First Valve Amp

Antisocialiser

So im looking for my first valve amp and really like the tones Ive found in the following amps...

Vox AC15 - Sounds really cool but if they really are breaking down constantly there is no way I could afford to keep repairing it (im a poor poor student..)

Orange Rocker 30 - Again really liked the tones although didnt get to play it fully cranked Issues here would be the lack of EQ in the natural setting, could i run a pedal like Ts9 through it to colour the clean a bit? + a little out of the price range

Orange Tiny Terror + 1x12 Cab - Saw it being played on youtube and looks like the business but wondering if its gonna be loud enough for gigging in pubs etc..

Really like tones like Jimmy Eat World, Hundred Reasons, Kings of leon and i think these amps are all capable of em. My budget is really no more than £400-450 sterling pounds... can anyone think of other amps suitable for these tones and loud enough for small gigs? Im a simple enough guy currently using a schecter C1 Classic with Digitech whammy, DD7 Digitech Distortion modeller (which hopefully I can get rid of with my new valve amp), Noisegate and hopefully gettin a DD7 for crimbo

On a side note is there much maintenance required for a valve amp?

Paolo_M

The Tiny Terror is 15 Watts, I think, and this is loud enough for rehearsal/small gigs. Usually at larger gigs your amp will be miked and so you just need stage volume. The only time you might struggle is if you need pristeen, crystal clean tones like some of them there twanging country geetar players!! :pac:

Also check out the Marshall 1974x 18 Watt combo, it's along the Vox ouput stage lines but with a Marshall preamp.

Which AC15 have you heard with reliability issues? I haven't heard many people with problems on the CC series or the Heritage, only people with rectifier valve problems due to the stand-by. The originals did overheat a lot but I presume you don't have that kinda cash being a poor student and all!!

Valve amps don't require much maintenance. With typical regular usage (one or two gigs plus a rehearsal a week) you'd need to replace output valves every twelve to eighteen months. The preamp valves could be changed with every other output valve change but may even last longer.
The lower wattage amps you've mentioned do not require biasing and so valve changing is as simple as replacing a light bulb. Other than that you take need to take the same care as any other piece of electronic equipment. Apart from the usually don't kick it, drop it, spill beer in it etc. another good rule of thumb in never to store it anywhere that you wouldn't sleep yourself. Actually considering that you're a student that's probably not a good rule of thumb!!

fish-head

I think the Tiny Terror would be perfect for you. 15 watts in a tube amp is more than enough for most gigs.

Antisocialiser

brilliant advice chaps cheers, i think i will stick with the tiny terror. Lookin at one of the orange 1x12's on GAK

http://www.guitarampkeyboard.com/en/ppc112-1x12/67504

Dont know too much about this area but i assume they'll sound good together. any other combinations that you think would complement the tiny terror?

Also do you have to let the amp heat up before you start playin or something? whats the standby switch for? i think i heard that some of the vox's failed because some pre-amp resister blew from bein left on standby or something :rollseyes:

68 lost souls

The Vox amps are notorious for breaking down through either blown fuses, blown valves or power supplys.

Ive heard great things about the tiny terror but havent played one yet, was thinking bout one myself.

Yeah you have to leave it warm up but normally that just takes a few seconds.

The stanby switch kills the output so that you wont blow a valve when you plug in or out. Basicly it stops a spike in noise which is to a valve what a power surge to a light bulb. It keeps the amp warmed up but kills the sound.

Paolo_M

The JMI era Vox's from the 60's were notorious for overheating, blowing fuses, blowing valves, blowing transformers, going on fire, melting stuff on top of them, causing a visable heat haze, scrambling eggs, you name it, but I'm not aware of the current production series having these problems?

The stand by performs a handy muting function for the amp. It's also a useful way of letting the valves heat up to full temp so that when you turn the stand by off (to the play position) the amp is instantly ready to play. Normally, without a stand by, there would be a few seconds of reduced volume and crackly sounds.
Despite popular myth the stand by does not perform any protective or safety function for the valves, in fact, a poorly designed stand by circuit can damage an amp.

I've personally never heard of pre amp resistor failing because the amp was left on stand by, but you hear new ones every day!! :pac:

Doctor J

A chap in a band I recorded a few times had one of the recent AC30's. Lovely sound but every time I saw them he had a different amp, due to the thing failing. I think he went through three different AC30's which all crapped out after a few months before he went with a Fender instead.

Paolo_M

Yeah, I heard of a few of the new CC series AC30s failing because of the valve rectifier. This is one of the amps I was refering to as having a poorly designed stand by circuit which in turn causes the rectifiers to fail.
I hadn't heard of them having the same pyrotechnic failures that the sixties version had though? Are they failing in other, more dramatic ways too?

Eoin Madsen

68 lost souls wrote: »

The stanby switch kills the output so that you wont blow a valve when you plug in or out. Basicly it stops a spike in noise which is to a valve what a power surge to a light bulb. It keeps the amp warmed up but kills the sound.

Ah, no, that doesn't happen. It's like Paolo_M says. The standby is just a mute switch. Valves don't blow that way.

There's something about letting the heaters get warm for 30-60 seconds after the amp is turned on before applying the plate voltage (by turning standby off) under the assumption that this is better for the life of the valves. But I haven't seen it proved that it's actually a real issue in a guitar amp.

Amp popping is a bit unpleasant but it won't blow a speaker, transformer, valve, guitar, or guitar player unless there's something already seriously wrong.

Antisocialiser

Haha I got my tiny terror, here it is beside my schecter C1 Classic!! I wasnt overly impressed until the tubes warmed up and then I was blew away by the tone! Only thing is when the gain is pushed high there is like an airy sound, kinda like when the telly isnt tuned in... is this normal for a tube amp??

So impressed with it once the tubes warmed up but is it bad for the amp to have it at high volume for long periods of time?