"Use your ears, not your eyes" - that's actually great advice. I've been playing for 25+ years now, and I still make that mistake... Thanks a lot, Rhett!
Nah , especially early on, if you are into the look of the amp and that motivates you to USE the amp… guess what? That’s crucial for pure enjoyment. Looks do matter. Especially if your ear is untrained
@@jasontanner5836 Oh, that's totally true, and not just with amps! However, I'm afraid you're missing Rhett's point here - which is, when you're used to adjusting the knobs in a certain way (i.e. you use your eyes to set up the way your guitar's gonna sound), you restrict yourself to one tried and true formula and miss the opportunity to find something new and exciting. At least that's how I understand it.
So nice to hear an Amp demo short and sweet by a player repeating the exact same phrase just a simple 2/3 chords s short riff and a quick couple of chops And repeated perfectly each time to be as close as before Instead of a random shred that has no Relevance to what was previously played as the Amps dynamic range and features are demonstrated Great job sir 👍 🤙
Honestly I think the amp is as important as the guitar. One Fender voiced and one British voiced. One channel, must have a master and 3 band EQ. Stick yo the KISS principle and use pedals for the rest. Imho.
The “dialing in your amp” part is so true. I had a Marshall DSL40C for a while and I always thought it was a “bad” thing that I had to turn the treble all the way down and the mids all the way up. But it sounded fantastic when I played it that way, and it turns out a lot of Marshalls sound best when the EQ knobs are pushed to extremes. Those knobs twist for a reason!
I have one myself. Love it. Previously owned a pre CBS Bassman, and a Hiwatt combo in the 80's. Love that Marshall. It's got the infamous chunk when you hit it hard. I do miss the Bassman.
It’s crazy to me that I’ve been playing for over 30 years and already knew and learned all of this, but I watched the WHOLE video cause you did such a great job explaining it! 😂
Great video; I wish something like this was around when I was a tube amp noob. "Listen with your ears, not your eyes" when tweaking the eq, and "you need fewer watts than you think. No, really" are two of the best bits of advice that I should have learned much earlier!
Rhett…thanks for the U&C excellent vid/content. I’ve been a musician & guitarist for 43 years now and while you didn’t present anything new that I didn’t already know, you did give me a different way of thinking about a couple of things. While kinda off topic, but not entirely, you’d mentioned the scenario where you park your PRS 15 watt head next to you and then park your cab in another room… I play gigs at a few venues where the stage volume is restricted or there’s a Silent Stage rule. I used to have my amp head on stage w/me and I either had my cab in a back room or I used an internally mic’d iso-cab backstage. About a 18 months, ago I started experiencing the progression of a health issue that necessitated a reduction/simplification in load in/out considerations. Fast forward to a year ago and after researching potential solutions, I purchased a Quilter Aviator Cub UK 1x12” 50 watt combo. It emulates, as I recall a 1963 Vox AC30, a 1964 Vox AC30 Top Boost and a 1977-ish, give or take a couple of years, Marshall JMP 2204 50 watt head. It is solid state as opposed to tube, but it’s also a 50 watt 1x12” combo that weighs in at only 22 pounds (10 kilograms). That’s the icing on the cake. It sounds outstanding. Pat Quilter did a remarkable job nailing the tone and feel of the emulated amps. The preamp is FET/MOSFET based and the output section is Class D. I plug in, turn on and set my tone. I then set the master volume to the venue limits or roll it back to zero for silent stage (I’m plugged into the amp’s volume-controllable, speaker emulated out that goes to FOH for venue mixing purposes no matter the scenario) and I’m ready for sound check. The amp takes pedals very well too. I don’t have to fiddle with the knobs once I set my master volume as the Class D output doesn’t change the tone or gain/dirt set in the preamp. It just makes the sound quieter or louder without affecting the signal’s salient preamp configured qualities. Rhett, I’ve always been a tube guy. I never saw myself plating a solid state amp little alone playing one and enjoying it. While the deterioration of an aspect of my health was the mule I was given to ride for my trip through QuilterLand, While my fat, infirmed ass limited what that mule could carry, I had other choices, tube driven choices besides Quilter that I’d discovered. Still, nothing had the tone, versatility, feel and feature-set that Quilter offered me. It was not the least expensive by far, but it was just the best balance of all things considered. Talk with Pat. Perhaps he’ll sponsor a video by lending you this or the American-flavored model for you to go through. Hint, hint…topic for a future video.
Great Video! I just “graduated “ to a tube amp and I’m happy I did. I went from a Line 6 Catalyst 60. To a Marshall DSL40cr. I’ll be staying with tube amps from now on.
The human ear percieves tone differently at different volumes (the Fletcher-Munson Curve). It is why some stereos come with a "loudness" button: at softer volumes the curve flattens out and bass and trebel needs to get boosted. It is also why you dial in the perfect tone in your living room and then get to the gig, turn it up to gig level and it sounds like an ice pick - suddenly there's too much bass and treble and not enough mid. I always have a BBE Sonic Stomp Sonic Maximizer in my chain; I can dial in my sound on the amp and then customise it at the gig for the room and the volume I'm playing at. That pedal is the secret sauce for my tone. But rule of thumb: as the overall volume goes up, the treble and base need to come down (or the mid needs to go up).
My first tube amp (after a few solid state amps) was a used Blackstar HT-5R. It was very affordable, so I wasn't too concerned about money down the drain if it didn't work out. Turns out it's great for my practicing at home. I've learned how to replace the tubes without sticking my fingers where they shouldn't go. And I like the range of tones I can get by twiddling the knobs.
I know it's obvious, but something I learned early on is that how powerful an amp you need for stage volume mainly depends on how clean you need it to be. So you might want a 2x12 100W Fender Twin for squeeky clean stage volume cleans for a pedal steel or Rhodes mk.I. Or a Vox AC30, to a lesser extent. And most people don't need that, which I guess is why Twins can seem good value compared to Princeton's or Deluxe Reverbs. But, these days for dirty Marshall tone, the small light 20W studio heads make more sense than a big heavy 100W model. But then small Fender's like Tweed Champs and Princeton's are stun guns when fullly dirty. So yeah, no perfect amp, always the question is what's the main intended use.
I have a Laney Lionheart 5W combo. Great amp and I feel is very underrated. I’ve got one of the earlier British made ones with a Greenback. They are built like a tank…probably around 45-50 pounds with a 12” speaker for a five watter. Very versatile. Takes pedals well and built in drive can easily get to a good rock tone. But the cleans are phenomenal and very articulate.
I’ve been thinking of the Lionheart L5 studio stack for a while now. I use loads of pedals but there aren’t many video reviews of it as it’s quite old. Any advice on getting a new one?
@@RobLawson1982 I don’t have any hands on experience with the L5 studios. I think the main circuit is very similar to the combo then they add the audio interface. I’m pretty sure I remember it has a built in dummy load so you can run it without a cabinet if you are going directly into the DAW.
Could always get a non-Laney cabinet if you are after a Greenback like they had in the originals. Could do a 1x12 or a 2x12. The Lionhearts I feel have more responsive cleans but since they are low wattage you can push them into breakup at lower volumes. They are still loud at five watts. You can get a nice rock drive out of them, but not quite metal tone. You can get there with a drive pedal. They handle pedals well on the front end and also have an effects loop.
@@misteraon thanks for the reply’s. I looked at what they use now and the Celestian G12H Anniversary and people seem to like that too. I think I’ll be happy with it. Going from an old solid state Marshall from 2000 to this has got to be a major improvement. Cheers.
Going to a boss katana mk1 100w to a Marshall dsl40cr was a game changer, although it's a budget tube amp man.... There is nothing like a loud tube amp where the power tubes are getting juiced!
Brought up as a kid hanging around an electronics repair shop. My 1963 AC30 Top Boost had a silicon rectifier mod. Gotta lot of stick from the techs as this, according to them, shortened valve (tube) life, stripping the Cathodes when cold. Most of my good amps have a standby, my latest a Fuchs ODS II 25/50 also has one, and Andy Fuchs would not have put one in had it been unnecessary or detrimental.
I found that I prefer as simple of an amp as possible. Basically, the fewer knobs, the better. I've been using the "normal" input on a mid-60s Fender Band-Master for years. 4 controls: volume, treble, bass dials and a switch labeled "bright". Sounds great. Your pedals will do anything else you want.
Very helpful… thanks for diving into fundamentals! So easy to get caught up in gear and pedals, but there is so much that can be done with just dialing in the amp! Great video, thanks!
The more I play, the less I want to mess with more gear. I've seen guys with huge pedalboards yet terrible tone. If I can get a good sound straight to the amp, anything else has to fit a specific need.
I was wise enough to know that I did NOT need a 100 w Marshall for my 1st amp. I bought a 40 w Fender Blues Deluxe Tweed combo amp and I NEVER turned the volume above 2.5. That thing was LOUD! In fact, it was too loud to be practical as a home practice amp. My next amp will be a 1-watt Blackstar head. I plan on buying a separate cabinet or building my own from a kit at Stewart MacDonald. 😊
Try the blackstar before you buy, they are good but the 1w has pretty much no clean and a specific character of sound, I have the 5w combo and I think it's good, it's a one trick pony
When clearly everyone knows that the perfect amp is a 100W HiWatt with at least one matching 4x12 cab. What people don't realize about these things is that they work really well when played quiet. More control and more detail than some little box combo. You may have to live with the hernias if you need to move it around though.
@@edhornby4885 Thank you for the tip! 🤗 I've never heard one, nor even touched one. I was sold by all of the positive reviews that I have read. You'd think that I'd have learned my lesson after getting burned on my 1st amp purchase. I guess that I'm a bit thick-headed! 🐐
If you want some headroom for your bedroom, go with a push pull design. I’ve tried to like single ended amps and they can be fun for a few minutes but yeah, that one trick pony thing. Also by push pull, I mean two tubes in the power section with a phase inverter.
Great job Rhett. My 1st tube amp was a '70 or '71 Twin Reverb. That is still my favorite sound. My buddy put a simple mod where I could bypass the preamp and run my ADA MP1 directly into the power amp, that thing screamed. I still can't believe I had that thing on 7 most gigs, oh man was that loud.
Great video, very educational. I use this theory on my modeler. Been playing for 2 years on a QuadCortex. Been very happy with its versatility. Maybe one day I’ll buy a tube amp.
I use a modeler live as well, although still rocking my Line 6 Helix. I got a second hand Carvin TS-100 and use it to power a 2x12 Mesa Cab… it’s an amazing combo for my situation. If you like your QuadCortex and also want a tube amp, just get a Tube Poweramp and use it to push a cab. I’m sure you’ll like it! Just make sure to turn off the IR blocks in your modeler.
Nice review/information . I wish Sweetwater would lend you a Fender Pro Jr. IV Tweed amp so we could see how you dial in a simple tube amp with just a volume/tone .
The Stand By Switch is there to increase the life of your Tubes. It allows the heater plates in the Tubes to warm up everything before sending Hugh amounts of current through the tubes. If the tubes get slammed with High Current before it heats up, the chemical surface of the Plates slowly starts to degrade over time and there goes your tubes sooner than they should have. It's Electronics Physics 101...
In addition to that, the standby also stops any loud pops or spikes reaching your speakers. Switching to standby removes the High Voltage to the tubes so at switch on it allows the tubes to warm up off load, and when switching off stops any noises from occurring as the voltages drop off.
The standby switch is actually to protect the large capacitors from over-voltage because the tubes don't present a load on the power supply until they've warmed up. It was cheaper to put in a standby switch rather than higher-rated capacitors just for the sake of the warm-up period.
I highly recommend the Monoprice tube 15w combo If you want a cheap awesome tube amp to play Around with.. You can even cut the output to 1 watt for bedroom playing. You can find used ones for around two hundred bucks
Agreed! I have one of these and when the tube started to whistle and go microphonic, I put new tubes in that are all mesa boogie. It cost under $200 to do the retubing and it sounds incredible. It also has the one watt switch, and an effects loop that I haven’t used. And it also has built-in reverb that sounds good. It sounds great at a bedroom level and can go so loud. I can’t even stand near it. Great amp for the price, great in general. I just bought a graphic EQ to go in front of the amp which makes a huge difference: a small boost really brings out the sparkle.
Great video. Wish you had mentioned the speakers used in the cab and how they can make a big difference in the tone. That looks like a versatile amp for sure.
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Great video, I wish i would see that 10 years ago. I'm glad that you have pointed out the difference between a speaker and a guitar cable. It's very important as it may even cause a fire.
So I’m only half way thru video, you are really doing a good job at making me know about my amp. Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue. I really like the amp for my Strat and my Tele, but was having problems realizing anything on my amp. I have a turn down pedal on the pre out and in. So my neighbors that share a wall with me don’t get mad at night.
Hey Rhett, yeah, this was really helpful in terms of looking for the best amps to buy. If you could do a video on the worst amps to stay away from, that would be great. Thanks for sharing this with me! 😊
You may have done it before but would love to see you do a demo of the PRS tremonti, even though you don't typically do that heavy style of music. I like the way you explain everything.
best thing about a valve combo is that you can plug it into a separate cab, 1,2 or 4x12 of your choice for gigging or a bigger venue and keep the combo for home use or practice.
That comment about standby switches... My hughes and kettner has a standby, seems to work fine. Good advice about making sure the Amp is plugged into a cabinet. This holds true unless you have an Amp that has something like a built in redbox di.
I went to an open mic night. I brought my little 20 watt Peavey Classic 20 with a Weber Blue Pup ceramic speaker in it. The house band's lead player laughed at my amp claiming "they won't even hear you", standing next to his Fender Bassman RI. I just smiled. So, my turn came, turned on my amp and away we went. After my two songs, the guys in the house band were losing their minds over that little amp's sound and projection. I picked up my amp and guitar and as I came down the stage stairs, there were a few folks there to comment and shake my hand. Nothing funnier than a band rolling in their 4-12 cabs and 100 watt heads to a bar that seats 80.
Love the flexibility of my Blues Jr, the inbuilt speaker is on a 1/4 jack so I just unplug it and use it as a head if I fancy something different. Great video 🤘🏻
Rhett, congrats on this video, loved it and packed with great info. I also hear you using "compression" on your vocals making your speaking voice smoother to listen to. FYI, I'm a subscriber and gave you a thumbs up. Best Regards - Ade
This is a great video for tube amp beginners. Can you show what a tube amp does when you "dime" it and rely on your guitar to provide tone and volume control, as opposed to "diming" the guitar and turning the amp down?
I would love to see a video that relates the physical tube tech to pedals that provide distortions first found in a tube amp and modelers that fake the entire chain. Just bought my first electric and a katana-go. It almost does too much and not being able to relate what it virtualizes makes the learning curve steeper. In fact, this video already helped.
Excellent video. I have a similar amp in a combo...a TC 15 with 12" red tone tubby from Trinity Amps in Ontario, and it is excellent. In my experience, amps become a platform for pedals...a whole other rabbit hole.
Regardless of amp, that is great info for those who don’t know. I went through all of that myself, it was at least fun. Even many basic tube amps take some time to figure out, you can get tones you never expect. I’m glad I had audio efficient folks around me pretty much my whole life; it made amps like my Mesa much more understandable and enjoyable. Good stuff Rhett, thanks for sharing!
Sometimes I wish I could unplug the speaker from my Dr Z combo and plug it into a different cabinet. The only time I don't feel this way is when I unplug my Dr Z combo and plug it into a different cabinet. ;)
Can you go jnto what you said about standby? My understanding is they're important on solid state rectified amps to keep the tubes from seeing the full B+ voltage before the filiments heat up. Some amps have a slow start circuit or a tube rectifier and don't have that problem.
Thanks for this, loved the video. Went from a really frustrating Line 6 Spider, to a Marshall Valvestate and now to a JCM800. Such an incredible difference!
Great video. I’m recently new to home studio recording and the video helped me address a problem that I encountered which is cleaning up the “clarity” of my acoustic guitar recording (SM57 mic-ed to amp). Specifically, it was my approach to gain staging and I was timid in pushing the amp gain versus the output volume. Cranking the gain and adjusting the output level definitely pushed up the quality of my raw recording… now if I could just play better.
This was one of your best videos in a while. Very practical for intermediate guitarists. I have a Fender Tone Master Deluxe Reverb, but always wanted to know about that presence knob and preamp vs. power amp stages on the amp sims I have on a Bias FX app. Thank you.
If you need more EQ management for your less capable amp, just get a decent 10 band EQ pedal. Can be used before the preamp as a drive, or in the effects loop to set a rhythm ‘defeat’ level. Kick it off to get the solo level.
Great video Rhett! Wish I had known all this years ago! You talk about finding the "perfect" amp (or not finding it) -- it has been my experience that a lot of the "holy grail" amps are very limited -- example, if you want that "VOX" sound there is nothing like an AC30, but that's ALL it does. You want to sound like Brian May? VoxAC30. Wanna sound like Eddie? 5150. However, if you're like me and play a wide range of stuff, some of the most legendary amps out there are just not good enough. For my money I have found a lot of versatility in Hughes & Kettner amps. I currently own a Tubemeister 36 and absolutely LOVE the tones I get out of it. with that amp and a handful of pedals, I can play SRV or Slayer, really doesn't matter. I think most guitarists need something like that.
On the importance of always having a speaker cable and cab connected to the amplifier...This is because of the output transformer. It matches the high impedance/high voltage of the power valves to the lower impedance/lower voltage of a speaker cabinet. If you do not have a speaker cab connected, that's an infinite resistance open circuit. The transformer is going to then try and match to that resistance which will cause high voltage arcing and spikes in the transformer and power valves causing very expensive damage. Some amplifier companies employ what are called "flyback diodes" that are meant to stop/limit this phenomenon from happening. They clamp down on those potential spikes back to ground and would sacrifice themselves before the more expensive stuff inside the amplifier. It's not a foolproof way but it's better than no protection at all. Nerdy, but the more you know!
I love the fact, that Rhett basically don't like PRS guitars in general, but they still sponsor Rhett's video with the brand new tube amp :) Anyway, nice video Rhett!!! Always a pleasure to watch.
Informative video Rhett. Best advice I’ve gotten on setting your Amp control knobs. “Be tone oriented, not numbers oriented”. Most beginning players are the polar opposite, looking at their Amp instead of listening to it. Good news though is that when I listen to Lynyrd Skynyrd so do my neighbors.
I’ve watched a couple of your videos now and they are good, so I subscribed for you. :) Nice video. I bought my first amp about 9 months ago and I’m still learning how to get the best sound out of it. (It’s solid state). Tubes are on the list…
One thing that took awhile for me to figure out is amp wattage is not a direct example of how loud an amp can be. I watched a video from Mike Soldano and he explained it well. Which makes sense because my SLO-30 is ungodly loud for a 30 watt amp.
The thing I wished I had known when I was younger was, to set treble, mid, and bass knobs at 12 o’clock. That, that was a “flat” EQ. Took me a while to work out that. Also, how to used OD and distortion to get the sound I was looking for.
Many years ago in the very early 90's, I bought a Fender solid state amp - a Princeton Chorus. I went to a jam night with my shiny new 50 watt amp, and couldn't hear myself even when standing right in front of it. Turns out it was 2 x 25 watt amp in stereo, not actually 50 watts. It was a jam night, so nothing was mic'd. Best advice I ever got at another jam night later that same night when lamenting my not-loud-enough amp - "You don't want that solid state shit, you need something old with tubes and 12's" And the next day I returned the Fender and went home with a used Marshall JCM800 50 Watt Lead 2x12 combo. I still have it, it sounds amazing, and I've never needed anything else.
I have one too. Years ago I visited the Marshall factory in Milton Keynes where they serviced it for me…they book in order, not by how famous you are. I even like the clean tones!
Solid state wattage is not the same SPL level as tubes. Also, doubling your wattage only increase your decibels by 3 db. In order to have a perceived "doubling of volume" you need to increase your wattage by a factor of 10x. In short SPL is a truer factor of volume than wattage.
I agree with your comment about not breeding a big amp if you mic up I've used a fiver watt amp with a mic before in a gig and it worked courtesy of a great sound engineer but another point I would like to add is always have an amp with more than a clean channel as then you are covered for every situation you come across from ckeb to dirty
These are some great advices. The thing I wish I knew much sooner was how the speaker/cab can be much more important than the amp itself. I'd say in a guitar--amp-cab triangle it's not an even 33%-33%-33%, I'd still attribute more to the cab than either the guitar or the amp. And then we haven't even considered miking, which can change the entire soundscape again regardless of what your tone is like in the room. And even moreso when we're talking about IRs I'd say it's easily above 50%, maybe even 75% - probaly because it's a cab and mic tone with an IR.
Really appreciate the information because I have absolutely no clue when it comes to UA-cam apps. The only suggestion is - you need a third hand to adjust the amp while you’re playing so we can hear the changes as they are happening as opposed to trying to remember2 1/2 seconds ago… Which gets a lot harder when you are older
What internaction do Volume and tone controls on the various guitars play in this demonstration? ie. are they set toward the min or maximum as you make adjustments to the preamp => amp settings. [the comments about overall wattage were especially illuminating. I also remember Mick Ronson opening for the Clash and the Who in a stadium. He was using a single combo Mesa, which was miked into the overall sound system. Thanks.
I'm not there yet, but I do eventually want a tube amp. Right now I have a solid state (Fender Champion 50XL), and I have yet to really sit down with it and play with the controls. Anytime I plug in and start practicing or noodling, it still sounds like an acoustic coming out of the speaker (and to be fair I keep the volume very low so as not to disturb anyone else in my house). Thanks for this, Rhett. This is what someone like me needs!
Great video. I've been playing since I was 12 started in 1977 and I've owned a bunch of amps over the years. I want to share a quick story. I play mostly Fender Amps, I've got a Princeton and a Vibrolux as well as a Benson Monarch Reverb. Last year when Mesa brought out the mark VII I was digging the demo videos. So I went to guitar center managed to finagle a 4 years same as cash deal on the MB Mark 7. I played that amp for 3 months and I couldn't do it. With so many possible tonal variations I spent more time fiddling with knobs than I did playing. I am a tone fanatic and I was always looking for something just a little better or different. After three months I listed it on the net and someone got a hell of a deal on a basically new Mark 7. I turned around and bought a used amp that I had been really interested in one of the PRS HDRX 100's. I probably should have got the 50 watt but I planned on getting an attenuator so why not go for the fully Monty. I picked up a used Dr. z 100 watt air break and the amp with the proceeds from the mark 7. I have learned over the years that I just prefer non-master volume amps. I know how to use them and I think fi your doing this on a mmaster volume amp, you might want to make a companion video on a non master volume amp. Something like a Deluxe or a Vibrolux (I dig 6L6 tubes and it's as low wattage as you can get with a 6L6 power tubes from Fender. My reasons.. 1 I think power tube distortion sounds better than pre-amp tube. 2. once you figured out how to use the volume knob on your guitar, non-master volume amps are more responsive (or in my experience they are) to using the volume control to clean up the sound. They seem to make better pedal platforms too. The vibrolux at 7 on the dial is one of the nicest amp sounds. ( I should note I put Tone Tubby San Rafael low efficiency Hemp Cone speaker in it. Toney Tubby's are freaking the best speakers for the money) I put it at 7 and roll back the volume to clean it up. If I'm going live I start the Vibrolux (an it's one of the Silverface reissues with the two different tone stacks. I've jumpered the channels to good effect.) I put the volume at 4.5 to five just at the point where the power tubes start to break up, and use clean overdrives or distortion pedals to punch it up for leads and heavier music or touch down the volume a hair to clean it up. If your sound guys is good he will keep up with minor volume changes and thee shows go great. Anyhow with that in mind it might be nice to do the same video with a deluxe. Also cover what an attenuator does for you. They are goddawful expensive but Tone Kings with the built in attenuator are the way to go. Much better answer for times when you want the volume on ten but the club wants it at 5.
On vintage Fender amps the main speaker jack shorts when unplugged giving you a load. Good if you make a mistake. But I don’t turn on anyway with no speakers.
I've got a LOT of EQ in my pedals. Even specifically a guitar EQ to shape the brown channel to blend with my modulation channel so overlapping frequencies don't mudd. And then I use a bass EQ to tighten the signal going into the amp. The option is then there to dial in a solo tone, rhythm or lead, and use the bass EQ to add or remove needed frequencies around the band setup. The option to boost or cut 400, 500 and 800 range is HUGE in the voc/nasal range. Can slide into the open frequency pocket. Cut the 50s and drop 120Hz to open up drums and base. Play with 10k and 4.3kHz to tame the sizzle and air... As I said, the option is there. Also Behringer pedals are GREAT as cost effectiveness for this. It's like $50 for both guitar & bass EQ pedals. That is cheap to strengthen one's guitar and amp signals. So I can get away with a very basic tone control on my amp. Saves a LOT. So something like a Bugera is an option. The intial cost being so low lets me tube swap without getting near the price where some of those tubes come from. And then I can still swap out the speaker AND STILL be lower cost than many tube amps. As I like to experiment, it's a great option. If I learn I want a specific sound and can't get it, well then YES, I will need a new amp.
Talking about anologue mixers. I have a 12 channel, 4 sub mixer. Using the busses (SUB), can I port the sound signal directly to an outboard interface via the connections on the board. 4 chanels of input Using the 2 aux sends in post fader mode, can I send 2 more channels to an outboard interface. Using the channel strip master section, can I send a left and right, 2 more channels to an outboard interface. The manufacturer won't help and nobody ever seems to answer.
With the exception of my Quilter Aviator Cub combo, all my other amps are 15w and most are solid state; great for practice and even small gigs. But when I plug the Orange Brent Hinds Terror into the 2x12 cabinet (with vintage EV-SROs) there's no comparison. I even got an attenuator so I could push that amp without rattling the neighbors' windows.
I use a Tom Scholz Power soak on my 76 Princeton Reverb in order to get the saturation I want, without making my ears bleed., or overpowering the band or the room. Would love to hear what you think of solid state output attenuators like that.
Thanks Rhett! Very informative. I only wish I could see what your guitar volume and tone were set just to get the relationship of that to the amp. Your suggestion to let your ear be the judge was helpful for this novice player.
Great video concept. Also great that, unlike so many other videos by others, you are not demoing with high gain and heavy rock riffing. We actually get to hear the nuances. This amp sounds wonderful in all the demos I've seen thus far. Hopefully it will be available in black at some point.
Good stuff Rhett! I used to do that. Look at where my knobs were and base my sound off what looked right. WRONG!! The ear knows better! I have a 40W Fender Deluxe Reverb IV & a 15W Vox AC15C1X and have had a 60W Fender Super Sonic. All so different but so great in their own right. Gotta dial each one in a bit differently depending on what I’m playing or who I’m playing with. Thanks for the vid! That’s good knowledge
I have the mesa boogie Fillmore 25watt amp and I’ve never felt the need to get anything else as someone who just plays at home and friends houses for fun. That amp has amazing clean tones and can put out more than enough gain to play anything I’ve ever wanted to play
You always post the right videos at the right time, Rhett. Been playing for 8 years now, always been a bedroom guitarist and now I'm looking to find some bandmates, but I only have desktop plugins!
something 25-50 watts, loud enough that you can hear yourself with an energetic drummer, but not so loud as to be deafening. If a venue is a place that *needs* more than 50 watts, that venue would have a PA.
@@kirklenigan8570 I see alot of videos of 15-20 watt amps being "gig-able". Is this only true if you're cranking them? i.e. no clean headroom? Thanks for the suggestion!
I've learned that it takes 60 to 100 watts of power if the preamp section is at 10 o'clock or less on Deluxe Reverb type amp to get over a medium loud drummer IF there is no guitar in the stage monitors. This is most noticeable in outdoor venues with long throws (no back wall in front of stage). Not as much of a problem indoors or in smaller spaces out doors. I had a Mesa Boogie Fillmore 50 and it wasn't quite enough. The Fillmore 100 solves that problem. The problem goes away when guitar is in the monitors ... but that sound is not as tone pleasing as the original sound coming out of tube amp speaker cabinet. When a higher gain amp circuit is the foundational "clean" tone ... an amp with 30 to 50 watts and no stage monitors is plenty loud.
The presence control affects the high end but it's not doing it in a traditional EQ sense. It is adjusting the damping factor in the output transformer. Think of Damping Factor as the sustain pedal on a piano. The more you press it the more the notes will ring out. If you don't press the pedal the notes quickly decay and stop ringing. Same concept here The more you turn the control clockwise the less damping (By way of negative feedback) of those higher frequencies they are allowed to ring that's why Rhett says it creates a brilliance or shimmer to the high end. Some bass guitar amplifiers not only have the presence control but also a "resonance" control meant for the lower frequencies. Nerdy, but the more you know!
I have 3 brands I own these are 1) Fender ( of course ) A) reissue twin B) twin reverb 2 ( rivera moded.) C) Deluxe Reverb reissue ( I replaced the cab speaker with a 1955 EV 16 ohm I run it with another cab with a celestion 16 ohm vintage 30 ) 2) pre - peavey Budda SD 45 ( I run it through a Marshall 4x12 cab. Yes because of Leslie West.) 3) Marshall ( I slave a 50 watt Origin with kt 66 power tubes run through a Marshall 4x12 cab ) with a 1987 X plexi ( run thru a fender 2x12 cab with celestion cream backs. ) I love all these amps and get a completely different tone from each rig.
Freaking killer amp! Especially with the r9. And to be able to adjust the high end like that would make it my go to amp! I have a morgan dual 20 i feel that way about. Nice playing bro
Very interesting thanks However no one ever talks about using guitar controls and where they fit into the equation Or the importance of finding an amps sweet spot Thoughts?
I bought an Orange Micro Terror and I’m not entirely happy with it. I didn’t realize how much I was going to miss the three band EQ or the option to switch channels. It sounds great with cleans but I don’t like the gain staging.
That's exactly why I sold mine and bought an EVH 50W stealth head... highly recommend any of the 5150iii heads for all sounds, including jazz and country!
So, my question - I'm going to be building my own amps (from designs). First one will probably be a champ, but after that, what are the important added features to have in a more sophisticated amp circuit. I'm a big fan of the single ended sound, so that's another parameter, and I don't need a lot of power.
Great summary. The cranked pre-amp sound with master volume bypassed sounded like pure rock-n-roll 🥰👍Is the uncertain ongoing supply of replacement tubes an issue when buying a new tube based amp?
JJ in Slovakia is backordered, but immune to the E. Europe war. Western Electric (now in Georgia) is ramping up audio tubes, as is Mullards near London. Buy your tubes, there's a market that will be filled!
I wish amp reviewers would show us the inside of the chassis. Especially with how tight money is today, I want to know what I’m buying. lots of “landfill” amps out there today.
it blew my mind once i discovered the youtube channels by actual amp techs who usually roast modern circuits by virtually all name brands just for how inacessible to repair and bad at heat managment they are (to not say: how they are built to fail, so with planned obsolescence).
This is sort of a vox from what I understand. David Grissom likes it for having a great mix between a JTM45 Marshall and a vox. Curcuit-wise its more vox though. Even though it has a "master volume", as Rhett shows here, it is not an amp that does preamp gain really. Its meant to be cranked in the power section. For lower db-levels a pedal is probably the way to go
Great vid! I’ve been playing for 40 plus years. I have a helix bit also a vintage pro reverb… amongst other amps over the years… solid states included. And I still don’t know what is a “good sound” is . Tone chasing is a rabbit hole. But your vid shows how to get the best of what you have at that moment. Great vid!
Good chap, you started with the most important thing of all" Make shure the speaker and amp are connected to each other with a proper speaker cable". Apart from that 15watts is perfect but that one has too many control knobs and from experience "more knobs=more problems. Cool Guitar , the P90 with half telecaster bridge and a sardine tin plate , in sunburst. Does'nt need fx.
"Use your ears, not your eyes" - that's actually great advice. I've been playing for 25+ years now, and I still make that mistake... Thanks a lot, Rhett!
You might play it 1h per day, but you're looking at it all day. So, maybe use both?
@@emulgatorx lol , guitars and equipment are so nice to look at.
this advice is keen to saving money when amp shopping
Nah , especially early on, if you are into the look of the amp and that motivates you to USE the amp… guess what? That’s crucial for pure enjoyment. Looks do matter. Especially if your ear is untrained
@@jasontanner5836 Oh, that's totally true, and not just with amps! However, I'm afraid you're missing Rhett's point here - which is, when you're used to adjusting the knobs in a certain way (i.e. you use your eyes to set up the way your guitar's gonna sound), you restrict yourself to one tried and true formula and miss the opportunity to find something new and exciting. At least that's how I understand it.
So nice to hear an Amp demo short and sweet by a player repeating the exact same phrase just a simple 2/3 chords s short riff and a quick couple of chops
And repeated perfectly each time to be as close as before
Instead of a random shred that has no Relevance to what was previously played as the Amps dynamic range and features are demonstrated
Great job sir 👍
🤙
Show us the difference between an instrument cable and a cabinet cable. How can we even tell the difference ?
Honestly I think the amp is as important as the guitar. One Fender voiced and one British voiced. One channel, must have a master and 3 band EQ. Stick yo the KISS principle and use pedals for the rest. Imho.
The “dialing in your amp” part is so true. I had a Marshall DSL40C for a while and I always thought it was a “bad” thing that I had to turn the treble all the way down and the mids all the way up. But it sounded fantastic when I played it that way, and it turns out a lot of Marshalls sound best when the EQ knobs are pushed to extremes. Those knobs twist for a reason!
I have one myself. Love it. Previously owned a pre CBS Bassman, and a Hiwatt combo in the 80's. Love that Marshall. It's got the infamous chunk when you hit it hard. I do miss the Bassman.
Exactly how I dial in Marshalls. Treble on zero Bass and Mids on 10. 😊
It’s crazy to me that I’ve been playing for over 30 years and already knew and learned all of this, but I watched the WHOLE video cause you did such a great job explaining it! 😂
Always a great idea to review the basics 😊
What I wish I knew: the neighbors will hate me and my wife will eventually leave me.
So...win, win?
Sounds like you pushed beyond the edge up breakup
Yep, I just lost my 3rd wife that way but I can play as loud as I want now
Basis for a country anthem.
You know whats funny when he does it its a job but when we do it were just annoying are families
Great video; I wish something like this was around when I was a tube amp noob. "Listen with your ears, not your eyes" when tweaking the eq, and "you need fewer watts than you think. No, really" are two of the best bits of advice that I should have learned much earlier!
Rhett…thanks for the U&C excellent vid/content. I’ve been a musician & guitarist for 43 years now and while you didn’t present anything new that I didn’t already know, you did give me a different way of thinking about a couple of things.
While kinda off topic, but not entirely, you’d mentioned the scenario where you park your PRS 15 watt head next to you and then park your cab in another room…
I play gigs at a few venues where the stage volume is restricted or there’s a Silent Stage rule. I used to have my amp head on stage w/me and I either had my cab in a back room or I used an internally mic’d iso-cab backstage.
About a 18 months, ago I started experiencing the progression of a health issue that necessitated a reduction/simplification in load in/out considerations. Fast forward to a year ago and after researching potential solutions, I purchased a Quilter Aviator Cub UK 1x12” 50 watt combo. It emulates, as I recall a 1963 Vox AC30, a 1964 Vox AC30 Top Boost and a 1977-ish, give or take a couple of years, Marshall JMP 2204 50 watt head.
It is solid state as opposed to tube, but it’s also a 50 watt 1x12” combo that weighs in at only 22 pounds (10 kilograms). That’s the icing on the cake. It sounds outstanding. Pat Quilter did a remarkable job nailing the tone and feel of the emulated amps. The preamp is FET/MOSFET based and the output section is Class D.
I plug in, turn on and set my tone. I then set the master volume to the venue limits or roll it back to zero for silent stage (I’m plugged into the amp’s volume-controllable, speaker emulated out that goes to FOH for venue mixing purposes no matter the scenario) and I’m ready for sound check. The amp takes pedals very well too.
I don’t have to fiddle with the knobs once I set my master volume as the Class D output doesn’t change the tone or gain/dirt set in the preamp. It just makes the sound quieter or louder without affecting the signal’s salient preamp configured qualities.
Rhett, I’ve always been a tube guy. I never saw myself plating a solid state amp little alone playing one and enjoying it. While the deterioration of an aspect of my health was the mule I was given to ride for my trip through QuilterLand,
While my fat, infirmed ass limited what that mule could carry, I had other choices, tube driven choices besides Quilter that I’d discovered.
Still, nothing had the tone, versatility, feel and feature-set that Quilter offered me. It was not the least expensive by far, but it was just the best balance of all things considered.
Talk with Pat. Perhaps he’ll sponsor a video by lending you this or the American-flavored model for you to go through. Hint, hint…topic for a future video.
Great Video! I just “graduated “ to a tube amp and I’m happy I did. I went from a Line 6 Catalyst 60. To a Marshall DSL40cr. I’ll be staying with tube amps from now on.
Great choice in amp. There dependable, reasonably priced, and sound good! A good pedal platform!
The human ear percieves tone differently at different volumes (the Fletcher-Munson Curve). It is why some stereos come with a "loudness" button: at softer volumes the curve flattens out and bass and trebel needs to get boosted. It is also why you dial in the perfect tone in your living room and then get to the gig, turn it up to gig level and it sounds like an ice pick - suddenly there's too much bass and treble and not enough mid.
I always have a BBE Sonic Stomp Sonic Maximizer in my chain; I can dial in my sound on the amp and then customise it at the gig for the room and the volume I'm playing at. That pedal is the secret sauce for my tone.
But rule of thumb: as the overall volume goes up, the treble and base need to come down (or the mid needs to go up).
My first tube amp (after a few solid state amps) was a used Blackstar HT-5R. It was very affordable, so I wasn't too concerned about money down the drain if it didn't work out. Turns out it's great for my practicing at home. I've learned how to replace the tubes without sticking my fingers where they shouldn't go. And I like the range of tones I can get by twiddling the knobs.
I know it's obvious, but something I learned early on is that how powerful an amp you need for stage volume mainly depends on how clean you need it to be. So you might want a 2x12 100W Fender Twin for squeeky clean stage volume cleans for a pedal steel or Rhodes mk.I. Or a Vox AC30, to a lesser extent. And most people don't need that, which I guess is why Twins can seem good value compared to Princeton's or Deluxe Reverbs. But, these days for dirty Marshall tone, the small light 20W studio heads make more sense than a big heavy 100W model. But then small Fender's like Tweed Champs and Princeton's are stun guns when fullly dirty. So yeah, no perfect amp, always the question is what's the main intended use.
I have a Laney Lionheart 5W combo. Great amp and I feel is very underrated. I’ve got one of the earlier British made ones with a Greenback. They are built like a tank…probably around 45-50 pounds with a 12” speaker for a five watter. Very versatile. Takes pedals well and built in drive can easily get to a good rock tone. But the cleans are phenomenal and very articulate.
I’ve been thinking of the Lionheart L5 studio stack for a while now. I use loads of pedals but there aren’t many video reviews of it as it’s quite old. Any advice on getting a new one?
@@RobLawson1982 I don’t have any hands on experience with the L5 studios. I think the main circuit is very similar to the combo then they add the audio interface. I’m pretty sure I remember it has a built in dummy load so you can run it without a cabinet if you are going directly into the DAW.
Could always get a non-Laney cabinet if you are after a Greenback like they had in the originals. Could do a 1x12 or a 2x12.
The Lionhearts I feel have more responsive cleans but since they are low wattage you can push them into breakup at lower volumes. They are still loud at five watts. You can get a nice rock drive out of them, but not quite metal tone. You can get there with a drive pedal. They handle pedals well on the front end and also have an effects loop.
@@RobLawson1982 I believe that Sweetwater carries them new.
@@misteraon thanks for the reply’s. I looked at what they use now and the Celestian G12H Anniversary and people seem to like that too. I think I’ll be happy with it. Going from an old solid state Marshall from 2000 to this has got to be a major improvement. Cheers.
This really should be a must-watch for folks new to the Tube/Valve Amp scene. Kudos to you, Rhett! 🔥🙏🏻🔥
Going to a boss katana mk1 100w to a Marshall dsl40cr was a game changer, although it's a budget tube amp man.... There is nothing like a loud tube amp where the power tubes are getting juiced!
I agree, I love my Origin 50 (same price point as your DSL) and it’s crazy to think the Katana 2x12 is the same cost!
Might want to check replacement tube availability, especially for used amps.
Brought up as a kid hanging around an electronics repair shop. My 1963 AC30 Top Boost had a silicon rectifier mod. Gotta lot of stick from the techs as this, according to them, shortened valve (tube) life, stripping the Cathodes when cold. Most of my good amps have a standby, my latest a Fuchs ODS II 25/50 also has one, and Andy Fuchs would not have put one in had it been unnecessary or detrimental.
I found that I prefer as simple of an amp as possible. Basically, the fewer knobs, the better. I've been using the "normal" input on a mid-60s Fender Band-Master for years. 4 controls: volume, treble, bass dials and a switch labeled "bright". Sounds great. Your pedals will do anything else you want.
Very helpful… thanks for diving into fundamentals! So easy to get caught up in gear and pedals, but there is so much that can be done with just dialing in the amp! Great video, thanks!
The more I play, the less I want to mess with more gear. I've seen guys with huge pedalboards yet terrible tone. If I can get a good sound straight to the amp, anything else has to fit a specific need.
Great video! Thanks for taking the time to walk us through the basics of amp setup and functions. Now gotta find the nickels and dimes for a DGT15!
I was wise enough to know that I did NOT need a 100 w Marshall for my 1st amp. I bought a 40 w Fender Blues Deluxe Tweed combo amp and I NEVER turned the volume above 2.5. That thing was LOUD! In fact, it was too loud to be practical as a home practice amp. My next amp will be a 1-watt Blackstar head. I plan on buying a separate cabinet or building my own from a kit at Stewart MacDonald. 😊
Try the blackstar before you buy, they are good but the 1w has pretty much no clean and a specific character of sound, I have the 5w combo and I think it's good, it's a one trick pony
When clearly everyone knows that the perfect amp is a 100W HiWatt with at least one matching 4x12 cab. What people don't realize about these things is that they work really well when played quiet. More control and more detail than some little box combo. You may have to live with the hernias if you need to move it around though.
@@edhornby4885 Thank you for the tip! 🤗
I've never heard one, nor even touched one. I was sold by all of the positive reviews that I have read. You'd think that I'd have learned my lesson after getting burned on my 1st amp purchase. I guess that I'm a bit thick-headed! 🐐
I have a Laney Mini Lionheart (3W) and is great. I only play it with headphones. Even with just 3W it is loud to play at home.
If you want some headroom for your bedroom, go with a push pull design. I’ve tried to like single ended amps and they can be fun for a few minutes but yeah, that one trick pony thing. Also by push pull, I mean two tubes in the power section with a phase inverter.
Great job Rhett. My 1st tube amp was a '70 or '71 Twin Reverb. That is still my favorite sound. My buddy put a simple mod where I could bypass the preamp and run my ADA MP1 directly into the power amp, that thing screamed. I still can't believe I had that thing on 7 most gigs, oh man was that loud.
Great video, very educational. I use this theory on my modeler. Been playing for 2 years on a QuadCortex. Been very happy with its versatility. Maybe one day I’ll buy a tube amp.
I use a modeler live as well, although still rocking my Line 6 Helix. I got a second hand Carvin TS-100 and use it to power a 2x12 Mesa Cab… it’s an amazing combo for my situation. If you like your QuadCortex and also want a tube amp, just get a Tube Poweramp and use it to push a cab. I’m sure you’ll like it! Just make sure to turn off the IR blocks in your modeler.
STBY which is now often called standby stands for Startup Tension Bypass. Warms up the tubes nice and softly.
Nice review/information . I wish Sweetwater would lend you a Fender Pro Jr. IV Tweed amp so we could see how you dial in a simple tube amp with just a volume/tone .
That’s a great idea!
love this idea would love to see how a pro like Rhett gets the best tones out of a simple amp!
The Stand By Switch is there to increase the life of your Tubes. It allows the heater plates in the Tubes to warm up everything before sending Hugh amounts of current through the tubes. If the tubes get slammed with High Current before it heats up, the chemical surface of the Plates slowly starts to degrade over time and there goes your tubes sooner than they should have. It's Electronics Physics 101...
Exactly! I always use it on my Twin Rectifier and JCM 800. And my valves(tubes) last years.
In addition to that, the standby also stops any loud pops or spikes reaching your speakers.
Switching to standby removes the High Voltage to the tubes so at switch on it allows the tubes to warm up off load, and when switching off stops any noises from occurring as the voltages drop off.
The standby switch is actually to protect the large capacitors from over-voltage because the tubes don't present a load on the power supply until they've warmed up. It was cheaper to put in a standby switch rather than higher-rated capacitors just for the sake of the warm-up period.
Nope!
@@A_A_ron-Phillips You''re free to wear the tubes out faster.
I highly recommend the Monoprice tube 15w combo If you want a cheap awesome tube amp to play Around with..
You can even cut the output to 1 watt for bedroom playing. You can find used ones for around two hundred bucks
Agreed
Agreed! I have one of these and when the tube started to whistle and go microphonic, I put new tubes in that are all mesa boogie. It cost under $200 to do the retubing and it sounds incredible. It also has the one watt switch, and an effects loop that I haven’t used. And it also has built-in reverb that sounds good. It sounds great at a bedroom level and can go so loud. I can’t even stand near it. Great amp for the price, great in general. I just bought a graphic EQ to go in front of the amp which makes a huge difference: a small boost really brings out the sparkle.
@@chris407x where do you put the EQ in the chain?
Probably the best tube amp for the money!
Great video. Wish you had mentioned the speakers used in the cab and how they can make a big difference in the tone. That looks like a versatile amp for sure.
Great video, I wish i would see that 10 years ago. I'm glad that you have pointed out the difference between a speaker and a guitar cable. It's very important as it may even cause a fire.
So I’m only half way thru video, you are really doing a good job at making me know about my amp. Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue. I really like the amp for my Strat and my Tele, but was having problems realizing anything on my amp. I have a turn down pedal on the pre out and in. So my neighbors that share a wall with me don’t get mad at night.
Mahalo! I purchased my Divided by 13 AMW 39 because of your video a few years ago!
Hey Rhett, yeah, this was really helpful in terms of looking for the best amps to buy. If you could do a video on the worst amps to stay away from, that would be great. Thanks for sharing this with me! 😊
I wish I’d known that the Vox AC15 is the world’s perfect amp. Would have spared me years of blowing folks’ ears out chasing that creamy tone.
They respond so well to attack
I've had three separate ac15's over the years, killer amps - even more so when you figure out their quirks.
Me too after years of searching ended on the ac15 it does all
I like how my Egnater 15 has an AC15 setting
Love my AC15. So beautiful. If it had an effects loop I wouldn't need anything else! Why Vox Why! 😭
You may have done it before but would love to see you do a demo of the PRS tremonti, even though you don't typically do that heavy style of music. I like the way you explain everything.
best thing about a valve combo is that you can plug it into a separate cab, 1,2 or 4x12 of your choice for gigging or a bigger venue and keep the combo for home use or practice.
That comment about standby switches... My hughes and kettner has a standby, seems to work fine. Good advice about making sure the Amp is plugged into a cabinet. This holds true unless you have an Amp that has something like a built in redbox di.
I went to an open mic night.
I brought my little 20 watt Peavey Classic 20 with a Weber Blue Pup ceramic speaker in it.
The house band's lead player laughed at my amp claiming "they won't even hear you", standing next to his Fender Bassman RI. I just smiled.
So, my turn came, turned on my amp and away we went.
After my two songs, the guys in the house band were losing their minds over that little amp's sound and projection.
I picked up my amp and guitar and as I came down the stage stairs, there were a few folks there to comment and shake my hand.
Nothing funnier than a band rolling in their 4-12 cabs and 100 watt heads to a bar that seats 80.
Love the flexibility of my Blues Jr, the inbuilt speaker is on a 1/4 jack so I just unplug it and use it as a head if I fancy something different. Great video 🤘🏻
Rhett, congrats on this video, loved it and packed with great info. I also hear you using "compression" on your vocals making your speaking voice smoother to listen to. FYI, I'm a subscriber and gave you a thumbs up. Best Regards - Ade
There was a spinal tap moment
." Did you hear that sustain"
'Well, you would'
@@Pikilloification ... if ... it were playing.
@@mbuchart2927you can go and have a bit and you still be hearing that one
"Don't even look at that one. No. Don't look at it."
This is a great video for tube amp beginners. Can you show what a tube amp does when you "dime" it and rely on your guitar to provide tone and volume control, as opposed to "diming" the guitar and turning the amp down?
I feel Exactly The Same with my Fender Blues Junior IV. Thanks Rhett
I would love to see a video that relates the physical tube tech to pedals that provide distortions first found in a tube amp and modelers that fake the entire chain. Just bought my first electric and a katana-go. It almost does too much and not being able to relate what it virtualizes makes the learning curve steeper. In fact, this video already helped.
Excellent video. I have a similar amp in a combo...a TC 15 with 12" red tone tubby from Trinity Amps in Ontario, and it is excellent. In my experience, amps become a platform for pedals...a whole other rabbit hole.
Regardless of amp, that is great info for those who don’t know. I went through all of that myself, it was at least fun. Even many basic tube amps take some time to figure out, you can get tones you never expect. I’m glad I had audio efficient folks around me pretty much my whole life; it made amps like my Mesa much more understandable and enjoyable. Good stuff Rhett, thanks for sharing!
Sometimes I wish I could unplug the speaker from my Dr Z combo and plug it into a different cabinet. The only time I don't feel this way is when I unplug my Dr Z combo and plug it into a different cabinet. ;)
Can you go jnto what you said about standby? My understanding is they're important on solid state rectified amps to keep the tubes from seeing the full B+ voltage before the filiments heat up.
Some amps have a slow start circuit or a tube rectifier and don't have that problem.
Thanks for this, loved the video. Went from a really frustrating Line 6 Spider, to a Marshall Valvestate and now to a JCM800. Such an incredible difference!
Great video. I’m recently new to home studio recording and the video helped me address a problem that I encountered which is cleaning up the “clarity” of my acoustic guitar recording (SM57 mic-ed to amp). Specifically, it was my approach to gain staging and I was timid in pushing the amp gain versus the output volume. Cranking the gain and adjusting the output level definitely pushed up the quality of my raw recording… now if I could just play better.
My biggest problem with amps is i tend to want every one i can get my hands on. It’s starting to get as bad as my guitar buying addiction!
The Geetar Gorilla is Real!!!!
How many guitars you have ?
This was one of your best videos in a while. Very practical for intermediate guitarists. I have a Fender Tone Master Deluxe Reverb, but always wanted to know about that presence knob and preamp vs. power amp stages on the amp sims I have on a Bias FX app. Thank you.
I recently purchased a 20 year old Matamp R28 28 watt combo, with twin 12” speakers and spring reverb. It sounds glorious and is monstrously loud.
If you need more EQ management for your less capable amp, just get a decent 10 band EQ pedal. Can be used before the preamp as a drive, or in the effects loop to set a rhythm ‘defeat’ level. Kick it off to get the solo level.
Great video Rhett! Wish I had known all this years ago!
You talk about finding the "perfect" amp (or not finding it) -- it has been my experience that a lot of the "holy grail" amps are very limited -- example, if you want that "VOX" sound there is nothing like an AC30, but that's ALL it does. You want to sound like Brian May? VoxAC30. Wanna sound like Eddie? 5150. However, if you're like me and play a wide range of stuff, some of the most legendary amps out there are just not good enough. For my money I have found a lot of versatility in Hughes & Kettner amps. I currently own a Tubemeister 36 and absolutely LOVE the tones I get out of it. with that amp and a handful of pedals, I can play SRV or Slayer, really doesn't matter. I think most guitarists need something like that.
On the importance of always having a speaker cable and cab connected to the amplifier...This is because of the output transformer. It matches the high impedance/high voltage of the power valves to the lower impedance/lower voltage of a speaker cabinet. If you do not have a speaker cab connected, that's an infinite resistance open circuit. The transformer is going to then try and match to that resistance which will cause high voltage arcing and spikes in the transformer and power valves causing very expensive damage.
Some amplifier companies employ what are called "flyback diodes" that are meant to stop/limit this phenomenon from happening. They clamp down on those potential spikes back to ground and would sacrifice themselves before the more expensive stuff inside the amplifier. It's not a foolproof way but it's better than no protection at all.
Nerdy, but the more you know!
I love the fact, that Rhett basically don't like PRS guitars in general, but they still sponsor Rhett's video with the brand new tube amp :) Anyway, nice video Rhett!!! Always a pleasure to watch.
All publicity is good publicity
Informative video Rhett. Best advice I’ve gotten on setting your Amp control knobs. “Be tone oriented, not numbers oriented”. Most beginning players are the polar opposite, looking at their Amp instead of listening to it.
Good news though is that when I listen to Lynyrd Skynyrd so do my neighbors.
I’ve watched a couple of your videos now and they are good, so I subscribed for you. :) Nice video. I bought my first amp about 9 months ago and I’m still learning how to get the best sound out of it. (It’s solid state). Tubes are on the list…
Rhett at @16:30 it may sound bad, but that could be the sound you're going for. I've never been told I suck so eloquently before.
One thing that took awhile for me to figure out is amp wattage is not a direct example of how loud an amp can be. I watched a video from Mike Soldano and he explained it well. Which makes sense because my SLO-30 is ungodly loud for a 30 watt amp.
The thing I wished I had known when I was younger was, to set treble, mid, and bass knobs at 12 o’clock. That, that was a “flat” EQ. Took me a while to work out that. Also, how to used OD and distortion to get the sound I was looking for.
The overdrive is the volume at 3 or 4 o'clock :D .
Simple and direct explanation of how to utilize tube amps. Great video !
Many years ago in the very early 90's, I bought a Fender solid state amp - a Princeton Chorus. I went to a jam night with my shiny new 50 watt amp, and couldn't hear myself even when standing right in front of it. Turns out it was 2 x 25 watt amp in stereo, not actually 50 watts. It was a jam night, so nothing was mic'd. Best advice I ever got at another jam night later that same night when lamenting my not-loud-enough amp - "You don't want that solid state shit, you need something old with tubes and 12's" And the next day I returned the Fender and went home with a used Marshall JCM800 50 Watt Lead 2x12 combo. I still have it, it sounds amazing, and I've never needed anything else.
I have one too. Years ago I visited the Marshall factory in Milton Keynes where they serviced it for me…they book in order, not by how famous you are. I even like the clean tones!
Solid state wattage is not the same SPL level as tubes. Also, doubling your wattage only increase your decibels by 3 db. In order to have a perceived "doubling of volume" you need to increase your wattage by a factor of 10x. In short SPL is a truer factor of volume than wattage.
I agree with your comment about not breeding a big amp if you mic up I've used a fiver watt amp with a mic before in a gig and it worked courtesy of a great sound engineer but another point I would like to add is always have an amp with more than a clean channel as then you are covered for every situation you come across from ckeb to dirty
These are some great advices. The thing I wish I knew much sooner was how the speaker/cab can be much more important than the amp itself. I'd say in a guitar--amp-cab triangle it's not an even 33%-33%-33%, I'd still attribute more to the cab than either the guitar or the amp. And then we haven't even considered miking, which can change the entire soundscape again regardless of what your tone is like in the room. And even moreso when we're talking about IRs I'd say it's easily above 50%, maybe even 75% - probaly because it's a cab and mic tone with an IR.
Really appreciate the information because I have absolutely no clue when it comes to UA-cam apps.
The only suggestion is - you need a third hand to adjust the amp while you’re playing so we can hear the changes as they are happening as opposed to trying to remember2 1/2 seconds ago… Which gets a lot harder when you are older
What internaction do Volume and tone controls on the various guitars play in this demonstration? ie. are they set toward the min or maximum as you make adjustments to the preamp => amp settings. [the comments about overall wattage were especially illuminating. I also remember Mick Ronson opening for the Clash and the Who in a stadium. He was using a single combo Mesa, which was miked into the overall sound system. Thanks.
I'm not there yet, but I do eventually want a tube amp. Right now I have a solid state (Fender Champion 50XL), and I have yet to really sit down with it and play with the controls. Anytime I plug in and start practicing or noodling, it still sounds like an acoustic coming out of the speaker (and to be fair I keep the volume very low so as not to disturb anyone else in my house). Thanks for this, Rhett. This is what someone like me needs!
Great video. I've been playing since I was 12 started in 1977 and I've owned a bunch of amps over the years. I want to share a quick story. I play mostly Fender Amps, I've got a Princeton and a Vibrolux as well as a Benson Monarch Reverb. Last year when Mesa brought out the mark VII I was digging the demo videos. So I went to guitar center managed to finagle a 4 years same as cash deal on the MB Mark 7. I played that amp for 3 months and I couldn't do it. With so many possible tonal variations I spent more time fiddling with knobs than I did playing. I am a tone fanatic and I was always looking for something just a little better or different. After three months I listed it on the net and someone got a hell of a deal on a basically new Mark 7. I turned around and bought a used amp that I had been really interested in one of the PRS HDRX 100's. I probably should have got the 50 watt but I planned on getting an attenuator so why not go for the fully Monty. I picked up a used Dr. z 100 watt air break and the amp with the proceeds from the mark 7. I have learned over the years that I just prefer non-master volume amps. I know how to use them and I think fi your doing this on a mmaster volume amp, you might want to make a companion video on a non master volume amp. Something like a Deluxe or a Vibrolux (I dig 6L6 tubes and it's as low wattage as you can get with a 6L6 power tubes from Fender. My reasons.. 1 I think power tube distortion sounds better than pre-amp tube. 2. once you figured out how to use the volume knob on your guitar, non-master volume amps are more responsive (or in my experience they are) to using the volume control to clean up the sound. They seem to make better pedal platforms too. The vibrolux at 7 on the dial is one of the nicest amp sounds. ( I should note I put Tone Tubby San Rafael low efficiency Hemp Cone speaker in it. Toney Tubby's are freaking the best speakers for the money) I put it at 7 and roll back the volume to clean it up. If I'm going live I start the Vibrolux (an it's one of the Silverface reissues with the two different tone stacks. I've jumpered the channels to good effect.) I put the volume at 4.5 to five just at the point where the power tubes start to break up, and use clean overdrives or distortion pedals to punch it up for leads and heavier music or touch down the volume a hair to clean it up. If your sound guys is good he will keep up with minor volume changes and thee shows go great. Anyhow with that in mind it might be nice to do the same video with a deluxe. Also cover what an attenuator does for you. They are goddawful expensive but Tone Kings with the built in attenuator are the way to go. Much better answer for times when you want the volume on ten but the club wants it at 5.
On vintage Fender amps the main speaker jack shorts when unplugged giving you a load. Good if you make a mistake. But I don’t turn on anyway with no speakers.
I've got a LOT of EQ in my pedals.
Even specifically a guitar EQ to shape the brown channel to blend with my modulation channel so overlapping frequencies don't mudd.
And then I use a bass EQ to tighten the signal going into the amp.
The option is then there to dial in a solo tone, rhythm or lead, and use the bass EQ to add or remove needed frequencies around the band setup.
The option to boost or cut 400, 500 and 800 range is HUGE in the voc/nasal range. Can slide into the open frequency pocket.
Cut the 50s and drop 120Hz to open up drums and base.
Play with 10k and 4.3kHz to tame the sizzle and air... As I said, the option is there.
Also Behringer pedals are GREAT as cost effectiveness for this. It's like $50 for both guitar & bass EQ pedals. That is cheap to strengthen one's guitar and amp signals.
So I can get away with a very basic tone control on my amp. Saves a LOT.
So something like a Bugera is an option. The intial cost being so low lets me tube swap without getting near the price where some of those tubes come from.
And then I can still swap out the speaker AND STILL be lower cost than many tube amps.
As I like to experiment, it's a great option.
If I learn I want a specific sound and can't get it, well then YES, I will need a new amp.
Talking about anologue mixers. I have a 12 channel, 4 sub mixer.
Using the busses (SUB), can I port the sound signal directly to an outboard interface via the connections on the board. 4 chanels of input
Using the 2 aux sends in post fader mode, can I send 2 more channels to an outboard interface.
Using the channel strip master section, can I send a left and right, 2 more channels to an outboard interface.
The manufacturer won't help and nobody ever seems to answer.
Great video that addresses, what I think are questions some newer guitar players are afraid to ask.
With the exception of my Quilter Aviator Cub combo, all my other amps are 15w and most are solid state; great for practice and even small gigs. But when I plug the Orange Brent Hinds Terror into the 2x12 cabinet (with vintage EV-SROs) there's no comparison. I even got an attenuator so I could push that amp without rattling the neighbors' windows.
What a brilliant tone - Amazing.I just bought a Hughes and Kettner Blues 20 - What do you think of it?
I use a Tom Scholz Power soak on my 76 Princeton Reverb in order to get the saturation I want, without making my ears bleed., or overpowering the band or the room. Would love to hear what you think of solid state output attenuators like that.
They make great amps. Tried a few in the shop the other day and they sounded better than my EVH
Perfect amp … In the mid90s, I had a PV classic 30… Always got compliments… So versatile. Everything else seems limited. I miss it very much!😥
Thanks Rhett! Very informative. I only wish I could see what your guitar volume and tone were set just to get the relationship of that to the amp. Your suggestion to let your ear be the judge was helpful for this novice player.
Great summary - I've never seen it explained so simply, yet spot on.
Great vid and exactly what guys need to see to demystify the whole amp thing when they are 1st moving up to a valve amp ✌🏼😎
Great video concept. Also great that, unlike so many other videos by others, you are not demoing with high gain and heavy rock riffing. We actually get to hear the nuances.
This amp sounds wonderful in all the demos I've seen thus far. Hopefully it will be available in black at some point.
Good stuff Rhett! I used to do that. Look at where my knobs were and base my sound off what looked right. WRONG!! The ear knows better! I have a 40W Fender Deluxe Reverb IV & a 15W Vox AC15C1X and have had a 60W Fender Super Sonic. All so different but so great in their own right. Gotta dial each one in a bit differently depending on what I’m playing or who I’m playing with. Thanks for the vid! That’s good knowledge
I have the mesa boogie Fillmore 25watt amp and I’ve never felt the need to get anything else as someone who just plays at home and friends houses for fun. That amp has amazing clean tones and can put out more than enough gain to play anything I’ve ever wanted to play
You always post the right videos at the right time, Rhett. Been playing for 8 years now, always been a bedroom guitarist and now I'm looking to find some bandmates, but I only have desktop plugins!
something 25-50 watts, loud enough that you can hear yourself with an energetic drummer, but not so loud as to be deafening. If a venue is a place that *needs* more than 50 watts, that venue would have a PA.
@@kirklenigan8570 I see alot of videos of 15-20 watt amps being "gig-able". Is this only true if you're cranking them? i.e. no clean headroom?
Thanks for the suggestion!
I've learned that it takes 60 to 100 watts of power if the preamp section is at 10 o'clock or less on Deluxe Reverb type amp to get over a medium loud drummer IF there is no guitar in the stage monitors. This is most noticeable in outdoor venues with long throws (no back wall in front of stage). Not as much of a problem indoors or in smaller spaces out doors. I had a Mesa Boogie Fillmore 50 and it wasn't quite enough. The Fillmore 100 solves that problem. The problem goes away when guitar is in the monitors ... but that sound is not as tone pleasing as the original sound coming out of tube amp speaker cabinet.
When a higher gain amp circuit is the foundational "clean" tone ... an amp with 30 to 50 watts and no stage monitors is plenty loud.
The presence control affects the high end but it's not doing it in a traditional EQ sense. It is adjusting the damping factor in the output transformer. Think of Damping Factor as the sustain pedal on a piano. The more you press it the more the notes will ring out. If you don't press the pedal the notes quickly decay and stop ringing. Same concept here
The more you turn the control clockwise the less damping (By way of negative feedback) of those higher frequencies they are allowed to ring that's why Rhett says it creates a brilliance or shimmer to the high end.
Some bass guitar amplifiers not only have the presence control but also a "resonance" control meant for the lower frequencies.
Nerdy, but the more you know!
I was going to say this - probably not as well though.
@@AndiPicker helps when your friend is an engineer who has been working at Peavey electronics for over 40+ years to explain all this stuff! 😁
@@Bassguitarist1985 I have one of those too, ex Focusrite, designs amps and effect units in his spare time :-)
I have 3 brands I own these are
1) Fender ( of course )
A) reissue twin
B) twin reverb 2 ( rivera moded.)
C) Deluxe Reverb reissue ( I replaced the cab speaker with a 1955 EV 16 ohm I run it with another cab with a celestion 16 ohm vintage 30 )
2) pre - peavey Budda SD 45 ( I run it through a Marshall 4x12 cab. Yes because of Leslie West.)
3) Marshall ( I slave a 50 watt Origin with kt 66 power tubes run through a Marshall 4x12 cab ) with a 1987 X plexi ( run thru a fender 2x12 cab with celestion cream backs. )
I love all these amps and get a completely different tone from each rig.
Freaking killer amp! Especially with the r9. And to be able to adjust the high end like that would make it my go to amp!
I have a morgan dual 20 i feel that way about. Nice playing bro
great video, yes the 15w blues jr will take your head off!
I mean yes, this is a commercial but still great information from a seasoned vet. That amp definitely looks cool and I love the sounds you got.
Thanks Rhett. This information is so valuable and as always, you deliver it in a no nonsense, straight to the point, practical manner. 👍👍
Very interesting thanks
However no one ever talks about using guitar controls and where they fit into the equation
Or the importance of finding an amps sweet spot
Thoughts?
I bought an Orange Micro Terror and I’m not entirely happy with it. I didn’t realize how much I was going to miss the three band EQ or the option to switch channels. It sounds great with cleans but I don’t like the gain staging.
That's exactly why I sold mine and bought an EVH 50W stealth head... highly recommend any of the 5150iii heads for all sounds, including jazz and country!
So, my question - I'm going to be building my own amps (from designs). First one will probably be a champ, but after that, what are the important added features to have in a more sophisticated amp circuit. I'm a big fan of the single ended sound, so that's another parameter, and I don't need a lot of power.
Great summary. The cranked pre-amp sound with master volume bypassed sounded like pure rock-n-roll 🥰👍Is the uncertain ongoing supply of replacement tubes an issue when buying a new tube based amp?
JJ in Slovakia is backordered, but immune to the E. Europe war. Western Electric (now in Georgia) is ramping up audio tubes, as is Mullards near London. Buy your tubes, there's a market that will be filled!
I wish amp reviewers would show us the inside of the chassis. Especially with how tight money is today, I want to know what I’m buying. lots of “landfill” amps out there today.
it blew my mind once i discovered the youtube channels by actual amp techs who usually roast modern circuits by virtually all name brands just for how inacessible to repair and bad at heat managment they are (to not say: how they are built to fail, so with planned obsolescence).
Just take a screwdriver w/you to guitar center
This is sort of a vox from what I understand. David Grissom likes it for having a great mix between a JTM45 Marshall and a vox. Curcuit-wise its more vox though. Even though it has a "master volume", as Rhett shows here, it is not an amp that does preamp gain really. Its meant to be cranked in the power section. For lower db-levels a pedal is probably the way to go
@@gregmize01 That'll go over well...
@@RX120D "be the change you want to see"
Great vid! I’ve been playing for 40 plus years. I have a helix bit also a vintage pro reverb… amongst other amps over the years… solid states included. And I still don’t know what is a “good sound” is . Tone chasing is a rabbit hole. But your vid shows how to get the best of what you have at that moment. Great vid!
A good sound is whatever inspires you.
Good chap, you started with the most important thing of all" Make shure the speaker and amp are connected to each other with a proper speaker cable". Apart from that 15watts is perfect but that one has too many control knobs and from experience "more knobs=more problems. Cool Guitar , the P90 with half telecaster bridge and a sardine tin plate , in sunburst. Does'nt need fx.
Really a wonderful video. Your presentations are always so informative and kind.
Thank you. Answered several questions for me in a way i could understand. Very well done