Reasonable Tube Amps

[schenkadere]

I just received my late 80's-early 90's Carvin XV112 100Wcombo. It is super sweet...always wanted one. I highly recommend to anyone looking for a reasonably priced tube amp to look into the older Carvins or the X100B reissues. I got mine in a trade on ebay, but I see them listed there all the time. I don't hear too many folks talking about them...shame...two channel, graphic eq, selectable wattage(25/50/100), foot switchable effects loop, great distortion, super f'ing loud!!!

Anyway...just a suggestion. Anyone have any experience with Carvin amps?

Off to the NJ shore for a week of family, fun cold beer and cool waves. Peace to all!

 

[Meedleyx10]

The only carvin amp I've played is the Legacy. Sounded good, but was way too loud. As far as buying new goes...I'd say the orange tiny terror (KILLER amp), peavey valveking series, and a slew of the smaller fender combos are all great values. I'm particulary fond of the blues jr. Very basic....but sounds good and makes a perfect practice/smaller jam amp. I've recorded with them before at school and usually just run my BB premap pedal into the front of it and get some great tones.

As for used stuff....there's all kinds of great stuff to be head. Carvin stuff usually goes cheap. A few different mesa models/series go cheap as well. The F series are pretty good amps and haven't seen any increase in value yet since being discontinued a while back. Mark III models can usually be had at VERY reasonable prices and are amazing sounding amps IMO. I'm really considring picking one up myself. The less popular Maverick and DC models also tend to sell pretty cheap there.

 

[1by4by9]

Hey guys, what's your opinion about Bugera 6262? I decided to replace my Line6 Spider II head with a tube one. I'm not sure yet what to buy but that one caught my eye (especially the price):

http://www.bugera-amps.com/_01/product.cfm?productName=6262

 

[Meedleyx10]

I'd stay away from them, personally. I've read that they sound pretty decent, but I have yet to hear a first-hand account of them that doesn't have some horror story attatched to it about how it broke down within a month of ownership. Most of those stories were from people who didn't take the amp outside of their bedroom.

 

[1by4by9]

Ok, thanks for the tip. I'll continue looking for something more durable option then. My Spider II came up with some weird glitch after three or four weeks of purchase. I never bothered to fix it but now it's starting to be annoying as hell. Digital gadgets always fail first.

 

[Meedleyx10]

what sort of features/prices are you looking for?

 

[1by4by9]

I'd like the overall amp sound to be more suitable for playing heavy riffs & rhytm stuff (my band plays sort of melodic proggy thrashy whatever metal ). The price range could be from 700 to 1200 euros (1000-1800USD). I just want something else than digital gadgets for a change.

I checked some amps from Diezel, Bogner & Mesa but they were mostly outside the price range. Laney GH100L seemed nice though.

 

[Meedleyx10]

See if you can get your hands on a used Mesa F-series over there (I've heard that you Europeans get raped over there on prices of Boogies) I've got an F30 combo that I like quite a bit. I've seen the heads go for as little as 350 us dollars on ebay before. The F50 would run you just a wee bit more. The only real difference between the two is that the F30 runs on El84 power tubes and the F50 runs on 6l6's. I prefer 6l6's personally, but for what uses you're looking for the F30 might be a bit more fitting in terms tone. The F-series' clean tone is highly underrated and the tone for metal rhythm is killer...my only complaint is the lack of the warm, uber-smooth lead tone that boogies are famous for. The F50 gets a little closer to that though.

Laney's are good, if you can swing the price for a GH100l, then go for it. If you were looking for something more versatile, I might try to talk you out of it, but I think that head would be good for your purposes.

Hughes and Kettner is worth looking into too...the switchblade is a killer amp and extremely versatile. It's something that would be easy to use for multiple purposes, should the need ever arise.

Now...I'd love to go suggesting some Bogners and some more Mesa's, but I know all too well how saddening those discussions can be when dealing with a limited price range

 

[1by4by9]

Thanks a lot, Meedleyx10! This information helped me a lot.

 

[schenkadere]

Thanks a lot, Meedleyx10! This information helped me a lot.

Don't ignore the Carvins...it's good quality American made stuff...much of the newer, lower end tube stuff is from China...such as the Valvekings and Bugera...cheap casings, knobs...everything cheapo!uke: might sound ok for the moment, but will they last 20 years? nah!

 

[schenkadere]

The only carvin amp I've played is the Legacy. Sounded good, but was way too loud. As far as buying new goes...I'd say the orange tiny terror (KILLER amp), peavey valveking series, and a slew of the smaller fender combos are all great values. I'm particulary fond of the blues jr. Very basic....but sounds good and makes a perfect practice/smaller jam amp. I've recorded with them before at school and usually just run my BB premap pedal into the front of it and get some great tones.

As for used stuff....there's all kinds of great stuff to be head. Carvin stuff usually goes cheap. A few different mesa models/series go cheap as well. The F series are pretty good amps and haven't seen any increase in value yet since being discontinued a while back. Mark III models can usually be had at VERY reasonable prices and are amazing sounding amps IMO. I'm really considring picking one up myself. The less popular Maverick and DC models also tend to sell pretty cheap there.

I still didn't have the extra cash for a used F50...with a big family, it's tough to justify music purchases...I have to be very smart and frugal...would have liked an F50 or 30, but I think the Carvin actually offers a little more bang for the buck.

 

[Meedleyx10]

Don't ignore the Carvins...it's good quality American made stuff...much of the newer, lower end tube stuff is from China...such as the Valvekings and Bugera...cheap casings, knobs...everything cheapo!uke: might sound ok for the moment, but will they last 20 years? nah!

+1 on the carvins....my only worry would be availability over in Finland, of which I know absolutely nothing

 

[Meedleyx10]

With the F-series stuff it's a lot to do with timing. Like I was saying to Lasse, I've seen used F30's go for 300-350 on there before (and on several occasions...not just lucky accidents for the buyers involved), but I've also seen them go in the 700 range. The market down the road could go either way for them, because they REALLY caught on right before discontinuation and the general consensus is that the Express series wasn't much of an improvement (though the wattage switch and external switching are big upgrades). In fact...a lot of the discontinued boogie stuff can be had at really good prices just because they don't say "mark" or "rectifier" on them. Mavericks, DC's, Studio Preamp, Quad preamp, etc. etc.

 

[schenkadere]

+1 on the carvins....my only worry would be availability over in Finland, of which I know absolutely nothing

Ha...completely overlooked that point...you think the Boogie stuff would be easier to find? Shipping kills!!!

I just sold my LTD Hybrid-400 on eBay...a guy from Moscow asked me to price shipping...$1100 USD...can you fucking believe that? It cost me 93 bucks to send it to Texas. My eBay selling days are over!!!

 

[Meedleyx10]

Boogie does have distribution in finland so I think one could be gotten there fairly easy new...and if they are there new there are bound to be some used ones floating around. I don't know if carvin ships out there or not, or they'd be very common. The only problem with Boogies in Europe is that they pay so much more for them than we do here. If I remember correctly, I remember reading about a guy on some forum spending the equivalent of $4500 US dollars for a road king (new) over there...which I believe goes for between 2500 and 2800 here. It's almost as bad as the guys I read about on the EBMM forums buying new musicman models over in europe or australia...crazy prices.

How do you ship guitars? I think the most I've ever paid to ship a guitar was when I shipped one of my seven strings from Montana to Delaware in it's hardshell case...packed, shipped, and insured for $53-ish

 

[Yngvai X]

I tried out the EVH 5150III the other day and it sounded real sick. Not sure how "reasonable" $3099 is for a half stack though

But hey, technically anything is "reasonable" if you have the patience to save up for it.

 

[razoredge]

I tried out the EVH 5150III the other day and it sounded real sick. Not sure how "reasonable" $3099 is for a half stack though

But hey, technically anything is "reasonable" if you have the patience to save up for it.

I know thats not a Pevey now but I have a borrowed video of Satch live from '06 I think it was and those three Peveys he was playing though had the best tone I have ever heard. I think they all sat on Mesa cabinets. Either way thats a great live show I strongly recomend to all you guys, whether your interesting in hearing the tone and response or have reservations on Satch he totally slayed for over two hours and with that tone he just had my jaw hanging the whole time.

 

[razoredge]

I just received my late 80's-early 90's Carvin XV112 100Wcombo. It is super sweet...always wanted one. I highly recommend to anyone looking for a reasonably priced tube amp to look into the older Carvins or the X100B reissues. I got mine in a trade on ebay, but I see them listed there all the time. I don't hear too many folks talking about them...shame...two channel, graphic eq, selectable wattage(25/50/100), foot switchable effects loop, great distortion, super f'ing loud!!!

Anyway...just a suggestion. Anyone have any experience with Carvin amps?

Off to the NJ shore for a week of family, fun cold beer and cool waves. Peace to all!

My X100B was a good deal. I got it for $175 in '90, used, locally. It was great till we moved it to a gig and it let me down but it turned out to be the 6l6's went down. Then it sat for 15 years and after the new tubes one large electircal device went out. I know this sounds bad but it sat because I took it to the wrong repair dude and then was out of a band for awhile (long while). Since the last repair its been great for months. I only use the clean channel now because my SGX has more saturation and more footswitchable options but still it thunders with a Carvin 4/12 "British" cab. I have less than $1000 into that part of the set up but would have been over to 2, new, "back in the day". Its distortion would be the equivelent to a Marshall JCM 2000 only in its own way. Vintage distortion I guess its called. If I had money to burn I would not hesitate getting a Carvin V3, three channels, gobs of saturation.

Oh and my X100B clean with a touch of verb is close enough to a Fender Deluxe for me to be happy.

Now my rare vintage Magnatone MP5 head is a whole nother beast... seems I rarely ues it though

 

[Swabs]

I know thats not a Pevey now but I have a borrowed video of Satch live from '06 I think it was and those three Peveys he was playing though had the best tone I have ever heard. I think they all sat on Mesa cabinets. Either way thats a great live show I strongly recomend to all you guys, whether your interesting in hearing the tone and response or have reservations on Satch he totally slayed for over two hours and with that tone he just had my jaw hanging the whole time.

Peavey still do their own version of the 5150, it's just called the Peavey 6505 now, and I'm pretty sure it's cheaper than an EVH 5150.

 

[razoredge]

Peavey still do their own version of the 5150, it's just called the Peavey 6505 now, and I'm pretty sure it's cheaper than an EVH 5150.

Isnt the one Satch is playing through a model he has something to do with ?

Eddie always had his own unique sound I always liked.

This local guy, the one that lent me that Satch video, I once did sound for his band, he tried alot of amps and stuck with the 5150's for quite awhile but then switched to the VHT Pitbulls (2) and played them for years. Now he's thinking of sending them down the road, I guess they are starting to act up and he's been playing through one of his old Marshalls in the mean time, while he makes up his mind.