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Post subject: Digital modeling amps vs. the other alternatives?
Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 7:19 am
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Aspiring Musician
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I have only had modeling amps: Fender, Line 6, and now Roland. They sound good, but I am told that a tube amp is just superb. Is there really an advantage to using a tube amp for playing at low volumes in the home? My understanding was that the tube amps need to be turned to high volume before they begin to sound their best. Any information on this topic would be appreciated.


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Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 7:30 am
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It appears that many like the sound of a "driven" tube amp and that's why I think we are seeing more "class A" 5 watt tube amps? Not many features, but tone to the max. 8)

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Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 7:43 am
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Yes tube amps sound different, at least I think I can hear the difference between my SolidState and modeling amps and my tube amp :)

I too up to this point have only had a traynor solid state and a Roland Cube amp with modeling capability. They did sound OK and sort of created an approximation of the amp types they were set for.

Now I bought a tube amp and I don't think I will be looking back :D

You can get very low powered tube amps with only 5 watts or even less like the BlackHeart Killer Ant which I think only produces 1 watt of power, or the Fender Champ 600 and BlackHeart Little Giant which output around 5 watts.

I think they would be great as bedroom practice amps.
Also many people are really liking the 15 watt Super Champ XD and Blues Junior, these can get a bit loudish though.

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Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 8:13 am
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Location: alanta ga.
love the new VOX valvtronix -xl amps


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Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 11:53 am
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Hobbyist
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i would love to own a vintage Deluxe Reverb one day, but i prefer the reliability i personally use a Roland JC-120, probably the CLEANEST amp ever made...

since it is so clean, i could put digital processing units in front of it and virtually any sound. i put a a digitech rp-250, kinda cheap sounding, but it does the job and i wanted a decent floor pedal anyway.


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Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 2:43 pm
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I can't say enough about the Cyber Twin SE.

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Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 3:06 pm
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I currently own a VOX DA-5 - very nice portable modeling amp.

My next AMP purchase will be a Fender Super Champ XD - I liked the way it sounded when I played thru one at a local (45+ miles) dealer up here in VT.

I've listened to many demos on youtube - and I liked it's sound a lot. I chose the DA-5 by hearing it and it hasn't let me down yet.

I expect to get the same level of usability out of the SCXD - minus the ability to play on batteries and drive my headphones - it will get me to another place in playing - thru tubes and a bit more loudness :P

Gil 8)
PS I have a Line6 Toneport KB-37 that gets me many of the Line6 modeling when I play thru my computer - I like it too.

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Fender Super Champ XD; Vox DA-5


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Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 3:12 pm
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Try a 5e3 Tweed Deluxe if you really want to hear something special!

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Post subject:
Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 3:13 pm
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Miami Mike wrote:
Try a 5e3 Tweed Deluxe if you really want to hear something special!


Well, that's just perfection in a box! :P

The '58 Deluxe on the Cyber Twin is pretty tasty.

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Post subject:
Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 4:55 pm
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Aspiring Musician
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One of my fellow guitar playing amateurs was playing a gdecjunior (which I also have and use the midi background tracks pretty much every time I play) and a Roland Cube. I was apparently saying something about how sweet my little tube signal-path Blues Junior sounds, and he went and bought one. It's blown his socks off, too. That little Blues Junior seriously has a lot of tone from clean to a very sweet SRVish overdriven sound.

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