Guitar Amps

Read and learn more about tube guitar amp. For more, visit theGuitar Amp website GuitarAmpUniverse.com

Q: What is a good tube guitar amp to buy?
I’m having a custom guitar built, and was wanting to buy a new amp to go with it. I know the tube amps will give you the best sound period, but which is the most affordable tube amp that will still give you a great vintage sound? Thanks in advance for any intel.

A: Try Carvin Tube Amps.

http://www.carvinguitars.com/amplifiers.php

They are all nice, especially the Legacy’s. But they are very expensive.
They have about three other tube amp models, each with different setups. You can get Combo tube amps, or half/full stacks.

I would recommend the X100B series. They sound very nice, and are pretty affordable.

Q: Can you recommend a good 5 watt or less tube guitar amp?
I’m looking for a good tube (valve) guitar amp for home us and some light jamming. I’d prefer 5w or less, and don’t really want to spend more than $750. It can be either a head or combo.

I’m a beginning guitarist, and play blues, 60’s pop, and some rockabilly. NO METAL!
I’m cosidering the Blackheart Little Giant and the Epiphone Valve Junior. Any others?

A:
I just bought an Epiphone Valve Jr, and I love it. It even sounds good through my Marshall stack, without any pedals or other junk that I’ll be playing through it. =)

Have you heard the Fender Champ? That might be a way to go. Their rep is that they’re pretty clean, but sweet. Might be what you’re looking for, but then again, you might want to throw a Tubescreamer into the mix….

Saul

Q: How does a Tube Guitar Amp Work?
I have a solid state amp and am thinking about getting a tube amp and I’m a little confused about how they work. When do you use the standy and on switches and care for the amp properly?

A:
The principle is the same. Signal comes in, and instead of transistors, at each tube this small signal on one side of the tube influences the much larger signal flowing through the other side of the tube, so that the output signal is almost identical to the input signal, just much larger. Repeat three to five times, add some caps and resistors and whatnot for EQ, and that’s the basics of a tube amp. Well, the super simple explanation.

To make that transferal of small signal to large signal a vacuum tube needs some juice – some heat. To get ‘em hot takes a few seconds. So to get the power flowing you turn on the power, but the full voltage isn’t applied to the tubes… don’t want to hit ‘em with too much juice at once. So that’s what the standby switch is all about. Turn on the power, wait a minute, then turn it from standby to on. The manual that came with my Mesa Boogie suggested a turn-on time of about a minute, so that’s what I go by with every tube amp that I use.

If you have the amp on but won’t be playing it for a while (10+ minutes), flip it to standby for that time period. When you’re ready to turn it off, flip it to standby, wait a minute, then turn it all the way off.

I don’t think that *not* doing this will break your amp or anything, but tubes aren’t built as well these days as they used to be, and you want to maximize their lifespan. Doing this stuff keeps ‘em alive a lot longer… and reduces the chance of them blowing during a gig!

Oh yeah, and never turn an amp all the way on unless it’s plugged into a speaker cab. It damages the amp. Apparently it’s okay with solid state amps, but it is *not* *not* *not* with tube amps.

So don’t do it. Always double-check to make sure the amp is plugged into the speaker cabinet before you flip that switch off of standby.

…

Oh yeah, ratings. Amps are rated for how much clean power they can deliver. Transistor amps function by delivering clean power pretty much up until they saturate/overload at which point they sound like crap. Tube amps with the same power rating will saturate sooner, much sooner, long before they overload, and so can deliver less clean power. What that means is that if amp A is solid-state and can deliver 100w, it will be rated at 100w. If amp B is a tube amp and can deliver the same power rating, it may only be able to deliver 40-60 watts of clean power… of even less! After that it starts to distort. It still delivers the power, but the signal isn’t clean… it has distortion, or harmonics, added to it. Interestingly enough, these harmonics tend to be musically pleasing to our ears, and we tend to hear them as pleasant, sweet, chimey, etc.

So what I’m trying to say is that the tube amp rated 50 watts is actually going to be just as loud, and probably a lot, lot louder, than that solid-state amp rated at 100 watts. I say this from personal experience.

Tube amps are fun… swapping tubes out can color your amp tone in interesting new ways, and can sometimes add that sparkle you’ve been looking for.

Ummm… don’t swap out power tubes without asking a tech if it needs to be re-biased. You don’t have to rebias for preamp tubes (12ax7, etc), and those are a lot of fun to swap out. Try JJ’s, I like them a lot.

Don’t let your amp get too cold, don’t leave it in the car or garage overnight (at least the head), etc. Swap out the tubes every year or two, or if you play it a lot (20+ hours a week), then swap ‘em out every year or year and a half.

Power tubes MUST be matched, it’s way safer for your amp that way. Preamp tubes don’t. Don’t put a 12ax7 in where a 12au7 is, if it’s for reverb, it’ll be too much gain and the reverb will sound like junk.

The Spider III is NOT a tube amp. Sure, it looks like one, and even has nice tubes that glow like christmas ornaments. It sure doesn’t sound like one though! Play it, then compare it to a real tube amp… it may have the volume, but it doesn’t have that sweet tube warmth!

That’s all I can think of for now. Ask lots of questions, google is your friend! And good luck, whichever way you go! (although I think there is no turning back for me now!) =)

Saul

Q: building a tube guitar amp. there are several diff ground symbols. are they all supposed to be connected?
I am building a tube guitar amp. there are several diff ground symbols on the schematic. are they all supposed to be connected? I have the ground from the power cord attached to the chassis. Can other grounds in the schematic be attached to the same chassis ground?
here is a link to the schematic: http://ax84.com/media/ax84_m175.pdf
is the signal ground connected to the chassis at all?

A: If you are using a power transformer, then the chassis should be isolated from the other grounds. There should only be a chassis ground and a separate signal ground which is the same as all the B- supply voltages.

The only other ground I can think of is the speaker ground, returning to the output transformer. That can either be separate, or connected to the signal ground — it doesn’t matter (unless you’ve got some really bizarre tube circuit).

If you e-mail me the schematic or send a link to it, I can check for sure.

.

Q: what is the best tube guitar amp in a mid price range?
i am looking for a tube amp to replace my solid state.
Any ideas?

A: What I would do, is, look in musiciansfriend.com, and check out the prices of the tube amps they sell in there! And if any of those prices are suitable , you will have a ;new one! If not the other places I would check would be the pawn shops, for a low price used one, or the music stores,!

Q: How do i know what guitar tube amp to choose?
I’ve been playing guitar for 2 years now and mostly 60s and 70s rock i was wondering if anyone could help me choose what brand and model amp to choose?

A: depends on how much you want to spend you could get a good vintage marshall orange or laney if you have a botomless pitt of money.if you dont have but a smaller budget get a peavey windsor.its 100watts all tube and has been compared to the marshall jcm800s. that is actually what it was based off of. i actually have the windsor and i love it! it is a great amp with lots of tone

Q: How do you change the tubes in a tube guitar amp?
Do you just remove the old tubes and pop the new ones in or are there other adjustments that need to be made?

A: The bias needs to be set on the new tubes if I am not mistaken. Don’t do this yourself.

Q: Why is a tube guitar amp louder than a solid state guitar amp?
For example: Why would a 30 watt tube amp be louder than a 30 watt solid state amp at maximum volume?

A: The way the human ear works is that it is very sensitive to the harmonic content of a sound. A tube amp is less linear (that is, has more distortion) at signal levels below clipping than a solid state amplifier. The distortion will increase slowly, and then more rapidly as the amp starts to clip. In fact, the distortion increases so gradually and is of such a benign nature that the onset of audible distortion has no easily defined threshold. The solid state amplifier on the other hand has no such gradualism. It is almost perfectly non-distorting right up to the point that it clips, and then it clips HARD. It’s easy to hear the threshold.
This sudden onset of distortion is also composed of relatively harsh sounding distortion, not like the subtle second and third harmonics of the tube amp. The human ear hears the sudden harsh distortion as clipping and harshness. It interprets the low order distortion of the tube amp as a louder sound, not as distortion. In effect, the tube amp fools the ear into thinking that its early distortion is more loudness. They therefore sound louder or more powerful than the actual measurements show are really there.

Q: what is the cheapest guitar tube amp i can buy?
i need to find a replacement for my old fender frontman POS. i would really like a tube amp or at least something better in a similar price range.

A: I have a Crate Vintage Club 50…50 watts, ALL tube, 2×12
It is about ten years old, and you can find used ones for about 300-400 dollars.

Q: What’s sounds better, a tube guitar amp or a transistor amp?
There us a lot of debate about this around me lately, i just wanted to hear some other opinions. is it the clean tone, the distortion and overdrive? maybe even tell me what brand of tube you recommend in a 12ax7 or a 6v6. (if you don’t understand the last part, i just have a lot of time on my hands.)LOL

A: I’ve heard some great sounding solid state amps (Roland JC-120), and I heard some tube amps that sound like you plugged your guitar into a wood chipper.

It really comes down to what style of music you want to play, and what sounds good to you. I’d say that 80% of the guitarists (semi pro and pro level) play tube amps (and conversely, probably 80% of bass players use solid state).

And yes, while the majority of guitarists use tubes, there are a few notable exeptions:

B.B. King – his favorite amp for the past few decades is an old Gibson L-5 solid state.

Ty Tabor (King’s X) – He had what I consider his best tones on the first 3 albums. He was very secretive about his rig. It finally came out that he used a preamp out of a Gibson amp, throug his effects, and then to a PA amp. Solid state all the way.

The Edge (U2) – Uses a multiple amp set up, and usually has a Roland JC-120 and a small solid state Randall amp in the mix.

The other thing to consider…there will be maintainance costs associated with a tube amp. They do wear out after a while and must be replaced. How often depends on how often and how loud you play.

You didn’t mention anything about what I consider the third type of amp, and that’s the digital modeling amp. It’s not tube, but it’s not a linear amp either. The signal gets digitized, and the tone and distortion is derived in software. And I know that most tube purists will tell you that they wouldn’t touch one of these amps if you gave it to them. But, I’ll share this and then shut up about that debate.

Kendrick Amplifiers is a small boutique amp manufacturer and repair/mod company north of Austin. It’s owned by a guy named Gerald Weber. Gerald builts some really amazing (and expensive) amps, and can fix anything out there that glows. More than once, he’s sat 10 feet from me at a club gig while I’m playing a Line 6 Vetta, and more than once he’s shaken his head and stated he didn’t know how they did it but he would swear there’s a tube in that amp somewhere. I think part of it is Gerald is being nice, but when I hear that amp on playback, I have to shake my head a little as well.

The bottom line is that you need to go out, plug in, and listen to as many amps as you can. Don’t get too hung up on what’s behind the panel. It you like what you hear, and it’s in your budget, then you’re good.

For tube types, I’m really liking the tubes that Electro-Harmonix is selling these days. I haven’t tried their 6V6, but their preamp tubes are very good.

Good luck.

Greetings from Austin, TX

Ken

Q: Tube Amp Question for guitar players?
So i’ve been planning to buy a used peavey guitar tube amp, and currently I play a solid state amp. I’ve been reading on the internet, and it sounds like I need to play a tube amp through a cabinet or something? Sorry if this is a stupid question, I’ve just never had

A: What you’re talking about is a head. Heads come in both solid state and tube. The head is the actual amp and the speaker cabinet contains the speakers. Check if it is a combo (head and speakers all in one) or if it is just a head. If thats the case then yes you need a cab.

Q: Whats a good guitar tube amp book?
I am interested in learning about guitar amplifiers and making them and want to know some good resources like books and websites. Any help would be appreciated.

A: a guitar
tube is what you plug the guitar into

Q: Is there any difference between sovtek 6L6GC and 6L6GB tubes for a tube guitar amp that would affect an amp ?
Old univox tube amp, requires 2- 6L6GC power tubes.I have 2 6L6GB tubes that seem to be compatable

A: 6L6GB have a 19 watt rating, 6L6GC have a 30 watt rating.

See the link below for details.

Q: What is the most versatile guitar tube amp head for under 1500?
And what would be some good cabinets to match the head for versitality?

A: Most versatile as in good cleans and high gain? I love Orange tube heads and have one myself, but wouldn’t call it versatile. Same with Marshall and Fender, they are what they are. I use an Orange tube half stack and a Fender Princeton tube combo with an A-B switch so I have the best of both worlds. Personally if I had to have one “do it all” head I’d get a Fender or VOX and then use a good pedal to dirty things up more. My next head is the Mesa Boogie TransAtlantic, but it’s under $1000 and may not be as much as you’re looking for. It’s also a 15 watt and you may want more. I’m big on lower watt tube amps so I can get proper saturation and then just mic as needed.

http://www.mesaboogie.com/Product_Info/Transatlantic/transatlantic-TA-15.html

Q: Looking for a Tube guitar amp that can shred?
I play stuff like bring me the horizion, destroy the runner, all that remains, parkway drive, shadows fall, bleeding through……..Looking for a head amp that is great at shredding

A: Amps don’t shred. Guitarists do – and they can do it through any amp. However, to pay with the big boys I’d check these out:

MARSHALL:

http://www.marshallamps.com/

http://guitars.musiciansfriend.com/navigation/guitar-amp-heads?N=100001+338493&Ntt=Marshall&src=3WWRWXGB&ZYXSEM=0

Lots of shredders seem to swear by MESA amps as well:

http://www.mesaboogie.com/

Here’s a comparison between a Marshall and Mesa:

http://www.petrucciforum.com/forums/archive/index.php?t-3121.html

Good luck!

Kabum