Suggestions for a 6L6 amp kit?

[Webfoot]

Am looking for opinions on a great sounding 6L6 amp kit that is:

- low noise a must
- beautiful cleans 35 to 40 watts for most of the volume range
- 5 or 6 tubes only for cost and reliability
- must take dirt pedals very well
- not too blackfacey in sound as they tend not to take pedals well
- no flabby bottom or ratty high end
- effects loop (add digital reverb) or reverb would be nice but optional

So this would be my one and only gigging/home/recording amp.

Suggestions?

 

[Wally]

Am looking for opinions on a great sounding 6L6 amp kit that is:

- low noise a must"

This depends very much on the qulaity of the build.


"- beautiful cleans 35 to 40 watts for most of the volume range"

LOts of these. BF does it best probably.


"- 5 or 6 tubes only for cost and reliability"

This eliminates reverb and vibrato, right? There is really no reliability added in due to the number of tubes, ime and imo.

"- must take dirt pedals very well"

Sometimes this is very dependent on what pedal one uses.


"- not too blackfacey in sound as they tend not to take pedals well"

This is contrary to decades of peoples' experiences with BF FEnders.


"- no flabby bottom or ratty high end"

This amost definitely puts you into hi-wattage tweeds, 6g amps or BF FEnders. Speakers are a abig part of the equation when it comes to these issues, also.

"- effects loop (add digital reverb) or reverb would be nice but optional"

NO comment.

"So this would be my one and only gigging/home/recording amp."

NO comment.

Suggestions?

NO suggestions outside of the above.
Questions: Waht amps have you used and what have you liked/disliked?

 

[BluezyBruce]

I would suggest a tweed twin for great bass control, or a tweed super amp for a small application.

 

[eugenedunn]

Build the Allen Amplification Old Flame or Brown Sugar

 

[Webfoot]

Tonewise... a combination of bassman and blackface would be great. Hows that for a tall order.

My concern has been blackfaces can be too trebly and too scooped of a midrange so they don't take pedals... and tweeds or bassmans can be too wooly and loose on the low end. These are all fine sounds for the jazz, country and clean rhythm sounds but when I do the harder rock.... I find I need different tonality to optimize pedals for distortion and overdrive.

Not looking for a two channel amp but having one channel that can be dialed in for both uses would be nice.

My favorite amp now is a lowly pro jr. At low volumes, it does the faux fender thing well with my tele (even with el84s) but also has enough mids to take pedals well.

So I guess its something that can sound Fendery clean (bubbly and full) as well as dial up the mids & dial down the treble and bass for more pseudo marshall tone (is that tweed and brownface?) for better pedal response.

Tweed twin or tweed super with single 12 is interesting. Any kit builders?

Also does anyone have a writeup on what parts they upgrade in kits?
- caps?
- resistors?
- etc.

 

[Jack Knife]

Allen Brown Sugar fills your bill without need for any upgrades.

10% off on all kits for April, too.

(link removed)

 

[Webfoot]

This would also be my desert island amp.

I have been long intrigued by the brown sugar and am now curious as to any down sides to the amp. Jack Zucker says that often the Allen amps are tweaked enought (probably for design improvements) but in that course, lose their Fenderesque tonality. And I have seen Bob Arbogast build these and then sell them and move onto the next thing.


EDIT... went and listened to the sound clips... and liked the Encore a lot... but don't need the tremelo... hopefully the amp is idle at quiet. Also the demos using the raw control are a bit much (i.e. a minimum of dirt is okay but some examples when up is just too much... and I love dirt). No sound clips for the old flame.

So maybe its the Encore...

Also has anyone built one and then modified it??

Especially the tone stack?

Or a switch to change it from 'loose' sounding to 'tight' sounding?

I suspect you don't get a schematic but can draw one yourself if you need to make changes.

 

[Keyser Soze]

Build the Allen Amplification Old Flame or Brown Sugar

I used to have an Old Flame, although very much in the Blackface camp it took pedals very well.

 

[Webfoot]

Keyser-Soze... what did you replace it with? Better?

Interesting as I would think the old flame is super reverb like and possibly not take pedals as too much high end.

But this is all guess work as I have not heard or played and am probably way off target on some of my assumptions.

 

[Bob Arbogast]

I have been long intrigued by the brown sugar and am now curious as to any down sides to the amp. Jack Zucker says that often the Allen amps are tweaked enough (probably for design improvements) but in that course, lose their Fenderesque tonality. And I have seen Bob Arbogast build these and then sell them and move onto the next thing.

Don't interpret my "selling and moving on" as a rejection of any particular amp. This is what I've been doing for years. I like to try different things, and I've made that my habit. What's really strange is that I built a Vibrolux Reverb 17 months ago and it's going strong as my #1 amp with me having no inclination at all to move on to the next thing!

I could imagine the same result happening had I chosen to build a Brown Sugar instead. Both on paper and in person, the Brown Sugar is a great amp.

Bob Arbogast

 

[Webfoot]

How do I decide between a encore (vibroluxish), old flame (super reverbish) and brown sugar (bassmanish) with limited sound clips?

 

[Jack Knife]

YouTube

 

[telemnemonics]

Since no-one has mentioned it yet, how about a JTM45.
Some of your complaints about BF Fenders can be dealt with by choosing speakers that suit your needs. A tight sounding amp through old and/ or loose sounding speakers becomes a "flabby" sounding amp. Try swapping the old alnicos for some fresh higher power ceramics in a Super Reverb and hear a totally different amp.
A JTM45 through tighter sounding (than greenbacks) speakers becomes full and tight with beautiful, not too Fendery cleans, and great distortion sound.
A pair of (Marshall) 18w clones, also beautiful cleans, or a 36w equivalent...
I've got a few BF Fenders and a Holland Tweed Twin, and lately prefer the 18w (Weber) for clean playing (with a Tele)

 

[eugenedunn]

Answer question: Is tremelo important to have built into the amp or not?

If not, Old Flame with groovy 3 knob reverb section
If so, Brown Sugar with super groovy tremelo section

 

[Keyser Soze]

Keyser-Soze... what did you replace it with? Better?

Interesting as I would think the old flame is super reverb like and possibly not take pedals as too much high end.

But this is all guess work as I have not heard or played and am probably way off target on some of my assumptions.

I didn't so much replace it as unwillingly part with it (needed the money.)

It is super reverb-like in that it is a 2x6L6 amp based on a blackface SR circuit. It also has Allen's Raw feature. This is a pot that progressively lifts the tone stack out of the circuit - so the tone becomes less blackface scooped, and more tweed mid-grindy. The only downside to the raw feature is that it does lift the tone stack, so the higher you turn it up the less effective the tone controls become (it is a compromise.)

The amp also has post PI master volume. So you can tailor your signal for either pre-amp dirt or power amp distortion. By keeping the pre-amp volume down the amp can get very loud but also stay pretty clean. Which, to my mind, is the key for good pedal performance.

But honestly, 'takes pedals well' can be one of those subjective terms.

If you mean things like time/phase based effects without muddying the characteristics or creating nasty artifacts then it does a very good job. If you mean an amp that will reproduce the sound coming from your dirt pedals it also does a good job. Same for fuzz pedals (which IMO should always, always, be run into a fairly clean amp, otherwise the end result is pure mud.)

But if you mean that it's front end interacts well with a particular boost pedal then the only way to be sure is to try that particular boost pedal. And since that type of relationship is not only interactive, but also quite subjective (you aren't asking simply for for a louder version of what the pedal does all by itself, but instead are asking for some kind of synergistic combination of the two devices) then that is best evaluated personally.

 

[eugenedunn]

Allen Old Flame plays nicely with pedalboards

My Old Flame head with a 12AY7 in V1, has been the cleanest and most sparkly amp I've owned..... I've used it with a wide variety of cabinets and pedals types.....all beautifully compatible. I always get comments on my tone and fullness....so happy with this amp..I will probably keep this forever, as a simple, flexible clean tone box.

I absolutely love the 3-knob reverb section, built-in. Here's a shot of my pedalboard so you can see the types of stuff I use. Compressor, tremelo unit, wah, distortion, delay, weird spacey noise box.....

 

[Webfoot]

Heres an example of some nice cleans...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyFqDrvlXTc

Cleans start at 1:00 minute mark

I guess I have this wrong preconceived notion that the Old Flame will be overly trebly.


If any clips of some of the Allen Amps besides those on Youtube and the Allen site... that would be great.

 

[getbent]

How do I decide between a encore (vibroluxish), old flame (super reverbish) and brown sugar (bassmanish) with limited sound clips?

easy. get the encore.

done. trust me.

really easy.

 

[Keyser Soze]

I'd agree, if you have any desire for trem, go with the Encore.

Of the three the Brown sugar is going to be the most different, due to the cathode biased output section.

Other than the trem and the reverb dwell control the differences between the Encore and the Old Flame circuitry are (I suspect) pretty small, even smaller if you upgrade to the larger output transformer (which is the same one that is stock in the Old Flame.)