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50w-100w Valve Owners Thread
- Thread starter faceinbass
- Start date
I haven't posted a pic of this little guy yet... Green!
Or this little duder.. Mr. Right
or my buddy, 1483
Or this little duder.. Mr. Right
or my buddy, 1483
Thing is that sometimes the phase splitter uses a 12AU7 not because of its lower gain but because it's passing more current than a 12AX7 could handle. The plate dissipations between the two are quite different.
Tube rolling in the pre-amp section is, in most cases but not all, harmless. Within the power amplifier section it can cause all kinds of distress from instability to shortened tube life. As in all things, unless you know exactly what you are doing, don't!
My current tube rig - although it seems to break up pretty early, it's hard to gauge just how loud I actually am in the basement.
I plugged in my Jackson Rhodes into it to hear guitar crunch on it....holy HELL that was LOUD!!!
Guess I should clarify...V4BH head, 100w
Sell it to someone who wants to fix it up?
Its got the bit-mo mods with some of the caps upgraded.
It worked fine for months and then gave up the ghost.
I wanted to do the beefier tranny, and eventually get one of those point to point kits for it...
But alas, I think I am done with it.
What are they asking for it? If you don't mind me asking.
Sell it to someone who wants to fix it up?
Its got the bit-mo mods with some of the caps upgraded.
It worked fine for months and then gave up the ghost.
I wanted to do the beefier tranny, and eventually get one of those point to point kits for it...
But alas, I think I am done with it.
What are they asking for it? If you don't mind me asking.
ill have a look
£550
I was thinking about talking to you about just that but then I found one here, factory-boxed and for $99...the warranty won out this time.
Huh. I've been G.A.S.ing for a VJr. for a while and have been eyeballing auctions on Fee-bay watching for a "deal." But man, maybe I should call my contact at GC and see... maybe I'll get lucky and they'll have one.
5sg.
4Mal said:
I imagine it can be.
It's sounds good for that warm gooeyness where ear bleeding volume isn't needed.Lately I haven't been sure wether I wanted to keep it much longer. It usually sits unused, but a couple of times a year.
If they do have one, you should at least go test-drive it - I was truly surprised at the tone(s) I'm getting from a 'guitar' amp.
I don't doubt it. There was another thread discussing small tube amps and another TB user emailed me clips (which I posted for him in that thread, I could repost them here if anyone's interested)... He was playing a Jazz V into the VJr., through a guitar cab which he mic'd and I thought it sounded pretty darn good. I bet it sounds even better through an actual bass cab.
Basically, I'm just waiting for the right deal to come along before I snag one.
5sg.
It was supposed to have a 12AU7 in that position.
Don't worry, I know how to be safe with tube amps. I've been doing minor work on them since I was 16 and I made sure I knew what to do to be safe back then too. (Holy cow, it's been 6 years!?)
Maybe I should finally delve into a full build.Me too!
And you aren't? I walked into my usual GC this morning for a speaker cable...... and walked out with a Valve Jr.
lol I was headed to a jam session today where I'd finally get to test out the V4B with both cabs and I needed a 2nd speaker cable. My contact/buddy was working and I asked if they had a Valve Jr. and by luck, they had one left! No box, but oh well. Out the door with a Monster speaker cable and VJr. for just over $100. (more about the Vjr. in a minute...)Ampeg V4B
I had previously gotten the chance to check out the V4B with just my 2x10, and it sounds Awesome (yes, capital A
), and that setup was plenty loud. Today I finally got a chance to check out the V4B with both of my cabs - Avatar B210 / B212. With the full stack, the Ampeg head didn't seem to have quite enough juice to keep up with two guitarists that were both playing Mesa tube combos with extension cabs (and lots of overdrive/distortion) and a loud drummer. That's kind of what I expected, running 100 watts into a 1000 watt stack, even if it IS a tube amp. Like I said, not what I was planning on using the V4B for anyway. It sounds STUNNING with just the 2x10, I'd LOVE to hear it through a 1x15.Epiphone Valve Jr.
I tried the Epiphone with the Micro VR 2x10 cab at GC this morning. It sounded QUITE good, and was surprisingly louder than I thought it'd be. Still not gigging volume of course, but definitely enough to turn some heads without breaking up too much. Pushing it further lead to a really warm, sweet overdrive tone. At the session, I got a few minutes to check out the VJr. with my B210 and it still sounded good, but didn't have the same volume. I suspect it's because the Avatar 2x10 takes much more power (500 watts vs. the Ampeg 2x10's 200 watt rating). Like the V4B though, that's not what I was planning to use the Valve Jr. for either, so again, no skin off my teeth. I hadn't planned on pairing it with either of my Avatars anyway.
I'll be looking for an efficient 1x10 or 1x12 to go with the VJr., and I also want to try swapping the 12AX7 with a 12AU7. I did that with my Tubeworks Blue Tube and it made a difference, I could push the gain higher before it broke up and the overdrive was smoother. So, maybe it'll help here too. It's an $11 mod, so I figure what the heck... I'll start there. Right after I turn the amp around in the case. lol
These two amps will both serve very different purposes of course, but they're both winners in my book. I think I've read around Talkbass somewhere that Avatar cabs aren't the most efficient cabs around, so that could be the problem in regards to volume with both amps.
$.02
5sg.
Testing Day!!!
