Fender Tube Amps - I have questions

[knuckle]

Thanks Herb, you guys have instilled some faith in me. I'm going to have to call around and see who's got what.

I'm early in the game here, won't have the money for a month or so and certainly don't have either of the guitars yet. Just looking for ideas so far.

[royd]

a few thoughts...

on the bass can/cigar box guitars... if you like em, go with it. Will they sound better through a good amp than a crappy one? absolutely. with electric, 50% (or more) of your sound is the amp.

I'm looking for something that simply does cleans well and does a little bit of dirt well switchable with a foot switch.

you just ruled out everything anyone's been talking about except the blues jr. None of these amps have switchable channels. They may do clean and dirty well, but the dirt is a function of cranking the amp, not switching to another channel.

The thing does not have to be 100W, but I don't think I want 5W either. Something like 15-30 and if that's not loud enough, I mic it through the PA.

in a tube amp, 15-30 watts can be very loud. A Vox AC30 is 30 watts that will make your ears bleed. And with a good efficient speaker, you'd be surprised how loud even 5 watts can be. All things being equal (and they never are), doubling the power only adds 3db of volume. To double volume you have to do 10X's more power. So to double the volume of a 5 watt amp, you need 50 watts. Again, all things are never equal so use that as a guideline not a hard and fast rule. A friend of mine has a Groove Tubes Solo Single amp that is 6 watts but with the right speaker cab, you'd swear you were playing a 50 watt Marshall.

So here's what I'd recommend. Think about adding a good overdrive box from the very beginning. There are tons out there from the very reasonably priced to crazy expensive. And there are great sounding ones at every price point. The Bad Monkey and the Noebels are good relatively inexpensive ones.

I prefer tube amps. Your argument of a good handwired amp makes good sense but as was said, there are also some very nice and well built PCB amps out there. I currently play a silver face champ (6 watts) in a larger cabinet with a 12 inch Weber Blue Dog speaker and LOVE it. It is more than loud enough for my weekly church gig and if I'm playing out somewhere, I can mic it. There are some very good sounding solid state amps... but they feel different to me so I'll stick with tubes.

I addition to the models that have been discussed, another line I'd consider are the new VHT special series. They're made in China so that may affect your feelings but they are well made and designed and very inexpensive. here's the link for the 20 watt model (similar power as the Deluxe Reverb). http://www.vhtamp.com/avsp11220.html And the Special 6 is hand wired and comes with a PDF of the schematic in case you want to mod it. If I was buying today, I'd likely go with one of them and a few decent pedals and be done with it.

[stevecuss]

I've read through most of what you're looking for and for your price range you can easily get a handmade custom 5E3 clone and/or blackface clone.

Lots of great 5E3 companies, but Mission Amps are considered one of the best bang for buck companies for Tweed Deluxe. Point to Point wired as you want.

Last year I built my own amp - a Marshall Plexi Clone. Learned a lot and loved the experience, but the learning curve is huge and you want to fully understand the dangers of voltage before planning on any repairs yourself. Guys have died from doing it, even with the power unplugged from the wall.

[JimLin]

Originally Posted by royd

a few thoughts...
amp.

in a tube amp, 15-30 watts can be very loud. A Vox AC30 is 30 watts that will make your ears bleed. And with a good efficient speaker, you'd be surprised how loud even 5 watts can be. All things being equal (and they never are), doubling the power only adds 3db of volume. To double volume you have to do 10X's more power. So to double the volume of a 5 watt amp, you need 50 watts. Again, all things are never equal so use that as a guideline not a hard and fast rule. A friend of mine has a Groove Tubes Solo Single amp that is 6 watts but with the right speaker cab, you'd swear you were playing a 50 watt Marshall.

.

I agree completely ... Since you are playing in an acoustic based group, you probably don't need a lot of wattage ... Unless you guys play really loud. I have a Gibson GA-5 (a 5 watt tube amp w/o a master volume) and it's really loud especially through a 12 inch speaker.

[Dwight]

Kudos to those that have discovered the DRRI and PRRI. I liked the P so much I have a 2nd new one still in the box. It's a much brighter chimey kind of sound that goes well with a Tele or my Rics. They will both break up nicely at around 4 on the dial. I also have a Vox AC15cc1 that I bought just for the Rickenbackers but I don't need it anymore thanks to the Princeton.

The Princeton Reverb is very easy to repair. I also have a Valvetrain Tallboy 205 handwired amp, but the Princeton is the keeper for me. If you need to play loud the Marshall JTM 45 sounds really good too.

Of course Victoria makes really nice tweed copies, and Headstrong Blackface amps are great. ...not to mention one I can't afford, Swart!

[knuckle]

Not really sure I need switchable channels with a foot switch. But I've been looking at these as well.

http://vhtamp.com/avsp11220.html


Folks have been digging the Ultra 6's so far.

http://vhtamp.com/vht-specialseries.html


I was originally thinking a 5e3 but I thought someone else said that wouldn't be a good amp to use for whatever reason.

Another one I was originally contemplating was this.

http://store.marshamps.com/product_i...roducts_id=275

With a tube screamer pedal. I'd essentially have a handwired Blackface Deluxe Reverb that would probably last for years.
If I used a pedal with it, I'd have my clean and my overdrive = done.

If I had the money, this is what I'd get. I don't give two sheets what it sounds like it looks badass.

[Paultergeist]

Originally Posted by terrapin

A good PCB amp can be serviced almost as easily as a PTP wired amp.

I gotta disagree with you here. All things in perspective, I previously owned a couple of THD [brand] amplifiers -- theses are tube-based amps built using PCBs. The PCBs which THD Electronics uses are tough -- the thickest I have ever seen -- with wide, robust traces. If I had to pull parts off of a PCB, the THD boards would have been my choice.

......but THD is rare in this regard. As for the Fender Blues Jr series, great-sounding little amps, but flimsy PCB circuitry. I have worked on a couple, and I am nervous working on an amp where I have difficulty tracing the circuit, with very thin PCBs. At least with Fender, one can get a copy of the schematic. Other brands: Bogner, Budda, Mesa can be really evasive about their circuitry. I had a Budda Superdrive that took a dump -- the PCB is printed on both sides AND has internal traces -- Budda would not supply a schematic for me to diagnose the circuitry. I finally took it to an "authorized" Budda repair shop, who told me it probably needed a new circuit board but would have to go back to Budda......Point is, it is not always practical / possible to repair an amp with a PCB, where "point-to-point" can always be diagnosed and fixed.

Since that time, I have built several tube amps -- mainly from kits -- but often with up-graded components. I have intentionally put those amps together with the intention of fostering servicability; ironically, building something so it can be serviced using high-quality parts almost seems to create the result that little servicing will ever be required.

There are some very decent PCB amps out there, and if I had one which broke, I would certainly first try to repair it, but.....I do not blame the OP for wanting a hand-wired ("point-to-point") amplifier.

[terrapin]

Originally Posted by Paultergeist

I gotta disagree with you here. All things in perspective, I previously owned a couple of THD [brand] amplifiers -- theses are tube-based amps built using PCBs. The PCBs which THD Electronics uses are tough -- the thickest I have ever seen -- with wide, robust traces. If I had to pull parts off of a PCB, the THD boards would have been my choice.

......but THD is rare in this regard. As for the Fender Blues Jr series, great-sounding little amps, but flimsy PCB circuitry. I have worked on a couple, and I am nervous working on an amp where I have difficulty tracing the circuit, with very thin PCBs. At least with Fender, one can get a copy of the schematic. Other brands: Bogner, Budda, Mesa can be really evasive about their circuitry. I had a Budda Superdrive that took a dump -- the PCB is printed on both sides AND has internal traces -- Budda would not supply a schematic for me to diagnose the circuitry. I finally took it to an "authorized" Budda repair shop, who told me it probably needed a new circuit board but would have to go back to Budda......Point is, it is not always practical / possible to repair an amp with a PCB, where "point-to-point" can always be diagnosed and fixed.

Since that time, I have built several tube amps -- mainly from kits -- but often with up-graded components. I have intentionally put those amps together with the intention of fostering servicability; ironically, building something so it can be serviced using high-quality parts almost seems to create the result that little servicing will ever be required.

There are some very decent PCB amps out there, and if I had one which broke, I would certainly first try to repair it, but.....I do not blame the OP for wanting a hand-wired ("point-to-point") amplifier.

Sure wasn't hard to do some mods on my PRRI?

[mutantrock]

http://www.missionamps.com/5E3kit.shtml. I hear these are good and are reasonably priced at $750. I have always wanted to build one but I already have a great tube amp.

[Gypsyblue]

Originally Posted by mutantrock

http://www.missionamps.com/5E3kit.shtml. I hear these are good and are reasonably priced at $750. I have always wanted to build one but I already have a great tube amp.

Bruce is the man!

[leeasam]

would one of these work or be a good amp. I have played though one once and has foot switchable channels

http://www.fender.com/products/hotro...prodNo=2230200

[Dwight]

Found this picture of a Hot Rod Deluxe on the web. Hope you find it helpful.

[knuckle]

Originally Posted by Schoolside

Found this picture of a Hot Rod Deluxe on the web. Hope you find it helpful.

Yeah, that looks very service friendly.

[knuckle]

So I'm going to take a couple guitars out later on and try out one of these. My bass player says he's used on in the past when he recorded some guitar and says it sounds unreal. Things got stellar reviews online. 5 year warranty.

$1000
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fender-Super...#ht_1137wt_952


I'm wondering why on ebay it's $400 cheaper than Sweetwater, etc....

I'm wondering if the 5 year Fender warranty still applies when purchasing through Ebay.

[kscobie8]

Originally Posted by knuckle

So I'm going to take a couple guitars out later on and try out one of these. My bass player says he's used on in the past when he recorded some guitar and says it sounds unreal. Things got stellar reviews online. 5 year warranty.

$1000
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fender-Super...#ht_1137wt_952


I'm wondering why on ebay it's $400 cheaper than Sweetwater, etc....

I'm wondering if the 5 year Fender warranty still applies when purchasing through Ebay.

The Supersonics are great amps. I've found the to be pretty versatile and musically responsive. 60 watts? Buy some earplugs, too. I like the 22 watt version, which is still pretty loud.


Bel isi
-kyle