26 posts
I traded for a Marshall Class 5 head last Friday. I traded a pedal plus a little cash. I had maybe 30 minutes with the amp Saturday night, but I think I'm going to love it. Without pedals, it does need to be turned up to sound good (I had read this many times at TGP). But when you turn it up half way or more, it really is Baby Plexi tone. I plugged it into my greenback cab and it sounded great. After 20 minutes or so, plugged int into my V30 cab. 2 minutes later I plugged it back into the greenback. I had heard that the amp sounds great with some speakers and not so great with others. DID NOT LIKE IT with the V30! Sounds GREAT with the greenback. Not a lot of clean headroom, but seriously guys, this is DTR talking so who cares? LOL I have two amps that get loud cleans. I'm good there. This is the kind of amp I could take to WHStock (if there were such a thing anymore) and turn it up all the way and leave it there all weekend, without ever being too loud. (Meaning FB REALLY needs something like this before the next WHStock/Bertapalooza! LOL) No wonder people love cranked plexi amps. It is pretty loud for home when cranked up,but so far, REALLY digging how it sounds.
Did a little testing with pedals too, and it absolutely LOVES the BSIAB II, OCD and Plimsoul. I had the SHO clone off my board, but I'm sure that is a match as well...
I think someone else here (Jon?) tried one of these before and didn't love it. I still have to try it with the G12H type speakers but only to check. Its great with a greenback type and I'd never need to switch. Really digging this very affordable amp!
Are you trying to say I play to loud? Seriously? ME?!?!?! REally?!?!?! Come on man!!!
Jamie and I just started talking about a Wateringholestock for next year last night.
Nah, and you don't solo too long either! ;D
That would be awesome. Hope we can pull it off. Speaking of which, heard from Rik-y Bobby lately? He kind of fell off he map.
I'm in. And I'm a huge believer in low wattage amps. We have no problem keeping up with bass, drums, and multiple guitars with 5-15 watt amps, and in fact rarely turn any amp past 9 o'clock.
Only issue I've ever had with low wattage amps is the clean headroom they just don't have.
In fact, for distorted, broken up blues / rock / metal tones I prefer a low wattage amp. You don't need high wattage to achieve loud volume levels. (I've learned much since my days of Marshall Half Stacks, though that amp was only 50 watts)
They can absolutely scream, and I love the nice tube breakup you can achieve with less than ear piercing db levels, but to get them to clean up and really chime at a volume that can cut through a loud drummer takes a small miracle.
So, for that reason alone, I can always find a reason to keep a big nasty 100w blackface twin sitting around.
I have an Internet met friend who plays very well, we have one thing in common, we were both friends of the late Emily Remler (Google her) His name is Kenny Wilson, he spent his early years working at Manny's in NYC in the guitar department, and met all the big wig players through there, he was great personal friends with Joe Pass the great Jazz guitarist. He himself is a great player (go to Soundclick and put in his name) Anyways that long winded preamble is to qualify what he told me about the little 5 watt Marshall. his advice was get it and I will love it. He can play all those intricate jazz chord melodies and those intricate arpeggios against the changes, all that heavyweight jazz stuff but he can also rock out on overdrives. So Howie according to someone who knows guitars and amps from back in the day to today, he agrees with you, he loves his 5 watt Marshall.
It's always nice when someone who knows something agrees with me! ;D (Unusual, but nice! LOL)
My experience is limited, as I just got it. But so far it's pretty cool. I only played it with the Carvin that night. Can't wait to break out the Wolfie and the new Custom 24 with it.
Divebomb — Oct 28, 2012Only issue I've ever had with low wattage amps is the clean headroom they just don't have.
In fact, for distorted, broken up blues / rock / metal tones I prefer a low wattage amp. You don't need high wattage to achieve loud volume levels. (I've learned much since my days of Marshall Half Stacks, though that amp was only 50 watts)
They can absolutely scream, and I love the nice tube breakup you can achieve with less than ear piercing db levels, but to get them to clean up and really chime at a volume that can cut through a loud drummer takes a small miracle.
So, for that reason alone, I can always find a reason to keep a big nasty 100w blackface twin sitting around.
Hello.....Matchless.
Dave, really? My 5 watt Epiphone is completely clean at levels that keep up with bass, drums, and guitars (in fact I wish you didn't have to turn it up so loud to make it break up--but we use a bunch of pedals in front of it anyway). I think it's more amp design than wattage. Our Hammond conversion amp is always somewhat distorted, but that's down to the design. The Tweaker is clean well up into drumkit range too. I find a desire for more breakup, not less (that's why we're running an 18-watt amp with an attenuator--want it to cook those tubes)...
Agreed Charger, but as you remember from WHStock I, "clean headroom" to Divebomb Dave means loud enough to drown out the drums, and 14 other guitar players all playing at once. ;D
You're probably right there Charger, I've never had a small amp that was particularly good at clean tones, so I'm probably basing my opinion off of nonsense. Just always needed more headroom... Whether that was due to poor circuit, poor speaker, or both, not sure. Distortion has never been a problem, but for cleans I always needed something bigger. Super reverb was a beauty in the clean department, but even that was riding the edge of broken up at a volume that would cut through our drummer. Of course, that was in a one car garage. Loud as hell in there. On stage, every thing was mic'd so it was never a problem. A lot more space made the drums less hectic. Towards the end I was running the super with yellow jackets and EL84's. I sure miss that amp.
charger — Oct 29, 2012Dave, really? My 5 watt Epiphone is completely clean at levels that keep up with bass, drums, and guitars (in fact I wish you didn't have to turn it up so loud to make it break up--but we use a bunch of pedals in front of it anyway). I think it's more amp design than wattage. Our Hammond conversion amp is always somewhat distorted, but that's down to the design. The Tweaker is clean well up into drumkit range too. I find a desire for more breakup, not less (that's why we're running an 18-watt amp with an attenuator--want it to cook those tubes)...
My Valve Jr head is also sparkling clean at pretty good volumes, and even turned up, it will clean up with just the guitar volume control. I agree with Charger on the Valve Jr. Best 99 bucks I ever spent on gear. I never have it past 9:00 on the dial, it works great for a practice/recording amp, and takes my pedals very well.
I had 3 Valve Jr's back in the days when I was interested in modding them. My stock VHT Special 6 is MUCH better than a stock valve jr. The Special 6 Ultra blows them away!
Well, ou may or may not know the story of the Epiphone... I never intended to use it as an amp. It was supposed to be a spring reverb unit. My buddy Joe bought an Epi combo, and made his into a reverb unit (we call it reverbzilla because he put 6 different MOD reverb tanks on a rotary switch--it's got basically every variation of spring reverb).
But when we plugged in the Epi head I got (on ebay for $80), we changed out minds instantly. I know it's been modded, or else we just got really really lucky. I've played a few of these amps and this one sounds way, way better. Joe refused to help me mod it because of the sound, long story short, it's one of our primary jam rigs now. 5 watts of glory.
Yeah, I remember you getting them to make verbs out of.
Your must be modded. The regular ones are dark and mushy (even the latest versions, which all three of mine were). The all had some very poor value choices in them (bias off, etc.) Would be cool to know what was done to yours. I've heard samples of some that had very minor mods done (few caps and resistors, that guy hadn't even gotten to the OT yet) and his clips sounded really good.
DreamTheaterRules — Oct 31, 2012I had 3 Valve Jr's back in the days when I was interested in modding them. My stock VHT Special 6 is MUCH better than a stock valve jr. The Special 6 Ultra blows them away!
For 99 bucks you can beat the value. Of course it ain't like a good hand wired point to point amp with a full tone stack. But for the dollar value (at that time) there was no better value in a tube amp bar none. The Valve Jr is a very limited affair of course but for practice or studio work with a few stomps it far exceeds its cost. I have gotten some very nice recorded sounds from the Valve Jr head and a tube distortion stomp. Many more expensive amps would blow away the Valve Jr. But name one at 99 bucks that will. Of course I had to JJ tube it for fifteen bucks too..... ;D
charger — Oct 31, 2012Well, ou may or may not know the story of the Epiphone... I never intended to use it as an amp. It was supposed to be a spring reverb unit. My buddy Joe bought an Epi combo, and made his into a reverb unit (we call it reverbzilla because he put 6 different MOD reverb tanks on a rotary switch--it's got basically every variation of spring reverb).
But when we plugged in the Epi head I got (on ebay for $80), we changed out minds instantly. I know it's been modded, or else we just got really really lucky. I've played a few of these amps and this one sounds way, way better. Joe refused to help me mod it because of the sound, long story short, it's one of our primary jam rigs now. 5 watts of glory.
Geez I have been pleased with mine since the day I got it. It is sparkling clean, has no mush, no problems at all. The only mod I have done is put in a high gain 12AX7 and a hot el34, both from Bobbo at Eurotubes and I play it every single day for an hour since I got it back when they first came out. It ain't as smooth as my HRD. But I would use it out in a small combo band and get real decent tones out of it. I guess I got lucky because mine is an OK amp. I wonder if they vary in tone radically out of the factory.
Dave.
Please don't take it like I was slamming your amp. Remember, at one point, I had 3 of them! LOL (two heads and a combo).
What I was referring to is what some believe is intentionally bad choices in some places that make the bias off in more than one place, thus resulting in far poorer sound than what they are capable of. Some believe that Gibson heard prototypes and made them change some parts so that it didn't sound as good or better than the version Gibson sells for 3-4 times the price. Never heard if that was confirmed, but many believe it because biasing a tube is simple, and we're not talking about biasing warm vs. hot, or cold vs. warm, we're talking MIS-biasing. And it only takes a few cheap parts to fix it! The first two versions had a mismatched OT as well! The amp guys were just shaking their heads going "they had to do this on purpose!" It was V3 before the put an appropriate value OT in them!!! V3 sounds WAY better than the other two, as at least the OT is the right value.
When I hung out at the VJr mod forums many guys there said that with less than $10 worth of caps and resistor changes, the amp sounds twice as good. (Especially V3) One of my buddies there did clips of his "voxy" mod which was those simple things, and added a $30 OT and his clips sounded REALLY good!
I was all into modding them and lost interest (no time, and no good place to do it when I lost my garage). I strongly encourage you to find an amp tech and let them do the BASIC mods to it. Shouldn't cost much at all, and you will LOVE the results. If you have a V3, you should be able to get the parts and have them installed for less than $50 and your amp will sound like a new amp.
Personally, I sold the last two when I got my Special 6 because it sounded better. Now that I have the Special 6 Ultra, I wouldn't revisit the Jr unless I just came across one so cheap it was stupid. And that said, I have a brand new Hammond OT sitting in the box that I never used. I keep forgetting to list it for sale in those forums.
I got my first Jr Head (a v2 which was a major improvement in tone) for $89 at GC on special.
DreamTheaterRules — Nov 01, 2012Dave. Please don't take it like I was slamming your amp. Remember, at one point, I had 3 of them! LOL (two heads and a combo).
Geez Howie I was not offended at all. It is a cheap little toy compared to a real amp. However I do have decent tones from mine, not at all muddy or mushy. In fact it is as crisp little thingy, I would not want to rely on it for any more than practice or studio use. And I am not going to be insulted by someone telling their truth about it.
No biggie amigo it is only 99 bucks we are talking about, and long paid for itself saving the tubes in my bigger amp. I musta worded my response wrong. I did not mean anything by it at all. (Shit I am not emotionally involved with the 99 dollar wonder)
I think Howie needs to apologize for his offensive behavior right away!
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Cool. I didn't mean to be overly sensitive. LOL I just know how we all are about our gear. If I come and and say I just got this and it's really cool, and someone else comes in and says it sucks... well, just didn't want to come off like a jerk. From what you are saying, sounds like you have a V3 which IS MUCH better than 1 and 2. The one V3 I had was not bad. But the V3 I heard with $10 worth of parts swaps, was VERY nice.
Yep..... I don't know if it is version 3 I got it pretty early on but I could be a year or two into the model run. Once I heard about it, I bought one. and it was OK till I put in the JJ's then it got a bit better. Pretty decent for the bux.
DreamTheaterRules — Nov 02, 2012Cool. I didn't mean to be overly sensitive. LOL I just know how we all are about our gear. If I come and and say I just got this and it's really cool, and someone else comes in and says it sucks... well, just didn't want to come off like a jerk. From what you are saying, sounds like you have a V3 which IS MUCH better than 1 and 2. The one V3 I had was not bad. But the V3 I heard with $10 worth of parts swaps, was VERY nice.
Hmm... Not an obvious apology... I wonder if I still get the points for this? I'll have to ask Mark. ;) :D ;D
I said I didn't want to come off as a jerk, so I think you do. :)
Where the heck is Mark? I used to hear from him. Haven't in quite a while.
I have good discussions with Mark and Klops (j-o-e-y) on Facebook Book of Bert. Both are always woken up by any comments over there, even though it may be months between comments.
yeah, I'm not on facebook. Speaking of that though, I haven't heard from Joey forever either.
Ah, the old gang.