SPARE HEAD QUESTION

[jackson111]

OK my blackstar has left me dead on stage twice with some messed up problem that has no rhyme or reason. then the next morning I fire it up and the sucker sings like a canary, I took it an authorized repair center to get same day repair and he couldn't find a thing wrong, so he gave me a 3 month warranty and said if it died again to bring it to him and let him keep it for a couple weeks so he can run it to get it to fail to find the problem. I told him I was going to sell it and move on, he has talked me into trying a third time and I explained I am gun shy now and its messing with my performance. he told me to look at getting a spare head (old and cheap but good and dependable) so if my amp died again I could set the head on top of the combo, unplug my cab from the chassis and connect them to the spare head and keep getting it. I asked what he meant by older, cheap, good head. he told me the crate blue voodoo 60h is cheap, built very well and would give me close tone to my stage 60. I have found one online for 200.00 with a cab included, which leaves me asking if their are dependable and have good tone why are they so cheap? are these heads any good? the other he suggested was a peavey triple xxx but he said that would typically be more expensive and the wattage would be high then my combo so I would have to watch how hard I pushed it so I don't blow my combo speakers. he also named off a carvin head I think it was a v3m. but since im on a budget I am looking more at the blue voodoo. any feed back will be apprciated

 

[jimijames]

Re: SPARE HEAD QUESTION

Well, here's a discussion I found about it, after a search. Link

I haven't found them as cheap as you're describing, but I've only been looking for 2 or 3 minutes now, so idk.

They seem serviceable if unremarkable. That usually means they're cheaper than the "sleeper" gear stuff and vintage boutique stuff and so forth. I don't know why the $200 you found is that cheap though. I'd make sure it works first.

 

[Securb]

Re: SPARE HEAD QUESTION

I have a spare head I keep around a Fender M-80 Pro, cheap and great sounding. There was a while when I was thinking about picking up a Crate CPB150 PowerBlock. They are small enough to fit in your gig bag and rock out at 150 watts. All of the reviews I have read give them good points on tone. If I see one at the right price I will probably snag it as an insurance amp I can keep in my gig bag.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/resources/article/Crate-CPB150-PowerBlock/m711565

 

[dominus]

Re: SPARE HEAD QUESTION

One of the things (that I've read) about the Blue Voodoo is that they were paired with cabs that just didn't mesh well. I've been tempted to pick one up just to see how it'll sound with cab IRs. The XXX would also be a decent choice, those come around under $500 often enough. (They're also available in a combo, you might be able to get one cheap.) The 6505+ combo is 60 watts as well, might be worth looking for one of those. I've seen those in the $350 range.

Here's a Blue Voodoo in action:



Sounds decent enough to me. (Yes, that's George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher on vocals.)

 

[dominus]

Re: SPARE HEAD QUESTION

Also, if you can deal with the stigma of solid state, Peavey has the XXL and Transtube XL Supreme heads, those can be had really cheap if you look hard enough. (The XXL has one more channel, but I could get some downright brutal tones out of the regular lead channel, the Ultra channel had more gain that I needed, and I like the heavy stuff. )

 

[aleclee]

Re: SPARE HEAD QUESTION

Complete the sentence

Fool me twice, shame on ______

If the amp has stranded you twice, you don't need a backup, you need a different amp. You either have a POS, a lemon, or the tech who's working on it isn't doing his job right. I had a high-dollar amp that had issues even after sending it back to the builder. A local tech eventually sorted it out but as soon as I could sell it in good conscience, I sold it.

 

[jackson111]

Re: SPARE HEAD QUESTION

yeah I feel the same, I fired the blackstar up tonight and I have played it over 5 hours and it sounded great and worked flawlessly. that's why the tech wants me to drop it off and let hi play the crap out of it for a few weeks to try to get it fail, it just makes no sense the blackstar is an awesome sounding amp and is extremely versitle. I just feel like I cant trust it, so i may sell it after all, who knows but i definitely don't feel like i can trust it right now. well thanks guys. the way the tech described the blue voodoo was that its crates take on a JCM900. btw the site i found the blue voodoo on was musicgoround.com they had a 60 watt head and a couple of the 120 watt heads for about the same price.

 

[IM4Tone]

Re: SPARE HEAD QUESTION

I have a spare head I keep around a Fender M-80 Pro, cheap and great sounding. There was a while when I was thinking about picking up a Crate CPB150 PowerBlock. They are small enough to fit in your gig bag and rock out at 150 watts. All of the reviews I have read give them good points on tone. If I see one at the right price I will probably snag it as an insurance amp I can keep in my gig bag.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/resources/article/Crate-CPB150-PowerBlock/m711565

I take one of these Crate Pwr. Blks with me to all gigs in case of emergency. Bought mine new for $99, which was 50% off, when they were discontinued. I wouldn't say it has great tone, but it's more than adequate and very convenient.

As for the B*, I had a similar intermittent problem with mine (HT20H) and had to leave it with the tech until he could get it to do it. Turned out to be a bad solder joint on one of the pcb mounted components. Since he fixed it, no problems!

 

[Surgeon]

Re: SPARE HEAD QUESTION

Personnaly I wouldn't be able to sell an amp that doesn't work 100% to someone else without explaining thoroughly what the problem is...

Having another tech look at it could be a good idea. Bad solder joint makes sense, I repaired a Peavey classic 30 with some bad joints that were causing intermittent problems. Vibrations from the stage (drums?) could be causing it to fail in these situations and not at home.

 

[jackson111]

Re: SPARE HEAD QUESTION

ok been doing a little more looking anyone have any experience with the orange micro terror head? I see its 20 watts and is only 149.99 from the videos and review I have seen they sound pretty good.

 

[Surgeon]

Re: SPARE HEAD QUESTION

No but I really wAnt one. It'd look awesome on top of my teo other Orange heads.
There are a couple of reviews on the orange forum so you may wanna go have a look there. Seem like they get plenty of love... Tone and volume for cheap, seems hard to beat!

 

[jackson111]

Re: SPARE HEAD QUESTION

ok guess I will give the micro terror a try, I have always liked the orange amps but just never had the dough to get one. out of all the ones I have tried I like the rockerverb 50 the best. just aint got 2600.00 to drop on an amp.

 

[everdrone]

Re: SPARE HEAD QUESTION

ehx magnum 45

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: SPARE HEAD QUESTION

I lucked into a Tiny Terror for $300. It's small, loud, and fairly versatile, so that's my "backup."
I plan to sell it if an OR15 comes up used though.

As for the Blackstar, scrub out every jack on the amp, particularly the FX loop jacks, with a Q Tip and alcohol, unless you have contact cleaner. Then jam a plug in and out a few times. Intermittent cut-outs can often be traced to oxidized jacks. Over time, the connection from pre to power gets cut off.

 

[dominus]

Re: SPARE HEAD QUESTION

As for the Blackstar, scrub out every jack on the amp, particularly the FX loop jacks, with a Q Tip and alcohol, unless you have contact cleaner. Then jam a plug in and out a few times. Intermittent cut-outs can often be traced to oxidized jacks. Over time, the connection from pre to power gets cut off.

Contact cleaner can be found at just about any auto parts store.

 

[Surgeon]

Re: SPARE HEAD QUESTION

Or just plug a jack in both send and return jacks and see if the problem presents itself. If not: contact cleaner or just jack replacement time... From my experience, dirty oxydized jacks will lower volume intermittently but not completely cut the sound off though.

 

[Brow]

Re: SPARE HEAD QUESTION

ok been doing a little more looking anyone have any experience with the orange micro terror head? I see its 20 watts and is only 149.99 from the videos and review I have seen they sound pretty good.

I keep a Micro Terror in my bag 'just incase' anything happens to the amp I'm using at that gig.

I've only ever had a valve go bad on me once at a gig but this is a decent enough sounding backup incase the worst does happen.

 

[jackson111]

Re: SPARE HEAD QUESTION

Ok I will try that, I do run effects in my effect loop and ask the Times it's gone down I have been using effects. I will try cleaning them, I may even pull the chassis out to get better access to the jacks

Sent from my SCH-R530X using Tapatalk

 

[Scott_F]

Re: SPARE HEAD QUESTION

Seems to be the Powerblocks best use. Back up that fits in your cost pocket. Never down for more than a minute or two.

I have a spare head I keep around a Fender M-80 Pro, cheap and great sounding. There was a while when I was thinking about picking up a Crate CPB150 PowerBlock. They are small enough to fit in your gig bag and rock out at 150 watts. All of the reviews I have read give them good points on tone. If I see one at the right price I will probably snag it as an insurance amp I can keep in my gig bag.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/resources/article/Crate-CPB150-PowerBlock/m711565

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Scott_F]

Re: SPARE HEAD QUESTION

Personnaly I wouldn't be able to sell an amp that doesn't work 100% to someone else without explaining thoroughly what the problem is...

Having another tech look at it could be a good idea. Bad solder joint makes sense, I repaired a Peavey classic 30 with some bad joints that were causing intermittent problems. Vibrations from the stage (drums?) could be causing it to fail in these situations and not at home.

Bad karma.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk