Members Rindgecore Posted January 3, 2006 Members Share Posted January 3, 2006 Alright, heres the dilemma: I want a new sound, and I'm trying to decide wether or not I should just get an all tube setup for my rack (IE: Mesa Studio into my Classic 60), or just go for an all tube head. My other guitar player is telling me I should just get a head, that it'll sound better than a tube preamp going into a tube power amp. This is all fine and dandy, but I am quite the broke ass bastard. I'm leaning towards just getting a new preamp due to the money factor, but will the relationships between the pre and power amps not be as organic as a head? Any help/opinions would be greatly appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rindgecore Posted January 3, 2006 Author Members Share Posted January 3, 2006 bump Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Oblivion DC Posted January 3, 2006 Members Share Posted January 3, 2006 There are those who beleive that what makes a tube amp sound good is the interplay between the pre/power tubes in the amp. Personally I love the way my head sounds, when I had a Triaxis (about ten years ago) I was never really happy with the way it sounded. But that could also be atributable to my own inexperiance. Why don't you go shopping for gear and do some road testing until you find the gear you want to go home with? It's the only way to be sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Cougar Hunter Posted January 3, 2006 Members Share Posted January 3, 2006 I swapped out preamps and power amps, and guitars, pickups, effects, cables, picks, strings, boosters, etc. for years. then I realized I hated my cabs and speakers. I got a VHT pitbull cab, and now everything sounds great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members id-man Posted January 3, 2006 Members Share Posted January 3, 2006 Forgive me if I'm missing the obvious...You already have a rack with a separate preamp and power amp, and they're NOT tube units now? (and money is an issue?). Then, personally I'd go for a tube power amp with a low enough power rating that you can peg the volume to at least 1/2 or 3/4 before getting too loud for your intended playing volume. That will let your existing preamp drive the power amp into natural, power-tube overdrive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Cougar Hunter Posted January 3, 2006 Members Share Posted January 3, 2006 Originally posted by id-man Forgive me if I'm missing the obvious... You already have a rack with a separate preamp and power amp, and they're NOT tube units now? (and money is an issue?). Then, personally I'd go for a tube power amp with a low enough power rating that you can peg the volume to at least 1/2 or 3/4 before getting too loud for your intended playing volume. That will let your existing preamp drive the power amp into natural, power-tube overdrive. The mesa studio pre and peavey classic 60 are both tube units. I think this guy dislikes his preamp tone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members id-man Posted January 3, 2006 Members Share Posted January 3, 2006 If your current poweramp is already tube, then try one with a different output tube for a totally different flavor of overdrive. If it's a 6L6 now then try something with 6V6 or EL84. Just make sure you can crank it a bit. Either way, I'd put the power amp way ahead of the preamp in defining the character of a rig. Alternatively, if your power amp is SS but you want to keep it, you might benefit from a small tube head that has a SLAVE out. Adjust preamp and power amp on the head to the distortion level of your choice, and send that signal into your SS power amp on a clean setting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members vrm Posted January 3, 2006 Members Share Posted January 3, 2006 check his sig, i believe he's using a POD Pro into the classic 60. I would suggest getting a preamp. i'v heard clips of the JMP-1 that sound killer as well as the ADA mp-1 that should sound nice w/ that power amp. The mesa stuff your contemplating is an obvious choice as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members id-man Posted January 3, 2006 Members Share Posted January 3, 2006 Originally posted by guitarslinger213 The mesa studio pre and peavey classic 60 are both tube units. I think this guy dislikes his preamp tone. Ok, I see his sig now. Got it. A Classic 60/60 poweramp is 4 6l6 valves paired with 3 12AX7's (I looked it up). It sounds like an old Peavey Truimph 120 I used to have which was not stereo, just all 4 6v6's running hellbent for leather to the tune of 120 watts, all in my living room. Good Christ you simply could NOT get that thing to overdrive and be in the same room with it. LOUD AS {censored}. Rindgecore, if you're not playing some mighty big rooms with that amp, and even if you are, you might really enjoy trying something smaller and with an easier to overdrive output tube. Then again, there's a lot to be said for having gobs of clean headroom when you want it. Which brings me back to the tube head / slave idea. I'll be curious to hear what you end up doing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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