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All Tube Heads - which one?

#101
Here you go:
Mother 1.jpg Mother 2.jpg
He did more clips of the amp overdriven too because that's more so what it's intended to do like all of his amps I think. The Street Sweeper is his only "clean tone" amp and it can still overdrive like his Plexi amp. The only bummer about Alex's amps is they come new with Ruby tubes...
 

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#102
Anyone have experience with the Philosophy Amplifiers 200 Watt Head? I've also heard that the Sadowsky SA200 might be at the top of the food chain in this category, but the trouble seems to be finding one.
 
#104
waltdogg said:
Here you go:
View attachment 468897 View attachment 468898
He did more clips of the amp overdriven too because that's more so what it's intended to do like all of his amps I think. The Street Sweeper is his only "clean tone" amp and it can still overdrive like his Plexi amp. The only bummer about Alex's amps is they come new with Ruby tubes...
Click to expand...
My god that sounds good!!! If I didn't have a super bassman id be all over that!
 
#105
At least the Street Sweeper looks infinitely better than the Orange AD 200

I'm glad to see new builders like this who care about quality, but again when you go too obscure, or niche in name recognition, the resale can be brutal if you decide to sell it later.
I wish the builder luck.

I'm sorry, but Orange has no justification to charge $2000.00 for this kind of kit.

orange-ad200-MOD-003.jpg


orange-ad200-mk3-002.jpg
 
#108
I own a Reeves Custom 225 (have owned it for 4 years) and also have an early 70's v4b. The Ampeg is a great amp but cannot keep up with the Reeves which should be no surprise. It runs out of gas and gets pretty crunchy way before the Reeves breaks up. I bought the Reeves for these reasons:
1 - weight. I just couldn't carry an SVT with my back as it is.
2 - build quality - massive Hayboer transformers, quality components, modern touches (like a passive/active gain switch). I repair amps, and was looking for a well built amp. Socket mounts on PCB is asking for trouble. I play 100+ shows per year and expect my amps to hold up.
3 - tone. I was playing mine last week with a Greenboy 1212/6 and the lows were solid and massive. Yet still had a nice high end that just sounds right with this cabinet. I routinely play with Bergantino AE410's and this cab again mates well with the Reeves.
4 - volume. I found that my 10o watt tube amps were often running on the edge at shows and felt that I needed to "step up" a level. I found the 2oo+ watts of the Reeves to be what I was looking for. I can still get it to break up a bit (rough up the edges) by pushing on the preamp, or can keep it very clean letting the power amp do the work.

Good luck with your search!
 
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#109
Two things:
On the Morgan... throw an fdeck in front of it to tame the ultra lows and it's probably awesome!

On the Orange... I understand the design shortcuts they've taken as being a negative, but they do sound incredible. as for the price, you do realize that is driven mostly by the lost value of the dollar against the euro then it is by an over pricing by orange, right?
 
#111
I love how, in the world of amps, a printed circuit board with that level of density is a bad thing. There is like no possibility of migration in that thing, there is no density at all, it's such a simple circuit that even if it cracked you could easily wire up a bypass.

Should the tube sockets be on the main board, probably not.

I am not saying, in anyway, that these amp makers that were mentioned before don't have great technical/electronics skills. However, point to point turret board is great because if all you can find is a crappy technician to fix it, they don't need to know anything about amps or have great technical ability, all they need is a 25$ multimeter and a 15$ soldering iron. Someone with really bad soldering skills can also make turret board mounted designs look good.

A real tech today should be able to do 60/40, 63/37, lead free, point to point, insertion boards, surface mount, etc.
 
#112
Ask ANY small custom builder.
They could be earning around $80K per year working for someone else.

These custom builds are a labor of love.

Many small builders are lucky to pay themselves $20.00 per hour for their build time.
 
#113
FFTT said:
Ask ANY small custom builder.
They could be earning around $80K per year working for someone else.

These custom builds are a labor of love.

Many small builders are lucky to pay themselves $20.00 per hour for their build time.
Click to expand...

Like I said, I have nothing against these small builders. They make great stuff. However, people in general need to stop being afraid of anything that is not 1950s electronics. Also, stop bringing your stuff to "techs" that are glorified tinkerers.
 
#114
Consumers have been trained to anticipate failure or there would never be an extended warranty business.
Many of the cost cutting, mass production builds are fine as long as they are running, but then if they go down and you need proprietary components or boards or have to ship the amp back to the manufacturer, what then?

Even a lifetime warranty means diddly squat if you need the amp fixed yesterday.

There's a damn good reason why major artists are still using 40 and 50 year old vintage amps.
They have proven themselves over a lifetime of use.
 
#115
Yes, but a lot of "unrepairable" boards are repairable with the proper skills and know how. A lot of industrial equipment has been made with insertion printed circuits or surface mount designs for years or decades and they are not just trash every time there is a component failure. You think industrial current rectifiers that live in much harsher climates than music gear ever will is point to point turret boards? You think they don't refurbish boards that get swapped out only because the application requires 24/7 use?

The choice should not be between point to point and disposable crappy cheap unrepairable boards. It is not in many cases. You can't look at a board, see a printed circuit board and right away assume it is not built properly.
 
#116
nshuman said:
Yes, but a lot of "unrepairable" boards are repairable with the proper skills and know how. A lot of industrial equipment has been made with insertion printed circuits or surface mount designs for years or decades and they are not just trash every time there is a component failure. You think industrial current rectifiers that live in much harsher climates than music gear ever will is point to point turret boards? You think they don't refurbish boards that get swapped out only because the application requires 24/7 use?

The choice should not be between point to point and disposable crappy cheap unrepairable boards. It is not in many cases. You can't look at a board, see a printed circuit board and right away assume it is not built properly.
Click to expand...

Soldano, Suhr/Custom Audio, top quality mil spec PCB, no problem.

There's Mil spec rugged PCB and there's consumer electronics grade PCB

It's Marshall and Fender, Orange, Black Star, etc that should be ashamed of the crap they are selling for the money they are charging.
 
#119
FFTT said:
Soldano, Suhr/Custom Audio, top quality mil spec PCB, no problem.

There's Mil spec rugged PCB and there's consumer electronics grade PCB

It's Marshall and Fender, Orange, Black Star, etc that should be ashamed of the crap they are selling for the money they are charging.
Click to expand...


I totally get that. I just get frustrated every time I see someone rant just because they see a PCB.
 

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