200W Tube or 500W Solidstate?!!!

[Daniel Piper]

I think I am looking at the YBA200 you are going to buy on trademe. BMX has pretty much overhauled the whole tube compliment, and listening to the clips he posted on the YBA200 sound clip thread, it sounds pretty sick. Some down low and dirty tones. You cant beat it at a grand I reckon.

 

[chadds]

Let me just clarify...I have said in the past that the LMII sounds just like a clean running Ampeg tube amp. Since I got my SVT running again, I've AB'd them in my 810, and I still stand by that remark somewhat. The LMII sounds like the SVT at a low to medium volume. Once you get past the medium volume, the SVT's tone opens up in a way that the LMII can't, and I don't mean distortion. I mean a beautiful, open, yet totally clean tone. No matter what volume you have the LMII, it will sound like the medium volume SVT. Also, forget distortion with an LMII. It's not on the menu.

Those who disagree with me about the LMII sounding like an Ampeg tube amp have obviously never AB'd them

Hey there Jimmy! To add another tale. I had a Peavey TNT regular speaker. Bought new in about 1977/78. My guitarist had a 1963 Brown Tolex Fender Concert amp. One day I connected his amp to my TNTs speaker and they sounded identical at low living room volume. So the inexpensive Peavey sounded as harmonically complex and warm and fat as a holy grail real vintage Fender!
Turn up the TNT into it's own cab and things got ugly real fast. Past say 4. My analysis. Pres sound one way, amps another, and cabs another. Many amps, like the Acoustic 360 are the sum total of their parts. When folks mix and match say an LMII on an Epifani cab and it sounds great on one series and horrible on another we are seeing what's a good match or a poor one. In the real world I'd have to hear this A/B of the SVT with the LMII. The LMII sounds good to me but not like an SVT. The LMII is not particularly clean for a SS head to me. This could be where it gets it's tube like character. I could be comparing Apples to Oysters here because my recollections are of first and second year SVTs through their matching square backed cabs cranked.

 

[Rickett Customs]

I'd go with the LMII myself.
(IMO) You'll probably find yourself having to tinker with the Traynor to get what you like out of it. But remember this: You'll definitely have to treat the Traynor with more care if you go that route. But maybe I've spent more time on the SS side of the fence though.

 

[JimmyM]

Hey there Jimmy! To add another tale. I had a Peavey TNT regular speaker. Bought new in about 1977/78. My guitarist had a 1963 Brown Tolex Fender Concert amp. One day I connected his amp to my TNTs speaker and they sounded identical at low living room volume. So the inexpensive Peavey sounded as harmonically complex and warm and fat as a holy grail real vintage Fender!
Turn up the TNT into it's own cab and things got ugly real fast. Past say 4. My analysis. Pres sound one way, amps another, and cabs another. Many amps, like the Acoustic 360 are the sum total of their parts. When folks mix and match say an LMII on an Epifani cab and it sounds great on one series and horrible on another we are seeing what's a good match or a poor one. In the real world I'd have to hear this A/B of the SVT with the LMII. The LMII sounds good to me but not like an SVT. The LMII is not particularly clean for a SS head to me. This could be where it gets it's tube like character. I could be comparing Apples to Oysters here because my recollections are of first and second year SVTs through their matching square backed cabs cranked.

Any time you're in Central Fla, you're welcome to try it out for yourself.

 

[chadds]

Any time you're in Central Fla, you're welcome to try it out for yourself.

True that. I haven't tried an LMII on an SVT cab so I have to come buy when I'm down your way. I go to Boca when I go to Florida. I have to retract my, "they don't sound alike" cause I can't say. I was trying to say that the speaker combinations make for certain success or failure. I've heard an LMII through two Nahas and it was outstanding. On the cabs I had at the time it was ho hum. Plus the graphics clashed. Yet I know so many folks who like them on their cabs of choice. Mea Culpa.

 

[JimmyM]

Boca's only 3 1/2 hours away if the traffic's good

I'm with you on the graphics. It's very difficult to find a cab where the LMII's graphics don't clash. Plus it looks absolutely silly on an 810 by itself. I wish they'd make it in blue check