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Fender all tube 15" combo amp

#2
Virtually all tube combos have insufficient speaker power handling. I'd say it's pretty unlikely a single 15" from the 70's can handle 200W tube. I also have a serious hate for single 15 cabs sitting on the floor, they tend to pound out the low mids around 150Hz and since it's blowing past the bassist's legs they turn up too high. I also expect the vintage market is going to start depreciating as class D sound & weight is more and more appreciated, and this vintage is not well known or sought after to begin with.
 
#5
Tuned said:
Virtually all tube combos have insufficient speaker power handling. I'd say it's pretty unlikely a single 15" from the 70's can handle 200W tube. I also have a serious hate for single 15 cabs sitting on the floor, they tend to pound out the low mids around 150Hz and since it's blowing past the bassist's legs they turn up too high. I also expect the vintage market is going to start depreciating as class D sound & weight is more and more appreciated, and this vintage is not well known or sought after to begin with.
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I have one of these beasts, the single 15 is an Electra Voice evm-15l with 200 watts rms power handling, it does the job. I split the cabinet and the head up. From the phase splitter forward it is a killer amp, but the preamp is lacking. Mostly because the EQ actually kills the tone.
 
#7
That could easily be because the caps in the tone stack have gone off-spec. I don't see Fender screwing that up.

Tube amps sound best at saturation, which is essentially square wave, twice as punishing on a speaker as sine wave. So without 400W RMS minimum speaker handling you can't get the best tone out of a 200W tube amp. This is why the SVT amp is 300W and the SVT cab is 800W.

I know you can just add a 2nd cab to get the power handling, but I have issue with only being able to get an amp's best tone at one volume level. I don't buy gear to use it at less than full potential. This is what's so appealing about class D for me, it delivers its best tone at any volume, just bring the right cab to the gig. Tube power amps are ancient history for me.
 
#8
That is one of the best things fender ever came up with. Do yourself a favor, get it, then chop it out of the cab and build it in a headcase....like everybody else does.:). It's basically a 200 watt bassman.
 
#10
Tuned said:
That could easily be because the caps in the tone stack have gone off-spec. I don't see Fender screwing that up.

Tube amps sound best at saturation, which is essentially square wave, twice as punishing on a speaker as sine wave. So without 400W RMS minimum speaker handling you can't get the best tone out of a 200W tube amp. This is why the SVT amp is 300W and the SVT cab is 800W.

I know you can just add a 2nd cab to get the power handling, but I have issue with only being able to get an amp's best tone at one volume level. I don't buy gear to use it at less than full potential. This is what's so appealing about class D for me, it delivers its best tone at any volume, just bring the right cab to the gig. Tube power amps are ancient history for me.
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Myth....or opinion...whatever you want to call it, certainly not fact.
 
#12
Tuned said:
Tube amps sound best at saturation, which is essentially square wave, twice as punishing on a speaker as sine wave. So without 400W RMS minimum speaker handling you can't get the best tone out of a 200W tube amp. This is why the SVT amp is 300W and the SVT cab is 800W.

I know you can just add a 2nd cab to get the power handling, but I have issue with only being able to get an amp's best tone at one volume level. I don't buy gear to use it at less than full potential. This is what's so appealing about class D for me, it delivers its best tone at any volume, just bring the right cab to the gig. Tube power amps are ancient history for me.
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OK - you drank the class D koolaid.

I totally disagree with most of what you posted here, so instead of presenting it as fact, humility would necessitate an IMO.
 
#13
LOL! That certainly comes as news to me that tube amps only sound good when turned up all the way, considering I've been using tube amps not turned up all the way since 1978 and been quite happy with them. Got nothing against micros...I have a couple and I use them quite often. I'd still rather use an SVT or B-15 turned way down than a micro. I just get a little lazy doing one nighters all the time. But that nonsense about them not sounding good unless cranked all the way up...well believe what you want to believe, but that's pure internet myth.
 
#14
Tuned said:
That could easily be because the caps in the tone stack have gone off-spec. I don't see Fender screwing that up.

Tube amps sound best at saturation, which is essentially square wave, twice as punishing on a speaker as sine wave. So without 400W RMS minimum speaker handling you can't get the best tone out of a 200W tube amp. This is why the SVT amp is 300W and the SVT cab is 800W.

I know you can just add a 2nd cab to get the power handling, but I have issue with only being able to get an amp's best tone at one volume level. I don't buy gear to use it at less than full potential. This is what's so appealing about class D for me, it delivers its best tone at any volume, just bring the right cab to the gig. Tube power amps are ancient history for me.
Click to expand...

So much wrong here factually. The premise of best sounding as being a constant one of them.
 

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