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Post by stratman on Dec 27, 2007 17:10:21 GMT -4
There seems to be a glut of these things on the market at the moment: Epiphone valve junior, Fender champ 600, Blackheart, Grainger, Harley Benton, Peavey Valveking Royal 8, and they seem to becoming quite popular whether it be in combo or halfstack (head & 1x12 cab) form, any of you guys tried any out? i'm getting quite intrigued by them.
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Post by daardvark on Dec 27, 2007 17:50:46 GMT -4
Never tried one. Does sound interesting. 5W tube will be very loud. Not 100W loud but louder than you would expect.
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Post by barchordnick on Dec 27, 2007 18:18:48 GMT -4
I just got the valve Jr. head but haven't had time to really play it yet. I also got the 1x12 cab that matches it. One of the nice things about them is you can drive them into a nice tube distortion without going def. Good for blues and classic rock...perfect for recording and pedals. I'll post more in a week or so when I've had some quality time with it.
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Post by stratman on Dec 27, 2007 18:39:03 GMT -4
I just got the valve Jr. head but haven't had time to really play it yet. I also got the 1x12 cab that matches it. One of the nice things about them is you can drive them into a nice tube distortion without going def. Good for blues and classic rock...perfect for recording and pedals. I'll post more in a week or so when I've had some quality time with it. The valve jr's get mixed reviews but still seem to be the most popular, they're also highly modable which would suit me, the grainger and the harley benton are straight copies of the valve jr but don't have matching 1x12 cabs which puts me off (i'm shallow ) the fender champ 600 is only available as a combo as far as i'm aware and the blackhearts don't seem to be available in the UK which is a shame as they seem to retail similar to the valve jr in the US plus they have 3 band eq and matching 1x12 cab, so basically i'm erring towards a valve jr head/cab, i look forward to your review
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Post by barchordnick on Dec 27, 2007 19:29:48 GMT -4
I'm not going to try and sway anyone at this point to one company or another but just a few things to consider. The Epi head has 4,8 and 16 ohm outs so you can plug it into any cab. I don't know if the others offer this but I would consider it. I have tried this amp only briefly in the 16 ohm epi cab with an Eminence Lucky lady speaker and through an 8 ohm celestion. 2 very different sounds. I find the celestion better for my strat and the eminence better for my cigar boxes. The epi cab has more bass to it and the celestion seems to have more sparkle to it. keep in mind tone is very personal so options is a great feature. An eq would be nice but I'm not sure I'll miss that. can always use a good eq pedal for that. We'll see as I play with it more. I would stay away from any of the combos. The fender has a 6" speaker . The Blackheart looks pretty nice. I didn't see that before I bought the epi so I have no research on that. I own 2 other epi tube amps. They are the old Galaxy 25watt amps. The custom 30 replaced them. One was dead quiet and the other I had to send out to an amp guy to bias the tubes. It still is a little noisy but tolorable. The valve jr. is very quit. only hear tube hum at full tilt. At this point I'm thinking if I was to do it again I wouldn't buy the cab for this amp but at the same time I'm thinking it seems good for my Cigar Box guitars which was my main reason to buy it in the first place. Still have to try my les paul copy though it and if I decide later I don't like the speaker I have the matching cab and can always change the speaker. I only have about 20 minutes with the thing so far.
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Post by aschleman on Dec 27, 2007 22:33:37 GMT -4
i have actually been looking at purchasing a small amp for practice purposes.... i checked out those blackheart amps... but i've ended up at the orange 30R i think.....
a lot of people are going to smaller amps because with new mic and recording technology... the smaller amps generally give you a more managable tone at lower volumes and are easier to record through mic's...
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Post by Mr. G. on Dec 28, 2007 0:05:58 GMT -4
The lower wattage amps can definitely be a lot of fun. I have an old '61 Gibson GA-5, which is similar to the Epi valve jr. in that it only has an input and a volume knob. It uses a different power tube, and also uses a tube rectifier, both of which give it a different tone and feel. With a couple of pedals, and the right speaker, these amps can be killer! Even if the tone isn't really what you're looking for, they are still loads of fun.
A cranked 5 watt tube amp is way louder than you would think it is.
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Post by Skeleton Keys on Dec 28, 2007 14:12:43 GMT -4
Omg, my dad has this little Valve Train thing in his shop right now, complete with a reverb unit... It's the most goregous thing I've ever played through, in terms of the size of the amp. 'PLayed an Airline Map and a Parker Flame Mojo through it. It was goregous. I lve those things...
But as in terms of Amplification... I'm in love in Vox Pathfinders at the moment. And Fender Twin Reverbs. Awesome stuff.
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Post by stratman on Dec 28, 2007 17:57:22 GMT -4
But as in terms of Amplification... I'm in love in Vox Pathfinders at the moment. And Fender Twin Reverbs. Awesome stuff. I my Vox Pathfinder, very versatile little practice amp
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Post by Skeleton Keys on Dec 28, 2007 21:23:02 GMT -4
But as in terms of Amplification... I'm in love in Vox Pathfinders at the moment. And Fender Twin Reverbs. Awesome stuff. I my Vox Pathfinder, very versatile little practice amp Lets get married. No really, I just checked, and on the back of the head there's a plaque that says "Pathfinder 15 SMR". I don't think they make that "SMR" series with Pathfinders anymore... I don't really know why.... But of course, through I might be misinterpreting that "S" for a G... It's been known to happen.
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Post by stratman on Dec 29, 2007 12:07:31 GMT -4
The original (V9158) Pathfinder was discontinued a few years back, the new range 10, 15, 15R (V9168R) came out in 2004, it's basically the same model but with reverb, line out, and an external speaker output.
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Post by Skeleton Keys on Dec 31, 2007 13:14:08 GMT -4
I'll post some pics tonight and maybe you can help me figure out what it is exactly. It's a P.F. 15 stack system, with I think two 10" Bluedog speakers... I think.
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Post by stratman on Dec 31, 2007 15:49:08 GMT -4
I'll post some pics tonight and maybe you can help me figure out what it is exactly. It's a P.F. 15 stack system, with I think two 10" Bluedog speakers... I think. Goddam it! of course! the smr (super mini-stack reverb) you lucky son of a gun! they're as rare as rockin horse sh!t, i believe only about 750 were ever made between 2001-2002 and as far as i'm aware they were only available in the US
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Post by Skeleton Keys on Dec 31, 2007 21:07:41 GMT -4
The amp... I did'nt I had it so great, appearantly. This thing is a seriously kickass amp... I love it so much I'm sure I'll have it forever.
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Post by stratman on Jan 1, 2008 9:48:30 GMT -4
Shhweeeet amp bet it sounds good thru that 2x10 cab, the combo i have supposedly sounds pretty good thru a cab but i haven't had the opportunity to try it out.
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Post by Skeleton Keys on Jan 1, 2008 16:09:03 GMT -4
Oh yeah. I usually play my parker through it, which has Seymour Duncan jazz pickups, and then I usually play through the bridge pickup, with lots a gain, becuase it has a lot bite but still keeps that fuzz. I think my dream of tonal heavan is to have my guitar sound like a horn... Something bright and sharp, but still has that feature of distortion. I always loved the sound of my trumpet back in the day... So that must be why I look to achieve that tone with my guitars. I'll try to post an audio sample of me playing through my set up when I can so I can show you what I'm talking about...
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Post by fenderalltheway on Jan 7, 2008 21:26:09 GMT -4
I tried the epiphone valve junior half stack at my local Guitar Center, and for a $250 5w amp, not too shabby! It helped that I was playing a 58 Reissue Les Paul
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