Should I get a tube amp?

[StratTom]

Hello again,

The past couple months I've been thinking about getting a tube amp. I have been checking some out and even reading up on them. I have a few that I have in mind but they are mostly 50 watts to 120watts. My problem is that I live at home and I can't always crank my amp as loud as I wish. Which leaves me to think, should I really invest in getting a tube amp if I can't get the full use out of it? So here are my thoughts:

1) I could get a modeling amp, as opposed to a tube amp. Only thing is the ones I've played are too complicated to work.

2) Get a tube amp and get an attenuator. The only thing that I've heard bad about these are it affects your tone.

3) Get a lower watt tube amp and push pedals through it.

Anyone with advice on what I should do, I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks again,
Tom

 

[Imp]

Re: Should I get a tube amp?

marshall DSL 401 or 201. 20 or 40 watt combos, all EL84. go nuts

 

[Jeffrec]

Re: Should I get a tube amp?

Go with the tube amp. You won't regret it.

Crate V-series (EL34's) or Vintage Club (EL84's)

Fender Hot Rod Deville

Marshall DSL Combo (El34's)

 

[jmv]

Re: Should I get a tube amp?

i'd say go with tubes, personally. There are some real cool smaller amps out there, or you can go the attenuator route... i believe the weber mass is supposed to keep most of your tone intact, of course it won't quite have the same effect, because all the air moving and the ground kinda rumbling really adds to it sometimes.... but you'll still get good tone, to be sure.

 

[StratTom]

Re: Should I get a tube amp?

Thanks guys!

Yeah I would really like a tube amp. I have already looked at the Marshall dsl401 but I don't know if I like it much. I really would like to look at the Crate and Fender ones more since I haven't yet.

 

[McLaughysSN]

Re: Should I get a tube amp?

TUBE TUBE TUBE!!

modeling is ok in some things but NOTHING like having real tube. completely different league

 

[CsaRvoX]

Re: Should I get a tube amp?

Hi...last week I had the same decision to make and posted some questions about DSL or TSL...I had the same problem...with my Marshall VS-100 amplifier I cannot crank the volume and get the tone so I've decided to sell it and get a lower wattage all tube amp...well last friday I've sold it for 450$ and began looking some amps...I wanted to get especially lower wattage and crank it up for the tone...A DSL would be suitable it was nearly 850-900$...by the way I'm talking about the prices in Turkey...well I was going to buy DSL but before I wanted to search some more and be sure...what happened???well the best thing happened for me...I've searched and found a 79' Fender Twin Reverb for 800$!!!It had a preamp and master volume separately so you could get the full tube tone at lower volume levels...the point is I've sold my VS-100 because it was 100 watts and too loud for my room but now I have a bigger amp with 135 watts))...and I get the tone!!!the marvellous clean tone really smashes my old VS-100 in every way...now I'm going to get a TS-9 or alike and see the overdrive tone...if I hadn't searched some more I would end up having a DSL401 for 850-900$...I don't mean DSL is a bad amp but I think it could not come close to the famous Twin Reverb...the main point is to search some more maybe you'll find something that you'll never regret :fing25:

 

[xerxes]

Re: Should I get a tube amp?

i have 2 suggestions:

one, get a lower watt tube amp such as the peavey classic 30

two, get a modeling amp such as the tech 21 30 watt amp. i know puckboy99 has 2 of them (the nyc ones), and loooooves them.

 

[Lee_M.]

Re: Should I get a tube amp?

I think it depends on what type of set-up you are looking for. Do you want to use pedals to create your distortion/gain, etc? Or do you want Distortion from your amp? If you like pedals for your lead tone, then try the Fender Blues Jr. It is Low Wattage and sounds great. I personally like the Vibrolux, which is a tad more expensive.

If you want to get the distortion from your amp, then try a small Marshall combo or one of the Mesa combos. I love the 4x10 Nomad series - great versatility and tone.

If you want non-tube, go with some of the aforementioned recommendations.

 

[StefanM]

Re: Should I get a tube amp?

I'm completely sold on tube amps. Once you have one, you'll be hooked - the sound, the feel. No comparison, period.

Me, I'd either buy something like a Boogie F-series if you want versatility, and if you want blues, a nice small amp. If I had the money I'd get a boogie with a switchable power output section and get the best of both worlds (like a Blue Angel or MkIV).

All tube with the power amp working hard can be a lovely thing - you just have to work out if it's *your* thing. Some people like big power amps played moderatly, so they have a lot of headroom (think boring Fender player)*


----------
* note, I'm not saying people who play fender amps are boring, I just mean 'boring' in the sense of having one sound - an underworked huge Twin played very clean.

 

[StefanM]

Re: Should I get a tube amp?

A few more points to note:

Apart from the fact that wattage ratings are bull**** ratings at the best of times and are only useful in a very general sense, tube amps tend to be 'louder' than solid state for the same wattage rating. When a solid state amp is cranked and starts to distort, it clips. This means 'nasty' odd-order-harmonics distortion, you're simply out of headroom and you can't turn it up louder without it sounding nasty. A tube amp on the other hand, as we know, starts to smoothly compress and give off nice even-order harmonics, and THEN saturates later but it's a desirable sound (IIRC, 'nasty' distorsion is heard by our ears as pain a lot sooner than 'nice distrion'). SO, basically, at the point it runs out of 'clean' headroom it still has a long way to go.

This is just rough, and AFAIK and IMO, so someone else please jump in. But I had an '80w' Marshall Valvestate before my '35' watt Boogie DC-3 and the boogie ****S all over it, apart from being lightyears ahead of the marhsall in all respects it is easilly twice as loud.

 

[Young Angus]

Re: Should I get a tube amp?

Definitely go tube man, you wont look back!

Id go for something lower in wattage, like 60 watts or under. There are a lot of nice tube amps for around 30 watts like the peavey classic 30 and some fender hot rod types. Also some 1x12 mesaboogie and ENGL combos are well worth looking at, they will blow you away.

Have fun!

 

[JfromHouston]

Re: Should I get a tube amp?

If your not in a band and only playing at home or with buddies I say go modeling. I have both tube and modeling amps and use them both but find myself playing my Line6 as much if not more. I like that I can get good tones at low volume where with my DSL I really need to get the volume past 2 before it starts to sounds good. 2 is loud and will piss everyone off in your house. Another plus is that I have a ton of tones with the L6 that sound good. Sure, its not as good as the real deal but it sounds good to my ears and I can play it any time I want too.

J

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Should I get a tube amp?

i have 2 suggestions:

one, get a lower watt tube amp such as the peavey classic 30

two, get a modeling amp such as the tech 21 30 watt amp. i know puckboy99 has 2 of them (the nyc ones), and loooooves them.

I agree...or the Peavey Classic 50. I like the four 10" speaker version. You can find them on ebay cheap. Then get a nice Boss DS-1 and learn how to use it. I like to leave the DS-1 on all the time. Once you get the hang of it, you can do everything with the volume control of your guitar and go from very clean to very overdriven just by manipulating the volume control of your guitar. That's how guys like Steve Vai use the DS-1...it's rarely turned off!

Depending how much you have to spend, you might be able to score a used Marshall JCM 800 50 watt combo amp for around $600...that'd be even better! Do not get one with side by side inputs tho. Go for one from around 1982 or 83 with vertical inputs. Much better tone, IMO.

Lew

 

[drp555]

Re: Should I get a tube amp?

Nothing beats the experience of playing through a tube amp. I have a 1984 marshall jcm800 2x12 combo, and though I wouldn't call it versatile, it has a great sound. Unfortunately, it's been broke for a few years. I plan on getting it worked on soon...I also have a Line6 flextone II and I have grown to hate it. It gets MAYBE 75% of tube tone, but has ZERO feel. It sounds horrible at loud performance volumes, and I think even at low volumes it has this annoying fake and tinny quality to it. I've downloaded tones from the internet to it and it's interesting for while, but the novelity wears off quick. I'm going to sell the flextone and a solid state fender I have and probably get a mesa soon.... I've always been impatient and just bought what I could afford and what was available at the time. But I made a decision recently to just be patient and get exactly what I want and settle for nothing less, even if I have to save up $$$ for while longer to get it. Basically let your ears decide for you. Try out as many amps as you can find and see which suits your needs and is right for you. There's a lot of amps out there, people in this thread have recommended some good ones. Just take your time and think carefully about your decision.

 

[jmv]

Re: Should I get a tube amp?

One super hip amp, IMO, for bedroom practice would be a blackface fender champ or vibrochamp.... low wattage, so you can really crank em, and they sound pretty good, IMO. Worth checking out if you dig classic fender sounds.

Note: Silverface fender amps are almost always cheaper than blackface, and i do recall it being said at the Fender Forum that the vibrochamp circuit didn't change when it went to silverface, as nearly all the other amp models did (usually, they changed for the worse). However, my mom has got a silverface vibrochamp that doesn't sound too good when cranked... but i think that might be the speaker.

Princetons and Princeton reverbs are cool too, if you want something a tad bigger or with more tonal options in an old fender.

 

[TheMist]

Re: Should I get a tube amp?

I think Peavey makes the best bang for your buck tube amps out there. The XXX is a very good all around amp. I think you would like it.

 

[Pandemonium]

Re: Should I get a tube amp?

IMHO, yes.

 

[Brian110687]

Re: Should I get a tube amp?

marshall DSL 401 or 201. 20 or 40 watt combos, all EL84. go nuts

TUBES! ^^^^^

 

[BombsAwayJ]

Re: Should I get a tube amp?

There have been many good amps mentioned, but if you wanted to get a 50 watt tube head, say a DSL, you don't HAVE to have a 4x12 to go with it. You could buy a 1x12 extension cab for it and it would have less projection and therefore sound like it has less volume. You could always uprgade later to something bigger like a 2x12 or 4x12.