Suggestions for a small combo

[Bluedawg]

Originally Posted by Chris S.

Ahhh... perhaps you should have said so earlier.

I don't have opinions on gear I haven't heard.

And I still say they sound hot.

What you call hot,others call noisy.

Great world, ain't it? :-) Room for all kinds of opinions. Personally I try not to spend a lot of time on the DPs bad-mouthing other people's equipment -- after all, they might actually like their gear -- but that's just me.

Huh? Which manufacturers? Victoria? Allen? Mathes? Where are their "high-gain" monsters? Oh, wait, I'm sorry -- they make amps that are exacting replicas of the old Fenders.

I'm talking about Crate,new Fender amps,and of course Peavey,Marshall.
Disposable PCB junk.

Again, I'm not equating anything. I didn't say the Crate was like a vintage Fender amp -- it's NOT. They're different. YOU'RE the one who made the (rather foolish) blanket statement that "EL84s suck." I didn't paint you into a lame-brained corner. Your paint, your brush -- I just watched you do it.

All depends on the gig, but yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. I also own a $5000 archtop

Gee,I only spent $2300.00 on mine(Heritage 575)

and a Custom Shop Nocaster, but on some gigs I prefer to play a $400 MIM 60s Tele.

Oh man,I just have a MIM 50's Tele.

So what? If I'm playing a small room and don't want to haul in a big amp that I won't be able to turn up past 3 anyway, sure, I'll take the little Crate. And when I have taken it out for gigs, it's sounded great. I understand that your limited capacities may make that hard for you to understand, but you're just gonna have to take my word for it. I was there.

No limited capacities,I just can't understand why you would buy a Crate instead of a smaller version of some of the nicer stuff you have,doesn't make sense.

We can keep beating this particular dead horse as long as you want, but I gotta tell ya -- given the fact that the amp's been working well for me, the chances of your convincing me that it doesn't sound good are pretty slim.

CS

I don't want to beat a dead horse either,but if you were only going to have one amp,like the original poster,would you want it to be a Crate?

Do you really expect me or anyone else to believe that the quality of a Crate is equal to a PTP Fender??

Come on....

I'm sure the amp sounds fine for what you play,but I like to have something a little better than a Crate.
Which is just about anything.

[hippietim]

Originally Posted by Bluedawg

I don't want to beat a dead horse either,but if you were only going to have one amp,like the original poster,would you want it to be a Crate?

Do you really expect me or anyone else to believe that the quality of a Crate is equal to a PTP Fender??

Come on....

I believe I can speak for the original poster (seeing as I am him). I never said this was my only amp. It is my drag-around-wherever-easily amp. I just know that the Pro Jr. kicked butt. I could care less if it was a Peavey, Fender, Crate, or whatever. I suppose the only thing I did wrong was buy a used one without a receipt. Had I bought a new one I would just be bringing it to a service center to get fixed for nothing. That's why I bought the Blues Jr. today brand new. Yes, I know I could have gotten for $75-100 less used but this way I don't roll the dice.

As for an old Princeton, I don't know anything particular about those. I do know that all 20-30 year old amps need to get serviced at some point. If I get one that hasn't been, then I'm looking at $60-70 an hour to get it serviced. That could easily run into "real" money quickly. I'm not saying this is a bad route, just that $400 now doesn't mean that's all it will cost. Having said that, I'm very close to closing a deal with someone on one :).

Regarding PTP or not, I'm not an electrical engineer or amp tech so I can't debate the merits of this stuff on a technical level. What I do know is simple this:[*]some of the best amplifiers available use PCBs[*]some of the best amplifiers available don't use PCBs[*]some of the worst amplifiers available use PCBs[*]some of the worst amplifiers available don't use PCBs

[Anonymous]

Originally Posted by Bluedawg

I don't have opinions on gear I haven't heard.

Whatever. Coulda fooled me.

What you call hot,others call noisy.

Could be. But I'm the one makin' the noise, so I guess I get to choose how it sounds.

Let me get this straight,you're saying that you own vintage Fenders,Dr.z's,etc.and you prefer to gig with a Crate?????

Originally Posted by Chris S.

All depends on the gig, but yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. I also own a $5000 archtop

Originally Posted by Bluedawg

Gee,I only spent $2300.00 on mine(Heritage 575)

What's your point?

Originally Posted by Chris S.

and a Custom Shop Nocaster, but on some gigs I prefer to play a $400 MIM 60s Tele.

Oh man,I just have a MIM 50's Tele.

Again, I have no idea what you're trying to communicate here.

I just can't understand why you would buy a Crate instead of a smaller version of some of the nicer stuff you have,doesn't make sense.

Geez, I don't know how many other ways there are to say this. I already own smaller versions of the "nicer" stuff. I like the Crate because it's different from the Fender amps. D-I-F-F-E-R-E-N-T. The EL84s don't sound like 6L6s or 6V6s. (Of course, you've already established that EL84s suck, so...) It's not the same. It's built in a dissimilar fashion. Its design does not follow the same formula. It produces sounds not like those of the other amps. It provides variety. Its "voice" is not a duplicate of the Fender sound. It offers additional "colors." It widens my tonal palette. Geez. It's different and it sounds good.

If you don't like the fact that I like to play it sometimes, I'm sorry, you just gotta get over it. It's not your amp, and I promise never to come to your house or one of your gigs and make you play it. Really. I won't.

I don't want to beat a dead horse either,but if you were only going to have one amp,like the original poster, would you want it to be a Crate?

As Tim pointed out, that's NOT what he asked for. He was looking for a 15 watt, single-speaker EL84 combo for between $200 and $400. I own an amp that fits that description. (In fact, he specifically asked about that particular amp). He tried it and didn't like it. Fine by me.

Do you really expect me or anyone else to believe that the quality of a Crate is equal to a PTP Fender?? Come on....

(Sigh.) If you can find where I said that, I promise you, I'll take it back. I can't find it anywhere in this thread, but maybe your eyes and/or memory are better than mine. You certainly seem to believe your ears are.

I'm sure the amp sounds fine for what you play,but I like to have something a little better than a Crate.

Great, go for it.

Which is just about anything.

Whatever. You win, I lose. You're right, I'm wrong. Enjoy. :-) CS

[buglecorps]

I doubt it...this is a well known problem. In fact most of the early literature from the '84's developer (Phillips of Holland..who owned a controlling interest of Mullard in the UK) advised aganst a upside down placement of the '84... whenever possible thus the use of the vertical/horizontal placement in most late 50's early '60s UK amps, and the continuing use of that orentation in most highend '84 based designs. Current low end designs, hang the tubes, to allow them to be seen by entry level buyers, who will simply look at the back of the amp to see if "it has tubes", make the tubes easier to change, and provide cooling without resorting to the more expensive option of venting the cab...No there is nothing inherently wrong with the'84..including most current production ones..and I never said there was..I was simply pointing out that most of the current crop of low end amps, have design comprimises that may have a negitive effect on longevity.. I have owned a few of these, and played and serviced may others, and these problems are well documented, and known to most informed techs.

There are a number of participants on this board who have the habit of making blanket statements, usualy negitave, based on opinion, or limited personal experence without any type of supporting explanation or documentation. I feel that this is a disservice to those who are seeking input on a purchase, repair, mod, what have you..If you have input fine, but it is helpful to give a bit of unbiased support to justify your position..