Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: adamj on October 29, 2010, 03:10:27 PM
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Over the last few years I have been using a solid state 120w amp through a laney 4x12 cab. I wont name and shame the amp for risk of offending everyone with its shoddyness but im sure some will be able to guess.
In the next few months im going to be back to gigging regularly and need a reliable valve amp for great tone. However i cant go and pay over a grand. I have noticed the Bugera amps for under £500 and would prefer something around this area.It will be running through the 4x12 i already have.
The music i am playing is classic pub band stuff, the who, pinkfloyd, led zep etc and some moremodern tracks. I already have an overdrive pedal for pushing the dirty channel so dont need a million different channels on the amp.
im useless with gear so fire away!
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do you still need 100+ watts? do you need multiple channels, and fx loop, anything like that?
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If you already have the cab, you have a TON of options for under a grand. In fact pretty much any non-boutique one or two channel amp ought to be within reach.
You could even get something made by MJW (http://www.mjwamps.com) - the Roadstar & Mondiale both come in at well under £1k & at 36 watts ought to be enough to drive a 4x12...
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well it has to be powerful enough to run the cab, which i think is 8ohm (?). i know valves can sometimes be a bit "louder" than tranny amps so im guessing a 120W valve amp would ruin the cab.
preferably i need a clean and dirty channel, and all my fx will be from guitar > fx> amp head, i never use an fx loop but i suppose if its there then theres always the option in future.
I use the amp for practice, which is bass, drums, keys and the vox (vox go through the pa) and it will also be for live situations, in which the amp will more often than not be mic'd up
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I'd look for a second hand DSL if I wanted the sounds you do.
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well it has to be powerful enough to run the cab, which i think is 8ohm (?). i know valves can sometimes be a bit "louder" than tranny amps so im guessing a 120W valve amp would ruin the cab.
preferably i need a clean and dirty channel, and all my fx will be from guitar > fx> amp head, i never use an fx loop but i suppose if its there then theres always the option in future.
I use the amp for practice, which is bass, drums, keys and the vox (vox go through the pa) and it will also be for live situations, in which the amp will more often than not be mic'd up
working out whether your head would blow the speakers depends on what speakers you have in the cab, rather than the impedance (8ohm) that they are wired at.
valves might appear louder, but a wattage rating of 100watts is a hundred watts i guess. just like 1 tonne of feathers is the same weight as 1 tonne of bowling balls. there is more variation in valves.
You could check out the JCA100H from Jet City. That has two channels. or the JCA20H. the 20 is only single channel though.
maybe a peavey valveking? they are cheap as cheaps and I don't think they are too bad to be honest! pretty good bang for buck.
Laney might have some options.
you might not need 100watts. 50 would probably do you. maybe even less.
+1 for the second hand DSL.
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i haven't tried them, but i think a lot of the bugeras are more aimed at modern stuff- certainly the 333 and 6260 ones.
do you need to be able to get a cab with that £500 too? I'd be wary of using a cheaper cab with the head, it might sound rubbish! Which laney cab is it? the tt cab is nice, as is the lionheart, and some of the other ones are probably nice if you upgrade the speakers...
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Bugera ripped off a lot of designs. they do a plexi kind of thing and a jcm900 dual reverb kind of thing... they might have something somewhere in their range.
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oh yeah, sure, just when i hear bugera i think of the other ones, plus the price he was talking about suggested the ones i mentioned.
Maybe i just hang out at UG too much where everyone's a metalhead :lol:
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i never go on UG. i dunno why...
I think there are a lot of option. Even a 6260 Bugera. You COULD use the low input and wind the gain down. I've seen vids of Ted Nugent playing the amp that way. Using the low input. I think its a bit more versatile than a normal 5150/6505. A bit noiser though. what do people on UG say about build quality? does anyone own a Bugera?
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You never should go to UG.
Unless its for lulz.
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oh yeah the lulz are great on UG. Normally we just troll about bugeras always going on fire. :lol:
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For the music you're referring too, there are more choices then the Bugera. A used DSL, JCM 900, Hughes & Kettner Switchblade, Engl Thunder. New: Peavy Valveking, Bogner Alchemist, etc. Remember that a 50 watt tubeamp can be very loud, to your ears louder then a 120 transistoramp.
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I have a friend that is on his 4th bugera 6262
all have been replacements from bugera of the previous ones that overheated, just blew random stuff, one took out loads of other electrical stuff in his room too.
and this is in the space of 9 months.
If the other ones they offer are anything like the 6260 i would avoid them
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I gig with a 30w rocker 30 valve amp...through 2x12 quite easily..but if want more the rocker 50 is a great amp for what you said you want
Must add the MJW stuff is great as well
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I have the Rockerverb 50 head/2x12 cab and in the band I will blow everybody away with the master around 12.00. Freaking loud amp.
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very loud amps...sound sweet too
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thanks for all the quick replies!
i think bugera as cheap as they might be are out of the question, it might be rock n roll to destroy your gear but id rather not see my shite go up in flames mid set!
The peavey valveking is very tempting, around the price i can afford for a 50 watter.
oh and if anyone was wondering, and is not of a nervous disposition, the amp and cab iv been using are..
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Laney Lx120H and matching cab. I got them both for £400.
http://memberfiles.freewebs.com/09/97/63659709/photos/Rehearsal/MISC%20078.jpg
Although its now called Larry, and im tempted to rename the cab "Ian" wit some further top class black marker!
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thanks for all the quick replies!
i think bugera as cheap as they might be are out of the question, it might be rock n roll to destroy your gear but id rather not see my shitee go up in flames mid set!
The peavey valveking is very tempting, around the price i can afford for a 50 watter.
oh and if anyone was wondering, and is not of a nervous disposition, the amp and cab iv been using are..
......................
Laney Lx120H and matching cab. I got them both for £400.
http://memberfiles.freewebs.com/09/97/63659709/photos/Rehearsal/MISC%20078.jpg
Although its now called Larry, and im tempted to rename the cab "Ian" wit some further top class black marker!
There are good tubeamps from Laney. Used you can pick one up for a reasonable price,
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would a laney gh50l be powerful enough for what im after? that would be perfect if so. and Mikael Akerfeldt uses one apparently, and his tone is outstanding.
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yes. 50 watts is loud enough
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I had 50 and 100 watt-tubeamps and the loudness difference aren't that big. Personally I like a 50-watt amp better bec the output tubes will saturate a bit earlier. A 50-watt amp will do fine, unless you play in a very loud metalband.
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I just got a laney gh50l and its very loud, first 50w tube amp ive had (all others have been 100 or 120) was jamming with it the other day with a loud drummer and other guitarist running 5150 and had the volume on under 2/10
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+1 to 50W being MORE than enough.
This *should* be common knowledge, but the difference in volume between 50 and 100W for the same amp design and speakers is pretty insignificant.
The difference is primarily in headroom.
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awesome, the Laney it is!!
Good work Team! 8)
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supposed to be good amps never had go on the 50
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they are pretty good sounding. often over looked and under rated.
you see a lot of em about at practice spot (well i do) but they often ain't cared for and sound a bit rough.
I have a lot of friends who have either the 50 or 100 or the 100TI
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+1 to 50W being MORE than enough.
This *should* be common knowledge, but the difference in volume between 50 and 100W for the same amp design and speakers is pretty insignificant.
The difference is primarily in headroom.
+1. A Vox AC30 can shake your pants...
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i picked up a laney gh50l recently. very nice, especially for the money.
However it has to be louder than my 100 watt engl before it starts sounding good, and the taper of the volume knob isn't as smooth (it's harder to get it to the perfect volume, it's a bit like an electric shower :lol: ).
It's not just about wattage, in other words. Granted more wattage generally means more headroom, but it doesn't necessarily mean it'll sound better at lower volumes.
EDIT: just to clarify, my engl has 6L6s and the laney has el34s- i've heard 6L6s make the laney sound better at lower volumes, but I haven't tried it myself.
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Did you now, dave?
I've ocacsionally toyed with getting one of those. How do you find it?
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Oh, and add that sounding good at low volumes is a bit of an engl common feature, not a 6L6 common feature, as I understand it.
By accident or design, they all sound pretty good very quiet, as well you know. (where other common 6L6 high gainers often dont: 5150, Rectifiers, etc)
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yeah i got a good deal in that guitar village sale a little while back- as you've probably noticed, the prices on most laneys jumped up recently, and the price in the GV sale was close to the old prices (under £400), so I figured if I was ever going to get one, I had to get it :lol:
I like it- being single-channel (with boost) it's not super-versatile in the way, say, an engl is, but it's very nice, it does pretty much what I want, which is a more 80s high gain tone, hot rod marshall type of thing. It wouldn't be my first choice for br00tz, though- it'll do it, but more if you mainly play rock and hard rock, but sometimes need br00tz. It's very nice for what I paid for it, but again it just depends on what you want tonally, and how many options you need to be footswitchable etc.
And yeah, I'm well aware that sounding good at low volumes is a bit of an engl thing- though funnily enough I've never had a problem with rectos or 5150s either at lower volumes when I've tried them in shops. Fizz never really annoys me that much, nor does too much compression (which a lot of people hate)...
I just said the 6L6 thing because a guy on UG has a gh50l too and he put 6L6s in and discovered it helped the lower volume tones a lot. I'm keeping el34s in because, although I need it to sound good at low volumes too, I also want it to be as marshally as possible, and as far as i'm aware, the 34s will help with that.
:)