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VK6V6MV

  • Features:
  • Sound Quality:
  • Reliability/Durability:
  • Ease of Use:
  • Customer Support:
  • Overall Rating:
  • Brand:
    Aston Electronics
  • Model:
    VK6V6MV
Tags: tax#aqa brand#astonelectronics

Reviews

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Reviewer Background:
Semi-Professional
Purchased From:
Aston Electronics
Price:
EUR170.00 EUR
Features:

Features aren't that many, but it depends on what you're looking for. For me it has all it needs for a very TONEfull single channel amp. Less is more!

Front: Tone, Volume, Master Volume

Back: 8 ohm, 16 ohm and headphone output

Not too many components in the signal chain, therefore no tone sucking what so ever.

Sound Quality:

Sound is very subjective. I built it into a combo housing made from 18 mm solid wood, with a half open back. The speaker I used is a Jensen P10R speaker. The sound and control descriptions from the reviewers before me are absolutely correct! Very interactive tone and volume controls, nice compression like overdrive from the master volume.

 

The stock delivered 12AX7 is a nameless one, but looks exactly like a JJ 12AX7. The 6V6 is actually a russian 6n6p. With the stock tubes I got a really nice Fenderish sound! Great in combination with a strat or tele. You want vintage Fender tone, stick with these!

 

However I did some experimenting with other tubes. First I tried a TAD 6L6WGC-STR with the stock 12AX7, I found it to be rather harsh sounding compared to the 6V6, it did sound better when I used it with a 2x12G12H30 cab though.

Next I tried a Tungsol 5881 tube with a Tungsol 12AX7, this combination is the best one in my opinion! Excellent overdrive with the Volume and still a lot of headroom when cranking up the master volume, this also adds a very nice compression rather then overdrive to the sound, very rich sounding!

Finally I replaced the 12AX7 with a NOS 5751 to tame the preamp a bit. This trick works particularly well if you need a clean(er) sound at nearly full volume(s). Downside is that it removes the interactive magic when playing with your guitarvolume to break-up the amp into a nice overdrive.

I returned the tubes to the Tungsol 12AX7 and 5881 which I like best. However I want to try a KT-66 to see if the amp will become a bit more JTM-ish.

Geoff told me a friend of him swears by a 6551, which is like a KT-88. i might want to try that one as well.

 

Great platform for experimenting! My experiences with the tubes are with the P10R Jensen speaker, using other speakers may make a huge difference in the overall sound experience though! I get a lot of compliments about how excellent it sounds from my friends and band mates. This amp sounds particularly well with my Classic Player Strat and Am.Std Tele.

 

For use in a band however it's barely keeping up with the drummer, but add a mic in front of it and you have a great sounding backup amp on stage! During rehearsals it's good for rhytms but lead tones miss just that extra bit of bite. More efficient speakers may help a bit, but it's no rocket science that a 5 watt amp has some troubles keeping up with a full band. It accepts pedals very well, very nice with a TS808 and Wah in front of it.

Reliability/Durability:

It's point to point wired and soldered and is built like a tank, I used it during rehearsals without problems. Also all the parts needed for the enclosure are included to finish the amp safely. It's up to the builder wheter to make a Top or combo enclosure.

The quality of the electrical components are also of very high quality, and the kit contains all you need to finish the amp.

Ease of Use:

Three controls, how difficult can it be....but the controls are very, very responsive and usefull throughout their range!

Headphone output is also very usefull (when the kids are asleep) and sounds rather nice, not as good with a speaker though, but that is evident off course.

Customer Support:

If you have any questions Geoff from Aston Electronics is very helpfull and replies very quickly.

Overall Rating:

If you're a metalhead, don't bother bying this kit. But if you're into TONE and great interaction between guitarpicking, guitar volume/tone controls in combination with the amp for some of the nicest clean, crunch and overdrive sounds this is it!

0 Comments Tags: tax#aqa brand#astonelectronics
Reviewer Background:
semi-professional
Purchased From:
Aston Electronics
Price:
EUR176.00 EUR
Features:

Rather straight up no frills: tone, volume and master volume controls, 8 and 16 ohm speaker outs plus an excellent headphone output.

 

The simplicity of the amp appealed to me. I am a chronic sound tweaker and having played extensively Ampeg, Music Man and Marshall; this bare bones amp has a certain charm that I greatly appreciate.

Sound Quality:

The sound is impressive. Though this is a 5 watt kit, it has professional quality.

 

The first thing I noticed was the bass (I'm comparing with a Marshall Studio 15 / 4001 - JCM800 series - admittedly known to be bass challenged); the Vintage 5 gives a distinct, crisp bottom that makes me smile from ear to ear. No wrestling with this amp to get a good sound. The tone control is fully useful for softening or sharpening an always good tone when switching from pickup to pickup or Les Paul to Strat.

 

Up to volume 5 tones are clean, 7 has grit and 10 grind (Doobie Brothers "China Grove-ish"). The volume does not cause ear bleeding but has caused ear ringing. I've not tried it with a full blown band and doubt that it would carry over a drum kit without being mic-ed, but with my band of electric guitar (moi), keyboard, acoustic guitar, bass, flute and percussion, this is just perfect. At home I use an attenuator because it is very definitely too loud for the neighbors, not to mention my dog.

 

I play blues so prefer power amp saturation more than pre-amp distortion. The volume / master volume controls allow me to dial in the tube saturation emphasizing either the 12AX7 & or power tube. Right now I have a 5751 and a KT-88 which makes a creamy couple. I don't know how much is the speaker (I go back and forth between a Weber Vintage AlNiCo 10A100 and a Celestion Heritage Greenback G12M) and how much is the amplifier but I consistently get pleasing compression. I like being able to swap tubes in and out without rebiasing: 6V6, 6L6, EL34, KT-88 all work nicely.

Reliability/Durability:

I can't comment too much as I've only been playing it for a month or so. I built it however and would know how to repair it if I incur problems.

 

At one point during assembly I ran into all-too-low value readings so took it to a technician. He was impressed with the quality of the components and asked for the name of the manufacturer (Aston) in case he wanted to stock some parts in his electronics store. That was encouraging. The problem ended up being a transformer that had a malfunctioning section because it was wound too tightly. Geoff Pugh sent me a new one, no problem, and the new one works perfectly.

Ease of Use:

The Vintage 5w is hyper-easy to use.

 

The assembly documentation is however not for total novices. Though I had some moments of frustration I was not looking for a paint-by-numbers kit and so this was just right. I do not have massive amounts of experience in electronics so ended up doing Google searches for basic things (e.g. Does a resistor have polarity? Which would play upon the direction in which one solders it to the board). I'd say the documentation is more conceptual which helped me to learn much about amp building as I read Gerald Weber and investigated things out of curiosity and necessity. Geoff Pugh was great to work with and warned me that this kit required a bit of experience and of course soldering ability.

Customer Support:

The reason I purchased from Aston as opposed to some of the other possibilities was I saw that Geoff Pugh also makes his own line of professional amplifiers (Volt) so I assumed he was knowledgeable which turned out to be the case. He always got back to me in a timely fashion (one-three days) by email or when I was in a hurry I picked up the phone and he was there to help.

 

The big bonus was that I told him the sound I was looking for and he included extra resistors to mod it. Once I completed the amp Geoff gave me suggestions for increasing bite and overdrive. I swapped resistors in and out until I got the sound just right.

Overall Rating:

A great simple amp that can be enjoyably played at 8 volume.

The tone is delicious.

Geoff Pugh went beyond the call of duty in proposing modifications for tailoring the sound.

0 Comments Tags: tax#aqa brand#astonelectronics
Reviewer Background:
Purchased From:
Aston Electronics
Price:
Features:
When complete, the amp has a 12AX7 preamp valve and a 6V6 power tube. The front panel has: guitar input, tone, volume, master volume, neon, standby switch, power on switch. On the rear there is: 240V mains socket, 8 ohm and 16 ohm speaker output, headphone output. The chassis is folded aluminium with the transformers mounted through the top and the two valves also top mounted. A base plate and stick-on rubber feet are also provided to turn the chassis into a safe, fully enclosing box. It's got all the features I wanted.
Sound Quality:
For an amp with only three controls this little box has more versatility than one may first expect. Keeping the tone, volume and master volume set between 4 and 6 the amp produces a clean sound that is both crisp and warm. For me, it brings to mind the sound of a blackface fender amp. This tone works really well with my strat. Every nuance of my playing is fed to the speaker. Turning the tone down below 2 takes enough edge off the tone to give a warm round tone suitable for low volume jazz. Turn the tone up above 7 while the volume is set low and you get enough treble to slice through anything. Learning how the tone and volume controls interact is the key to using this amp. If the tone is set higher that the volume, the treble starts to stand out. Don¿¿¿t get me wrong this is not a criticism. I love simple single knob tone control. It is very easy to set and usable across it¿¿¿s entire range of 0 to 10. Now hears were this amp shows it¿¿¿s muscle. If you leave the master volume set below 7 then turn the volume up above 7, preamp distortion appears. It¿¿¿s the type of distortion comes in and out smoothly relative to your pick attack. The distortion affects the upper mids and so, allows chord voicing without completely breaking up harmonies, nice. If you turn the volume back to 6 and now wind up the master volume, power amp distortion comes in. This is more compression than distortion. It¿¿¿s solid and fat, without the fizz of the preamp distortion. Of course you can blend the pre and power amp distortion to your own requirement, very neat. For me this amp produces all the low gain tones I look for in a great blues amp. Don¿¿¿t be fooled by the 5W power rating. When is thing is putting out power amp distortion it is way too loud for bedroom use. However, the headphone socket, which is taken from the output transformer, does offer the possibility of sampling power amp distortion at a lower volume level.
Reliability/Durability:
If you do a good job of building this amp it should last as long as an original 1950¿¿¿s hand wired amp.
Ease of Use:
Customer Support:
Excellent. Any problems, you can contact the amps designer directly. Geoff replies quickly and makes you feel he is genuinely interested in your build. Some of the instructions need to be modified to suit this new model. This did not cause me any real problems but may be confusing for people with less experience of schematics.
Overall Rating:
This is a nice quality product at a reasonable price. It has been carefully designed based on some classic valve amp circuits. However, this amp is not just a clone. The preamp stage may be similar to that found in a JTM45 or Tweed Deluxe. The tone circuit may be based on a Fender Tweed amp and, the cathode-biased 6V6 circuit may be very similar to that found in a 1950¿¿¿s Fender Champ. However, certain resistor and capacitor values have been adjusted to make these individual elements interact together very well. I¿¿¿m very surprised just how classy this little 5W amp sounds. It¿¿¿s definitely going to be my main practice amp.
0 Comments Tags: tax#aqa brand#astonelectronics
Reviewer Background:
Purchased From:
Aston Electronics
Price:
Features:
When complete, the amp has a 12AX7 preamp valve and a 6V6 power tube. The front panel has: guitar input, tone, volume, master volume, neon, standby switch, power on switch. On the rear there is: 240V mains socket, 8 ohm and 16 ohm speaker output, headphone output. The chassis is folded aluminium with the transformers mounted through the top and the two valves also top mounted. A base plate and stick-on rubber feet are also provided to turn the chassis into a safe, fully enclosing box.
Sound Quality:
For an amp with only three controls this little box has more versatility than one may first expect. Keeping the tone, volume and master volume set between 4 and 6 the amp produces a clean sound that is both crisp and warm. For me, it brings to mind the sound of a blackface fender amp. This tone works really well with my strat. Every nuance of my playing is fed to the speaker. Turning the tone down below 2 takes enough edge off the tone to give a warm round tone suitable for low volume jazz. Turn the tone up above 7 while the volume is set low and you get enough treble to slice through anything. Learning how the tone and volume controls interact is the key to using this amp. If the tone is set higher that the volume, the treble starts to stand out. Don¿¿¿t get me wrong this is not a criticism. I love simple single knob tone control. It is very easy to set and usable across it¿¿¿s entire range of 0 to 10. Now hears were this amp shows it¿¿¿s muscle. If you leave the master volume set below 7 then turn the volume up above 7, preamp distortion appears. It¿¿¿s the type of distortion comes in and out smoothly relative to your pick attack. The distortion affects the upper mids and so, allows chord voicing without completely breaking up harmonies, nice. If you turn the volume back to 6 and now wind up the master volume, power amp distortion comes in. This is more compression than distortion. It¿¿¿s solid and fat, without the fizz of the preamp distortion. Of course you can blend the pre and power amp distortion to your own requirement, very neat. For me this amp produces all the low gain tones I look for in a great blues amp. Don¿¿¿t be fooled by the 5W power rating. When is thing is putting out power amp distortion it is way too loud for bedroom use. However, the headphone socket, which is taken from the output transformer, does offer the possibility of sampling power amp distortion at a lower volume level.
Reliability/Durability:
If you do a good job of building this amp it should last as long as an original 1950¿¿¿s hand wired amp.
Ease of Use:
Customer Support:
Excellent. Any problems, you can contact the amps designer directly. Geoff replies quickly and makes you feel he is genuinely interested in your build. As this is a new model in the range, the paper work was not completely up-together. This did not cause any big problems I could not sort out myself. If necessary, I feel sure Geoff would have quickly clarified any confusing paperwork.
Overall Rating:
This is a nice quality product at a reasonable price. It has been carefully designed based on some classic valve amp circuits. However, this amp is not just a clone. The preamp stage may be similar to that found in a JTM45 or Tweed Deluxe. The tone circuit may be based on a Fender Tweed amp and, the cathode-biased 6V6 circuit may be very similar to that found in a 1950¿¿¿s Fender Champ. However, certain resistor and capacitor values have been adjusted to make these individual elements interact together very well. I¿¿¿m very surprised just how classy this little 5W amp sounds. It¿¿¿s definitely going to be my main practice amp.
0 Comments Tags: tax#aqa brand#astonelectronics

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