Three tube amps to choose from, please give me your opinions

[jon the art guy]

Re: Three tube amps to choose from, please give me your opinions

Can you use a soldering iron?
I have an even dumber suggestion than before; if you can get a hold of passive electronics down there you could make....

you know what, never mind. I'm starting to make things way overly complicated. Honestly, I'd suggest getting used to the almost-cleans of a tube amp because, frankly they sound excellent. Another thing you can do with the Blackstars is line-out from the preamp into a computer, recording or sound desk or a powered PA speaker if need be. If you want the really clean cleans of the Blackstar preamp section turned down low, this might be the way to do it without getting the power tube saturation that would come from playing the amp loud.

you may have to go from the effects loop send and also find out how to disconnect the power section.

 

[dominus]

Re: Three tube amps to choose from, please give me your opinions

But those are discontinued and I cannot find it used here in Mexico. I was looking to try the ISP Stealth amp but then again it is onle the power amp section, it is my understanding I need some sort of pream infront of it to make my pedals (that are not preamps) to sound as expected, that was the suggestion I got on the phone from the guys in ISP wich makes sence since all the demos I have seen are with modelers with cab simulation or preamp pedals but not a single one using my Boos Power Stack, Fulltone Plimsoul or that kind of pedal that goes into the clean channel of an amp. Maybe I am missing something here I cannot see and that may be a different thread, maybe there is some kind of SS pream to get a fender clean tone and inturn make it stomp box compatible.

First, any pedal can be used as a preamp. Even overdrives.



This guy's chain:

Guitar --> Overdrive Pedal --> "Distortion" Pedal --> EQ Pedal --> Solid State Amp --> Cabinet

I've done something similar but going into the computer and using IRs after the distortion pedal. Same concept though, I'm just simulating the EQ and power amp and cabinet.

Second, I'd like to congratulate you if you're getting good tones out of the Boss Metal Power Stack. It just started getting way too noisy for me when I started turning it up.

The Power Block would work awesome for you as it does have tone shaping knobs on the front, but lacking those, an EQ pedal and any power amp is all you need.

 

[dominus]

Re: Three tube amps to choose from, please give me your opinions

you may have to go from the effects loop send and also find out how to disconnect the power section.

Whenever I did that with a tube amp, I just used a load plugged into the speaker out. (I used the Tom Scholz power soak, but you can make your own for +/- $20.)

 

[Demanic]

Re: Three tube amps to choose from, please give me your opinions

I'd say go with the Marshall. The cleans might not be JC120 clean, but I think they're nice and responsive. If you can't get enough gain, get a Keeley modded MT-2 https://robertkeeley.com/product/mt-2-metal-zone-mod/

 

[SirJackdeFuzz]

Re: Three tube amps to choose from, please give me your opinions

I am trying to buy my first tube amp ever but should be is versatile enough tone wise so I can play some clean music like Jazz or country, overdrive, even high gain for hard rock and metal. I cannot afford having multiple amps rigth now. I know 2 channel amp can not do all the following without re-tweaking gain/volume/channel voicing but I can live with that.

My candidates are Marshall DSL40C, Blackstar HT Club 40 and Peavey ValveKing ii 50. All combos here.

What am I looking for? Please tell me your opinion and put the gold, silver and bronce medal on these 3 amps in each the following categories, kind of a way to express who makes a better job in the following chategories. For example Peavey gets Gold, Marshall gets Silver, Blackstar gets bronce under the "Clean headroom", that is the idea.

1.- Clean Headroom in the clean channel.
2.- Pedal friendly clean channel for those times I want to get the overdrive/distortion from pedals rather than the amp's lead channel.
3.- Wider palette of overdrive, from mild overdrive to high gain distortion.
4.- Reliable and built to last. I already know valves can fail and need to be changed regularly

Thanks in advance to all for your kind help.

Of the three mentioned . . . and if it was my money, i would DEFF go Marshall.

The Blackstar amps is NOT 100% valve/toob dirt (...yes, that matters to *me*).
Those amps are diode assisted.

And the Vlave Kings sound EXTREMELY generic, with no signature tone of their own.

Leaving us with the Marshall.
The clips i've heard on the tube, sounds pretty bloody good !

 

[IMENATOR]

Re: Three tube amps to choose from, please give me your opinions

Thank for all the comments, I will be trying to make my desition during this weekend and hopefully sell some of my stuff like my amp, some pickups I don't use anymore and a couple of pedals I may not use when getting this amp.

 

[Redman113]

Re: Three tube amps to choose from, please give me your opinions

Of the 3 I think the dsl40 is probably the best but what I think would fit the bill is a Bugera v55(head or combo). Bugera has gotten a lot of flak because their earlier models had heating problems but they are perfectly fine now. The fit your styles perfectly: insane headroom(I'm not even going to attempt to put it on full), super versatile, great cleans, solid OD and very affordable. So while you make your choice you might want to at least demo the v55

 

[hermetico]

Re: Three tube amps to choose from, please give me your opinions

I am trying to buy my first tube amp ever but should be is versatile enough tone wise so I can play some clean music like Jazz or country, overdrive, even high gain for hard rock and metal. I cannot afford having multiple amps rigth now. I know 2 channel amp can not do all the following without re-tweaking gain/volume/channel voicing but I can live with that.

My candidates are Marshall DSL40C, Blackstar HT Club 40 and Peavey ValveKing ii 50. All combos here.

What am I looking for? Please tell me your opinion and put the gold, silver and bronce medal on these 3 amps in each the following categories, kind of a way to express who makes a better job in the following chategories. For example Peavey gets Gold, Marshall gets Silver, Blackstar gets bronce under the "Clean headroom", that is the idea.

1.- Clean Headroom in the clean channel.
2.- Pedal friendly clean channel for those times I want to get the overdrive/distortion from pedals rather than the amp's lead channel.
3.- Wider pallete of overdrive, from mild overdrive to high gain distortion.
4.- Reliable and built to last. I already know valves can fail and need to be changed regularly

Thanks in advance to all for your kind help.

For what you want, consider also the Fender Hot Rod III 212 Deville. Not pricey and, an awesome amp.
Also, the best for those applications, the Fender Bassman RI (but heavier, bigger and expensiver).

 

[SirJackdeFuzz]

Re: Three tube amps to choose from, please give me your opinions

For what you want, consider also the Fender Hot Rod III 212 Deville. Not pricey and, an awesome amp.
Also, the best for those applications, the Fender Bassman RI (but heavier, bigger and expensiver).

4X10 DeVille ; http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fender-Hot-...347?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4d1f69256b - $550.00 BIN

1X12 DeLuxe ; http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fender-Hot-...970?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43cc0da47a - $475.00 BIN (Made in USA)