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Recommend me a meaty Valve amp!

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Duncorama

Nov 7, 2007
238
0
#1
Hello! So i'm going to get rid of my current amp, i use a separate power/pre and although it's great it just takes too long to setup and is massive. I'm starting to use three separate rigs live now so the easier to setup the better and i've been after a valve for sometime.

Basically i want something that's relatively affordable, has loads of punch/clarity but also has that BIG valve sound we all know and love.

Any ideas of what models to look at? I'm not totally against solid state heads either so if anyone know of anything worth looking at then that'd be great.

This is my band so you might have an idea of what kind of noise i'm looking for Link Removed.

taaaaaaa.
 
#3
I guess the question that I have is, what valve/tube amps don't do exactly what you're talking about? It's just a question of degrees.

If you want punch and clarity you're basically looking for the best EQ section and higher watts. The first thing that springs to mind is the Mesa 400+. The next is any head with an effects loop so you can put a parametric EQ inline.
 
#4
MAMMOTHvolume said:
wall of 5watt practice amps?
Click to expand...

heheheheheh, my mates in a grind band and he is dying to do this one day!

msquared said:
I guess the question that I have is, what valve/tube amps don't do exactly what you're talking about? It's just a question of degrees.

If you want punch and clarity you're basically looking for the best EQ section and higher watts. The first thing that springs to mind is the Mesa 400+. The next is any head with an effects loop so you can put a parametric EQ inline.
Click to expand...

Yeah i guess something with a good eq is definately on the cards, i love Ampeg svt's (obviously) but the cost of these is massively high. Orange heads tend to be too muffled for my liking, i love the power they have but when you're going full pelt i tend to find they get really muddy. So yeah more towards the ampeg way of doing things.

Thunder Pulse said:
Please use an actual dollar figure. What's affordable to one person is out of the budget of another person.
Click to expand...

Very true! Sorry i should have been more specific, i'm definately looking for 2nd hand, around £500 would be the top of my spend i reckon, so is that around $850/900?
 
#8
Aye that's what i use at the moment - a sansamp rbi, a crown power amp. The pain at the moment is the combined time it takes to take the lids off the rack, plug in the power di (as i use it in stereo and the extension lead i use is too big to leave it plugged in when i put the lids back on), plug in the two power leads and then hook the whole thing up to the mains, i know it's not much when that's all i'm doing but when i've got to hook up the other two amps too it can really drag our setup time out.
 
#13
i've looked at those ampeg v4b heads before, a friend of mine had one and he said that although they sound great there's not enough volume behind them to really get a really heavy sound, he said it always felt like his cabs were under powered even though the head matched them.

Has anyone ever tried those Gallien Kruger heads? I was looking at the backline 600, dead cheap and it seems to be pretty heavy sounding?
 
#18
and I use GK heads, you'd like the 2001rb but you would be hard pushed to find one under £500 second hand, i got mine for £650. the overdrive channel has really good tubey bass meatyness, with alot of punch and clarity too.

try out a GK 2001rb, just for sh*ts an giggles.

I played a backline 600 which was ok.
 

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