what kinda amp should i get

[Turbo7MN]

Groove Tubes? You should get some Mullards for those, you'll love it.

I finished my last amp for $100. I got started working with amps when I wasn't satisfied with the SS options in my price range, and I never looked back. You can get an incredibly good amp for an incredibly good price if you're competent with a soldering iron. If low price tube amps aren't any good, why are people raving about amps like the Epi Valve Jr. and the Peavey Classics? Give me some examples of a truly "bad" tube amp that can’t be made better with new tubes or, in extreme cases, a speaker.

Another point - A weak sounding tube amp can usually be made exponentially better with new tubes, even a set of new JJs can do wonders compared to the Chinese off-brand tubes that some amps come with these days.

In your "hotrodding" post, you mention germanium diodes. This is not the same thing as a capacitor! A diode is not even close to the same thing.

[theinsaneguitarist]

ill consider all ill try all the amps at the local music store

[vash03]

for your price range you may like the hybrids or even solid states better, i dunno! I'm more of a tube fan but tube amps in your price range don't offer too many features...and you could get a vox which has plenty of features, or a roland cube 60, or something lol.

[shiggityshwa]

The problem I have with SS is that they pierce your eardrums with horribleness, and they're harsher than the abominable chuck norris if you take them past 2 or 3

[emixolydian]

Hey Turbo how much do you sell your amps for?

[Turbo7MN]

I was planning on selling for maybe $200-$500 per amp head depending on what all I had to put in, anywhere from 10-100 watts and many different things I could do with them. Unfortunately (well, sorta) I got an awesome job towards the end of this summer so I've been working pretty much whenever I haven't been at school or college and haven't had much time to work on amps for a while. I'm doing a 30 watter for a friend next time I have a chance to build something, otherwise the two I've done so far I kept for myself. Hopefully next summer I can get something serious going, but I may build one or two for certain people in the meantime.

What are you looking for in an amp? I could probably get at least a general design and schematic worked out fairly soon.

[valvetronix]

turbo7mn said:

Groove Tubes? You should get some Mullards for those, you'll love it.

I finished my last amp for $100. I got started working with amps when I wasn't satisfied with the SS options in my price range, and I never looked back. You can get an incredibly good amp for an incredibly good price if you're competent with a soldering iron. If low price tube amps aren't any good, why are people raving about amps like the Epi Valve Jr. and the Peavey Classics? Give me some examples of a truly "bad" tube amp that can’t be made better with new tubes or, in extreme cases, a speaker.

Another point - A weak sounding tube amp can usually be made exponentially better with new tubes, even a set of new JJs can do wonders compared to the Chinese off-brand tubes that some amps come with these days.

In your "hotrodding" post, you mention germanium diodes. This is not the same thing as a capacitor! A diode is not even close to the same thing.

A capacitor is an electrical device that can store energy in the electric field between a pair of closely spaced conductors (called 'plates'). When voltage is applied to the capacitor, electric charges of equal magnitude, but opposite polarity, build up on each plate. From Wikipedia

I've been using groovetubes for 5 years, and am quite happy with them.

Also, did you READ his post? A Epi Valve Jr is NOT what hes looking for, Peavey Classics? Sound BAD. Replaced speaker/tubes? Sure It would sound better, but is getting out of his price range. The Valvetronixs will be the better buy.

When your modeling aguitar amp, your modeling everything from where the jack goes into the amp, to where the sound comes out of the speakers, the biggest diffrence between guitar amp modeling and ditial reverb room modeling is that the room stuff is not sensitive to dynamics. The reverb characteristics of a room dont change depending on how loud the source is. Whereas with a guitar-based system its all about not just how loud the guitar is, but how the controlls are set. So at any given time the system can behave in a very diffrent way. Which means the algorithm has to be much more fluid, self-modifying and intereactive from beginning to end. THEY ARE.

Its very easy to model a linear system, but guitar amps arent linear. and their non-linear ways is actually what gives them their character. So the frequency response and amplitude response of the sound wave comming out of the amp all vary depending on what the amplitude of the input signal is. It is just a family of non-linear functions, interspersed with linear processing. Which any HOME PC can do nowadays.

also, in a tube amp, unlike a studio monitor or SS amp, the frequency of the signal hitting the speaker is a cariable impedance. Depending on the mix of frequency components in the signal path, the power amp and speaker react differently. Poweramps in SS and Hybrid amps have been redesigned so that they behave in that manner. This translates to what happens on the attack of a note.

[Turbo7MN]

What are you trying to prove with the wikipedia quote about the capacitor? It's not the same thing as a diode, that's all I'm saying.

I guess we're just gonna have to agree to disagree on this one. We'll let him go play the amps for himself and make a decision. I'm not here to make myself feel superior by critcizing SS amps, I'm here to help people get the best tone possible. I guess the one thing I liked about JS is when I got into the tube vs. SS arguments I had quite a few people backing me up.

[valvetronix]

Again, I am not saying (like your sig) SS>Tube

In this case, with his price range, Hybrid Cube/Tronix is without a doubt a better buy for what he wants.

Speak the truth when he says to go play em... never buy an amp becasuse someone says they are good!

[sexymonkey]

I thought classics sounded pretty good, 'cept for the rattle. *mutters*