Selling last tube amp

[DeepDangler]

I’m at a cross road right now. I recently picked up a Vox MVX150C to have an amp that could work at low and high volume. It uses the Korg nutube technology and it sounds great! The clean channel is similar to a Vox AC: volume, tone cut, master volume, bright switch, fat switch. With tweaking I can make it sound almost identical to my AC15HW1. Maybe slightly different but it’s something only I notice.

The AC15HW1 is an amp I always wanted when I started playing and it was an achievement to acquire it. Sadly I never get to play it anymore due to volume constraints and my solid state/nutube Vox can do the same thing and have more channels and not volume requirements. Do I keep an amp around for sentimental reasons or move on and take the cash?

 

[Bryan A]

I got one of those mv50 things last year. It was alright. It took some pedals ok, some it sounded terrible with. Then I got a Fender Champ 5w. $1000 seems outrageous for an amp with 1 knob, but it has been everything I’ve been looking for my whole playing life. I can play it at 4-7 and throw some nice pedals in, or I can crank it all the way up to max and get that true tube sound while not blowing the windows out. IMO, the #1 mistake people make with tube amps is getting more than they need. A 5w (Champ) or 12w (Princeton) are about the max that a bedroom player should need IMO, and you’ll get everything you want out of it

 

[tfarny]

In my own back and forth between the newer SS / digital amps like Roland Blues Cube and tube amps, I often thought that for at-home playing, there was just not much reason to insist on tubes. But in a rehearsal or especially live, there was some lack of cutting through, or something, or the edge of breakup area was just not quite right somehow. For playing just at home I would have been totally fine with my Katana 100. YMMV of course. I have two awesome tube amps now and no reason to sell them. Maybe bring them both to a rehearsal and see how they really compare?

 

[ReverendRevolver]

Keep it. Lots of people buy more amp than they need, but both ACs smaller than the 15 simply dont have the oomph that it does. If you were asking about a twin or an AC30, I'd say part ways and go lower.

It says you're slightly younger than me. Plenty of time to regret selling it and have to buy another one. Unless you need the money, I'd keep it.

 

[Chud]

Maybe get an attenuator if you’re worried about home volume levels on the tube amps, or look for one with a built in power level attenuator. Why do you feel you have to choose?

I personally like a little variety to be able to plug into.

 

[rjtwangs]

I'm old and pretty much set in my way. I have 3 tube amps. It's all I really need. I have a Harvard a brown 6g2 and a tweed (1960 )Champ. I completely agree with the fellow above in regards to a Champ being really the best late night at home amp ever. I can turn my Champ on at 3am, play at tv volume, I get a lovely warm clear tone, and I never get yelled at. I can crank the Champ at 3pm, but I can also do that with either of my larger amps, as long as it's in the afternoon. But I realize that the Champ doesn't work for everyone, me? I love mine...ymmv....I find the mad rush towards modeling amps and all of the software to achieve your perfect tone....amusing....I just have a hard time figuring out why anyone would get rid of their tube amps to buy new SS amps that you use to EMULATE a TUBE AMP??? HUHH??? Did I say I am old!!

RJ

 

[EspyHop]

I’m not a tube snob by any stretch, but there’s something about a properly serviced Vibro-Champ with a good speaker that can’t be duplicated.

 

[EspyHop]

I just have a hard time figuring out why anyone would get rid of their tube amps to buy new SS amps that you use to EMULATE a TUBE AMP??? HUHH??? Did I say I am old!!

I think it’s a maintenance thing. It’s a lot less stressful and less expensive with a solid state amp.

To put it a different way, my Blues Cube Hot was about $315 and my Vibro-Champ, after NOS tubes, new speaker, and labor, was over $800.

 

[Fretting out]

Just because a 15 watt vox can get “freakin loud” doesn’t mean it has to be played “freakin loud”

I’d hang onto it as I’m unsure of the nutube technology, it may crap out at some point with no replaceable parts (the bad thing about new digitalish amps)

Unless it’s a financial must

 

[3-Chord-Genius]

I sold my last tube amp about a month ago. I've been playing nice tube amps since the 90's. I'm 53 now. The last few tube amps I've had were Vox, and all of them were decent. But turning up a tube amp these days, to get power section saturation or whatever, is not worth the trouble to me anymore. I went back and forth between tube and modeling for the past 3 or 4 years, and I can now say I'm 100% into digital modeling now. With venues moving more toward lower stage volume, and with digital's ability to emulate cranked tube amps at reasonable volume levels, that's the direction that makes the most sense to me. I just joined a blues/rock type band, and we'll be playing out (hopefully) in this coming year. I'm using a digital amp and going direct to PA. No more hauling a half-stack around in the back of my VW Bug!!

By the way, the NuTube technology is an actual preamp tube, and the sample clips I've heard sound great. And with only three factories producing glass vacuum tubes in the entire universe anymore, NuTube seems the way to go if you want to stay with tubes in the long run.

 

[Deeve]

op's post makes some sense - I certainly haven't been getting much use of the amps here, but I'd probably rather have the amp more than the money a quick sale might yield.

 

[3-Chord-Genius]

Hey, do you know what would be freakin' rad? If Vox (and they'd be the guys to try this, they seem very innovative) would do that thing with the NuTube - you remember the amps where they used a single 12AX7 as a power tube through some step-up transformer or however they did (Valvetronix??)? It would be cool if they found a way to do that with the NuTube, so they can put one in the preamp, one in the power amp, and create this freaking awesome all-tube modern amp that weighs 5 ounces and doesn't need maintenance.

I'm sure there's a reason why it can't be done, but one can always dream.

 

[arlum]

I own one Yamaha THR10X modelling amp I keep in my locker at work. On slow days it allows me to get some practice in. Other than the Yamaha my other seven amps are all full tube amps ranging from 30 to 60 watts with one of the 30 watt models able to drop down to 20 or 10 watts. Five of the seven are tube rectified.
While I've played solid state amps that produce some really good amp tones, (I owned one model for over 25 years), they just always feel like a different animal when I compare them to tube amps. I just can't get the same response to touch or technique out of a solid state or modelling amp that I do through a tube amp. I find solid state amps easier to sound good through but much less rewarding. Average and great playing through a solid state amp tonally sound the same. Average playing through a tube amp sounds similar but, when you enter that zone where player and guitar meld into one, the results through a tube amp are over and above anything a solid state, modelling or even hybrid tube amp could ever produce.
These are just my own opinions and may only apply to me but ..... they definitely apply to me. I've played through hundreds of amps over the years with maybe 40+ being solid state, at least 20 modelling and maybe 15 hybrid types. It's not that I'm "stuck in the past" when it comes to amps. It's just all about which ones will bloom when I bloom. Which ones will recognize when I've slipped from conscience into sub conscience playing. When it's just me, the guitar and the amp all wrapped up into a common endeavor to create something original, beautiful and, hopefully, recorded on somebodies something.

 

[DeepDangler]

By the way, the NuTube technology is an actual preamp tube, and the sample clips I've heard sound great. And with only three factories producing glass vacuum tubes in the entire universe anymore, NuTube seems the way to go if you want to stay with tubes in the long run.

The nutube info page is quite interesting. It’s a true triode vacuum tube in the form factor of a modified micro fluorescent display and about size of a pack of gum. Low power consumption and it can react like a tube and have its bias settings changed on the fly if needed. The Vox amps using nutube are unique hybrid amps and I’ve been loving mine. It can sound almost exactly like my AC15 so the real thing feels redundant when I can get the same sound with modern tech.

Hey, do you know what would be freakin' rad? If Vox (and they'd be the guys to try this, they seem very innovative) would do that thing with the NuTube - you remember the amps where they used a single 12AX7 as a power tube through some step-up transformer or however they did (Valvetronix??)? It would be cool if they found a way to do that with the NuTube, so they can put one in the preamp, one in the power amp, and create this freaking awesome all-tube modern amp that weighs 5 ounces and doesn't need maintenance.

I'm sure there's a reason why it can't be done, but one can always dream.

The Vox MVX150 has a nutube preamp and power amp. The nutube in the power amp is designed to react like a power tube section and helps create the sag in tube amps and some of the other dynamics.

 

[black_doug]

I had never heard of these. Must be new. I'll certainly be investigating it.

 

[hopdybob]

@DeepDangler
if it is good for your ears, that don't mind what we might think.
sound/tone is personal, and we live in a free world to like what we like.

but as a home player from all the amps i had, all but one were solid state.
a gigmaster 15 was my first tube amp, and it did sound nice at low volume, but the 2 end tubes where broke very fast (the tech said i maybe have moved the amp while the amp was on and the tubes where hot and the inside of the tubes moved and shorted. i don't know if that is right but i didn't move the amp but had to pay)
now a solid state peavey express 112 blue stripe and am happy with that.
and it is solid!!!!

 

[dogmeat]

you will be sorry.

blasphemer

 

[LoveHz]

My Roland Cube is fine for home practice or quiet band rehearsals. It even does the job for our little swingy-sorta-jazzy trio (guitar/bass/vocals)
stuff in very small venues where we play at low volume. It's very reliable but I only use its reverb or delay lightly and stick to the Roland JC spot on the COSM dial.

But for gigs with the full band out comes either the Blues Deluxe or, for occasional sentimental reasons, the old Traynor YBA-1 and I'm back in my aural comfort zone. I just feel at home with good clean tube tone that sounds good anywhere on the volume dial that I need to go. That's anywhere from two to four -- and to me four is getting pretty loud on either of my tube amps.

My stepson, who knows about these things, says I should try a Quilter. Maybe I will if we ever drag ourselves out of this wretched virus situation -- it would certainly be easier on my back. I know my bass player likes his Mark Bass head -- 400w out of something no bigger or heavier than a decent hardback copy of War and Peace. Sounds good, too. But then that's for a bass.

 

[guitarist232345]

I have two amps - a katana 100w and a small fender champ copy.

I am moving soon so I think I will get rid of the small amp in the interest of space, but I use the Kat mostly. Tube amps are nice but once you get over them I feel SS is close enough if you have volume limitations.

Just out of interest, what solid state Vox do you have?

 

[TokyoPortrait]

Hey, do you know what would be freakin' rad? If Vox...put one in the preamp, one in the power amp, and create this freaking awesome all-tube modern amp...

Hi.

As someone already pointed out, Vox already have. It’s the OP amp in question. Here’s the product page.

https://voxamps.com/product/mvx150c1/

The price seems reasonably reasonable.

Pax/
Dean