Granted, these are decidedly cheap amplifiers, but as has been suggested in numerous reviews around the web, both of these Class-A tube amps offer a fair amount of bang for the buck.

Hehe, and you’ve gotta’ love Bob Dragich’s sense of humor––

Through the years, a number of amplifier manufacturers have tried their hands at producing budget tube amps. The problem with the vast majority of these items was that they were not primarily tube amps, they were primarily low-budget amps. Their main audio function was to give the listener the distinct feeling that a knitting needle was slowly being shoved through their eardrum.

The Epi Valve Junior, with its single 8“ speaker and five watts of power, is currently fetching about $150 out-the-door, while the Valve Special (10” speaker, onboard digital effects, etc,) can be had for about $240.

It looks like my wait is over though, because the lucky folks over at Guitar World managed to get their hands on this bright orange beast, and there’s little doubt that they liked what they saw––

“Upon plugging into Channel A and striking a note, I was dumbfounded by what I heard. This was the sound of 200 glorious watts pumping audiophile-perfect tone through four 100-watt Celestions. It wasn’t just a loud and clean open E; this sound was massive yet, simultaneously, soft and enveloping…”

They go on to rave about the Thunderverb’s top-notch audiophile components (PCBs with gold-plated circuit tracks, anyone?) marriage-saving attenuation circuit––for dialing in serious gain at whisper quiet volume levels––and a plethora of goodies like a true tube-drive effects loop, spacious tube reverb, dual channels, and a Celestion-loaded 18-ply birch cabinet.

You can  check out the full review over at Guitar World’s website, but keep a tight clutch on your wallet… the Thunderverb 200 head is listing for a whopping $2,599.00, while the accompanying cabinet sells for a paltry $999.00.

The price we pay for “tone”…

Peavey’s entire Windsor line continues to garner great reviews, and I’m happy to see that Jarrod’s experience was no exception––with boutique Class A’s running in the thousands of dollars, it seems incredible that Peavey is selling these beauties for just under $400.

Thanks again, Jarrod. And without further ado…

Before the Purchase

I had been in the market for a new amplifier for a few months, as my Fender Blues Junior just wasn’t cutting it for me anymore. The Fender had a nice smooth tube sound, but tended to record very mid-dy, could not achieve a very high gain (not that it was supposed to), and had a broken reverb unit. The things I was looking for in an amp were:

A. A single 12“ speaker
B. A recording line out
C. The ability to get a good crunch at low volumes
D. A sub $500 price tag

Tubes were optional, although I had grown to love the gritty tube break-up sound. But I started playing guitar in the 80’s where a solid state Crate was all the rage. I do lots of home recording at all hours (hence the low volume requirement) , and play a handful of live gigs on electric guitar. I am a songwriter before a guitarist, so you must excuse the poor playing in the following audio clips. :)

I tested out and/or researched quite a few amps before I settled on the Peavey. A few Fenders which were all OK but didn’t blow me away. A Line 6 Spider that had tons of features but the tone just sounded… well, fake. A Mesa Boogie that was too high gain for my liking, a Vox Valvetronix that wasn’t bad but had too many buttons, etc… I read the description of the Peavey Windsor and thought ”Wow, that sounds exactly like what I’ve been looking for!“ The only downer is that no stores in my area stocked it, so I had to order it unplayed.

Plugging In

I got the amp three days later and unboxed it. The first thing I noticed is that it was much bigger than my Blues Junior. However it wasn’t too heavy and the handle seemed very sturdy AND comfortable. I plugged it in and let it warm up for a minute in standby (a feature my Fender did not have).  When I turned it on, I got a few weird hums and pops (the power tube wasn’t properly seated, an easy fix with no more problems). 

The first thing I noticed upon hitting a chord is that this guy has ALOT more gain than my Fender did. With the ”pre“ volume on 4 and master only on 1, I got quite a bit of crunch. I had to have the ”pre“ on 8 or 9 on my previous amp to get this sound.

Another immediate sound difference I noticed was the decrease in bass from my old amp. The Windsor is an open backed amp, so I had to crank the bass up to 11 (12 is the max) to get the sound I like. I tried the reverb, and while it at least worked, it really leaves something to be desired. It just sounded kind of cheap and ineffective. Luckily, I normally don’t use much reverb, or at least add it in later on recordings.

The amp also comes with a footswitchable ”preamp boost“ (no footswitch is included, although I had a generic one lying around) which I was excited about for live playing. However, I was initially disappointed with the boost. I had a great tone going before the boost but the instant I hit the switch, it’s like someone turned the Mid control up to 100. There is no way to adjust the EQ of the boost (it’s not a separate channel), so you either like it or you don’t. The good news is the first time I played the amp live, the boost sounded PERFECT. I guess Peavey knew what they were doing after all. For studio playing, I find myself always using the amp non boosted, which can get you some amazing tones.

A Closer Look

There are a couple of cool features on this amp I haven’t discussed. The first is an XLR out with built-in mic simulator. This can be used for recording or put into a PA system, but it does not silence or change the tone of the amp (in theory). That’s good, but what if I do want silent recording?

That leads me to my next feature, which is my favorite thing about the amp: the Power Sponge. This is basically the same feature that the Princeton Recording Amp has (for $600 more). It allows you to turn the actual volume down as low as you want without affecting your tone at all. So you can run your XLR out to a recorder while basically silencing your amp (it won’t 100% silence it, but it’s so quiet it wouldn’t wake a sleeping baby in the same room).

I’ve found that the Power Sponge seems to do almost nothing until it gets close to 20% power, then it rapidly decreases the volume. When I do this & record with the XLR out, I said it doesn’t change the amps tone ”in theory“. What I mean by that is the mic simulator DOES give you a different sound, but it is more in the EQ than the tone. The sound in my recorder is deeper and bassier than what was previously coming out of my speaker.

The last feature is one that tubeheads will really like: the ability to interchange power tubes from  EL34 (stock), to 6L6GC, 6550, 6CA7, KT88, KT66, KT77, KT90, or KT100. I haven’t yet changed the tube, but this is an exciting possibility.

Sound Clips

I recorded a few clips with two different guitars to give you a taste of the amp. They were recorded up close with a Zoom H2 recorder and sound a bit thin to me (I guess due to where the recorder was placed), but fairly realistic. The first four clips are recorded with a PRS CE22, the last two clips with a Fender American Deluxe HSS Strat.

1 - PRS - Preamp volume on 3.
2 - PRS - Preamp volume on 4 and footswitch ”boost“ added in the middle.
3 - PRS - Preamp volume on 8.
4 - PRS - Clean with reverb.
5 - Strat - Preamp volume on 4 and footswitch ”boost“ added near the end.
6 - Strat - Preamp volume on 6.

Overall

Although it’s not the worlds best amplifier, I feel that for under $400 you’d be hard pressed to find a more versatile and feature packed tube combo amp.

Sure, it could use some work on the Power Sponge adjustment, maybe pull back the gain a bit in the preamp, and a complete reverb overhaul, but these are things I can live with.

This is a great amp for someone (like me) who wants one multi-purpose amp to use for recording and small to mid-sized gigs. It may not have the power of a vintage Twin Reverb or the gain of a Dual Rectifier, but it hands down beats both of those amps in sheer versatility.

They’ve got a full eleven videos of the Spider Valver 212 Combo––covering everything from Twang to Blues––along with another six demos of the seriously shreddin’ HD100 Half-Stack.

It’s definitely worth taking a look if you’re in the market for a Spider Valve or perhaps just interested in seeing what the demon love-child of Bogner & Line 6 can really produce.

Oh yeah… and somebody put DJ Ashba’s hair out of its misery ;)

His review of Carr’s new Vincent 1x12” Combo––a heavily Class-A biased tube amp––is top notch, consisting of not only a full written review, but numerous photos (including a few under the hood to show off that point-to-point wring,) five audio clips with accompaniment, five video samples, and an audio interview with Steve Carr about the Vincent.

Really makes me wish I had room for yet another great tube amp in my arsenal… the Vincent is packing dual 6L6 output tubes, real tube-driven reverb, dual power levels––your pick of 7 or 33 watts––a fixed footswitchable boost, variable drive control, a hand-made solid pine cabinet, and a single 12” Eminence Wizard speaker.

Carr’s got a few sound samples of their own as well, but Steelbender.com’s are better––check out this piece showing off the Vincent’s clean setting with the reverb on full-tilt. Nice…

Today the company upped the ante when it announced three new additions to the Heritage Collection: the AC30H2 combo, AC30H2L combo (pictured here,) and the stacked AC30HH head with V212H cabinet.

Like the other amps in this series, the new models aren’t meant to be true vintage reissues––they’re basically monster hybrids of various classic VOX amplifiers; in this case combing the much-loved EF86 pre-amp channel, circa 1958, with a ‘63 Top Boost channel… all in a single amplifier.

The Specs  Full specs are yet to be published, but we do know that all three new models include dual channels (1. EF86 Pre-amp, 2. Top Boost Pre-amp,) hybrid vintage/contemporary styling, and an O/P switch that allows you to instantly switch from 30-watt Pentode Mode to 15-watt Triode Mode––effectively halving the power output for smoother tone.

I’ll be very interested to see how these classic hybrids really perform. As always, we’ll keep you informed as more info becomes available.

As usual, they’ve got a pretty decent demo video as well, though getting it to buffer smoothly can be a bit frustrating depending on your set-up.

Based on the the popular Fender Princeton Reverb circa the 1960s, the Princeton Recording Amp is kind of a modern/vintage hybrid of sorts––it offers the big, full tube tone of its predecessor, but with a few modern conveniences that make it particularly well suited for recording applications or live settings where extreme volume would simply be overkill.

Crank It Quietly  The whole aim of this amp is to produce “big” guitar tone at basically any volume setting, and Fender pulls this off with the help of a trans-impedance power attenuator––allowing you to crank the amp’s volume knob to really torture those vacuum tubes, and then just dial back the amp’s actual sound output via the attenuator knob.

Of course, that’s not all that the Princeton Recording Amp has to offer… the unit is outfitted with a 100% tube pre-amp and power amp (15 watts,) early Fender-style tube-driven reverb based on the much sought after ’65 Princeton Reverb, 10“ Jensen speaker, effects loop, ”speaker emulated“ line-level output, and a pair of foot-switchable stomp-box-style effects right onboard, including overdrive and a compressor.

Fender’s got some nice sound samples as well… check ‘em out.

The amp has apparently taken Guitar World Magazine’s Gold Award For Overall Value, and for a full-featured Class A-A/B guitar amp, the ValveKing 212 is actually fetching a surprisingly affordable street price of right around $600.

The Specs Stand-out features include a patented variable Class A-A/B controller that allows you to actually sweep between Class A and Class A/B power (plus any combination of the two,) 100 watts of power switchable into 16,8, or 4 ohms, dual independent and footswitchable channels, and a lead channel with footswitchable gain and volume boost.

The ValveKing also boasts three 12AX7 tubes in the pre-amp, four 6L6GCs in the power section, dual 12“ ValveKing speakers, independent three-band EQ, global Resonance, Presence and Reverb controls, and a buffered effects loop.

If the ValveKing 212 piques your interest you can check out a few of Peavey’s audio samples here—unfortunately, while there’s a like to a video demo over on their website, the video itself seems to have gone AWOL.

Not only Class A, but featuring an innovative power attenuating circuit that allows the amp to be played at 8, 2, 1/2 and just 1/10 watts “with no appreciable change in tone,” the Mini-Mercury apparently brings all of the hardware of its bigger brother into a smaller, lighter, and even more portable package.

The Mini-Mercury’s diminutive solid pine chassis (measuring 19.5” wide by 15” tall by 10” deep) is packed with an all-tube pre-amp (dual 12AX7s and a 12AT7,) a single-ended fixed bias JJ EL-34L power section, reverb circuit, 3-position boost switch, treble “cut” switch, bass, treble, and reverb controls, and a 10” Eminence “Lil Buddy” hemp cone speaker.

The amplifier is expected to fetch a painful $2,250.00 list price… ouch. I guess you can’t put a price on great tone.

If you’re lucky enough to own one of Randall’s MTS amps, or of course the custom Lynch Box, you’ll now be able to instantly access a number of Lynch’s classic amp tones just by swapping out one of your current pre-amp modules for one of the four new George Lynch Series modules––

• Super V – A clean module offering “Vox like” tone, with a shimmering high-end and warm low-end.
• Mr. Scary – Classic Lynchian heavy rhythm/lead tone circa the ’80s––think Dokken or Lynch Mob.
• Grail – The modern George Lynch sound––full-on “Rectifier” tone, with an accentuated low mid-range.
• Brahma – Hi-gain tone for Lynch’s classic rhythm sound… capture’s Lynch’s modified vintage Plexi tone.

Like the other modules in the MTS System, the George Lynch Signature Series modules are basically complete tube pre-amp front-ends loaded into a compact package, and easily swapped in and out of any of the MTS guitar amplifiers in a simple plug & play manner.

Each module contains a pair of easily changeable 12AX7 pre-amp tubes, while front panel controls include Gain, Bass, Mid, Treble, and Level knobs, and a Bright switch. Street prices appear to be running around $240.

Well, it looks like the cat’s finally out of the bag… Line 6 has been alluding to something big for the last few weeks, and today they finally let us in on it.

In a collaboration with renowned tube-amp maker Bogner, Line 6 has apparently developed a whole new line of hybrid guitar amps––dubbed Spider Valve––that offer the best of both worlds: a digital modeling front-end paired with a set of 12AX7 preamp tubes, and powered by a pair of matched 6L6 power tubes driving Celestion Vintage 30 speakers.

The Spider Valve line will initially be available in three configurations––a 100-watt head, a 2x12” 40-watt combo, and a 1x12” 40-watt combo––and the front-end will boast 12 of Line 6’s best amp models based on classic guitar rigs, not to mention seven digital effects, including phaser, chorus, flanger, tremolo, sweep echo, tape echo, and reverb.

You can get more info over on the Line 6 website, where they’ve posted a few demo movies, a photo gallery, and of course full specs.

I guess it was only a matter time.

I don’t know about you, but as a dyed-in-the-wool tube fanatic the idea of effortlessly hopping back and forth between entirely different tube pre-amps whenever the mood takes me is more than a bit mouth-watering…

The MTS modules (right,) which are based on the tone circuitry from classic Fender, Marshall, Vox and Randall guitar amps, are apparently built to easily swap in and out of the various MTS series amplifiers (via slots very similar to PC cards,) allowing tone-hungry guitarists to haul around up to four different tube pre-amps right in their rig.

While the current batch of swappable pre-amp modules aren’t particularly cheap––they’ll set you back anywhere from $249 to $349 (list price)––IMHO that seems like a very small price to pay for this kind of tonal versatility; particularly for the gigging musician. According to Randall, pre-amps come in a variety of flavors, including––

• Tweed - Big bottom end with a biting gain circuit. Ideal for blues tones
• Blackface - Legendary clean tone with cutting mid-range and sparking highs
• SL+ - Gain and punch able to handle anything from Zakk Wylde to Led Zeppelin
• Top Boost - Chimy hi-end ranging from classic Tom Petty to Lenny Kravitz
• DLX - Country lovers will enjoy the great mid-range and top end
• Clean - Perfect clean tone for jazz and blues guitarist
• XTC - Superior all-ground hi-gain module that covers any rock tone
• Ultra - Metal tone with extreme hi-gain, tight low end and liquid sustain
• Treadplate - Nu-Metal tone with strong mid-range
• UltraXL - Modern hi-gain with liquid gain, tight bottom end with cutting upper mid-range
• JTM - Classic mid-gain tone with huge bottom end

The amps themselves come in 20, 50 and 100-watt versions, and are available as both heads or combo amps. MTS pre-amp modules can be mixed & matched in any combination… clean & shimmering? Check. Guttural & nasty? Check. High-Gain insanity? Sounds like fun.

The big news here is that the amp, which was developed in conjunction with legendary Queen guitar-man Brian May, is nearly devoid of controls––the custom blood red control panel is graced with just a single chicken-head volume knob, a power switch, and a standby switch.

Simplicity itself. Now that’s my kind of amplifier.

Of course, there’s a method to the madness––for more than 30 years May’s immaculate tone has been built around the AC30’s Normal Channel, bolstered upfront by a custom treble/mid boost pedal, and the AC30BM was built to replicate his stripped-down set-up without any extraneous circuitry or complexity.

To  keep things authentic, VOX even included May’s boost circuit, though to keep things simple they built it right into the amp, and it’s controlled via footswitch. The amplifier can also run in both 15-watt & 30-watt modes, and according to Vintage Guitar Magazine it sounds equally good in both, making the Brian May AC30 a no-brainer for everything from home and small venue use, to long nights in a large club.

Of course there’s a catch––VOX is only making 500 of these beauties worldwide, with a measly 200 making it to the US market.

Son of a…

I tend to be fairly six-string-centric around here, but yesterday I came across so many interesting bass guitar links I thought I’d better lay ‘em down for you.

Marshall this week announced a new line of bass amplifiers, titled the MB Series. The amps appear to run the full gamut, from the tiny 15-watt MB15 combo (1x8” speaker,) all the way up to the 450-watt MB450H head and the 1200-watt MBC810 cabinet (8x10” speakers.)

In current Marshall fashion, even the smallest and cheapest of the series feature some nice extras, including a mid-voice control, switchable compression, and dual channels––both Modern and Classic. Full specs are yet to be posted.

Moving right along, Peavey is running a contest to give away a Jack Daniel’s bass signed by the grandfather of ferocious, snarling, headbanging bass playing––yep, you guessed it––Lemmy from Motorhead (is this guy ever gonna’ die?) I don’t know much about Peavey’s Jack Daniel’s line, but why look a gift horse in the mouth, right? (boy, that’s a saying that must lose a lot in translation, eh?)

Oh yeah, and ESP, who got onto the “Relic” bandwagon earlier this year with their Vintage Series guitars is apparently offering a limited run of Vintage-4 basses, based on the 400 Series instruments that first made it to U.S. shores back in the 1980s. The instruments, of course, have been “distressed” to replicate the worn & torn mojo of a well-played instrument, and are pretty damned good looking if you ask me.

In true face-off fashion, the guys at GP have compared one of Fender’s recent Vintage Reissue ‘65 Fender Super Reverbs with the real thing––a thoroughly worn-in Super Reverb, circa 1964.

I won’t spoil the suspense by cluing you in on their findings, but suffice it to say the author went all out, even going so far as to plug that original ‘64 head into the reissue’s 4x10 Jensens––just to see how much of the ’64s mojo could be attributed to its rather war-torn speakers.

This one’s well worth a read if you’re in the market for a “new vintage” amp, particularly when you consider that an original mid-60s Super Reverb won’t cost you all that much more than one of Fender’s expensive reissues. Check it out.

Also, Marshall has posted a pretty impressive demo video of their Zakk Wylde Microstack––the shrunk-down and surprisingly affordable re-creation of Wylde’s infamous “Wall of Doom.”

Unfortunately, Marshall doesn’t use permalinks on their site, so you’ll have to navigate there yourself:

Follow this link, click on the Marshall Theatre logo in the top right corner, and then move your mouse to the right until you see the Zakk Wylde Demo button. Well worth a look if you’re considering purchasing one of these, or even if you’re just interested to see how much mayhem Marshall can coax out of a micro-sized stack.

And they call it the Verbrovibe.

Seeing as how Fender built the original for only a year or so (and actually, a quick browse through the original Fender serial numbers suggests that just 500 units were built,) not to mention the exorbitant prices that a real ‘63 Brown Vibroverb would fetch assuming you could even find one, offering a replica seems like a no-brainer.

According to Headstrong, the Verbrovibe accurately recreates the look, feel, and most importantly tone of the ‘63 Brown Vibroverb at a price that won’t cause terminal heart-clutching.

The company made use of custom built Heyboer transformers, custom made Weber ceramic speakers, solid pine finger jointed cabinets, and a full complement of vacuum tubes (one JJ 5AR4 rectifier, two TAD 6L6WGCs for power, and six EH 12AX7s in the pre-amp,) to re-create the Brown Reverb in all its simple glory: 2 channels, Reverb, Tremolo, and tons of old-school tone.

The Headstrong Verbrovibe also comes in a number of different configurations, including four different combo models, a head only version, and is available with extra speakers and even custom colors (but why mess with a classic?)

HEADS-UP: Check out their great video demos of the Verbrovibe––they’ve got 26 in all, combining the amp with Strats, Teles and even an ES335.

Online German guitar retailer ProGuitar has built an exhaustive section on their website dedicated to comparing some of the top guitar amplifiers, including high-quality recordings made with both Strats & Les Pauls, and covering both clean & dirty settings.

They’ve got mp3 samples of a whopping 69 different amplifiers, covering 24 different manufacturers, including Matchless, Marshall, Orange, Budda, Bad Cat, Fender, Vox, Mesa, Bogner and more.

This one’s going straight into my bookmarks, as it should come in handy for anyone in the research phase of purchasing a new guitar amp. Well worth a look––check it out!

Anyways, all guitar politics aside, this looks like a seriously fun package––Epiphone has teamed up with Power Block & Year One to give away a candy apple red ‘69 Camaro clone, a matching Epiphone Firebird, and an Epi Blues Custom tube amp… that’s whole lot of retro goodness, and one of the better guitar “contests” I’ve seen in quite some time.

You can check out the official rules, and sign-up for a chance to win at Power Block’s Muscle Car Giveaway page (Sorry, Contest Deadline Passed.) Good luck!

Anyways, this morning I stumbled across a pretty decent review of the 1974X over at Guitar World’s website, and they’ve got an excellent video demo to boot.

The amp is basically a single-channel rocker disguised as a dual-channel (you’ll need an A/B box,) and built to reproduce Marshall’s original low-wattage model 1974, circa the late ’60s––All tube. Onboard Tremolo. 18-watts of power. 12” speaker. Vintage grille cloth. That’s about it.

True plug ‘n play. Check it out!