Looking for some learned advice ..
I have a yamaha thr10c as my first amp, for home use, which is quite versatile, but I do not need all the styles - it's a bit like a swiss army knife, and the main thing is that it does not have enough output, when the wife is out, great to have a headphone socket when she is in though. I am a learner doing lots of practice, and my favoured style is rock, so pink floyd, led zepp, some bowie, free, wishbone ..
So I want more output, and I really like the sound of valve amps demo'd for me, the fender bassbreaker 007 comes to mind. I think a 10w valve job is plenty for my needs, and I don't want to iterate more than I have to, but the continuing need for a headphone output seems limiting.
The only amp I have found so far, that suits function-wise, is the brunetti maranello metropolitan 10w 2ch, but the price is well pricey.
Any ideas on alternatives, and any thoughts on the brunetti?
Many thanks
David
-site:amazon.co.uk -site:ebay.co.uk... ditto for .com, the most powerful internet search filters
Comments
I just bought a zoom g1on pedal recently which is way more fun than going into the back of the headphone output on my lionheart. Plus i love the drum track and looper features.
http://www.ratvalveamps.com/dummy-load
Please request a 4, 8-or-16 Ohm Unit when Ordering
I'm unclear from the way its worded whether there are
(a) 3 versions ie 4 ohm unit, 8 Ohm unit, 16 Ohm unit or
(b) only two versions ie a 4 Ohm unit and a unit that can either be used for 8 or 16 Ohm speaker sockets.
Can anyone clarify?
I'm not a techie, but I was just wondering why they didn't design the unit to be switchable - would that have been a lot harder to do?
With a valve amp you can't even have a headphone output without either an onboard dummy load or a way of muting the power amp when the headphones are in use, and driving them separately.
There are some valve amps with emulated headphone outs though, eg the Blackstar HTs, the Marshall DSL5 and some Mesa models.
Another problem is that by turning the speakers off, the headphone jack introduces another potential failure point... this is quite common on older amps where the jack has probably never been used for years, if at all - the contact point often gets corroded and stops the amp working.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
With regard to the reliability question with some amplifier headphone outputs can I just say that the HT-5 IS, AFAIK, unique in its implementation?
The H/P out IS emulated* but does not interrupt the main signal path through the amplifier so even if the socket failed (never had one bork!) the main speaker and PA will still work. The H/P circuit is an entirely separate solid state section which, when the plug is inserted, "gates" a FET to remove the drive to the PI and hence the valve OP stage.
Note: Some very, very early Fives had a problem in that the transistor in the gating circuit was temperature sensitive and gave erratic operation. A simple, single resistor value change fixed the trouble.
*Emulation is of course in the lap of personal taste. You can't please 'em all!
Dave.
I suspect 2 Watts of valvey goodness would be plenty loud enough for indoors.
Thanks everyone for your comments, very useful in straightening out in my mind what I am actually looking for.
I’ve fallen for the valve sound, will forget the headphone connectivity, and keep the thr10c for that, but add a valve amp to complement my set-up. I think this is the GAS syndrome everyone talks about. But it should come in at half the cost of the brunetti, good looking though it is.
I have the thr10c dialled up full, with reputed 10w output, and I don’t find the same tonal qualities that I’ve heard from tube amps of the same wattage. i assume this is a function of solid state versus tube and larger speaker.
The thing now is the right valve job, one that has switchable power, like the marshall dsl5 suggested here, but up to 15W perhaps, as I’ve heard it said that a dialled down tube amp sounds better than a higher output model dialled up to max. I try and buy british made, or at worst european. I think the marshalls are british made. Here’s my shortlist to try out ..
marshall dsl5
vox ac4tv 4w/1w/.25w; ac10c1; ac15
vht special 6 6w
blackstar ht5r
fender bassbreaker 007
laney cub 8
peavey?
If you aren't worried about headphones then why not go up a peg.
The Bassbreaker 15 is a lovely thing and not much more £. I have seen reports of noisy FX loops on those though.
There's also an Ibanez tubescreamer amp in that price range that supposed to be pretty good, at least according to what I've read on forums.
https://www.andertons.co.uk/p/TSA15H/guitar-amp-heads/ibanez-tsa15h-15w-tube-screamer-amp-head
There are also second hand options. You could maybe pickup a second hand Mesa Studio 22, DC3 or 5:25 for similar money.
FWIW, Dawsons have quite a nice way of being able to sort amps by e.g. valve, low power output etc.....
http://www.dawsons.co.uk/guitars/guitar-amps
Finally, make sure that whatever you but has fine control of the volume via the master. Even a 5W valve amp can be LOUD