The Watering Hole

Hope everyone is doing well, work has been keeping me crazy busy so I haven't been around much lately.  Had a quick amp question though.  So I have a Fender Hot Rod Deville 2x12 that I bought on impulse.  This was my first tube amp and I didn't realize how loud it was going to be, it is way too much for jamming around the house.  So I have it listed on Craigslist and am trying to decide on something around the 15W range and have narrowed it down the the Tweaker and the Fender Blues Jr.  I also considered the Blues Deluxe Reissue, I really like it but I am concerned it is a bit too much as well.  Ideally I would like something that could cover country and blues which I feel those Fenders do well (at least for the sound I like) and I haven't had much time on a Tweaker but I have a chance to get one tomorrow at a really good price.  For those who have them, does it truly cover that wide of a range of tones and will it do those well or should I hold out for something else?  Is there anything else I should consider?  I currently have 300 to spend but if I hold off until the Deville sells I will hopefully have closer to 800 though I would like to put some of that towards another guitar.  I also have a Valve Jr I just picked up but haven't messed with any mods for it, is anyone familiar with those and is that something I should try out first?

I have a Tweaker.  It's a very good amp.  For the money, probably cant beat it. It does Fender, Vox and Marshall all reasonably well, and cleans to mid gains in each.  You didn't say if it was a head or combo.  I have the head and its versatility can really shine of you have different speakers for different sounds.  

The valve junior without mods is a mushy lose amp.  

I used to hang in the valve junior mod forums a lot. Spent tons of timed reading and preparing to mod them.  One day, one of the moderators of the forum, a guy who had modified as many as 100 of them, in every imaginable way, made a remark that he had lost interest in them.  He said he had loved them for several years, and made many sound really good,  but got a new amp that made ALL of them sound like toys.  That amp... A Tweaker.  And to be honest, its not some boutique high brow amp.  But its a solid good versatile amp.  

I quit going to those forums and sold both my valve juniors within a month after reading that ( and a few PMs with that mod).  

Thanks for the feedback!  It is just the head.  I have a Raven 112 with a Celestion speaker that I picked up at GC a couple of months ago and I would be getting the Tweaker for 250 so I could do whatever upgrades on tubes and a speaker and probably still be under the cost of the Fender.  It would be a no brainer if I could just sell the Deville but the ATL Craigslist is flooded with them at the moment.

Jeff,

Get the Tweaker.  Best $250 you'll ever spend.  Then get a Tung Sol 12ax7 for V1, and some JJ 6V6s for power tubes.  You can toy with the other two tubes but you'll love this to start.  

Depending on which Celestion is in the cab you have, you may not need or want to swap that.   My Tweaker sounds different for sure, but good with the G12H, Greenback, V30 and the Alnico Red Fang.  Speaker choice is like tone stack preference.... which you like best just depends on what tone you are going for.  Very good versatile amp though.  You'll dig it.  

I love mine.  For me it's pretty much the most "tweakable"--I can run any pedal in front of it and make it sound good.  For example, I did the majority of the "testing" of your Paisley Drive  through the Tweaker.  A lot of our homebuilt amps have very specific tonalities that don't sound great with every pedal or guitar, but the Tweaker can make anything sound good.  

Personally having tried a shitload of tubes in a crapload of amps, I am not a fan of JJ tubes and they're never my first choice for anything, though I do have one 12AX7 in one amp somewhere that's a JJ... ymmv.  I also don't believe in automatic tube changes... listen to the amp, first.  A tube change is not an "automagical" improvement for an amp... what if the amp sounds great with the stock tubes?  Automatic tube swapping to me is a lot like magic. I definitely don't believe in magic, either.    

Oh and yeah, and  listen to that Valve Jr!  I have one in my studio that is a really killer amp, no other way to decribe it.  I bought it for $99 to make it into a spring reverb, but we all love it so much no one would let me gut it.  It's probably modded, though I still haven't opened it up to find out... but it is definitely a winner of an amp.  Again, listen to the amp first... I've heard a bunch of valve Jrs, and this is the first one I've really liked (and there was another one we bought that we DID end up sacrificing to the reverb gods).

Y'all sold me, I'm going to pick it up in an hour.  :)

unfortunately, they've almost sold me on it too... sigh.  ;D

ptelite — May 14, 2013 Had a quick amp question though.  So I have a Fender Hot Rod Deville 2x12 that I bought on impulse.  This was my first tube amp and I didn't realize how loud it was going to be,

There is this little thing called a volume box it goes between the in and out of the efx loop on the Hot Rod Series. It is simply a volume control in a little case and it helps to mediate the volume of the Hot Rod. I use one on mine and I can play any room at any volume level and it sounds great. I Paid $20 on e-bay.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VOLUME-BOX-GUITAR-AMPLIFIER-ATTENUATOR-FOR-RIVERA-AMPS-/200621051451?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2eb5f24e3b

My tube change was a suggestion based on what I've heard, and read.  I like the Tung Sol in V1 better than anything I've tried.  In the massive Tweaker threads at TGP, the most preferred tube choices were Tong Sol V1, JJ 6V6s power tubes.  As always, YMMV.  If you have a bunch of great NOS tubes laying around, you will probably find something better.  For new, affordable tubes, those two were the most often preferred.  

I thought my Tweaker was great before I changed any tubes.  I KNOW it's better for me with the Tong Sol/JJ combo mentioned.  Obviously, you can push it other ways.  

Your Mileage May Vary.  Consult your physician for erections lasting over 4 hours.  

DreamTheaterRules — May 14, 2013Consult your physician for erections lasting over 4 hours.  

Anything over 4 minutes is just wasting valuable time that could be spent doing something else!  ;)  :D

CraigBert — May 14, 2013[quote author=DreamTheaterRules link=1368497797/0#9 date=1368569227]Consult your physician for erections lasting over 4 hours.  

Anything over 4 minutes is just wasting valuable time that could be spent doing something else!  ;)  :D


And how is your carpal tunnel these days?  ;)

So I've only had about 15 minutes to mess with it but so far this amp is awesome! Thanks again for all of the feedback.

ptelite — May 15, 2013So I've only had about 15 minutes to mess with it but so far this amp is awesome! Thanks again for all of the feedback.

Congrats! Like mentioned, the Tweaker also makes for a great lil pedal platform.  :)

ptelite — May 15, 2013So I've only had about 15 minutes to mess with it but so far this amp is awesome! Thanks again for all of the feedback.

Sweet! Run the gain on the clean channel just past noon, that's my go to setting for just about everything.  Spanky!  It's a great little amp.

DreamTheaterRules — May 14, 2013...In the massive <insert product name> threads at TGP...

The words most likely to completely turn me off any product. The more I read there, the more I understand why Scientology is so successful.

There is a world of useful knowledge there.  Don't know what exactly turns you off.  Assemble a half million musicians in one place and you are bound to have wildly varying levels of experience, ability, and gear.  You also have all the personalities that go along with that size sample group.  It doesn't take long to find the good there and ignore the rest.  After you've been there a while, there are threads you just KNOW you don't want to waste your time on... like he politics and religion thread here!   ;D ;D   But there are others with tons of great info in them.  And they also have some useless posts, and some mis-information, etc...  

Just like society, and gear... weed through the bad for the good.  A perfect example listed above when in threads probably over 1000 people commented on tube preferences and the most popular preferred tube swaps for the Tweaker were Tung Sol V1, JJ 6V6s power tubes.  Other than that most preferences were expensive NOS tubes.  

DreamTheaterRules — May 15, 2013There is a world of useful knowledge there.  Don't know what exactly turns you off.  Assemble a half million musicians in one place and you are bound to have wildly varying levels of experience, ability, and gear.  You also have all the personalities that go along with that size sample group.  It doesn't take long to find the good there and ignore the rest.  After you've been there a while, there are threads you just KNOW you don't want to waste your time on... like he politics and religion thread here!   ;D ;D   But there are others with tons of great info in them.  And they also have some useless posts, and some mis-information, etc...  

Just like society, and gear... weed through the bad for the good.  A perfect example listed above when in threads probably over 1000 people commented on tube preferences and the most popular preferred tube swaps for the Tweaker were Tung Sol V1, JJ 6V6s power tubes.  Other than that most preferences were expensive NOS tubes.  

That site to me IS a "religion" site...

full of hyperbole, miracles, and pseudo-science... which is fine, because that's most of the internet... but I wouldn't make a decision about gear based on anything I read there.  Clips, videos, and the like are far more reliable... youtube is my review site of choice.  If someone posted a video with a good recording of their recommended tube choice, vs. stock tubes, I bet the differences would be a judgement call at best... but expectation is 50% or more of the result... if "everyone" says it's better, then, by god, you're going to be predisposed to feel like it IS better after you make the change, because if nothing else, a lot of people think so. I know I've been guilty of this hundreds of times myself, but if I can hear a difference, I will at least try to record it on my iphone or something.  That's why I've been so disappointed in things like the Burr Brown chips... because reading online, you'd think they solve every problem known to man, make your wife prettier, make your children smarter, and make your every tonal step lucky... but I *heard* jack shit in almost every pedal I tried, and when I did hear something it wasn't always better than a cheaper chip.

I understand that gear is as much about religion as anything else, and I have been as guilty as anyone... hell, I bought an $1800 LP once, purely on mystique.  Now I like to think I know a little better...

Also I think they have 100,000 members, not a half million... 100,000 members, 500,000 posts, that's 5 per user, if everyone even posts... that's a lot of members for sure, though I'm not sure how many are active, probably a percentage of that in the single digits... I mean, I'm a member but I'm not sure I've ever posted there.

edit-- 3 posts there, all mods to the guv'nor II...