Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: matteo on March 18, 2007, 01:08:13 PM
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im on the lookout for a new amp. i only play in my bedroom so its not got to be big. does anyone have any views on the new peavey royal 8 5w valve amp? i think its to take on the epi junior. im not to bothered bout if its not a valve amp though its just got to be good for clean, and vintage blues rock (acdc, gnroses etc) and occasional modern(satch). i like the crunch on peavey bandits but way too big. im not into too many pedals so it would be nice to have a few channels.
i play a yamaha rgx420dz with vh2s if it helps?
maybe a marshall valvestate? its got to be good quality at low lowish levels and very good at loud levels when i do crank it up!
does such an amp exist. i got £250 to go on it maybe £300 at a stretch. it doest have to be new i would consider second hand
any advice welcome!
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problem with a lot of the cheaper low wattage amps is that a lot of them are geared towards vintage tones- epi VJ, laney vc etc will all do the classic rock thing, not too sure about modern.
If you can wait a while, the peavey windsor combo might be worth a look- if it's anything like the head version, it'll do classic and modern rock. Though, cleans aren't too great.
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problem with a lot of the cheaper low wattage amps is that a lot of them are geared towards vintage tones- epi VJ, laney vc etc will all do the classic rock thing, not too sure about modern.
If you can wait a while, the peavey windsor combo might be worth a look- if it's anything like the head version, it'll do classic and modern rock. Though, cleans aren't too great.
i think there are equally as many modern sounding ones...... Laney LX and LV series, marshall AVT, Behringer GM series, and isn't there a new Peavey Valveking small-ish combo out?
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^ ah, i meant all tube, lol.
:drink:
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^ ah, i meant all tube, lol.
:drink:
oh i see. well, that is kind of true, yes. erm, perhaps the Laney LC series?
anyway, didn't he say mostly for clean and vintage blues rock and only occasional modern?
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thanx guys. yeah mostly blues rock and occasional modern, but if it comes to it i could get a pedal for the more modern tone. its basically got to be pretty verstile as im still experimenting with different tones and different playing styles and music etc. i want something that will bring through the natural tone of the guitar and pickups and not hum like a b****! as i said im not too keen on loads of effects. but to be honest i think i might be asking too much. the peavey mini colossal looks ideal but its a bit on the expensive side at £450!! my teachers got a bandit which is awesome on clean and crunch at low levels but when you crank it up it gets a bit mushy it would be ideal but its far too big.
bear im mind it doesnt have to be all valve.
i will check out the laney. :D
thanx
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i'd check out the laney vc15 too... epi valve junior is pretty good for cleans (jazzy) and classic rock, but it'd need some stern persuasion to do the modern stuff.
windsor is worth a look, as i said, but it might be a while till it's out, and the cleans will suffer. though, assuming it's like the head, it'll do the satch stuff better.
orange tiny terror might be worth a look, but I haven't tried it.
best bet, as always, is to try everything you can.
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best bet, as always, is to try everything you can.
+1
i'm going to try out as much as possible asap........ i'm looking for a new amp too, but for metal :twisted:
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the orange tiny terror seems cool!! i like the idea of simple controls and minimum circuitry as it would just give the guitars natural tone?? but the price and then a cab ontop is a bit expensive. like the 7w switch though!!
i think the laney may be a bit too loud? 15w would still be pretty loud for bedroom levels? i was thinking 5w valve max for low levels.
i get the impression that valve amps sound best when they are cranked up? thats what they are designed for? or am i being nieve as ive never played one before. it would be like having a ferrari and not getting out of first gear? just wonder if i would be beat off with a solid state for lower levels.
thanx :P
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the orange tiny terror seems cool!! i like the idea of simple controls and minimum circuitry as it would just give the guitars natural tone?? but the price and then a cab ontop is a bit expensive. like the 7w switch though!!
i think the laney may be a bit too loud? 15w would still be pretty loud for bedroom levels? i was thinking 5w valve max for low levels.
i get the impression that valve amps sound best when they are cranked up? thats what they are designed for? or am i being nieve as ive never played one before. it would be like having a ferrari and not getting out of first gear? just wonder if i would be beat off with a solid state for lower levels.
thanx :P
i love the features of the TT too, so simple!
my practice amp (SS) is 15w and i keep it on 3 for practice.
5w valve sounds good indeed. Epiphone Valve Junior perhaps?
and yes, valve amps do sound better cranked, as this increases the output going through the tubes, giving it a better sound (i think!)
i've never had one before either, but i have picked up this knowledge as i go along (hence the 700 posts!). you don't have to crank it though. it'll still sound good at low volumes, just not outstanding. either 15w SS or 5w valve should be fine.
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valves sounds better cranked, the power tubes start to overdrive etc. Basically, it sounds awesome. I'd say they still sound better than most solid states even at lower volumes (but your mileage may vary), but it's true that they do sound best cranked.
Even 5 watts is pretty loud for bedroom... you can turn it down, but it won't sound just as good. if you are playing in your bedroom, make sure it has a master volume/gain control, so you can get overdrive at lower levels (the tiny terror has, the valve junior doesn't).
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A couple of thoughts,
Name a few examples of tones that you would want to get from the amp.
Firstly you will not get a lot of clean headroom, so to get modern tones (at any sort of volume) you may have to be be using a pedal on an already dirty amp. Some amp / pedal combinations sound good like this some don't (and prefer a clean amp)
As previously said most of the small amps go for vintage tones some of them are :
Matamp Minimat (7 watt I think)
Epi Valve Jr (5 Watt)
Fender Champ 600 (5 watt) Supposed to be about 120 pounds on release
Z-Vex Nano Head (0.7 watt)
Ampmaker SE-5A (5 watt)
Orange Tiny Terror (14 & 7 watt as I remember)
Even the Nanohead @ 0.7 watts is a bit too lout to run at full volume for bedroom practice in my circumstances (though that was through a marshall 4x12 heheh)
If I was looking for a 5 watter I would personally look at the Minimat (it has an attenuator built in)
You could also go for a 15 watter and fit an L-Pad attenuator from ampmaker http://www.ampmaker.com/index.asp (once he gets his house move over with) which costs about 7 pounds.
Rob...
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I've got a Vox AD30VT for thrashing about at home. Not a valve amp (got a valve though :D ), but I think it's been absolutely awesome at home. I can go from a Vox AC30 straight to a Mesa distortion monster. Also got some really nice fender models.
The best thing though is the pot on the back where you can lower the wattage to as low as 0.5W so the valve stays cranked.
I'd certainly give one of these a bash when you're looking. Got some effects built in too, so no need to buy pedals (which you're not keen on).
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I assumed from the way the discussion was going that things where leaning towards a valve amp.
For modelling amps, to me the best one is indeed the Vox (totally outclasses the Line 6 family from personal experience).
The Marshall AVT is allright (I have the Valvestate 2000 version) but the Vox is a much better bet.
Rob...
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Yeah, to be honest I'm really not too good with amps. In fact, unless it's made of wood, I'm fairly useless.
To my ear, there is very little difference between the Vox and the actual amps that they model (not that I've heard anywhere near the modeled amps). For bedroom playing at fairy low levels, I really doubt if there would be any noticable difference to me. But that is "to me", there are plenty of people with a better ear than me.
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It's already been mentionned, but i can heartily recommend the Matamp Minimat. The head will set you back £259 new, but there are usually one or two going cheaper than that second hand on the matamp forum.
Two flavours of valve, and an output of either 2W or 4W (nominal) depending on whether you plumb for 6V6 or El84 respectively. Which means total out put is roughly 5W and 8W respectively. Comes with a built in attenuator and a clean boost, which means great value for money. You said that you liked minimal controls, which the matamp has - only volume, tone, and boost controls on the front, attenuator on the back.
Obviously you'd need a cab too, but it's still exceptional value for money, and sounds really sweet.
I did a proper review on this forum, which you can find here:
http://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5196&highlight=
*Rahnooo*
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^ I have found the Minimat to sound exceptional using their 1x12 cab and just meh using other cabs, so be forewarned. Just my opinion, though.
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^ I have found the Minimat to sound exceptional using their 1x12 cab and just meh using other cabs, so be forewarned. Just my opinion, though.
Agreed, the Minimat is pretty fussy when it comes to speakers. The most popular choice is an Alnico Blue by Celestion, althoug Hot 100's also work very well. I've got a soft spot for the Cannabis Rex Hemp Cone (a clone of the Tone Tubby) when used in conjunction with the 6V6 model too.
If you can get to the Matamp factory for a day out then it's well worth it - there's 15 or so speaker cabs loaded in the test rig so you can try whatever speakers you want with your amp of coice. A great day out it makes too :)
*Rahnooo*
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If you can get to the Matamp factory for a day out then it's well worth it - there's 15 or so speaker cabs loaded in the test rig so you can try whatever speakers you want with your amp of coice. A great day out it makes too :)
Apparently they have dropped the Eminance range, as they havn't sold anything other than Celestions in the last 2 years. :(
Details on the matamp site
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thanx for the info guys!!
im play mostly rock from AC/DC gnr the darkness zepplin hendrix and chilli peppers as well as some satch and van halen. im not really lookin for a particular tone but something that can get me in the ballpark for the above.
id consider valve or solid state im just trying to determine which would be best for me!! id love a valve but still think it might be too loud. i got a fender gdec which gives me a variaty of effects but the tones just seem more digital than what the guitar actually sounds like?? if that makes sense? and it hums like and absolute b******!!!!
i want to hear the vh2s and alder for what they are. a clean/vintage/modern channels wud be ok though but that sort of contradicts!!
im so confused ill just try a load at LGS and try as much as i can!!
that matamp looks sweet though!! so 6v6 valve is 2w and thye one with the el84 is 4w? thares one on ebay cheap but i think its the 4w though. i think the 2w is for me i cud crank it up then!! how much is a decent cab? never considered a stack but the orange and matamp are appealing!
thanx :D
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thanx for the info guys!!
im play mostly rock from AC/DC gnr the darkness zepplin hendrix and chilli peppers as well as some satch and van halen. im not really lookin for a particular tone but something that can get me in the ballpark for the above.
From personal experience (as I own one) the Nanohead should cover AC/DC & Hendrix (and perhaps GnR) pretty well at a sub 1 watt level. I know that Malcom Young has 3 of them (one for each house apparently), and that the Band bought 5 or 6 of them a few months ago.
If it's purely for bedroom usage even 1 watt can upset people (running the Nano through a marshall 4x12 caused the manager of the guitar dept in my local music shop got shouted at by the owner to turn the amp down (it's a fairly large store split across 2 floors, and the manager was on the floor below at the time).
The cleans on the Nano are nice, but you do have to turn down quite a bit, sort of a combination of Fender & Vox amps
The Minimat should also cover most of that, but not having played one (yet) it wouldn't be right to comment.
I really would suggest trying out the candidates if at all possible.
From there it's a case of selecting a suitable cab.
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that matamp looks sweet though!! so 6v6 valve is 2w and thye one with the el84 is 4w? thares one on ebay cheap but i think its the 4w though. i think the 2w is for me i cud crank it up then!! how much is a decent cab? never considered a stack but the orange and matamp are appealing!
thanx :D
From the bands you've referenced I'd say the 4w El84 head is what you want. Bearing in mind that watts aren't linear, the El84 is not that much louder than the 2W 6V6 - it's best to decide between the two models based on tonal preference rather than a negligable volume difference. Don't forget that there's a built in attenuator, so you can take both amps down to whisper volumes.
The basic price for a Matamp 1x12 cab is £290, but can increase depending on what speaker you want loaded. The basic cost includes a Celestion V30 speaker, but as I said most people seem to prefer the Celestion Alnico Blue. I know I certainly did.
*Rahnooo*
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i've heard clips of the Nano head...... and holy cr@p! it's great for rock!
there's also a video on the Zvex website if you're interested.
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i've heard clips of the Nano head...... and holy cr@p! it's great for rock!
there's also a video on the Zvex website if you're interested.
If you want to hear a nano head sounding a bit more distorted and thicker try this http://www.prosoundcommunications.com/english/video/michael_thompson/nano.html
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If moneys no option you could look into a matamp. I dont recall the specific model names but Im pretty sure they make some nice 8 - 15 watters. Of course in my opinion $100 + is a little overkill for an 8 watt amp.
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thanx guys!! i think ilts definately between the nano ana matamp. im just going to try them at LGS and see which i prefer. its going to be an ebay job though cant afford a new one. another thing is id have to get the cab first! dont want to get the amp and not be able to play it!! i think a 1x12 will be enough. thats got to be second hand too. any recommendations?
unless of course the mini colossal is too good!! :twisted: