Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: Jonny on January 01, 2008, 12:29:40 AM
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Right. In the summer (hopefully) I want to upgrade my amp. To an all tube half stack.
What bothers me now is, where the hell do I start?
£200 - £400 ish, is the price range. And my current amp is an AD30VT.
So I looked some stuff up, I looked at Laney GH50L head
- QUESTION: Can you match up any cab with any head? With price range and wattage in mind.
Then I looked @ Orange, with the Tiny Terror and it's 1 x 12 cab. Which would be great if I'm going abroad for Uni, and even if I'm not. What's with Orange and Matamp (Little Rock)? They're so damn small. Why doesn't other amp brands do the same?
Then I thought about keeping my AD30VT and hooking it up with a cab, is that even possible? Or a good idea?
Are there certain Laney/etc. heads that go specifically well with Laney/etc. cabs?
Like a Peavey ValveKing head with a Peavey ValveKing cab?
Happy New Year. Thanks in advance.
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Right. In the summer (hopefully) I want to upgrade my amp. To an all tube half stack.
What bothers me now is, where the hell do I start?
£200 - £400 ish, is the price range. And my current amp is an AD30VT.
So I looked some stuff up, I looked at Laney GH50L head
- QUESTION: Can you match up any cab with any head? With price range and wattage in mind.
The GH50L is £400 on it's own isn't it?
Then I looked @ Orange, with the Tiny Terror and it's 1 x 12 cab. Which would be great if I'm going abroad for Uni, and even if I'm not. What's with Orange and Matamp (Little Rock)? They're so damn small. Why doesn't other amp brands do the same?
They do - Peavey Royal 8, Fender mini thing, Epi Valve Jr, the list goes on.
[quoteThen I thought about keeping my AD30VT and hooking it up with a cab, is that even possible? Or a good idea?[/quote]
That depends. If you like your current sound, and want to expand slightly, with speaker variations etc, then go for it. If you're not happy with your sound - Look elsewhere.
Are there certain Laney/etc. heads that go specifically well with Laney/etc. cabs?
Like a Peavey ValveKing head with a Peavey ValveKing cab?
Happy New Year. Thanks in advance.
That's a very specific question. Although the respective cabs are DESIGNED for the respective heads, doesn't mean you won't find much better cabs and even much more suitable cabs elsewhere.
Personally I don't think you'll find anything for £400 new which will be an improvement on your Vox. If you look into 2nd hand, then the world's your oyster, and if you save up another couple of hundred then you'll have loads of options.
I bought my Screamer Combo, with the switch, for £500 on the Bay - You could do similar.
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you should get a GH50L on ebay for a damn sight less than £400, I would imagine £250 would be more like it from what I've seen.
:twisted:
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As for cabs matching heads - Any guitar cab will match any guitar head so long as :-
1/ the total impedance of the cab (eg, the ohms rating) matches the impedance requirements of one of the speaker output jacks on the head.
AND
2/ The power handling ability of the cab (wattage) is at least as high as the wattage of the amp. For safety I would always look for a cab that had at least 30% higher wattage rating than the amp.
Failure to match these things can result in expensive amp and/or speaker damage.
I also always mention to the inexperienced to remember to connect up the head to a cab with a speaker cable NOT a normal instrument cable. They are not the same thing at all.
Alan
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It is possible to convert an AD30VT to contain an output - you will find examples on the net. In effect you wire the cable that go from the amp into the speaker to a switching jack - mount that on the back board and then reconnect to the speaker. When no input is in the jack the speaker operates and when an external is plugged in that operates.
You would need a total of 8 ohm's worth of load (i.e. 1 8 ohm speaker or 2 16 ohm speakers wired in parallell) - Through a 2x12 the AD30 really does open up.
PS - its quite a simple job but if you can get a tech to do it, so much the better.
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Is it recommended to go half stack or combo then? If I save up a little more.
I plan to sell my current amp to get some more money.
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Well I would think that where exactly your budget lies in that £200-400 range is quite important.
If you only have £200, then good luck finding a decent tube half-stack. Even second hand/ebay.
If you could be a bit more specific in that regard it would definitely help.
The Matamp Minimat or Little Rock, Orange Tiny Terror, Epiphone valve junior could all be good places to start.
Perhaps even a Zvex Nano head if your budget can stretch to that, but then you've got less money for a cab.
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Well I only went for £200-£400 to not jump into the deep end. But really nothing's down on paper for it, so we'll see, lol
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Well I only went for £200-£400 to not jump into the deep end. But really nothing's down on paper for it, so we'll see, lol
I think if you looked at the £400-£800 range then you would have way more options. To be honest, under £400 is not gonna get you a decent tube gig-worthy machine, unless you are very, very lucky.
Alan
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I heard great things about the Randall RH50
http://www.thomann.de/gb/randall_rh50t_head_gitarrentopteil.htm
Haven't tried one myself though. If you need a real clean sound, then the Randall would be a better fit than the Laney, otherwise, a GH50L is a great amp according to _tom_s clips...
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Well I have till summer to grow some money.
I'm more looking forward to my guitar coming back from the shop tomorrow. I will finally be able to play it with the Warpig and Cold Sweat in it, and spam the Players section. :P
At least. I hope they have it done. A week and a half should be long enough and they said by Wednesday.
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Soldano SLO 100 + Matching cab..
Just buy one now and never buy an amp again...
or! look around at 2nd hand JCM900s + 2x12 cabs im sure you could get a good deal on something like that.. or a second hand GH50L as many here have suggested.