Keys to a good tube amp?

[Swampy]

Howdy y'all! I am in need of some guidance in my pursuit for a good tube amp...or 2. My sons and I are starting to learn guitar and while we are starting out on acoustic's we hope to "earn" an electric by birthday or Christmas this year.

Luckily I think we can afford to get good quality, not over the top, but good and I'd prefer to get equipment that is high enough quality that it encourages continued pursuit rather than discouraging it.

I just need to know what I should be looking for to determine quality as I'm researching and poking around at the guitar shops. According to the advertising they're all the best little amp you've ever played through.

Is there a set of guidelines that I can use that won't require a library of study material so I can look at the combination of power, tubes, speaker, etc. and be able to pick the best in a given price range?

I've been looking at Blackheart, Palomino, VOX, and Peavey Windsor.

Any help you can pass on will be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

[tot_Ou_tard]

Hi Swampy, welcome!

Which VOX are you talking about? If it is one of the Valvetronix line, say AD30VT, then that is a modelling amp, not a tube amp. It has a tube in it, but it has a digital preamp before it & a solid state power amp after it.

It's a great amp. I have one as do many around here.

If you are taliking about an AC15 or some other VOX model, then you've just opened up a new price range & have a lot more amps to consider.

BTW, I went straight for the electric. They are easier to play. My son, however, started (a year before me) on an acoustic & he still prefers that. He likes Jack Johnson et al.

[oldguy]

Hi, Swampy, welcome to TheFret!

You need to specify a few things to let us know the type amp you'll need.
1. How loud will it need to be? Just practice levels, or jam session/ gigging?
2. What kind of music will you be playing? One style, or a mixture of several?
3. Do you want a combo or head/cab amp, or does it matter?
4. Will it get hauled around regularly, will the weight be a concern?
These are some things you'll want to consider before spending your hard earned money....all the brands you named build some good amps....with some more info you'll help narrow down the choices.

You should stop by the FretPlayers thread when you have time and ...

"Introduce yourself here - let us know your background, gear, interest and anything else. Welcome aboard"

[duhvoodooman***]

Oldguy asks all the right questions. :

And Tot brings up an excellent candidate for a first amp purchase. The Vox AD30VT, though not an all-tube amp, combines excellent and believable tube-like tone with amazing flexibility. This was my first amp when I got back into guitar playing a couple of years back, and I still love it. Between the 11 amp models and 11 effects combinations, all of which can be tweaked manually to your taste, you can generate about a gazillion cool sounds. When I first got it, I told my wife that it was about the most fun a guitar player could have with his clothes on. Highly recommended as a first amp, as long as you don't need big power! Stop by your favorite local guitar shop and try one out. :

[aeolian]

A good basic tube amp can be had for $250-400. Fender Blues Jr is one good basic amp, another that I've heard good things about is the Fender Champ XD (mixing digital processing with tube power amp). There is a thread on these in this discussion section:

http://www.thefret.net/showthread.php?t=5501

I have a Vox AD30VT and it is a very handy little amp that is a lot of fun. I also have a boutique tube amp which does sound extremely good, but I consider it a bit of an indulgence. I also have a 30 year old solid state Yamaha amp which is no slouch. The best advice I can give you (echoing others) is to play them at the store to see which floats your boat.

[tot_Ou_tard]

I've spent most of my recent playing time on my Fender Champion 600, I really like the 6V6 tubes. Today, I spent some time again with my AD30VT. Great stuff. Today it is the Boutique OD (with gain low) & Boutique Clean.

[Duff]

With acoustic guitars you should look into acoustic amps. They are made differently and have microphone inputs too, on most of them. I have a Crate Gunnison 60 watt, it's great. It is two channels, you could actually plug in two acoustics and play together thru one amp but with no microphone to sing into. Costs about 350 at GC.

Guys play acoustics through electric amps though. I don't know which ones work best but the acoustic amp I have sounds way better than any of my electric amps with the acoustic.

The better the guitar the better it will sound thru the amp but an excellent amp will make an poor quality guitar sound good but an excellent guitar played through a poor quality amp will not sound like it should. This means that a good quality amp should be a priority when you go electric. Don't skimp on the amp. You can buy great inexpensive electric guitars at rondomusic.com. The SXs and Agiles are excellent guitars. Don't forget about the good amps.

The electrics are really fun to play and you can get multi effect pedals that make the amp sound extremely versatile. The AD30VT also has a knob that you can turn down from 30 watts to 1 watt for late night practicing and still get that overdriven sound a lot of us like. The AD30VT has all sorts of versatility built in with amp modelling and effects. It will sound like several different amps and has several effects like delay, etc. They are not too expensive either. The AD15VT does not have the knob on the back to turn the wattage down and it stays at 15 watts. Plus it has a smaller speaker. Generally the bigger speaker gives the guitar more room to express itself.

Hope this helps,

Duffy

[Swampy]

Thanks for the feedback guys, all good stuff to think about. I've been out of pocket for a couple of days with sick kids which left lots of time to think things through.

When we 'earned' our electrics by practicing enough to not totally suck I want to buy gear that I won't turn around and ebay because it sucks. I read through a thread on the Epi Valve Junior and it was very interesting. First it was praised for being so affordable and a tube amp. Then it started to get modded. Once the speaker, OT, and tubes had been replaced it was a really nice amp.

My current scenario is this:
for a while after we get the amps and guitars, I'm thinking Agiles from Rondo at this point, they will be used just for practice at home. When one of us feels brave enough to play with or around others then the amp will leave the house for talent shows and skits and maybe garage bands and such.

I've also read a bunch of threads and it seems that there is a fairly common thread of ending up with a good tube amp and pedals. So I was thinking I could save some time and money by going with a good quality tube amp right off the bat so I don't have to spend a bunch of money modding it. I am thinking that a 5 to 15 watt amp would be good, maybe one of each. Whether it is a combo or separate I don't think is a big deal since neither will be that big.

My biggest concern was getting the best quality for the money so to speak. Being new I don't know what the keys to a quality tube amp are or what components are best. It would be nice to be able to disqualify some because of the lower quality components and stick with something that will be good to go right out of the box. I read somewhere that a speaker should have a responsiveness rating greater than 100db so that should be easy to look for. If there are certain tried and true tubes to look for or some know junk tube to avoid that kind of info would also help. If the amps are about the same quality then it's just keeping an eye out for a really good deal over the next 6 months or so and jumping on it, or going for one that is a really good value.

Thanks for the opinions that have been posted, the more the merrier. The more food for thought that I have while making this decision the better I'll feel about it when I pull the trigger.

Thanks again! :

When I finally make my choice I want to feel like this:

[abraxas]

Oldguy asks all the right questions. :

And Tot brings up an excellent candidate for a first amp purchase. The Vox AD30VT, though not an all-tube amp, combines excellent and believable tube-like tone with amazing flexibility. This was my first amp when I got back into guitar playing a couple of years back, and I still love it. Between the 11 amp models and 11 effects combinations, all of which can be tweaked manually to your taste, you can generate about a gazillion cool sounds. When I first got it, I told my wife that it was about the most fun a guitar player could have with his clothes on. Highly recommended as a first amp, as long as you don't need big power! Stop by your favorite local guitar shop and try one out. :

+1 on both counts! (Oldguy's questions and Voodoo's recommendation).

The AD30VT is absolutely fantastic for the money. I'd also look at Tech21 amps, esp. the TM10 and TM30, which offer the most believable "real" amp tones for a solid state amp.

A good tube amp, for me, is one that can carry on every nuance and expression of your playing with accuracy and gusto. But in order to arrive at a point where you can truly appreciate what a good tube amp can offer, having one of the solid states mentioned above will only help you in being a better guitar player and develop a taste for good tone. :