Recoomendations for tube amp..

fibredrive

New member
hey all;

WAS more or less settled on getting myself a Mesa Boogie F30 amp sometime next month. But not so sure now. wanna ask around, maybe you guys have some experience and care to share, or recommend me some other options for me to research and/or listen to.? was just browsing the net and also went down to SL to check out someother options. the list in my mind would include;

Mesa F30
Crate V5112
Peavey Triple XXX 112
Marshall DSL 401
Carvin MTS3120 or somethin like that...

most prob also stick my pod xt live in the effects loop...if any.

any suggestions? appreciate all advice. thks all. budget about $1400. am buying in the US. so yah, open up some other options hopefully..cheers
 
imho, if you are going to have the pod in the effect loop. It really doesnt matter what amp it is, whether tube or non tube....The tubes in the tube amp is not going to warm the sound nor make the sound from the POD better. Its actually quite wasteful to mix normal tube amp with the pod...

If you really want to have the pod in it. This amp below is the best for it. It is design for POD....

http://www.atomicamps.com/
 
Well I have an all tube amp and despite its great tone and presence its really too loud for home use. And its very heavy too. So I still do use my old practice amp for evening and night time playing.

Just make sure you can accept all that comes with tube amps; great sound but depending on your usage, it might or might not be practical.

And I sold off my PODXT soon after I got my tube amp hehe *hint* It sux to use one with a tube amp.

Check out Laneys and Vox too. These are great brands too. Laneys are reasonably priced IMO and well worth it esp after a tube change and maybe speaker change too.
 
was thinking the pod xt could use the delays and verbs and bypass the amp and cab sim. but dunno if thats possible.

thanks for the recommendations. reverend kingsnake, never hear before. heh. will go look it up. am not intending the pod xt to 'enhance' my tube amp, merely using it for delay and verb at most, if possible. pod is for recording purposes only. tube amp is for the sheer sound of it i guess. haha.

regarding loudness, i understand one can get a power attenuator, is that right? cheers
 
Mesa.png



Mesa Rulz
 
fibredrive said:
was thinking the pod xt could use the delays and verbs and bypass the amp and cab sim. but dunno if thats possible.

thanks for the recommendations. reverend kingsnake, never hear before. heh. will go look it up. am not intending the pod xt to 'enhance' my tube amp, merely using it for delay and verb at most, if possible. pod is for recording purposes only. tube amp is for the sheer sound of it i guess. haha.

regarding loudness, i understand one can get a power attenuator, is that right? cheers

No you cant bypass the PODXT totally and just use the delay. You will still hear the POD XT presence and its digitalness somehow. Turn the master volume up and it gets more noticeable etc. Keep the XT for recording. I miss mine for that.

Regarding loudness, it definitely works with heads and cabs.I'm not sure about whether power atten works with combos. These things are placed between the power tube stage and the speakers/cabs. I doubt it works through the effects loop since its between the preamp and power stage. But I;m not entirely sure myself. Just my 2 cents
 
Ive personally ABed the Mesa F30 and the Rivera R30-112, both around the same price range. N well i got the Rivera R30-112. Beside it being cheaper ( a factor for me). I like the tone and the versatility of the Rivera better. Am more of a clean-classic rock player, and the amount of gain on tap for the Mesa was too much for me. Although the mesa cleans was surprisingly very sweet. The Rivera has 2 channels one being modelled on the MArshall JCM 800(dirty) and one being modelled on the Fender (clean). The fender channel also has a mid switch which can select between Black-brown face fender sound. The Fender sound is great for blues with the near overdrive tone, think Eric johnson, while the marshall can put out serious grind but not over the top, think darkness, cream etc. Well ull need to try other amps as well. This is my O.O2 cents. Am a bit biased towards the Rivera but you should try the Mesa F30, its a darn good amp, the rivera won my vote by a very small margin.
 
dude... if you just want a few solid tones to play-no questions asked... its simple.. get a tube head. and plug it into a 1x12 cab. get a hotplate so you can crank it up... and you are all set man ... best bit is..you can carry it and use it for gigs etc...
 
Hi all,

Here's some summarised points on the Hotplate.

* Priced at SGD 490.
* Available in 16,8,4 ohm versions. Combo usually need 8 ohm model.
* Works for tube amps (heads & cabs) but not transistor amps.
* For tube amps, works on both master and non-master models.

Any questions, let me know.
 
Quick tip,

For those using preamps (before poweramp) and PODs and are thinking of switching to a tube amp for a warmer tone, try the following first.

Plug a analog OD pedal between the POD/preamp and the desk/poweramp.

The pedal should set with Gain knob at "0" and volume knob set to taste.

Chances are that the pedal acts as another preamp to warm up the tone ... however, the end result is subjective, according to each person's idea of tone.
 
tks again for all the valuable input. so far have added rivera and reverend to my list.
would love to get a head and cab and all but think exceeds my budget by quite a bit. so, maybe gotta shelf that for the time being. was thinking the peavey triple xxx at $1750 was a little ridiculous too. anyways, will test out the above amps when i'm over there. if i can find them.
thanks for all the tips so far dudes, if there are any others, i am still all ears. will be leaving only next month anyways...cheers
 
tube enquiry

hi, i was lookin at marshall TSL 100 & peavey XXX. jus wonderin wats the diff EL34s & 6L6? since both of them r use for the power amp section. i read both of them have diff sound. theres also many diff types of tubes available, eg kt88, 6v6. its mainly 12AX7 (aka ECC83) for pre amp & 6L6 or EL34 for power amp. which is the 1 dat affects the build in disortion?? where to get cheap tubes in s'pore?
 
mesa f50 not sure, but F30 if buy in sg is about $1900. Buy in US is about SGD$1300.
Think the main diff between 6L6 and EL34's is sound character as u said. 6l6 more mesa sounding, el34 more marshall jcm800 type of sound. in a gist la. read it in some tube amp site...
 
Another vote for the Rivera :)

rivera-cu.jpg


Plenty loud too, I run it through this 4x12

randall-cu.jpg


and it's enough to play with a loud band, competing with another guitarist running this...

mb5050-cu.jpg
 
Yeah Rivera are actually great amps, the entry level boutiques such as the R series, Chubster etc are really great amps. Am thinking of getting a cab with 1X12 for my R30, then can do a mini stack hehehe
 
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