Tube amp for Reggae

[wellso74]

Hey folks- thought I'ld check your input. Any recommendations on a good tube amp. Preferably rack-mountable. The "trick" is the weight. 40lbs or lighter. Looking for an amp that will sit well with dub and reggae.

[Morning Beer]

40lbs tube amp? Maybe the ashdown little bastard. You'd have better luck finding rocking horse *&%! then a 40lbs tube amp.

[wellso74]

I may be a dreamer...... How about a very "tuby" hybrid?

[guroove]

"Gimme your biggest, strongest, cheapest drink!"

[wellso74]

Budget around a grand give or take?

[MAMMOTHvolume]

Originally Posted by wellso74

Hey folks- thought I'ld check your input. Any recommendations on a good tube amp. Preferably rack-mountable. The "trick" is the weight. 40lbs or lighter. Looking for an amp that will sit well with dub and reggae.

hahaha, big low end needs lots of power.

lots of power means lots of weight, my recomendation to you is a SE 6v6 amp ran into a big ss power amp, it should come in just under you're weight limit

[twinfallsbass]

I think the Trace Elliot Quatra Valve weighs in under fourty lbs.

[PSPookie]

The Peavey VB-3 is supposed to be under 40 lbs. and a 300W tube head should get plenty loud. I haven't played through this amp so I can't say for certain that the voicing is right for reggae, but IME dialling up a good reggae tone isn't too tricky with a quality amp.

[wellso74]

How about something crazy like a Summit Audio TD-100 and a Crown XTI 2000? no tone controls but the bass.......

[Mr.Bassie720]

Power amp (choose your wattage needs)
Ampeg SVP pre amp.
Dbx 120XP sub harmonic synthesizer.
This sounds like an elephant walking through the jungle.
For dub/reggae, no one will be able to touch you.

[wellso74]

I want to thank everyone for their input!!!!! Keep'em coming!!!!!

[Jimmy Blue]

If you really want serious low end get an Ampeg SVT-CL through an SVT410hlf.
You can shake the nails out of walls with that rig. Two people lifting the head, 40lbs each. Cab will come in at about 50 lbs each.
I run this rig, with a little help it's not a big deal and the tone is killer.

JB

[guroove]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Blue

If you really want serious low end get an Ampeg SVT-CL through an SVT410hlf.
You can shake the nails out of walls with that rig. Two people lifting the head, 40lbs each. Cab will come in at about 50 lbs each.
I run this rig, with a little help it's not a big deal and the tone is killer.

JB

This is along the lines of what I was thinking. My favorite sound for dub is an ampeg head with the "low" switch engaged. For a great reggae tone, you need massive bottom. If rack-mountable and low weight are necessary, you can open up your options with a solid state power amp. If you can find one of the old SWR SM900 heads, they have tons of clean power, and a tube preamp as well. They don't behave like other tube amps though. You won't get any usable distortion with an SWR.

[D.A.R.K.]

the 120xp is the shizz, i think the black with blue stencil is the best one (i've had them all, back to the original which had "the disco boom box" stenciled on it stock by dbx).
i also believe to take full advantage of these units you need a solid state amp with plenty of power, no high pass filtering and cabs that'll take it.
one of my fav amp setups i've had for dub:
alembic f1-x > dbx 120xp in fx loop> crown macrotech 2400.
there are much lighter amps available these days...
for a lightweight head, you can get slammin' dub tones from the mesa walkabout head... the semi parametric truly goes down to 30hz and by using addative eq you can get some massive lows out of the amp. only 300 watts, but with a sizable transformer that i suspect attributes to having some balls unlike the class d amps i've spent money on and been disappointed with.
also one of the tubiest sounding of the hybrids i've tried.

[lomo]

Big clear lows need big power. My 02: get a new Crown poweramp (299 delivered off eBay and will pump around 1K watts bridged at 4 Ohms) and a VT deluxe pedal for 269, plus a 3 space rack case. You'll have a couple of hundred left over and a killer rig powerful enough for anything. No head you can get will come close for the money IMO.

[kosmicwizard]

Originally Posted by wellso74

Hey folks- thought I'ld check your input. Any recommendations on a good tube amp. Preferably rack-mountable. The "trick" is the weight. 40lbs or lighter. Looking for an amp that will sit well with dub and reggae.

MESA/Boogie 400 or 400 +

[lomo]

Originally Posted by kosmicwizard

MESA/Boogie 400 or 400 +

Under 40 lbs........NOT

[JimmyM]

this is a funny thread. listen, you find me a rackmountable tube amp that costs less than $1000, weighs under 40 lbs, and can handle reggae at loud volumes and i'll buy it. me thinks you need to make some adjustments to your original request so it coincides with the real world.

[wellso74]

Jimmy- most commercialism is based on need- who knows- maybe someone will make one in the future- This is a thread for conversation and I'm taking a grain of salt with everyones opinion. Its all good....
I've definitely learned a few things already from this thread- so I am more than happy! I hope you have a great day- peace.

[JimmyM]

Originally Posted by wellso74

Jimmy- most commercialism is based on need- who knows- maybe someone will make one in the future-

well hey, nothing wrong with having a dream