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Post subject: Which (valve) amp for home use
Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2019 11:36 am
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Hello everyone!

After 10 years of not touching a guitar (focus on career, had 2 kids along the way), i'd like to get back to it and for this, need to buy a new gear. I want to start on the amp side of things first, before looking for a guitar.

I'm more a metal guy, played in a band for around 5 years, but would like to go more clean / crunch / rock sounds now (guess it's the 40's coming soon). I'm looking for a good amp for home use, so not loud but still providing good sensation and feel.

I have tried the following amp so far:
Fender Super Champ X2 (even if it's not a fully valve amp)
Fender Bassbreaker 15W
Fender Blues Junior
Vox AC4TV
Blackstar HT1 and HT5

I tried some Solide state modeling amp (Fender mustang, Yamaha HR5, Vox Agio air GT, Boss Katana) and they have improved like crazy from back in the day, but playing them i really don't get this special feeling and vibe the valve provides.

I would love to try the Boss Nextone, as reviews look promising, any experience from anybody versus a fender bassbreaker?

Problem with valve is the volume you need to put them to have some gain an crunch. For example i was blown away by the Fender Blues Junior, such a powerful amp, way too loud for me. I understand that the usual trick is to use pedal on top so you can get crunch / overdrive at low volume, but don't want to go this road.

Blackstar: amazing gain and hard rock vibe, but...clean are really not great and don't want to go the Metal path.

Bottom line, i'm now with a shortlist between the Fender Bassbreaker and the Super Champ, anybody has some experience with these 2?

On top, i'm wondering if i would get any tone / quality benefit on going with a head + cab versus a combo, any advises here would be appreciated.

Thanks a lot guys!


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Post subject: Re: Which (valve) amp for home use
Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2019 12:29 pm
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vinceowar write ;

" Problem with valve is the volume you need to put them to have some gain an crunch. For example i was blown away by the Fender Blues Junior, such a powerful amp, way too loud for me. I understand that the usual trick is to use pedal on top so you can get crunch / overdrive at low volume, but don't want to go this road. "

IMO It is the only way to go ; pedal


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Post subject: Re: Which (valve) amp for home use
Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2019 2:25 pm
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This decision, amp size/versatility has hurt my brain in the past. I saved up and bought a Super Reverb, it took awhile but made the decision for me. Good hunting!

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Post subject: Re: Which (valve) amp for home use
Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2019 3:52 pm
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stratele52 wrote:
IMO It is the only way to go ; pedal

Ditto.
You can't drive the tubes into saturation without driving them into saturation, which means that they are going to be in the higher end of their output... means loud.

Avoiding a pedal, the only alternatives are:
Power attenuator (Weber Mass, THD Hotplate, etc...)
Amp with self-attenuation like the Bugera G5, which is a 5w head, with the ability to switch down to 1w and 0.1w

I love my Blues Jr, but I am seriously considering a G5.

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Post subject: Re: Which (valve) amp for home use
Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2019 3:56 pm
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Solid Body Love Songs wrote:
This decision, amp size/versatility has hurt my brain in the past. I saved up and bought a Super Reverb, it took awhile but made the decision for me. Good hunting!

LOL! That's one heck of a solution to compromising between size/weight, power, and clean overhead.
What else were you considering, an SVT with a pair of 8x10's or Fender PS800? :lol:

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Post subject: Re: Which (valve) amp for home use
Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2019 12:46 am
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I’ll pass the baton to those who preceded me here, my not being an expert in the matter; but, clean versus dirty in an amp without driving it, pedals aside, would likely do one feature well at the detriment of the other. AFAIK there are amps that are respected for their clean tone, and there are amps that are respected for their dirty sound. Having both respects available in one package isn’t impossible; but, I’m pretty sure one feature would still take precedence and, perhaps, that would make it a compromise with one’s choice. My thinking is, if you are okay with a compromise, choose the amp that is in your budget and to your liking. If you want more clean that’s the route to go. More dirty the same idea.

That’s where the pedal comes in. A clean amp, something in Fender’s arsenal, will give you the best of both world’s IMHO. You can always add or delete as you go.

Other than that, gather your piggy bank savings, and look to the more featured amps in both clean and, perhaps, dirty.

Only know that breakup may or may not occur at a point that may or may not be to your liking now or later. Again pedals will give you more flexibility, and attenuation as Rich mentioned is another option.

That said, look at it this way. They used to cut or rip a speaker cone to get distortion. Not much chance of getting clean afterwards. :P
FSB

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Post subject: Re: Which (valve) amp for home use
Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2019 2:34 am
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Fender Stat Brat write ;

" Only know that breakup may or may not occur at a point that may or may not be to your liking now or later. Again pedals will give you more flexibility, and attenuation as Rich mentioned is another option. "


+ 1000


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Post subject: Re: Which (valve) amp for home use
Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2019 9:00 am
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Hi vinceowar, welcome to the forum.

I have a Peavey Windsor Studio which has a built in attenuator, so I get crunch a fairly low volumes.

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Post subject: Re: Which (valve) amp for home use
Posted: Sun Mar 03, 2019 8:56 pm
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If you can find a used Vox Mini Nighttrain (2W), those are a pretty good option. I'm using a Bugera V22 and a pedal on the clean channel and it's working pretty well (the drive channel sucks on those things, but the clean channel is outstanding, given how cheap they are).


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