Tube amps choices,choices,choices

[tman]

Hey forum peeps!!! I have made up my mind and I am deciding to go with an all tube amp!! I am in search of "my tone" and I know now that I will only find it with an all tube amp. After countless hours of listening to demos etc.. I have it narrowed down to four possible brands of tube amps. I am selling my Bandit and my hybrid amp. The thing that makes this selection hard is that I like qualities in all four of these brands. What I wanted to ask of all of you is your honest opinions on the four I believe I have it narrowed to lol. It will between the Peavey Valveking (new models)/
DSL Marshall series/a Bugera/or Blackstar I am mainly concentrating on the combo style, lower in watts,and under 700.oo bucks. I just like to hear all your expert advice between these four since I was always a SS man and I know lots of you are Tube players. Thanks a bunch your advice will be greatly appreciated!! I play a lot of blues/ classic rock/ and 80's metal if that helps.

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Tube amps choices,choices,choices

...trying to hold back on the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe suggestion....... lol

The Bugera 333XL may be the route you want to go–brilliant clean channel, awesome crunch to drive channels. The high gain channel I wasn't too pleased with as it just sounded like the drive channel with a darker EQ; however, I mainly use pedals for my gain sound...so I am fine with a two channel amp.

I don't know about the current Peavey's, but the old Peavey gear could take a beating–great quality gear. Marshalls sound awesome...I always wanted a stack, got one and loved the tone but just didn't jive with me. I would definitely entertain the Marshall though. Blackstar I have zero experience with, so I will leave that to the others.

 

[kilphody]

Re: Tube amps choices,choices,choices

The Hot Rod Deluxe is a cool amp BUT be forewarned- the input jacks are plastic and PC board mounted. A real PITA to replace. I fixed two of them in the last year.

PC

 

[IM4Tone]

Re: Tube amps choices,choices,choices

Hey forum peeps!!! I have made up my mind and I am deciding to go with an all tube amp!! I am in search of "my tone" and I know now that I will only find it with an all tube amp. After countless hours of listening to demos etc.. I have it narrowed down to four possible brands of tube amps. I am selling my Bandit and my hybrid amp. The thing that makes this selection hard is that I like qualities in all four of these brands. What I wanted to ask of all of you is your honest opinions on the four I believe I have it narrowed to lol. It will between the Peavey Valveking (new models)/
DSL Marshall series/a Bugera/or Blackstar I am mainly concentrating on the combo style, lower in watts,and under 700.oo bucks. I just like to hear all your expert advice between these four since I was always a SS man and I know lots of you are Tube players. Thanks a bunch your advice will be greatly appreciated!! I play a lot of blues/ classic rock/ and 80's metal if that helps.

Peavey Valveking :approve:

DSL Marshall :dunno:

Bugera :thumbsdow :barf: Do yourself a big favor and pass on the temptation of attractive pricing.

Blackstar :dunno: Blackstar are good Marshall flavored amps, but they are not totally "All Tube Amps". Many people have a hangup about their ss components as part of their drive. If that bothers you, pass. If not, they're good sounding amps IMO

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Tube amps choices,choices,choices

The Hot Rod Deluxe is a cool amp BUT be forewarned- the input jacks are plastic and PC board mounted. A real PITA to replace. I fixed two of them in the last year.

PC

This is true...I had mine worked over by Acorn Amps in Decatur, GA and they upgraded to Switchcraft jacks that are not board mounted. I also had some mods/upgrades done to make it a killer amp!

 

[Matt42]

Re: Tube amps choices,choices,choices

You might look into a Peavey Classic 30 or Delta Blues. Both are great sounding amps that can be had at or below your price range. The Fender Blues Jr would also be a pretty good choice. You'll eventually need to supplement the Blues Jr with a few pedals, since it's a single channel amp.

 

[autologic]

Re: Tube amps choices,choices,choices

Why does everyone hate on Bugera? They look great, sound great, and the newer ones are pretty well built and anyone that has had one for a few years says theirs is still running great. Sometimes I feel like I have accidentally clicked on The Gear Page.

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: Tube amps choices,choices,choices

Go and try some amps in a shop.
Also, do not make a decision until you have at least plugged into some dsl marshalls and a fender hot rod deluxe.

 

[IM4Tone]

Re: Tube amps choices,choices,choices

Why does everyone hate on Bugera? They look great, sound great, and the newer ones are pretty well built and anyone that has had one for a few years says theirs is still running great. Sometimes I feel like I have accidentally clicked on The Gear Page.

Do a search....reasons are given.

 

[ehdwuld]

Re: Tube amps choices,choices,choices

I have to agree with Matt

the Peavey Classic 30 is awesome
not a bad tone in it

 

[autologic]

Re: Tube amps choices,choices,choices

Oh, trust me, I've done plenty of searches. I researched for about 3-4 months before I bought mine. I found about 85% of people saying they were awesome, and about 10% complaining about the problems with the early ones. It seemed like only half of those people had ever actually owned one, and the other half were just going by what they heard online. The other 5% complained about the dirt channel on the Vintage series amps, but I actually like it on mine, I haven't experienced the "fizzyness" some complain about. Most of the people who complained about that completely solved all their problems with a tube swap, which most tube amp buyers do to a brand new amp anyway.

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Re: Tube amps choices,choices,choices

Oh, trust me, I've done plenty of searches. I researched for about 3-4 months before I bought mine. I found about 85% of people saying they were awesome, and about 10% complaining about the problems with the early ones. It seemed like only half of those people had ever actually owned one, and the other half were just going by what they heard online. The other 5% complained about the dirt channel on the Vintage series amps, but I actually like it on mine, I haven't experienced the "fizzyness" some complain about. Most of the people who complained about that completely solved all their problems with a tube swap, which most tube amp buyers do to a brand new amp anyway.

Yeah, same here..all the negative publicity/propaganda on the web definitely made me jumpy before I bought mine. I've never had a single moment's regret since though. It's been 100% reliable.. like a rock.

 

[Snake Aces]

Re: Tube amps choices,choices,choices

Check out a Traynor YCV 40 or a Traynor Custom Blue 50 if you can find them. Great tube amps for the money.

 

[Hoss]

Re: Tube amps choices,choices,choices

Check out a Traynor YCV 40 or a Traynor Custom Blue 50 if you can find them. Great tube amps for the money.

Ding, Ding, Ding...

The YCV 40 can cover all the ground you are playing with maybe the exception of 80's Metal. But it takes pedals like a champ, so you could get there with the right Distortion.

 

[Grizzly_Diesel]

Re: Tube amps choices,choices,choices

the bugera 333xl infinium is a rediculous amp for the money. a little fuzzy on the lead. swap out the el34's for some 6l6gc's and youve got a slammin amp. i couldnt be more pleased with mine for the monmey i have invested.

 

[Hank-]

Re: Tube amps choices,choices,choices

It will between the Peavey Valveking (new models)/
DSL Marshall series/a Bugera/or Blackstar I am mainly concentrating on the combo style, lower in watts,and under 700.oo bucks. I just like to hear all your expert advice between these four since I was always a SS man and I know lots of you are Tube players. Thanks a bunch your advice will be greatly appreciated!! I play a lot of blues/ classic rock/ and 80's metal if that helps.

Well the Blackstar HT series are all hybrid amps, although fasely advertised as all tube. That doesn't mean they don't sound good. The old valvekings sounded bland to me stock, required a bunch of mods to get the best out of them. Haven't tried the new ones. DSL's are expensive to me when buying new.

Moving on, $750 could sometimes get you a Mesa Mark IV on the used market. But why specifically those particular brands? There are many options to pick from used in around the price bracket of 700. For something new id recommend Jet City or Egnater, should be in that price range i think.. Probably best to go used though for broader choices.

 

[jackson111]

Re: Tube amps choices,choices,choices

lets see I have played some of the burgera amps and they sound great almost got a v22, they did have problems out of the gate but from what I her they have gotten much better as the years have gone by
marshall dsl series are pretty good sounding amps and can handle a lot of styles of music, but don't expect fender clean. the marshalls have more of a gritty clean

the peavey valvekings have a great clean but cant reach the distortion levels the marshall and burgera can reach

I actually own a blackstar stage 60 which I really like a lot not much I cant pull off with it, but as everyone else pointed out the distortion circuits are based of there pedals not all tube breakup. another note if you decide to go with blackstar, I had a serious issue on mine and had to send it to korg to be repaired. korg was great, but my only complaint was I kept contacting blackstar for a month or so before I was told they didn't support their amps outside of great Britain and that I needed to contact korg.

have you ever considered carvin? I have an x100b that is by far my favorite amp. I realize you cant try them out unless you find one used, but they do make good gear and since they sell direct they are cheap

 

[treedroppings]

Re: Tube amps choices,choices,choices

Mesa Boogies, they are built tough and Loud. I've had one for five years and haven't replaced One tube.

You can probably afford a Subway Rocket, F30, 22 or 50 caliber but it will have to be 'used'.

(If you can find a Mitchell Pro 50 or Pro 100, they are out there, they are a copy of a Mesa Boogie, cheaper but I have had one break on me after two + years (although I did have it plugged into a cheap Soundesign cabinet for awhile.


I also like the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. PV Classic, Marshall DSL 50 (no TSL, for me).

Also, older Traynor amplifiers are copies of old Marshall plexi circuits, but weigh a ton, and look like the silverface Fender amps a little bit. Get a good Tube Screamer (or your choice of overdrive), and you are set up for metal!

 

[Boogie Bill]

Re: Tube amps choices,choices,choices

Mitchell's were good amps. Haven't thought of them for a long time.

Tman, get thee to a Mesa Boogie dealer...what you should try is the Express 5:50+ 112 combo. When you compare price, construction, reliability, ad most of all--TONE, you'll quickly realized that you're buying an amp that can handle a wide range of styles, and almost any venue you'll ever play. Yeah, it's a lot of money--but in the long run it's a better deal than buying four or five amps before you wind up back at square One. You'll waste time and money...the Mesa is an amp you'll keep forever.

Now, there are several Mesas that can work well for classic rock and blues, and can still handle other styles too. Mark III, IV, F-Series, DC-Series, Tremoverb, Lonestars, Heartbreaker, Maverick or the original Express--all professional amps, excellent quality, feature-rich and tone for days.

A great amp can inspire you to play more and play better, so why "settle" for a lesser amp? Time to take a deep breath and focus...go for the GOLD. Don't settle for third or fourth rate.

Best wishes,

Bill

 

[Matt42]

Re: Tube amps choices,choices,choices

The Mesa DC-5 can be had for around $500-600 used. It would be a good one for you. I used to gig with one quite a bit, there was a lot of good tone in there.