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light weight tube distortion solution?

Aenema

Aenema

Apr 18, 2001
573
3
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Michigan
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#1
man i love overdriving my fender 300 ps but it literally weighs around 120 pounds and theres no way im lugging that around. even though there is nothing like hearing over driven tubes and feeling the breeze at the same time... my back has somethin to say about it. :p is there a light weight or portable solution for something that sounds close to true tube over drive?
 
#5
The 0x said:
You will NOT get a tube sound with only preamp tubes, nor a pedal of any kind.

Go real or go home.
Click to expand...

hehe :smug: you got a point... ive played tons of hybrids but they only have "tube characteristics" and are far from the real deal. if a hybrid or tube preamp wont do it then im sure a simulator (line 6 or somethin) prolly sounds even worse. i wish i could afford a couple roadies. :D
 
#6
The 0x said:
You will NOT get a tube sound with only preamp tubes, nor a pedal of any kind.

Go real or go home.
Click to expand...

interesting,

i used to think that too, until i tried Aguilar's DB750.

it has that weighty, fat tubey feel, but without the saggy, boomy bottom end. *shrug*

still, why not an Aguilar AG500? great amp w/ a sweet overdrive/distortion channel. :cool:

man, i sound like a commercial... :rolleyes:
 
#7
Aenema said:
man i love overdriving my fender 300 ps but it literally weighs around 120 pounds and theres no way im lugging that around. even though there is nothing like hearing over driven tubes and feeling the breeze at the same time... my back has somethin to say about it. :p is there a light weight or portable solution for something that sounds close to true tube over drive?
Click to expand...
If you want an overdrive similar to that of the amp you have, check out an old Sunn all tube head; there are some that are about 100 watts I think. If you want to try something new, Traynor makes the YBA-200, there are a few Aggie 359s around still (but I would not recommend that or overdrive), Eden's tube head is pretty light, or maybe that Ampeg 100 watt all tuber.
 
#8
jokerjkny said:
interesting,

i used to think that too, until i tried Aguilar's DB750.

it has that weighty, fat tubey feel, but without the saggy, boomy bottom end. *shrug*

still, why not an Aguilar AG500? great amp w/ a sweet overdrive/distortion channel. :cool:

man, i sound like a commercial... :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

And yet the DB750 & DB659 still don't overdrive like a full tube amp should. Sure it growls, but it doesn't crunch & howl. You need power tubes for that.

Plain Old Me said:
If you want an overdrive similar to that of the amp you have, check out an old Sunn all tube head; there are some that are about 100 watts I think. If you want to try something new, Traynor makes the YBA-200, there are a few Aggie 359s around still (but I would not recommend that or overdrive), Eden's tube head is pretty light, or maybe that Ampeg 100 watt all tuber.
Click to expand...

I love my Sunn Sceptre, it's rated at 60 watts, but it's louder than alot of 100 watt tube amps, buries some 350 watt solid state amps, but it's not that light (around 45-50lbs), and doesn't have alot of clean headroom. Maybe the Sunn 200s I have will have much more, i'm not sure. But yeah, Sunns can be found pretty cheap if you look (I got my Sceptre for $200, and am getting the 200s for $220!!! :smug: ), they sound great (especially cranked up), and are bulletproof (hell, the Sceptre has a crack in the transformer, and it STILL sounds magnificent!). I just hope the 200s has more clean headroom so I can do a biamp rig with cleaner lows.

Still, in order to get in the same volume territory as the 300PS, I think you should go for a Traynor YBA200. YMMV.
 
#9
SWR Interstellar Overdrive Preamp? It doesnt have the All-tube clean tone, but it uses power tubes with the gain control for its overdrive tone. I used one for a couple years and loved the OD, solid clean tone too, but decided to go for a thicker tone from my Aggie db659 and use a pedal for overdrive instead.

There are other good clean tones to be gotten from other tube pres, and for just the overdrive yo cuan use a pedal like a Sansamp (just one suggestion out of a sea of possiblities) some people will count these options out, but thats only because the clean tones wont be the same, but if you really just liking the overdrive, and willing to have a different (but still really nice) clean tone, then you should check out some pedals, or the IOD. the effects forum is a nice place to do some crazy searches and hours of reading ;) )
 
#10
Of the tube heads I've tried that have enough power to handle the gigs I see, and which overdrive well, and which seem to be on the lighter side, the two that come to mind are the Eden VT-300A/B and the Mesa Boogie Bass 400/400+. The Trace Elliot Valve series is fairly light weight (and just great heads), but don't really overdrive to a great extent. If you don't need close to 300w, then you have a lot more optoins (the new Traynor seems quite promising). At 100w or less, you have quite the variety, and of the newer heads, the Pignose B-100VH is pretty darn light, but sounds sweet (once you retube it).

Tom.
 
#12
What about a small tube guitar amp, remove chassis and put in its own enclosure, with a dummy load? I have an old Ampeg jet guitar amp that can generate some pretty good power tube distortion, and would be pretty light if removed from the combo. Don't know much about dummy loads, but if the amp thinks its driving a speaker, might work. A lot of old, small tube amps out there, like alamo and old ampegs, that could be light weight when removed from combo and pretty cheap.
 
#17
Son of Bovril said:
Sansamp BDDI
Click to expand...

+1 But I am holding out for the Programmable Bass Driver to finally hit the shelves. I love the BDDI and RBI but hate the fact that they are only only channel basically. I'd like to use it's great tone as my main AND overdrive tones.

My only complaint about it is that though you do get basically three channels of Sansamp goodness, I wish that stepping on the active channel instead went to manual mode (where the knobs are actually set) instead of doing nothing. That would give you a fourth channel essentially.
 
#19
I've been wanting something like this for YEARS (during my guitar days as well)

I think a compact power tube distortion pedal is in order. It can be done because you can deisgn an output circuit that utilizes both triodes in a 12a_7 and a Class AB fashion (not to mention a single ended design) I think if companies or builders experiment with different types of small tubes - a power tube overdrive pedal can be real. I think the only company that can do it RIGHT NOW is EHX.

But then again you COULD tru to get your hands on an old Hughes and Kettner bassmaster :hyper:
 

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