Sovtek Mig 100 Opinions??

[aaronl]

Hey guys and gals,
I have a chance to get a Sovtek Mig 100 here local in a trade, I have heard they are great amps but I would rather here from someone on here if there is anyone that knows the amp or about it.

I am really starting to want more of a Marshall JCM 800 sound I just can't put the money into a real Marshall, I know this isnt a jcm 800 but I hear it comes pretty close.

Any ideas or suggestions? Good or Bad!

 

[lousy_player]

Re: Sovtek Mig 100 Opinions??

Those things are supposed to be killer. Indestructable, too.

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Sovtek Mig 100 Opinions??

Those things are supposed to be killer. Indestructable, too.

I would hardly use the term indestructable...

 

[jerryjg]

Re: Sovtek Mig 100 Opinions??

I would hardly use the term indestructable...

They are supposed to be very good amps, they are said to sound "great", and to be built very well. I mean the Rooskie Sovteks/Red Bear gear.
I wouldnt trust the quality of Russian made gear myself, unless i could get it cheap. DIRT cheap.

 

[aaronl]

Re: Sovtek Mig 100 Opinions??

I am at this point where I would be trading my Fender Hotrod Deville 4X10 for the sovtek.

I like the fender, i do not consider it "bad" at all but I don't know if it will get me where I want to be sound wise.

I have only been using a TS-808 maybe I need to try different pedals.

I found DS-1 for cheap here at a pawn shop and I was going to do the JCM-800 mod to it from this site:
http://www.premierguitar.com/Magazine/Issue/2008/Feb/Boss_DS_1_Mods.aspx

Or the Vintage mod.

Anyway just on that tone search kinda feel like a dog chasing his tail.

I am also wondering at this point if I should just save my $$ I have a friend that just got a Ceriatone JTM-45 for a STEAL imho and the price he paid I could get saved up in 9 months or so, not to awful long out...

Thanks again for any ideas.

 

[jerryjg]

Re: Sovtek Mig 100 Opinions??

I am at this point where I would be trading my Fender Hotrod Deville 4X10 for the sovtek.

I like the fender, i do not consider it "bad" at all but I don't know if it will get me where I want to be sound wise.

I have only been using a TS-808 maybe I need to try different pedals.

I found DS-1 for cheap here at a pawn shop and I was going to do the JCM-800 mod to it from this site:
http://www.premierguitar.com/Magazine/Issue/2008/Feb/Boss_DS_1_Mods.aspx

Or the Vintage mod.

Anyway just on that tone search kinda feel like a dog chasing his tail.

I am also wondering at this point if I should just save my $$ I have a friend that just got a Ceriatone JTM-45 for a STEAL imho and the price he paid I could get saved up in 9 months or so, not to awful long out...

Thanks again for any ideas.

I persoanlly would hate to have to rely on pedals through a fender for Dirty tones.If thats your bag, and you dont like cleans, then I suggest geting a different amp.
Im constantly deluged with dudes telling me how great their late model fenders sound dirty with X, Y, or Z pedal. I dont buy it.

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Sovtek Mig 100 Opinions??

They are supposed to be very good amps, they are said to sound "great", and to be built very well. I mean the Rooskie Sovteks/Red Bear gear.
I wouldnt trust the quality of Russian made gear myself, unless i could get it cheap. DIRT cheap.

Sound good, even great and indestructable are 2 very different things...the Sovtek amps do sound good and with a few choice mods sound great but they are VERY MUCH built to a price point and IMO it does show...they are made on very thin PCB's, have terrible thin wire going from the board to all the parts and the pots and tubesockets are so-so at best...

However they do sound good and if you plan on doing little to no real gigging they will more than likely be fine...

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Sovtek Mig 100 Opinions??

I persoanlly would hate to have to rely on pedals through a fender for Dirty tones.If thats your bag, and you dont like cleans, then I suggest geting a different amp.
Im constantly deluged with dudes telling me how great their late model fenders sound dirty with X, Y, or Z pedal. I dont buy it.

Ya know, it works for a LOT of guitar players out there...

 

[guitfiddle]

Re: Sovtek Mig 100 Opinions??

Ya know, it works for a LOT of guitar players out there...

I like the warm, clean platform to put a pedal on...A dirt pedal into a dirty Marshall is more likely, to me, to be mushy in comaprison.

 

[The Golden Boy]

Re: Sovtek Mig 100 Opinions??

I've got a MiG-60. It's a really cool amp at volume. The MV is about useless- fizzy and buzzy. Crank it up, and it snorts.

Unfortunately, it's a bit too loud for most situations for me...

 

[aaronl]

Re: Sovtek Mig 100 Opinions??

I've got a MiG-60. It's a really cool amp at volume. The MV is about useless- fizzy and buzzy. Crank it up, and it snorts.

Unfortunately, it's a bit too loud for most situations for me...

That is part of the "problem" if you will for me, I am not a gigging musician I jam with friends from time to time but u know am not in a band so 100 is WAY overkill LOL but so is the 60 watts that this fender puts out as well.

 

[The Golden Boy]

Re: Sovtek Mig 100 Opinions??

That is part of the "problem" if you will for me, I am not a gigging musician I jam with friends from time to time but u know am not in a band so 100 is WAY overkill LOL but so is the 60 watts that this fender puts out as well.

It's not so much the power, but how low of a volume you can get a pleasing sound at.

I get a sound I like out of my 50w MV Marshall and Park at volumes low enough to not bother (too much) other people in the house. The MV circuit is pretty decent. As much as I like the tone of the MiG, I can only play that when there's nobody home because I have to have it at a "concert" volume level to sound decent.

 

[aaronl]

Re: Sovtek Mig 100 Opinions??

I know this does have a master volume but I do not know if that helps or not

 

[kevlar3000]

Re: Sovtek Mig 100 Opinions??

I would imagine they are of a very similiar build to the PV VTM. Iffy, but for some reason they seem to keep turning on and off...lol Pots go bad , tube circuits go bad, it could be a pain, fixable, but a pain. Sound decent, almost got one when they were 200.00 amps, would not pay the big bucks they are getting now, esp with all those Traynors still sitting in the same range....

 

[marvar]

Re: Sovtek Mig 100 Opinions??

There were a couple of guys that had these amps around here a few years ago, they sounded good when they were well, but as I recall, they had alot of reliablilty problems, seemed like one or more of them were in the shop about half the time. This was very early after the into of the Sovtek line.
Don't see them much lately.

 

[Boogie Bill]

Re: Sovtek Mig 100 Opinions??

I would imagine they are of a very similiar build to the PV VTM. Iffy, but for some reason they seem to keep turning on and off...lol Pots go bad , tube circuits go bad, it could be a pain, fixable, but a pain. Sound decent, almost got one when they were 200.00 amps, would not pay the big bucks they are getting now, esp with all those Traynors still sitting in the same range....

I simply cannot imagine any circumstances that would make me choose any MIG amp over a Peavey VTM 60 or VTM 120!!! Those VTMs are very under-rated amps. They are very well-built, and have quite a bit of versatility to their tone. They don't sound like a Marshall--their heritage is more Fender than Marshall.

The MIG 100 may look attractive, Aaronl--but I don't think it's a good deal for you. Your Fender DeVille with the right pedal should be able to get you the tone your looking for--without taking a huge risk on the Russian amp.

My two cents, good luck!

Bill

 

[kevlar3000]

Re: Sovtek Mig 100 Opinions??

I simply cannot imagine any circumstances that would make me choose any MIG amp over a Peavey VTM 60 or VTM 120!!! Those VTMs are very under-rated amps. They are very well-built, and have quite a bit of versatility to their tone. They don't sound like a Marshall--their heritage is more Fender than Marshall.

The MIG 100 may look attractive, Aaronl--but I don't think it's a good deal for you. Your Fender DeVille with the right pedal should be able to get you the tone your looking for--without taking a huge risk on the Russian amp.

My two cents, good luck!

Bill

I have spent a lot of time in my VTM. Mounted knobs, thin wire, very cheap plastic plug ins, pc mounted sockets and very thin circuit board. The traces come up very easy. I dig the amp a bunch and outside of the 6l6 power section, it is juiced 800 all the way. Honestly my Laney AOR 100 is a much better build, but in terms of sonics they both can sound excellent with a few tweaks. I would have to think the Sovtek would fall right into that category.