Mar 10, 2008 10:28 pm Have a look at the JSX from Peavey. I'm not sure what all options it has as far as combos but its a versatile amp for sure.
buying a tube amp. advice needed!!!
Posted on Mar 10, 2008 06:56 pm
End of Fall
Mikey Spencer
Member Since: Apr 26, 2007
so, im looking at buying a tube guitar amp and i think i need some good advice. im looking for something versital. there's 3 tones i want to be able to get, a glassy clean, dirty crunch, and heavy overdrive (think jcm800 or triple rectifier). I dont want to spend more than about 850, in between 600 and 750 would be nice. I want something with at least 50 watts and i'd prefer 2x12's. Right now my best option looks like a mesa boogie nomad. im looking more at used amps. do u guys know of any amps that would work good for me?
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Mar 10, 2008 10:28 pm Have a look at the JSX from Peavey. I'm not sure what all options it has as far as combos but its a versatile amp for sure.
Mar 11, 2008 12:14 am Ouch, I just checked the prices on the JSX...$1500 for the combo. Dang, that's more expensive than a Peavey should be.
There are several good all-tube combos under $850, but I guess it depends on what kind of tone you're going for. Those Mesa combos are pretty darn versatile, louder than all hell, tone to die for, probably cover all of your bases. Honestly I probably couldn't suggest a better fit for your criteria.
Are you looking to gig with the amp, record with it, or both?
And when you say "heavy overdrive" are you thinking contemporary metal or are you thinking Black Sabbath?
Mar 11, 2008 01:18 pm The Marshall JCM 800 fifty watt is a great sounding amp.It's very similar to the fifty head of the 70's.You may need FX pedal for the heavy overdrive.
Mar 11, 2008 02:14 pm It's gonna be tough to find a tube amp with that kind of flexiblity for under $1200. Even a combo.
Mar 11, 2008 02:18 pm Have you considered Carvin? Factory direct keeps it inexpensive, and they have a lot of options.
Mar 12, 2008 01:03 am I was going to suggest Carvin as well TallChap. I use an older Ampeg tube head that I run my Pod XT live through but if I were to buy any other head it would most likely be a Carvin Legacy. I love the sounds that thing makes. Checking the site it looks like its on sale for $749.99
Mar 12, 2008 09:34 am My friend, well someone I know, got a Peavy Valve King for $700 even at the Empire of Guitar Center! But, I'm not sure if it was used or not. I LOVED the way the amp sounded. But, he still just used his shitty Digitech "I wanna be Dimebag" distortion.
Mar 12, 2008 01:43 pm I was thinking of mentioning the ValveKing as well. It doesn't have as good of distortion as the Mesa or the Marshall, but its a good and affordable all-tube amp that can provide pretty good cleans and pretty good distortion. I'd suggest pairing it (or just about any tube amp) with a good overdrive pedal to really increase its versatility as far as distortions. Between the preamp gain, power amp gain, and the overdrive pedal, my tube combo can cover a pretty impressive range of tones.
Good suggestion!
Also maybe a used 5150 (renamed to be the 6505) or 5150 II (renamed to be the 6505+) are great high-gain amps from Peavey. I'm not so sure about the clean channel or how good the crunch is, but the hi-gain sounds on those amps is pretty impressive. Crushing amounts of gain (if you're into that kind of thing).
I ended up with a Traynor YCV80 and its another good, relatively versatile all-tube amp. It's an 80-watt 2x12 that can shake a house off of its foundation. The clean is very very nice, although it does't have a lot of headroom without breaking up into a gentle crunch. The crunch channel is its real strength, handling blues, classic rock, and mild-to-medium distortion with aplomb. The boost channel is raging, scathing distortion that can really blow the doors off the house. It has a mid-scoop button that GENTLY attenuates some of the mids while boosting the low-mids for a really cool hard rock tone. It has separate EQ, an expander and a bright switch on the clean channel, and a master reverb as well. But the one thing this amp can't do is contemporary nu-metal or heavy metal distortion. It's got a great Black Sabbath kind of late 70's distortion but it just can't touch the chugga-chugga headbanger tone. I got an Ibanez TS9 and that's really improved the heavier distorted tones, plus new tubes and new speakers would be able to steer you into new tonal territories.
Give one a test drive if you can and see if it's right for you.
Mar 20, 2008 04:35 am I use a line 6 XTL through the FX loop of an early '80s Carvin X100B. It's a really versatile setup for about $600... you can usually find one of the Carvin's floating on Ebay for a few hundred and the new X3 from line 6 is about $400. Also, should you pass on the XTL the X100B sounds pretty great on it's own. Fender-ish cleans, Marshall-ish overdrive.
May 23, 2008 01:56 am I am Kevin from Washington. I go over your article. It seems to be pretty good and very interesting. I want to share my opinion with you.
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Kevin Williams
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May 23, 2008 07:35 am i got a 6505 and it kicks...the clean tone is ok too.
i think get a good tube amp and get a 15 band eq. so you can get the clean sound you want.
thats what i did and geez man, a great tone is an understatement.
only thing with most head distortions is, they can be scratchy and need putting on a leash, so maybe for your heavy sound, run a pedal in front of the head with the distortion on it turned right down to about to a mild overdrive, then adjust your head distortion till it sounds sweet and tight.
i know you wanna keep it at a price range, but i also got a noise exterminator which is like a noise suppressor but alot more effective, it took heaps more of the noisy edge of my heavy sound.
so working on the heavy as a real heavy thing theory, if you can get that part of it tight as, with plenty of clarity, then you'll have no problem getting the other tones you want, as you'll be starting extreme and then backing it off to find your other desired tones.
having said that i really gotta stop writing essays.
May 23, 2008 11:06 am er.....thanks Kevin.
I was doing a little 'noodling' last night with the Sans-Amp Tri-AC (admittedly, I was actually recording bass through it - Stunning SVT sound). That little monster does it all. There are three models on there - from glassy clean, to Boogie ker-chunk. That into any amp/PA works a charm. Just something to consider.
May 23, 2008 12:09 pm JSX is spendy, but my neighbor has one and it is indeed a fantastic amp that is very versatile and has great gain even at low volumes.
May 23, 2008 03:17 pm One of the tube amps my shop just bought was a Mesa Boogie Lonestar.
It's 50 or 100 watts. Depending upon the type of tubes you put in it. Has Bias for both the 6L6, or EL34.
It's two channels. With several choices on the type of tone that you want.
Just looked on the web and found them to be in the price range you want.
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