Joy of a real tube amp
 

Had a 1974 Les Paul Custom I bought used years ago. Always used pedals. Bought a Mesa Boogie TA-15 used and it lets you overdrive the tubes with only 5 watts of power. You can see how the greats like Neil Young got their sound. Much more organic and experimental. The amp becomes part of the music.

There is a magic to tube amp tone vs. solid state amps. That being said, modern modeling technology has gotten so good, there's really no longer a need to lug around a heavy amp and cab or combo.

I picked up a Line 6 Helix a couple months ago and, I gotta tell you, they've gotten the tone and playing characteristics of tube amps down solid! You can even adjust the bias, the tube sag, and even the hum level! Playing touch and dynamic reaction to the player's attack are there! Then there's the ease of set up and use for gigs and recording.

My Fender Hot Rod Deluxe has been in the corner collecting dust since the Helix came home...

Great minds think alike Steve...

My 1973 Les Paul Custom I bought new when I was 19. Dimarzio SuperDistortion in the bridge and Dimarzio PAF in the neck position. I still have the original pickups. Gigged the heck out of it back in the day.

http://i.imgur.com/P4JVPXX.jpg

1982 Mesa Mark IIB bought new via their paper catalog. 60/100 watt option. Never needed the 100 watt setting. 60 watt setting, Volume at 3 is ear piercing in a small room.

http://i.imgur.com/KzxTyjE.jpg

2011 Mesa 5/25 Express bought used a few years ago off of this Forum. Haven't had it off of the 5 watt setting yet. Use it for recording. Sounds fantastic.

http://i.imgur.com/4cJXstG.jpg

the amp has always been considered as a part in a guitarist's music. some people believe it is 40% of the sound. each and every amp i use, i tweak it to fit the guitar i'm playing. all of the parts have to jive together.

my favorite amps are my small wattage ones. tweed deluxe, tweed princeton, blackface deluxe reverb, silverface champ and vibrochamp as well as my vox ac15c1---15 loud watts!

play music!

[QUOTE=Rodger;5435419]Great minds think alike Steve...


1982 Mesa Mark IIB bought new via their paper catalog. 60/100 watt option. Never needed the 100 watt setting. 60 watt setting, Volume at 3 is ear piercing in a small room.

http://i.imgur.com/KzxTyjE.jpg

i have an 83 markIIB 60 watt version. i don't know how you can get it to 3!:D

play music!

What a great looking amp love the natural wood and light tan grill cloth color combo . If it sound also great what bonus.

My first ever electric amp was purchased in the fall last year. A new Supro Titan 50 watt tube amp and matching cab I do love the sound of it .

http://i.imgur.com/SeCDtDH.jpg

The 1974 Custom, 20th Anniversary. All stock, bought it used in the 1980's for $550. Shame I have played it so little.

https://i.imgur.com/puhqkN1.jpg

They don't make the Mesa Boogie TA-15 any more but it was the coolest lunchbox amp. Could be a Vox, Tweed, Marshall, or Mesa. 5, 15, 25 watts. At 5 you could be in your bedroom and still overdrive like crazy. I played acoustic mostly all my life but with this set up I can be Neil Young for a moment. Meet you "Down By the River" lol

https://i.imgur.com/Go4bU2S.jpg

I still have mine. It would be perfect if only it had an effects loop.

Does Neil use a loop?

Yep, something special about a tube amp, especially with a nice OD in front of it, crank the OD's volume keep the OD's gain low ... my Les Pauls love it.

Sometimes all you really need is guitar-cable-amp...

I am approaching it kind of like a acoustic guitar player, producing the sound naturally from the adjusting the overdrive and saturation with the volume, gain knobs. The TA-15 is really a throwback having a Vox side and a Tweed side with a infinite amount of variation in sound from twisting knobs. Very organic, like a acoustic.

I'm sure if your giging you need that push button digital repeatability. But playing with tubes is new and fun to me.

This guy did a good UTube on the amp.

https://youtu.be/dfbYiJI6VKw

Once you really learn your way around your amp, repeatability won't be a problem - if you're using the same instrument all you should need is minor adjustments to compensate for room size/acoustics; BTW until the early/mid-70's that's the way it was done - just amp/guitar controls dialed in to achieve your signature sound - and if you're most comfortable going that route you'll be in some very good company...

Feel free to send it to me; I'll give it a good home - and a couple easy DIY mods I have in mind, that'll turn it into a latter-day Ampeg VT-22 for those '70s Keef tones... :guitar:

I love my tube amps, always will. I only play them at home where I'm free to make the sounds I want. There is nothing like the sound of organic, archaic technology cranked nice and loud. I also use them for recording. With our band I use SS amps - they're light weight, sound really good, and let's face it: at stage volumes, nobody in the audience can hear the subtle nuances and sweet overtones that tubes provide. If we were playing AC/DC tunes, - we don't - I'd probably use the tube amps - turned up to 10! Sometimes you need a sledgehammer...

Looked at some UTubes on the Line 6 Helix and it certainly looks like it can do about anything! (Mic simulations and then the distance of mic from the cab as example). I would get lost in there I am sure. Given I'm mainly a acoustic player that's a bit of overkill. Given my age I'm stuck in the 60s early 70s so the TA-15 covers that pretty well and I love all those mini switches and watching the tubes heat up. Seems real, like Sitka on Madagascar Rosewood. Lol