another tube amp thread

Guitar MC · 05-11-2003, 02:32 AM

I could be wrong but I think the slash head is just a glorified JCM 800 (maybe 900). You may be paying extra for the slash name. I dont know the price but I bet its more than a used 800 or 900. Also, with a 100 watts you wont get his tone without cranking it and that gets loud. I would look for a 50w JCM 800 combo over a head and cab. The stack looks cooler but its a huge pain to move around.

-Trey

marshal · 05-11-2003, 04:43 PM

after thinking about that for like a minute, i decided it would be stupid to buy a slash signature amp to use. anyway i would still rather have something like the DSL50 halfstack than the combo; i can deal with moving it around . . . but my question(s) are . . . A: is it worth that over buying a very nice effects pedalboard and B: do powerbrakes have a bad side?

Guitar MC · 05-11-2003, 09:00 PM

Some people like multi-fx over a good tube amp and single pedal. I, on the other hand, think that a good amp and even just one or two pedals is better than one of those MFX. What is it about the half stack you like so much? DSLs are ok. I like the 800s better but thats just me. I would stay away from the AVTs and MGs, but other than that most marshalls are good stuff. Good luck.

-Trey

R2D2 · 05-11-2003, 11:20 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by marshal
A: is it worth that over buying a very nice effects pedalboard and B: do powerbrakes have a bad side?

I don't think it's worth buying a head/halfstack over a combo amp at all. A half stack/head will (A) cost more; (B) be more difficult to transport; (C) be more difficult to get the tone you want at a reasonable volume; and (D) do more damage to your hearing.

And I don't know about the powerbrake...

Shredcheddar · 05-19-2003, 05:32 AM

I've heard bad things about problems with the powerbrake, and they get EXTREMELY hot. If not used right, they can put your amp's power section at risk, or so I remember reading. Plus, they probably don't deliver ALL the tone you want..

nate95366 · 05-19-2003, 06:54 AM

There are two things that put your amp's power section at a decided risk:

1) Not having any load at all to drive or having too "light" a load. Basically, what this means is that you want something hooked up to the amp's power section, whether it's a loudspeaker or a hot plate or power brake or whatever AND you want the resistance of the circuit to be something that the power section can handle. If, when you use the power brake, resistance goes down to 2 ohms or less, you're usually looking for trouble.

2) Playing at full-out on an amp that's already designed to push its hardware pretty hard under normal operating conditions. For instance, on my Mesa/Boogie Studio .22, there is a warning expressed in the user's manual about turning both the gain and master volume up too high at the same time. Why? Because the amp is designed to push the little EL84's extremely hard even in "tame" situations.

The worst "evil" is definitely the first one. You'll cook your power transformer if there's no load or if the load's too light. Power transformers are the "heart and soul" of an amp and they're rather expensive to replace...

does that help some?

Nate

BluesJunkie · 05-21-2003, 09:24 AM

Get a Marshall JCM 800, 900, or 2000 combo and a 4x12 cab. That way you have a master volume tube combo for playing at bedroom levels, but you can also plug into the cabinet and have a halfstack.

R2D2 · 05-27-2003, 11:03 PM

If you're still trying to figure out what kind of amp to get, I highly recommend you check this out. Riveras are absolutely unbelievable. You can't go wrong with one of them, and for $750, it's not a bad deal, either....