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Tube AMPS for low volumes

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6/18/1998 10:42 PM

Tube AMPS for low volumes

I need a high quality tube amp that can sound good without ear-splitting volume (apartment life for now). I have a PRS CE22 with Dragons.
I like tones ala television/tom verlaine, Pixies, Dire Straits, U2 but some Zeppelin (Phys Graf)and Soungarden tones would be nice too.
Would Egnater TOL 50 be suitable?
How about Top Hat Club Royale?
Would like some opinions before long trips or shipping costs incurred to check some of these out.
Please help a novice!

6/23/1998 6:38 AM

My best advise is this:

Marshall 1987 plexi re-issue ($550 used) or ($800 new)

A Marshall Power Break or similar inductive load device ($270)

A used single 12' closed cabinet ($150 used) - the Boogies are my fav.

This will cost under 1K if every thing is used. But this will give you apartment level distortion and is also something you can take to the "club" for a gig.

Best of both worlds!!

Mook

6/23/1998 11:24 AM
Mark Buckingham	I don't know what kind of cash you want to spend, but lexicon has a stereo class a high gain amp out now. It has recording outputs, and all that. The ad I saw said it puts out 6 watts, not sure if that is per side or total. From the picture I saw, it looks like there is one el-84 per side. Oh yeah. It's suggested price is $999.00

6/23/1998 1:48 PM

Mark,

I believe that John McIntyre of the "Bluesmaker" and "Prince O'Wails" mod fame designed this amp for Lexicon. Actodyne/Lace's website used to sell McIntyre's amp, but I don't believe it is available sans the "jukebox-type" cabinet that they call Lace Electro furniture.

If it is similar or the same as the one he designed for Lexicon, I believe that there is a Bluesmaker preamp stage in there with two 3 watt SE EL-84 output sections.

Also according to AGI's website, Shawn Lane used MacIntyre's 3 watt amp to record the "Time is the Enemy" CD with Jonas Hellbord. I have this CD and the tone on that album is phenominal, IMHO.

Regards,

Steve

6/24/1998 7:53 AM

Mark Buckingham

>I believe that John McIntyre of the >"Bluesmaker"

Yup. I looked at the ad again. Has "designed by John McIntyre" right on the front panel.

>I believe that there is a Bluesmaker preamp >stage in there
>with two 3 watt SE EL-84 output sections.

That has got to sound good. So at 3 watts a side, you could crank that baby up nicely.

I know it sounds good, but can you compare it to anything? (Or at least the tone on your CD?)

Hmmm. How do I convience my wife I need a $999.00 6 watt guitar amp?

6/26/1998 12:49 PM
Earl	Borrow a friend's Ampeg SVT for a weekend for pratice around the house. Be sure to crank it up to get the good tone. If the police visit, it might not be so hard a sell!

6/29/1998 2:04 PM

Hi Mark,

I listened to "Time is the Enemy again this weekend.

>That has got to sound good. So at 3 watts > a side, you could crank that baby up
> nicely.

It's hard for me to tell what's going on, but it sounds like the amp is cranked and patched into the PA.

>I know it sounds good, but can you > compare it to anything? (Or at least the
> tone on your CD?)

It sounds like fat power tube distortion, I'd say there is not a lot of preamp distortion there althought the tone is pretty distorted. It has the "violin" quality IMHO.

> Hmmm. How do I convience my wife I
> need a $999.00 6 watt guitar amp?

Why not build one?

It's definitely on my list of projects (with about 20 others). Vox and Mullard both have SE EL-84 schematics, and MacIntyre did publish his Bluesmaker schematic, althought I would assume that there are differences between what he published and what he actually builds.

Hope this helps,

Steve M.

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