Neighbour Guitarist needs TUBE AMP too

[soul_player]

Hey guys, i guess you are gonna be sick seeing another thread like this. But i still cant help it, i wanna get second oppinions. Since there are more choices in Singapore, i m thinking of coming from KL (Malaysia) to get one during sales.

So i hope u guys can give me some suggestion on the amps which might be suitable for my needs.

I play various type of music, from blues to metal, so i would like an amp with decent cleans and good overdrive. I will use a pedal to supplement any lack in gains.

:idea: What i m looking for in the Tube amp::idea:
Wattage/amp size: bedroom - a small gig level
Tone: decent cleans, good overdriven tone.
Channels: preferably 2
Functions: preferably with an efx loop
Budget: max of S$1000


no modelling amp, in fact i sold my ad 30vt due to disatisfaction towards the amp's flexibility.

Its quite pricey to get a tube amp in KL, i find some amp prices to be cheaper in singapore after adding in the bus ticket as well. Hope u guys can give me a price quote as well if it isnt too much.

Thanx in advance. 8)

 

[leecs]

you can try Laney LC15R or LC30II or VC15. Ibanez Valbee. What pedals do you use?

 

[soul_player]

I m currently using boss ds-1 and ch-1 which i got from the ad 30vt trade + cash

I only use the ds 1 as a boost to the amp, the distortion is much better when combined with the amp's distortion.

I ve tried the ac 15 cc1 today and fender pro-junior i suppose.. not too sure whether its the pro junior or blues junior sometime back...

The ac 15cc1 doesnt makes me "excited" at all, sounds like a plain clean amp. Hmm, can anyone tell me wats the specialty of the amp that i should look into? i dont know why so many people are so hyped up about the amp.. just curious :evil:

The pro junior/blues junior sounds better to me... but again, it was few months ago, i m not sure if its the same now... :lol:

So anymore suggestions guys?

 

[Guest]

With that kind of budget you can get a pretty good mid sized combo during the sales so no worries with small tube amp combos.

As a general rule bigger speakers would give you bigger frequency range coverage. So a 1x12" Blues Junior might be quite different from a 1x10" Pro Junior. Something about the small box woolly sound of overdriven small speaker EL84 (Fender Juniors and Laney Vox-like) amps. Great for blues but not enough definition for metal when overdriven IMO. I don't like how EL84's get flubby when you drive them.

The Randall 50W EL34 1x12" combo also looks like it might fit, but it's no small amp. So's the Fender Hot Rod 40W 6L6 1x12". Might be hard to bring on a bus. Beyond the upper limit of your budget, what would be perfect would be the discontinued Reverend Goblin one of the softies no longer brings in. It has pretty good headroom for a 1x10". Yum. http://www.synthtopia.com/news/04_11/Reverend_Amp.html

There are probably more versatile small tube combos around. More softies might chime in.

Just remember that musical gear is taxable by customs on the way back across the causeway. Don't get caught. Put it in a beat-up (non-musical gear) cardboard box or something, with proper padding of course.

 

[soul_player]

Initially i was considering hot rod deluxe... but after trying today's ac 15... i found that the 40watter will gonna blow my room to smitherin, not to mention my ear drums... :lol:

so i ve decided on somewhere near 15watts or slightly more for gig purposes in the future. is it sufficient based on u guys who have gigged's experiences?

I find it hard to drive the ac15 cc1, doesnt give a very significant OD tone.

Anyway for the customs, do u think i could get away by saying that my cousins gave it to me as a christmas give or something?

Or maybe i give an excuse saying i ve just came back from a gig?

Is it likely that they ll accept it?

 

[Guest]

juz say u borrowed it from ur relative la..

 

[Phil]

Initially i was considering hot rod deluxe... but after trying today's ac 15... i found that the 40watter will gonna blow my room to smitherin, not to mention my ear drums... :lol:

The claim that a 40w will blast a 15w away, is but a lousy myth.
Read this: http://www.soft.com.sg/2006/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=19295

I find it hard to drive the ac15 cc1, doesnt give a very significant OD tone.

What level were you playing at? You've to up the 'volume' knob. Any tube amp, even the 5w Valbee, when cranked, will be really loud.

The ac15 can pretty much do anything except metal. But pedals will take it to metal-land and beyond.
In fact, since it's a 15w, it has much less headroom and it breaks up much more easily than say a 30w.
Mine saturates about halfway up, and when A/B-ed with my buddy's Blues Junior, the ac15 is significantly crunchier and fatter.

Anyway for the customs, do u think i could get away by saying that my cousins gave it to me as a christmas give or something?
Or maybe i give an excuse saying i ve just came back from a gig?
Is it likely that they ll accept it?

Say it like you mean it, and nobody will ever doubt you. :wink:

 

[soul_player]

What level were you playing at? You've to up the 'volume' knob. Any tube amp, even the 5w Valbee, when cranked, will be really loud.

The ac15 can pretty much do anything except metal. But pedals will take it to metal-land and beyond.
In fact, since it's a 15w, it has much less headroom and it breaks up much more easily than say a 30w.
Mine saturates about halfway up, and when A/B-ed with my buddy's Blues Junior, the ac15 is significantly crunchier and fatter.

Hmm, i think i playing at around half as well, or maybe less, coz its the staff who does the tweaking for me.

i think there is very little choice for amp brands over here. Its either a big ass mainstream stuff (something cool which we cant afford) or we get all those valvestate, valvetronix (heavy commercial) stuff. I cant find stuff like reverend or traynor here.

Anyway, have u tried the hot rod deluxe? wat are ur comments?

And do u have records of sample where i can listen to? prefereably only the guitar and the amp.
Do you think the ac 15 is loud enough for small venues?
How much is one of these ac 15 in s'pore?

Sorry for bombarding the questions.. haha
[/quote]

 

[thor666]

Since you are in Malaysia, why don't you check out Ceriatone. Good clones at good prices to boot.

www.ceriatone.com

You probably can start with the Fender models if you looking for clean - the Marshall 18W doesn't afford much headroom from what I've read and learnt from other forummers.

 

[calibre2001]

:idea: What i m looking for in the Tube amp::idea:
Wattage/amp size: bedroom - a small gig level
Tone: decent cleans, good overdriven tone.
Channels: preferably 2
Functions: preferably with an efx loop
Budget: max of S$1000

To get something 'close' to bedroom levels (impossible IMO as they sound never sound good enough at low volumes), get one with a smaller speaker like a 10", 8" etc. 12" and will always be too loud.

Voxs are known for sweet cleans and creamy OD, not in a Marshall vein, if that is your reference point of decent OD sound.

My advice would be consider getting a good OD pedal to handle the OD needs since cranking tube amps will generally be too loud, even at gigs sometimes!

 

[Phil]

Hmm, i think i playing at around half as well, or maybe less, coz its the staff who does the tweaking for me.

Read this: http://www.soft.com.sg/2006/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=19228
Maybe you can go try it again and tweak it yourself. :wink:

Do you think the ac 15 is loud enough for small venues?
How much is one of these ac 15 in s'pore?

It's definitely loud enough for small venues. Especially when you crank it. And just a sidenote, I use the ac15 in conjunction with my pedals for my main tone. It gives me some great cleans, which I love.
Price: http://www.mrmisse.com/gasvox.htm

 

[Guest]

Yes 15W tube would be loud enough for small gigs. If the amp comes with external speaker output, you can plug it into a cabinet at larger gigs. Think of what plugging a small tube amp into a 4x12" cab will sound like. Main thing is that you need to like the cranked tone of the amp and you might not have enough headroom to get pristine cleans when you need to play loud. Classic way of using a single channel low wattage amp is to set the gain to the sweet spot where it just breaks into crunch, use a booster pedal/+eq for lead tones and roll off the volume for cleaner passages. Make sure you get an amp with the kind of cranked tone you like.

 

[soul_player]

Since you are in Malaysia, why don't you check out Ceriatone. Good clones at good prices to boot.

www.ceriatone.com

You probably can start with the Fender models if you looking for clean - the Marshall 18W doesn't afford much headroom from what I've read and learnt from other forummers.

Hmm, i m not sure how these amps sounds like. I was hoping to test them before buying to know wats the tone i m buying.

To get something 'close' to bedroom levels (impossible IMO as they sound never sound good enough at low volumes), get one with a smaller speaker like a 10", 8" etc. 12" and will always be too loud.

Voxs are known for sweet cleans and creamy OD, not in a Marshall vein, if that is your reference point of decent OD sound.

Basically, i m looking for an OD tone like Brian May, but doesnt want the tone as dirty as his. I want something a lil brighter than his. Thats for the chordings and rythm. Maybe on the 2nd level of pups switch (Fender strat).

For leads, something on the neck pups tone. Sounds like eric clapton.

Hope u get wat i mean. I m not farmiliar with jargons :lol:

Yeah, maybe i ll use a dirt pedal to suplement the amp in bedroom practice.

It's definitely loud enough for small venues. Especially when you crank it. And just a sidenote, I use the ac15 in conjunction with my pedals for my main tone. It gives me some great cleans, which I love.
Price: http://www.mrmisse.com/gasvox.htm

Hey! its even cheaper than CK music, or City Music in Singapore.... Its around S$1k here.. wonder if misse will give me further discounts.. that would be great... :lol:

But, heard there is reliability issues with the ac15, so it ll be a problem to send back to S'pore for repair.

Yes 15W tube would be loud enough for small gigs. If the amp comes with external speaker output, you can plug it into a cabinet at larger gigs. Think of what plugging a small tube amp into a 4x12" cab will sound like. Main thing is that you need to like the cranked tone of the amp and you might not have enough headroom to get pristine cleans when you need to play loud. Classic way of using a single channel low wattage amp is to set the gain to the sweet spot where it just breaks into crunch, use a booster pedal/+eq for lead tones and roll off the volume for cleaner passages. Make sure you get an amp with the kind of cranked tone you like. Very Happy

Most 15watt i see are single channel, so i was thinking of such method. But is it possible to set it at breaking point and further drive it to break up point using pedal? meaning, the tone is still from the amp itself not the pedal, wat i do is further drive the pre-amp with external source...

Is tht possible?

 

[Phil]

So far my ac15 is working great. The reliability issues, IMO, is largely associated with the few initial batches of the ac15. So no worries there.

Driving with pedals is rather commonplace, and the options are plentiful. It'll be a blast to experiment, so again, no worries there.

:wink:

 

[Guest]

Yep. With all the booster/overdrive/distortion pedals out there, there's bound to be one to suit your needs/ears. How you set up your gain levels for your amp and pedals is a matter of taste and perference.

With a tube amp you should have even more tonal options when you play around with the guitar volume knob or input level to the amp.

 

[thor666]

Hmm, i m not sure how these amps sounds like. I was hoping to test them before buying to know wats the tone i m buying.

Email Nik, see if you can go over to the shop and test something out. Despite not ever buying anything from them, I must say Nik's service is very very good. (Who would be honest enough to recommend you a competing product to what you have (speaker wise)).

The email, phone and address are on their website - under Contact us.

 

[soul_player]

Email Nik, see if you can go over to the shop and test something out. Despite not ever buying anything from them, I must say Nik's service is very very good. (Who would be honest enough to recommend you a competing product to what you have (speaker wise)).

The email, phone and address are on their website - under Contact us.

will do, might drop by his store one day for a test drive. But will it be cheaper than the swee lee sales?

So in the 15watt range we ve got:
vox ac 15 - $895
(*gonna bug edder for a discount.. hope he doesnt get pissed off easily.. :lol
fender pro. jr - ?
fender bluer jr - ?

anything else in the range of less than $1000?
and can anyone give me a list price in swee lee for the 2 amps?

 

[Phil]

I went through what you are going through now. Was also looking at lower wattage tube amps.

My choices included,

Laney VC30
Carvin Vintage 16
Blues Jr/Pro
Vox ac15/30

And I ended up with the ac15 Custom Classic.

 

[leecs]

I went through what you are going through now. Was also looking at lower wattage tube amps.

My choices included,

Laney VC30
Carvin Vintage 16
Blues Jr/Pro
Vox ac15/30

And I ended up with the ac15 Custom Classic.

I agree with phil. But be sure to get nothing smaller than a 12' speaker. I think the smallest is a 30w

 

[Phil]

The ac15 has a 30w, 12" Wharfdale speaker. That is the cheaper of the two options you have with ac15s.

The other is the 12" Celestion Blue, labelled the ac15cc1x. It's in excess of 1300, thereabout.

The Blue give you the classic Vox sound. But it's too over-priced in my books. I tried both out, and the Wharfdale is my pick.

Maybe later on I might swap out the Wharfdale for a Weber, if the opportunity presents itself. Cheaper alternative, but arguably just as good as the Celestion Blue.

There really is a palpable difference between a 10" and a 12".