TUBE COMBOS

Ash.J.Williams

What's your favourite tube combo and for what style?

I have a DSL 100 half stack but recently fell for a fender deluxe and might get one!!


Also if you are aware of any bargain buys in this field please share!

slavetothegrind

blackstar ht series, love the sounds available in them!

everything from metal to country!


that said the fender you speak of is very nice indeed!

TroutMask

Vox AC 30 is nice (original - don't know about the new ones). Original Fender Twin reverbs are good. Swart Amps are amazing. Gibson amps (original) are great. Early Marshall combos can sound good and are great candidates for modification.

rcaz

I'm looking for one of these... My band mate has a Fender Hot Rod and I played through a Deluxe a few weeks ago and absolutely love them. Can't really afford that price range at the moment, but I've played through a few Peavey Classic 30s that had that same Fendery tube buzz going on, which can be had around €400 second hand. I had a shot of them a few years ago though, might try play another one soon and see if my slightly more-experienced ears still dig it as much as I remember.

darrenw5094

rcaz wrote: »

I'm looking for one of these... My band mate has a Fender Hot Rod and I played through a Deluxe a few weeks ago and absolutely love them. Can't really afford that price range at the moment, but I've played through a few Peavey Classic 30s that had that same Fendery tube buzz going on, which can be had around €400 second hand. I had a shot of them a few years ago though, might try play another one soon and see if my slightly more-experienced ears still dig it as much as I remember.

You are the guy who shot down valve amps for years.

Maybe you are seeing the light.....as you get a bit older.

rcaz

darrenw5094 wrote: »

You are the guy who shot down valve amps for years.

Maybe you are seeing the light.....as you get a bit older.

No, I never shot down valve amps specifically (why would I shoot down something that sounds generally ****in' cool?), I'm just not into that whole clinging-to-the-60s/70s idea of playing electric guitar, which is all over every guitar forum on the internet, certainly not least this one. For most 'usual' guitar things, valvestate distortion, sounds a little nicer to the human ear than solid state or digital distortion, no arguments there. But this is all just equipment. If the song needs sample rate reduction instead of tube overdrive, then your tube amp isn't gonna provide t3h toanz.

If it helps, one of the reasons I like the look of the Peavey Classic 30 is that it has an effect loop. I'll be putting my laptop in that effect loop and using digital waveshapers, samplers and bitcrushers, among other things.

There is no 'light' to see, it's all just music, and music is all about freedom, right? That's always been exactly my point, freedom. Have as many options as possible. Why else would I base all my music around computers? Because I can do almost anything that way.

CianRyan

The best amp I've played was an original 4X10 Fender Bassman. Unfortunately I played it about a week after I bought my current Fender Super-Sonic, which to be fair I still love. Had I not bought the SS, I'd definitely have the Bassman now, I've never heard anything so big and strong sounding. The natural tube breakup was just the stuff of dreams, then I stuck my MXR Custom Shop GT-OD in front of it...

I'll buy one some day.

With regards to seeking a classic tone, that's not something that I aspired to but more so over my 10 years of playing I found myself drawn too.
I've done the whole gain to 11 thing, I've done playing purely clean but once you've experienced pure power tube distortion you don't go back.

ShriekingSheet

I use a Fender Hotrod Deluxe.

It's versatile in it's sound, the reverb is really useful when you need it, and it doesn't take a fork-lift to get it around.

I like the gain channel as it gives loads of nice reasonable stages of drive before you get into MITULL!! territory. It's what I hate about certain Marshall and Mesa amps - the gain channel is Linkin Park from setting 1.

My gain channel with a low drive setting is really nice and full/powerful, while still remaining clear and toned.

I'm less of a fan of my clean channel, which can be a bit twangy and gay. So I use light drive as a basic setting, plus a Boss SD2 to boost.

I also like the AC30.

Ravelleman

ShriekingSheet wrote: »

I'm less of a fan of my clean channel, which can be a bit twangy and gay.

'Gay' tones, man... you might want to rethink your posts.

Savman

Ravelleman wrote: »

'Gay' tones, man... you might want to rethink your posts.

Can't beat the gay tones for ball tickling pleasure tbf.

Grolschevik

Ravelleman wrote: »

The Gaytones

Motown band, right?

zafo

Laney LC30II is a great combo and you can pick them up really cheap. The clean channel takes fuzz like a dream. The dirt is quite a chunky Laney/Marshall type overdrive.

darrenw5094

zafo wrote: »

Laney LC30II is a great combo and you can pick them up really cheap. The clean channel takes fuzz like a dream. The dirt is quite a chunky Laney/Marshall type overdrive.

Yep, the Laney LC range is great value in valve amps alright.

Fingers Mcginty

Little lanilei ...Great little amp. Expensive and a long leadtime for tris to build but sounds like a hot tube amp at lowish volumes.

Halloween Jack

Anybody have any thoughts on the ac15c1?

I'm looking for a new amp, I have a blackstar ht1r which died on me recently, I loved it for overdrive but didn't really have any clean headroom at all.