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Why aren't you using tube amps?

#461
JimmyM said:
There are less believable city and town names than Howey In The Hills. There's one out in the boonies near UCF called Taintsville.
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OK, ya got me on that one-never seen it. When you throw in the Seminole/Miccosukee names that new news readers screw up and a few others, like Yeehaw Junction, which was originally Jackass Jct., but mapmakers wouldn't print it, nothing surprises me. BTW, why'd the Apopka Bruster's close? We gotta go to Clermont for our Ice Cream fix.
 
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#462
GonePlaid said:
OK, ya got me on that one-never seen it. When you throw in the Seminole/Miccosukee names that new news readers screw up and a few others, like Yeehaw Junction, which was originally Jackass Jct., but mapmakers wouldn't print it, nothing surprises me. BTW, why'd the Apopka Bruster's close? We gotta go to Clermont for our Ice Cream fix.
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Got no idea. Never even heard of it, to be honest.
 
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#463
im too old..looking for the smallest lightest thing that i can get tone and volume from..maybe a NEO 112 and small Class D head that can fit in my gigbag..my days of schlepping 50 lb heads and 80+ lb cabs are over..im sure the tone is great but once im in the mix on stage im not sure it matters..FOH solves lots of those problems anyway..only wild card for me now is power enough for upright tone in small venues..
 
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#465
JimmyM said:
Nice! Glad to see you back in action.

RE: tubes, if it does need new tubes, make sure you go with NOS for the preamp! New 6SL7's just don't get it.
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Thanks for the tip. My tube knowledge is pretty limited. With all my tube amps, and I do have several, I have never had to change a tube. My Bass 400+ still has the original Sovtek 5881 tubes it shipped with back in '91! I did change out one of the preamp tubes in my DB750 just to get a different, ahem, "feel" from the amp. Actually it was to tighten up the lows a bit. It worked!
 
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#466
GonePlaid said:
I wonder how many people don't believe the name of your location? I'm a native Floridian and I've been through your"city"numerous times.:thumbsup::)
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And quite a city it is. We do have hills, sort of. It's changing fast though. Lake County is next in line to fall to the developer wrecking ball. There's talk of a traffic light and maybe a second gas station. Progress marches on!
 
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#469
JMarkD said:
And quite a city it is. We do have hills, sort of. It's changing fast though. Lake County is next in line to fall to the developer wrecking ball. There's talk of a traffic light and maybe a second gas station. Progress marches on!
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Maybe one day you'll get annexed by the Villages and your property values will go up 500% just like all the other houses there :D
 
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#470
flam said:
What aren't tube amps doing that keeps you from using them?
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Being affordable, easy to move around and repair.

flam said:
Weight will surely be a big factor. How light would they have to get for you to consider it?
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As light as a Class D head, to be honest. I can see no reason why I'd buy a whole tube head when I can buy a full-voltage tube preamp that'll fit on my board and give me almost everything a tube head would.

flam said:
What other features aren't common to tube amps that you require?
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Most tube heads that I've used don't have the most "surgical" of EQ stacks... I suppose that'd be nice to have if I were on teh market for a tube head.

Honestly, the only tube head that I'd consider buying these days is the Ampeg PF-50T, and even that would be a hard sale since I could get so much more out of a SS or hybrid amp for the about same amount of money.
 
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#475
superheavyfunk said:
Most tube heads that I've used don't have the most "surgical" of EQ stacks... I suppose that'd be nice to have if I were on teh market for a tube head.
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That's why the heyday of the rack setup always included a parametric eq or 2, switching system, couple preamps, etc etc etc. I count myself lucky that I got to play a lot of that stuff in stores pre-internet. I bought the one preamp that had me on it every Saturday, an Ampeg SVP-CL last year.

Demeter, Alembic, SWR, Eden, Fender (yes they had a nice rack preamp), etc were all cool but they didn't have "that" sound.
 
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#477
GonePlaid said:
I noticed Vox(Korg)has a 150 watt guitar amp,1x12" with that "NuTube" circuitry. I'd bet they could sell a bunch of similar bass amps if they made them.:thumbsup:
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People don't seem to approve that just a tube device is used in a pre-amp.
The rest of their head is pure solid-state.
NuTube isn't new technology, it's been known about well before blue displays appeared on VCRs. They can make them in the factories that shutdown since fluorescent displays are obsolete. I suspect that take just a few cents to build and have a huge profit margin for at least Korg. The form factor can use automatic chip placement to populate boards. They are low voltage, Microphonic, and not sealed as well as even glass with metal prongs poking through. Korg themselves and doing big business in modeling, and while trying to pick up the niche market of saying "tube" somewhere in the advertisement. ;)
 
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#478
Fuzzbass said:
Didn't read the whole thread, but here's my 2¢ (probably redundant):

I'd use all tube if I could: nothing beats it for tone IMO.

Why don't I? Weight is a factor, but here's a bigger one: what I LOVE about all-tube amps is how they sound when pushed -- i.e. power tube clipping. Nothing sounded better than my vintage SVT rig run LOUD.

The problem is that that perfect "push" factor occurs within a narrow volume range. Below that, the amp is too clean. Above, it's too dirty. So: even if weight was not a factor, I would not want to have a tiny tube amp for quiet gigs/jams, an average tube amp for moderate gigs, a big tube amp for big gigs. And what do I do in a new venue when I don't know how loud the band will play? Bring all my tube amps? Set them all up onstage, so I can change to the appropriate one? I know, the practical answer is to bring the biggest and use an OD pedal if it's run too quietly. But I'd much rather use pedals with a clean, lightweight amp. That way I can get my desired overdrive level at any volume.

Dirt pedals are very good these days: I can get really close to the TubeTone I loved -- but only occasionally got to dial up -- decades ago. I can get it at any volume, and without all that weight.

P.S. I'm seriously thinking about getting a 100W all-tube amp being developed by my buddy Jonathan at Reiner Amplification. It should come in under 40 pounds, but probably won't be able to handle my loudest gigs.
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Under 30 lbs! :)
 
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#479
JimmyM said:
Never. Even when I use an SVT and 810, I don't get much louder than a B-15 can go cleanly.
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What kind of venues do you play? I'm asking as I've always chosen very powerfull amps (SVT4 Pro, MEsa Titan, Mesa M9...) fearing I would not be able to hear myself onstage. But it really seems power is not so important after all. So you confirm?
 
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#480
baxter_x said:
What kind of venues do you play? I'm asking as I've always chosen very powerfull amps (SVT4 Pro, MEsa Titan, Mesa M9...) fearing I would not be able to hear myself onstage. But it really seems power is not so important after all. So you confirm?
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:eek:

The last time a guy asked Jimmy the same question three times, this happened:

billy-jack-in-action-kick-in-the-face.gif



I don't want that on my head for having posed the offending question, so let me quickly explain that
Jimmy plays a lot of fifties rock and doo-wop which doesn't feature overdriven guitars.
If you were backing Eddie Cocharan you'd probably have enough power with a 50 watt Bassman, too.
I posed the question to him knowing his genre and volume levels.
I did not pose the question on the assumption the answer applies to your hard rock band.

Hope that helps.... stop a karate fest. :(
 
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