112 Tube Amps

[PatF]

I reliably used a Marshallized 50W Bassman and a DIY sealed combo 1x12 at practice with a really loud hard rock band for around a year. My 4x12s were getting too beat up and heavy. I got a lot of compliments on how it sounded. I did have the head a separate shell.

 

[laxu]

The last 1x12 combo I bought was a Bogner Goldfinger 45 Superlead. 45W, Fender clean, Marshall overdrive, built in tube boost, good stuff. I wanted the head, but it would have taken several months for the store to order one.

But god damn, that thing must've been made out of gold bullion because it weighs as much as a Fender Super Reverb. At the time I lived in an apartment on top of a hill and had my car parked down the street so I thought "eh, can't be bothered to move the car up here, I'll just carry the amp, it's only like 200 meters".

With one top handle, 30 kg weight...it was a struggle. I ended up picking the amp with two hands and carrying it like a box. Which barely helped since it's an awkward size to carry even a short distance.

After that ordeal, I decided I will never again buy a combo amp. I turned the Bogner into a head and cab and that made transporting it easy - a ~15 kg head in one hand and the combo chassis as a cab in another.

I have nothing against 1x12s otherwise. I currently use two 1x12 BluGuitar cabs and they sound great together.

 

[laxu]

Interesting, I’ve been using a Helix and two wedge monitors for a few years, so I’ve gotten very used to stereo. I’m actually thinking of picking up another Supro Keeley so I can go full tube stereo with the Helix effects. That’s one of the reasons I asked this question actually, I don’t want to be putting my eggs in the wrong basket.

You might run into issues where just managing the volume of the two real amps is a bit of a chore. While it's easier with two identical amps, I gave up on a stereo real amp rig when I had two different amps because one would easily overpower the other if the volumes were not just right.

Have you considered a stereo poweramp and a couple of 1x12 cabs instead?

 

[AFKAEjay]

What’s the difference in volume like using two amps compared to one? I know the science of loudness is a bit weird!

Hard to say tbh…I do know that 2 amps at the same volume, result in a louder endresult together then just one.
To me..”stereo” is the main driver to take 2…and spread.. to dodge the beamyness of cabs a bit. If volume was the only requirement, I could just take one that’s big enough

You might wanna try playing your current setup into returns also, so modeled amps….switch off all the cabs, you probably need to decrease highs a bit with a globale eq…and your good to go.
Modeled preamps…also worth trying.

 

[AFKAEjay]

The last 1x12 combo I bought was a Bogner Goldfinger 45 Superlead. 45W, Fender clean, Marshall overdrive, built in tube boost, good stuff. I wanted the head, but it would have taken several months for the store to order one.

But god damn, that thing must've been made out of gold bullion because it weighs as much as a Fender Super Reverb. At the time I lived in an apartment on top of a hill and had my car parked down the street so I thought "eh, can't be bothered to move the car up here, I'll just carry the amp, it's only like 200 meters".

With one top handle, 30 kg weight...it was a struggle. I ended up picking the amp with two hands and carrying it like a box. Which barely helped since it's an awkward size to carry even a short distance.

After that ordeal, I decided I will never again buy a combo amp. I turned the Bogner into a head and cab and that made transporting it easy - a ~15 kg head in one hand and the combo chassis as a cab in another.

I have nothing against 1x12s otherwise. I currently use two 1x12 BluGuitar cabs and they sound great together.

Any 30kg should travel with a trolly…even if you don’t do the 200 m sprint with it
..and 30kg is one extreme side of the spectrum right?…plenty of amps are far more manageable.
That said…there is very little gear you wanna carry 200m…

Question is…how far do you wanna go to prevent you having to carry more then you like?
I don’t wanna play sh***y stuff all year, just to mitigate the risk of one gig per year with a longer walk to stage…I got a trolly in my car for that
I plan for the “average” gig in my book…and then something like a deluxe, even my sonic 60 is fine, and I always have a stJames & superchamp when I know upfront there’s gonna be some hauling gear…all tube combos

Maybe when you do 200 shows a year carrying your own into unknown venues it’s a different story..

 

[laxu]

Any 30kg should travel with a trolly…even if you don’t do the 200 m sprint with it
..and 30kg is one extreme side of the spectrum right?…plenty of amps are far more manageable.
That said…there is very little gear you wanna carry 200m…

Question is…how far do you wanna go to prevent you having to carry more then you like?
I don’t wanna play sh***y stuff all year, just to mitigate the risk of one gig per year with a longer walk to stage…I got a trolly in my car for that
I plan for the “average” gig in my book…and then something like a deluxe, even my sonic 60 is fine, and I always have a stJames & superchamp when I know upfront there’s gonna be some hauling gear…all tube combos

Maybe when you do 200 shows a year carrying your own into unknown venues it’s a different story..

I'm happy with BluGuitar for this. About 15 kg with the Fatcab, about 11 with the Nanocab.

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

 

[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?

 

[AFKAEjay]

I'm happy with BluGuitar for this. About 15 kg with the Fatcab, about 11 with the Nanocab.

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

Some are…Blackstar st James…11kg for the combo….thats 50w el34 or 6l6