have seen some subway rockets go for over 500.
So the question is, which should i go for? New modeling amps come out every other month these days. As for mesa boogie amps i know they will keep its value with time. With that mind, is it worth the investment in getting the tube amp?

any insight or other advice is greatly appreciated,

jeff

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Modeling amp or tube amp -- help.

For your situation, I'd highly recommend that you buy a Vox Valvetronix AD60 head and 2-12 cab. I use that at home, and at any hour of the night I want, since it's got a variable wattage selector, headphone outs, recording outs, and the top panel is laid out 'idiot proof.' Even though it looks retro, it's a highgain killing machine for styles you mentioned. They laid it out so there's OD models in front of the amps, a noisegate to tame the hiss on super highgain settings, and FX that are easy to navigate. If you buy the head for around $420 new, you can use it as a portable POD type thing, or use it on any type of cab. If you buy the combo, you're stuck with it's speaker and open back design. For gain settings, a head/cab is much tighter sounding. Plus, the clean settings are all really good. The mini tube section feeding the solid state power section is a genious idea, and works.

 

[Mkf411]

Re: Modeling amp or tube amp -- help.

I wouldn't want the Vox AD-15 combo to be my only amp. You would be very happy with the Vox head. Especially at home. Another amp to consider is the Soldano Astroverb. I've been wanting to try one out. That one has reverb, they also have one that's discontinued without reverb. It's all tube and it's supposed to sound good at lower volumes. It'll hold it's value, too.

 

[TheJangus]

Re: Modeling amp or tube amp -- help.

I bought an ad15vt in November. Very cool amp. The Dumble models sound great. I like the Marshall models too, but I'm thinking of selling it. I got a Blues Jr. for Christmas and the Vox is just redundent now. If you decide you want the ad15, pm with an offer. I got it new for $180 at Guitar Center and it's got a couple hours play time on it.

 

[Davey]

Re: Modeling amp or tube amp -- help.

get an ENGL Powerball.. kill your neighbours with it after that noone will complain.. ever

i dont have much experience in modeling amps, but the guitar port and also the POD XT (so to speak) never failed what i wanted... but having to buy an amp and then the POD can get a bit expencive, so i add to the 'get a vox AD-60 and be happy'

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Modeling amp or tube amp -- help.

I think the Vox AD120 (stereo), the Flextone and Vetta heads are really good too, but they're all over 100 watts, so when you turn them down, you're on 1.
With the Vox AD60 head, there's a rotary knob on the back that goes from 6, 15, 30, and 60W. At home, I usually use the 15 W setting, and late at night, 6 W.
Since it's got that 12AX7 running into the power section, you can actually hear that cranked sound when the amp is on 6 or 15 watts, and the master volume turned up a bit. The L6's don't seem to give you that.

 

[Buckeyedog]

Re: Modeling amp or tube amp -- help.

FYI - The 120 also has the rotary watt reduction knob. Very nice feature!!

 

[Metalman_666]

Re: Modeling amp or tube amp -- help.

I've heard some good stuff about the Vox Valvetronix, so get the AD60 head and you can use any cab with it, it's all good.

 

[RiffRaff]

Re: Modeling amp or tube amp -- help.

stay away from the rocket 44, I had one for a couple of years, ate tubes like a five year old with a new tooth, very noisy, constant footswitch problems and it only sounded good cranked - at 45 watts it's one loud little mother.

The 60 watt and above valvetronix are great amps - I use a TonelabSE pedalboard, a peavey 50/50 tube power amp and an avatar 2x12 cabinet, it's quiet enough to jam along with a record in my music room and more than capable of driving the 2x12 for a large gig (the amp can be bridged for 100 watts mono). Altogether for the pedal board, amp and cabinet I paid less than a grand. Granted the amp and cab I bought used but they were in great shape. I kind of have the best of both worlds when it comes to modeling.

 

[Hellion]

Re: Modeling amp or tube amp -- help.

I own a Line 6 Spider and for a small amp (50 watts) it has come in handy at more than one gig. It's not my main stage rig, but it HAS worked in a pinch.