Tube snobbery?

B429R · 06-05-2007, 01:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Major Tom

Good points and hits the heart of the matter - I often liken modelers and SS amps vs. tube amps to instant vs. real mashed 'taters. If you grew up eating, and all you ever knew was the instants, you may well be happy with them (even though deep down in your innermost being, subconciously you know something isn't quite right). If you were to ever eat some real 'taters cooked properly and made with real butter, you would probably never go back...

This would be me in both senses. I like instant mashed taters over the real deal, but I'm strang like that.

Also, being a minimum-wage-making teenager, the only amp I've ever been able to afford has been a SS amp, and they have been just fine for me. However, when I get older, I hope to be involved in the music business and I may have the chance to change to a Tube amp. And hopefully, it will be better than the attempted change from Instant to real mashed taters went!

lespaul59 · 06-05-2007, 03:29 PM

For the money there are some really good tube amps out there. Peavey has the Windsor and Valve King line and the 100w versions of both of these are from $399-599(Ithink this is the price for the VK 100w combo). I've never played thru a Valve King but the Windsor was a pretty good sounding amp. I mean it's no Marshall but a good tube amp for the price.

Psalt12 · 06-05-2007, 03:36 PM

Let's not forget the Vox AC15 coming in at, I believe, 599

ibanez_dude · 06-06-2007, 01:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lespaul59

For the money there are some really good tube amps out there. Peavey has the Windsor and Valve King line and the 100w versions of both of these are from $399-599(Ithink this is the price for the VK 100w combo). I've never played thru a Valve King but the Windsor was a pretty good sounding amp. I mean it's no Marshall but a good tube amp for the price.

I played a Valve King at GC yesterday, and I was quite impressed. It sounded great. For the money, the quintessential Blues Jr and Classic 30 are also great.

***BillSPrestonEsq*** · 06-06-2007, 08:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by B429R

This would be me in both senses. I like instant mashed taters over the real deal, but I'm strang like that.

Also, being a minimum-wage-making teenager, the only amp I've ever been able to afford has been a SS amp, and they have been just fine for me. However, when I get older, I hope to be involved in the music business and I may have the chance to change to a Tube amp. And hopefully, it will be better than the attempted change from Instant to real mashed taters went!

I have my little $100 valve Junior, and my main amp at church right now which is a $200 Peavey Triumph. The Triumph has a fenderesque clean channel and raging amounts of distortion on the drive channel. I bypassed the noise gate/clipping diodes, and while it does not particularly excel at the light drive stuff, its very good for most anything.

Tube gear does not have to be expensive to be good, and as I have learned, does not necessarily have to sound too nice when you first get it, if you have a basic understanding of what you do not like about the tone and how you want to fix it up.

My current triumph is just about perfect, especially when it has a 12at7 in V2. (It still can go full on hardcore with the boost on,) and its very usable at church for everything from clean, shimmery stuff, to power chords played in feedback with the left hand. (yes I have done that and octave runs in feedback for whole verses... I can't think of anything that requires more gain than that)

Psalt12 · 06-06-2007, 12:22 PM

I played on the AC15CC yesterday and was entirely impressed. The only thing that I didn't care for was the single-channel strip (as opposed to the normal/topboost setup of AC30CCs).

That thing can scream for 15w; I maxed out the output and slowly raised the topboost volume until I found a good clean tone that had 'umph.' I would imagine that sticking a good OD pedal in front of it like a Fulltone OCD would sound heavenly.

**thesteve** · 06-06-2007, 01:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Psalt12

I played on the AC15CC yesterday and was entirely impressed. The only thing that I didn't care for was the single-channel strip (as opposed to the normal/topboost setup of AC30CCs).

That thing can scream for 15w; I maxed out the output and slowly raised the topboost volume until I found a good clean tone that had 'umph.' I would imagine that sticking a good OD pedal in front of it like a Fulltone OCD would sound heavenly.

with something like the AC15, I'd forego something like an OCD for a pure clean boost like a Seymour Dunca Pickup Booster, Catalinbread Super Chile Picoso or ZVex Super Hard-On, just to push the amp harder...

not saying I wouldn't use an OD, but why not get pure amp drive when it's so close?

lespaul59 · 06-06-2007, 03:25 PM

I wish they would have had some of these cheaper tube amp 4-5 years ago. You can get 100w all tube amps now for what I payed for my Peavey: Bandit 2 back then.

Dave H · 06-06-2007, 03:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thesteve

with something like the AC15, I'd forego something like an OCD for a pure clean boost like a Seymour Dunca Pickup Booster, Catalinbread Super Chile Picoso or ZVex Super Hard-On, just to push the amp harder...

not saying I wouldn't use an OD, but why not get pure amp drive when it's so close?

the Vox's take OD pedals really, really well. I use my J & H and the results are fantastic. I typically set the volume of the J side to be equal with the amp but with more crunch, then I use both j&h sides together for a fat lead tone. These amp sounds incredible with or without an overdrive.

andrewama · 06-06-2007, 08:30 PM

so is an ac15cc good? I thought that the custom classics aren't that good

**thesteve** · 06-07-2007, 01:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave H

the Vox's take OD pedals really, really well. I use my J & H and the results are fantastic. I typically set the volume of the J side to be equal with the amp but with more crunch, then I use both j&h sides together for a fat lead tone. These amp sounds incredible with or without an overdrive.

it's not so much an issue of whether or not it works well with OD as much as I'd love to just get that extra "push" to saturate the tubes naturally and get the more organic OD that a clean boost can achieve. I'm just fondly remembering when I used to use my Jekyll and Hyde with the "drive" and minimum at the volume up to boost the signal running into a Fender HRDlx. mmm...fat.

Visirale · 08-12-2007, 07:44 PM

Am I a tube snob?

You can bet your bottom dollar

.

**thesteve** · 08-12-2007, 07:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Visirale

Am I a tube snob?

You can bet your bottom dollar

.

Every once in awhile I consider becoming a tube snob on bass...then I realize I don't want to drop $300+ every 2 to 3 years to keep my amp running. Priorities? yeah...oh well.

**Rainer.** · 08-12-2007, 07:51 PM

I'm not even an amp snob on bass.

I don't own a bass amp, I like my direct tone well enough.

Hey, Ted. You should hang out more here.

Visirale · 08-12-2007, 07:53 PM

Haha yeah, it's been a while since I've been on CGR. It helped me out getting started. I learned a lot here... now I spend most of my time on talkbass. Haha, now look at me, I'm a studio bass major, hoping to get into the record industry. Time goes by fast.

But yeah, I'll be around more often :P.

Quote:

Originally Posted by thesteve

Every once in awhile I consider becoming a tube snob on bass...then I realize I don't want to drop $300+ every 2 to 3 years to keep my amp running. Priorities? yeah...oh well.

It's not toooooooo bad. If I used the stock reccomended tubes, the tubes would cost 100 and the install would be 50ish (I have no electrical or mechanical inclination at all, so I don't bother). But no, I have to be an ultra snob, and hotrod it with bigger tubes... I believe my amp came stock with around 150 watts and 6l6s. I dropped some KT-88s, and now it's pushing around 200 or 250. The KT-88s and preamp tubes go for around 200.