The long and winding road... to a good amp.

[Sly_D]

This will be a bit long, but I just want you to understand why I think how I think (in other words, why you shouldn’t think I’m nuts :crazy: ).

Since 2002, I’m on a quest for an amp. I stopped playing electric for a decade or and I got back to it in 2002. Since then I bought/rented these amps, in this particular order:

Roland Cube 30
I really had great fun with it. Great little practice amp. But I prefer 12” speakers.
Beringher V-amp Pro
Really hate those digital modellers. It was good but I simply don’t like it. It’s personal. Everyone seems to tweak these things better than I do. I am not a tweaker, so these are not for me.
Fender Deluxe 90
Rented for a month. Great Fender clean, but loud as hell and trebly as f*...
Peavey Bandit II
Certainly a great amp, very tube-like distortion, but quite heavy. Got tired of tossing this Fat Bertha up and down the stairs.
Boss GX700
See #2
Tech 21 Trademark 10 amp
Super great distortion sound, very light and easy to carry, but I was disappointed in the Fender model, which lacked volume and depth a lot (8” speaker). As far as recording went, when I compared the clips I made with this and the Cube 30, I hardly noticed any difference (that was a shock, I thought I just unconsciously made a complete full circle).
Traynor YCV40
My freakin’ HOLY GRAIL! :32: What an amp... the biggest gear mistake I ever made was to sell it... I’m searching for another one and can’t find any. But I did it for family reasons so I don’t beat myself too much about it.
Roland Cube 60
OK, this came after a great tube amp, so it didn’t have a fair chance... besides, it was a pure steal, so I tried it and sold it back (I still had the Traynor anyway). It was very good though.
Vox AD30VT
Good models, but the volume on this acts like razor blades on my eardrums... trebly and harsh. Inferior quality than the Cubes, people seems to think it’s better because of the preamp tube... not for me. The store took it back but the guy was a complete a$$hole, so I never got back to that store again. This was my final journey into the modelling amp.
Traynor YVC20WR
Decided to try the little guy again but its distortion annoyed me like hell. Even if it’s EL84 tubes, the distortion is not as good as Fender’s. It’s ultra-compressed.
Peavey Ultra
OK, so I said I need 6L6 tubes... These produce my favourite distortion (EL34 also, but no amps have these in my price range). This one was great, but very muffled at home level. When you cranked it at a dangerous level for a normal room, it was awesome. And it was 55 pounds. A freaking nightmare to move. The guy who sold me was twice my size and just couldn’t stand its weight anymore... but this was the only amp I could give a shot at with 6L6 tubes.
Fender Blues Jr
So, I followed the same logic, after every heavy amp enters a small amp...
And I hate it... trebly as hell, and even a pedal can’t get rid of it. This is a great blues amp, but not a good rock amp to me.

So here I am, with this amp in the local classified, I expect it to sell in three days or so, people crave for these amps...

And I scratch my head, on the verge of a GAS-related nervous breakdown :yell: :crying:

At least now I know one thing : Tube is not ALWAYS better than solid state for you at a particular time. There are tube amps that I hate and there are SS amps that I like.

At least, THAT I know!

What I still don’t know is what amp I’ll buy next :banghead:

Thank you Doctor :yell: :evil: Feel better now! :flush:

 

[That90'sGuy]

Re: The long and winding road... to a good amp.

I'd check out your settings with the Blues Jr.... I didn't find it trebly or bright at all (of course, as with everything, opinions vary).

It seems like you've done a lot of buying and selling. Maybe consider spending in the upper hundreds to see if you can find something better for your tastes?

 

[JacksonMIA]

Re: The long and winding road... to a good amp.

Amp whore!

I like the write up on the various amps. While it's solely from one person's point of view, it gives us a chance to see how the amps stack up against each other. Very cool.

I don't know what to tell you to get for your next one. If you liked the Traynor so much, I'd say you should try to find another one, though it may be a bit of a search. Good luck, bro.

 

[aleclee]

Re: The long and winding road... to a good amp.

It seems like you've done a lot of buying and selling. Maybe consider spending in the upper hundreds to see if you can find something better for your tastes?

+1. Because of depreciation (or rent), buying and selling a number of mid-priced amps can be more expensive over time than buying a high-end amp.

I'd suggest a used Rivera. They're built like tanks and are pretty reasonable on evilBay. They do the clean channel/crunch channel thing better than just about anything out there, especially in their price range.

The Peavey Encore is a pretty good value-priced amp but definitely not in the class of Rivera, IMO.

You comment a lot about weight. What do you consider acceptable? Good tube tone demands fairly heavy transformers and there aren't a lot of tube heads out there that are going to be much under 40 lbs. Throw in the weight of a good speaker (which is going to be heavier than a crappy one) and you're easily looking at 50 lbs for a combo.

 

[Sly_D]

Re: The long and winding road... to a good amp.

Yeah, I know, I've complained about many unimportant things in this thread, I just wanted to share this info because we often hera a lot about tubes and SS. And to show the road to AVOID, actually.

Because I suppose that other people may go the same route.

I'd say stick to what you like. I've been guilty of always trying to find better which is stupid.

My decision is made, I'll hunt another Traynor and if I don't find one used, I'll buy it new.

And I'll never sell again a piece of gear I like for a delusional Holy Grail

 

[Quencho092]

Re: The long and winding road... to a good amp.

yeah, once i settle down with my bandmaster/twin reverb RI w/ amp switching ill be set.

Moral of the story for me is-if you need to buy speakers, get a broken set of collectable speakers on Ebay like JBL's. that way you can repair them and make profit in the long run.

 

[Scott_F]

Re: The long and winding road... to a good amp.

Yeah, I know, I've complained about many unimportant things in this thread, I just wanted to share this info because we often hera a lot about tubes and SS. And to show the road to AVOID, actually.

Because I suppose that other people may go the same route.

I'd say stick to what you like. I've been guilty of always trying to find better which is stupid.

My decision is made, I'll hunt another Traynor and if I don't find one used, I'll buy it new.

And I'll never sell again a piece of gear I like for a delusional Holy Grail

It is the journey, ya know? I kept doing the same thing, from one amp to another, until finally I found the ultimate tone in the Two Rock.

I was pretty happy with the Rivera KH55, but sold it because it was a "circuit board amp". If I had kept it, I'd have never discovered the Two Rock. So, looking back, it's a mixed blessing.

Keepthefaith

 

[bryvincent]

Re: The long and winding road... to a good amp.

have you tried the new Traynor YCV-50Blue? british(marshall)-voiced traynor with EL-34 tubes.
http://www.yorkville.com/products.asp?type=32&cat=18&id=318

 

[chcjunior]

Re: The long and winding road... to a good amp.

Agreed with Scott F's "mixed blessing" philosophy; I'm just an amateur amp ho compared to you two! I went Subway Rocket to THD Bivalve to Mesa Boogie Single Rec to Marshall DSL 50 to my Soldano Hot Rod. It was then I knew my journey was over.

Until I added a Rivera Chubster 40 to the stable recently....BUT...I kept the Soldano. Lesson learned; don't sell, just buy.