Author Topic: Valve amp advice? (Read 3757 times)

moominking13 · « **on:** September 27, 2007, 05:25:57 PM »

im looking to invest in amp sometimes soon, but stuck on exactly what to buy. im into hard rock/alternative kinda stuff, nice beefy distortion and also nice cleans.

im definately looking for a valve amp after i gigged with a peavey delta blues and found the crunch to sound lovely! the price range is 300-400 quid as im not quite old enough to be earning a lot of money yet!!

i was looking at the peavey valvekings...opinions?

smudger123 · « **Reply #1 on:** September 27, 2007, 06:00:21 PM »

Laneys do some nice cheaper valve amps the LC & VC (under £300 for the VC30 1x12 at gak.co.uk), theres the Marshall DSL 401 but I'm not a big fan. The Fender Hot Rod Deluxe they go for £469 on GAK. Best to try out what you can and buy what sounds best to you though. Take your guitar with you if you can when you try em...

Get a great clean amp and you can always put a pedal in front fro the dirt as a lot of the amps in the price range you are talking about have on board solid state for the overdrive when you use the dirty channel anyways...

Otherwise I'm selling a Limited Edidtion Fender Tweed Hot Rod Deluxe factory fitted with an uprated Jensen speaker

moominking13 · « **Reply #2 on:** September 27, 2007, 06:15:51 PM »

i would ask how much your selling it for but i know it would take me a while to get any money together! :P

yer the laney vc30 does look good, might have to tak a closer look

noodleplugerine · « **Reply #3 on:** September 27, 2007, 07:31:28 PM »

Tiny Terror is ace if you can get a cab.

Most of those little class A Valve amps are superb.

moominking13 · « **Reply #4 on:** September 27, 2007, 07:32:46 PM »

are the tiny terrors loud enough to gig with though coz i gig quite regularly. i definately wouldnt mind getting my hands on one of those beautys though!

Orkestra · « **Reply #5 on:** September 27, 2007, 08:36:13 PM »

in my opinion (I play deathrash metal) it doesn't really work if you want to cut across the band and the triggers...

it works with EQ pedals... but for live use... no.

The Valveking is quite good for the money, some guys in This Is Colour use them and they seem to be able to hold their own with the 5150's

My advise to you is to look on Ebay, you'll get a valve head come along soon.

It depends what you play... and what bands you listen too...

WHAT DO YOU PLAY AND WHAT BANDS DO YOU LISTEN TOO?

moominking13 · « **Reply #6 on:** September 27, 2007, 08:40:17 PM »

i play rock, hard rock, alternative all that kinda stuff and listen to Muse, foo fighters, ozzy, zakk wylde, after a tone similar to them really!

Orkestra · « **Reply #7 on:** September 27, 2007, 08:44:00 PM »

Ok, well try and find a JCM-800 or 900 or eBay, and boost it with a SD-1 or Zakk Wylde thingy booster pedal?

That should come to about £300-350 hopefully...

Then you'll need a cab... 2x12's go on Ebay often for like £100

BUT you could get lucky, like I did and snag a beat up 4x12 for £40! which sounds $%&#ing BRUTAL with V30's in it.

moominking13 · « **Reply #8 on:** September 27, 2007, 08:45:58 PM »

£40?? bargain!

yer ive had a look on ebay theres plenty of jcms there, now just gotta wait till i can actually buy one!

how much did the v30s cost you?

Will · « **Reply #9 on:** September 27, 2007, 08:48:21 PM »

DON'T GET THE ZW BOOSTER!

it will be cr@p, then break....

moominking13 · « **Reply #10 on:** September 27, 2007, 08:51:46 PM »

ill tak the advice :)

any reccomended boosts?

Orkestra · « **Reply #11 on:** September 27, 2007, 08:52:02 PM »

Yeah the SD-1!

watford valves did a sale on time ago for like £35 but like £120 for 4 or something

http://www.watfordvalves.com/product_detail.asp?id=527

I think they still cost that! But not with the 4 for £120 thing

So my $%&#ing top notch cab cost me pretty much £160... like more than half what you would pay for a new, decent quality one.

Framus make pretty good cabs too... check them out on dolphinmusic.co.uk

HTH AMPS · « **Reply #12 on:** September 27, 2007, 08:56:13 PM »

With your budget and the influences you've listed you really want to be getting a Laney GH50L or GH100L head. These are the same circuit as the single channel JCM800 Marshalls but with some slight circuit tweaks to get a bit more gain and the resonance mod to beef out the low end.

You see these Laneys go from as cheap as £150 to an average of £250-300.

Cheap 4x12s can be had, keep your eye out for something with decent Celestions in it. You might find a tatty Marshall 1960 cab for £150-200 on a good day.

I would just monitor ebay and wait for the best deal to come along. If you can wait till crimbo there are always bargains since people are selling to fund buying presents. Jan/Feb is always good too as most people don't have cash to buy stuff and the prices stay low when cash-strapped people flog stuff to pay for their xmas-excesses.

I got an original Acoustic 320 bass head two years back the week before xmas for £120. That was a total beast of a bass amp which I sold later in the year for £300.

:twisted:

moominking13 · « **Reply #13 on:** September 27, 2007, 08:58:33 PM »

nice im gonna check those laneys out! thanks for all that help!

Will · « **Reply #14 on:** September 27, 2007, 09:24:04 PM »

I replaced my ZW with an MXR GT OD, imported it at the time as maybe it wasn't released in this country til later. Has a bit more gain, not bad for a small pedal.

Just a thought, I don't really like Boss pedals