yeah, you wear out an older speaker, and it's gonna get smooth around the edges.

but my v30 is harsh.
both in the demeter, and in a closed back 1x12 cab.


my point stands:
a brand new v30, sounds harsh.

a better choice, if you're liking celestions, would be a heritage g12.

OK, I agree with 1 & 2, but I think 3 falls after having access to a great loudspeaker.

You don't have to have power tubes screaming and output transformers in saturation to have a great sounding tube amp.

In fact, I don't think many people with a modern 50 - 100 watt tube amp are anywhere near getting either the tubes or the trannys near their edge, and plenty of people get a good tone from them... they just do it all in the preamp.

On the other hand, I have several Champs, a Deluxe Reverb, and a Vibrolux Reverb sitting here so I have the experience of simply swapping them and playing at similar SPL to listen to the sound of tubes pushed to different extremes as well as the sound of a saturated transformer.

For example; Switching from the Deluxe to the Vibrolux is essentially an experience of finding great tone with or without the sound of pushed power tubes.

The Vibrolux is much cleaner... but still absolutely "musical".

Most people do not realize how loud a Champ can go... throw a compressor and a tube screamer in front of it and it will scream with the sound of pushed tubes and a FULLY saturated transformer. It's a very distinct, hard to emulate tone, but that sound is not for everyone.

In any case I'd value a well matched speaker for the amps before arbitrarily considering that the tubes HAVE to be pushed to get great tone.

Does that make sense?

best regards,
mike

Well, with the complications of finding a power amp that I feel comfy with and for a reasonable price, I'm no wkind of leaning towards the Emery Microbaby:

http://www.emerysound.com/Microbaby.html

It's a 1/2 watter, very simple and direct, and they also sell a 'mad scientist' tube kit with a whole bunch of tubes that are known to work well with it, so you can play around with all kinds of sounds. The cab is a Weber blue pup. I've heard some clips and it sounds awefully nice (the ones on the Emery site aren't done very well.)

Here's a Youtube video (yeh, audio quality is an issue with them) where he just takes it through a number of variations of guitars with different types of pickups, gutar volume levels, and tone and volume levels on the amp.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3mq3dCSedQ

From what everyone says it's very reasonable volume easily crankable in the apartment. It seems to have plenty of gain with higher output pickups, but a simple boost pedal would probably get it into serious overdrive levels I'd imagine.

So about $1400 for the amp (no enclosure) and cab, and a couple hundred for an SM57 and e609. That wouldn't be a bad deal at all, and I'm sure Mike will approve much more :-)

I'm off refreshing my memory of the JBL line.

Here's a fun link that explains one small aspect of why choosing a "great" speaker is an imporatnt part of the tone equation:

http://online.physics.uiuc.edu/courses/phys199pom/Student_Reports/Fall04/Brian_Lunardini/Brian_Lunardini_P199POM_Fall04_Final_Report.pdf

The Blue dog gets great reviews by folks I'd be eager to learn from... I've never heard one first hand.

Have fun with your new rig! :-)

best regards,
mike

do you think he'd sell me a 6G6 for my baby?:

I call this the "half bake"






Dean, I wonder if you are aware that you can put all those tubes in a silverface Fender Champ?

I love the Emery and think that's a great choice... just want to make sure you don't think the Champ is somehow a lesser amp.

The main thing with all these amps is that you are free to shape the tone with pedals. I think in terms of the 5 major overdrive/distortion circuit categories and mix and match my pedals to get a wide variety of tones.

I can't wait to find out how much fun you are having with the Emery!

best regards,
mike

I agree 100%. I can not stomach the idea of being lied too on ebay.

I think you'll really love the Emery! Plus you'll be doing first hand service towards supporting a domestic economy. It's a win, win, win situation.

best regards,
mike

I want all of them :-)

Which would you like? From my favorite local store:

I guess I could do some searching to see if any local places have any to look at.

Hi Corey,

I feel so lucky... when I take my wife to the nice music stores she always encourages me to feed the beast. I usually let her fend off the sales clerks with questions like... "Is that really a '72 Les Paul? It looks like a 73 to me." I'm then left to browse at my leisure. :-) :-)

yes that's a home built I DIY'd... I made it before it became easy to find a suitable chassis... so I used an old radio hobby idea... the Cake pan.

Here's an example of how I use it... note that the ampeg cab is just a holder... this setup has nothing to do with a cool ampeg. The amp from that unit is now a custom made mini SVT my friend Buster and I made:



The speakers are late 50's Rolas I found in an old organ... they are the creamy ones I described in an earlier post in this thread. I would venture to say that you have to hear it first hand in real life to realize how unique those speakers sound when driven by this amp. It's like swimming in butter fat.

That's one thing I think a lot of modern life people don't have the luxury of... some of the most fantastic and visceral guitar tones can not be printed to a recording... getting to experience them first hand is a true luxury that I savor and appreciate. That's why I live out in the country.


best regards,
mike

Hi Corey,
I am sorta interested in building some more... I've had the parts laying around for a few years... but honestly I've been too busy to get back to it... so I don't think you should wait on me. :-)

I'd be happy to send you info but that amp is just a clone of a late fifties Fender Champ. The schematic and layout is a Champ. I'd reccomend you look at the many Champ kits that are available these days and then decide if you want to buy a kit or just get the parts and do it all yourself.

I think everyone should try to assemble a small tube amp. I can't begin to describe the thrill I felt the first time I played one of mine. The sound came out and I wet my pants. Everyone should have that thrill.

Go for it!

best regards,
mike

ORIGINAL: mike_mccue
I think everyone should try to assemble a small tube amp. I can't begin to describe the thrill I felt the first time I played one of mine. The sound came out and I wet my pants. Everyone should have that thrill.

It's on the list of things to do! Course, it's a very long list, and is prioritized somewhere after the "Gee, I should probably get a Strat in here too" - which is exceedingly low priority since I'm a BASS player! LOL

Thanks, Mike!

Corey

Not to mention the satisfaction of making it yourself, and the cool conversational piece that it is, I think that "half bake" is pretty sweet! Two thumbs up.

Someday (and hopefully soon) I'd like to build some kind of small amp like that.

Hmmm... Even better I think:

Ceriatone Pre-built 5F1 Amp chassis without tubes - $250
Tubes -
12AX7 Sovtek $14
6V6 Sovtek $15
5Y3 Sovtek $15
Weber 1x12 Cabinet - $215
10A100 Weber speaker (designed for this amp type) - $90

So a separate head and cabinet Tweed Champ clone, with good components, and a speaker specially designed for Tweed Champ type amps, all for $600. I'd just not put the amp chassis in anthing and just use it raw to save bucks. That's a pretty dang good deal, and I bet it would sound quite nice. That's less than just the Emery head by itself. The Emery obviously does have a few extra amenities, but a couple inexpensive pedals would make this configuration plenty flexible. A simple booster for more overdrive to start would be cheap.

Instead of ruining a potentially classic amp like a champ with some Frankenstein-like modifications. You'd be much better off using a high quality amp-sim equipment (line-6, Korg, etc.) It's more flexible, cheaper, more portable, more reliable, and less chance of electrocuting yourself. Also you won't look like some half-assed dork with a rig that looks like it came out of a flea market.