112 Tube Amps

[Achilles]

But even traditional tube gear can be made better and lighter. Manufacturers just aren't interested.

Better AND lighter how? A certain number of watts are going to require certain glass and iron (for a quality piece).
You want the chassis holding all of that made out of thick high grade steel. And I certainly want a real wood box and
heavy duty hardware to surround everything.

Other than neo for a driver magnet where's the weight savings without impacting quality and ruggedness?

 

[laxu]

Better AND lighter how? A certain number of watts are going to require certain glass and iron (for a quality piece).
You want the chassis holding all of that made out of thick high grade steel. And I certainly want a real wood box and
heavy duty hardware to surround everything.

Other than neo for a driver magnet where's the weight savings without impacting quality and ruggedness?

You can use lighter woods like pine or paulownia. IMO birch ply is overkill and I have no complaints about the sound of my 4x10 made of paulownia. That cab is only about 16 kg.

 

[metropolis_4]

I showed up for an audition once with a little Pro Jr 110 combo. The other guitarist in the band was using a ‘59 Bassman LTD and a Super Reverb in stereo.

When I first walked in he was looking at me like I must be joking.

By the end of my audition he was asking me what kind of amp that was and how I was able to get so much out of it.

After playing a couple gigs with him he started talking to me about selling his amps to buy a PJ.

The only thing small low watt combos won’t do is high volume squeaky clean and high volume high gain tight low notes. Everything else, they’re perfect and often end up sounding far better than bigger amps because you can push them a bit more

 

[Achilles]

You can use lighter woods like pine or paulownia. IMO birch ply is overkill and I have no complaints about the sound of my 4x10 made of paulownia. That cab is only about 16 kg.

Agreed, but plywood is cost effective for large scale mass production and is preferred for speaker baffles anyway.
Plenty of solid pine boxes out there - the Benson Vinny had a killer one - but now you're adding a premium element to it.

I guess I was asking from the standpoint of large brands. How do they make it better and lighter without a significant cost up?