What is the most complex tube amp ever made?

[MatrixClaw]

Road king was ment to be versatile but it only had one sound and a lot of switches.
I got rid of mine because it was just a recto and not really capable of anything else.
Weighed a ton and cost a ridiculous amount to replace the tubes.
Marshall JVM 410 should be in the list because that actually is versatile. 12 tones and all ones you would use.

Yeah I had both versions of the RK and it is no better than the, much cheaper, Roadster IMO. All the cab and tube switching stuff is cool, but most people aren't going to use the cab switcher and the tube switching has a very minimal affect on the tone. For half the price, you can buy the Roadster and get 95% of the way there.

 

[GuitarJon]

The Zuta GBG120 is a good contender. It's damn good though!

 

[laxu]

The Zuta GBG120 is a good contender. It's damn good though!

The Zutas are interesting because they seem very much like "I'll build my own Bogner!" type amps. My understanding is the story was that the Zuta guy was working with Bogner to make a 25W Bogner Ecstacy or something. Somehow that didn't work out, so he kept working on it and released it as the LA25.

To me that Bogner thing can be heard on the LA25 and GBG120 where they seem to be a bit more on the darker side and have to turn up the highs just like Bogner. I like Bogners, but I haven't heard any clip where the Zuta stuff blows me away soundwise.

I really love the industrial design of the GBG120 but the 4599 € price tag is a non-starter for me. Especially for a complex amp that inexplicably doesn't come with MIDI support built in but needs an extra 249€ box for that.

 

[LCW]

 

[LeftyLoungeLizard]

It would undoubtedly have to be the

GORILLA GG-20 30 Watt Amplifier​

 

[Desertdweller]

Yeah I had both versions of the RK and it is no better than the, much cheaper, Roadster IMO. All the cab and tube switching stuff is cool, but most people aren't going to use the cab switcher and the tube switching has a very minimal affect on the tone. For half the price, you can buy the Roadster and get 95% of the way there.

Just seeing this now and while I can see the point I also know there are a few guys out there, myself included, that swear by the RK2. Here’s why:

I. All the best of the recto sounds.

IIA. The ability to play fully saturated at bedroom volumes. The RK2 sounds better at bedroom levels than even the Mini Rectifier and Rectoverb 25. It’s not even close. You’d think the lower wattage amps would do this better, but no.

IIB. There is magic to running 6L6s and EL34s at the same time. You can only do this on a handful of amps. The orange channel in Modern especially is insanely rich sounding in this config.

IIC. Tweed mode. The clean modes are the Lonestar cleans but still sound pretty basic. Both clean and fat need a treble boost or compressor circuit up front to sound right. Tweed mode though, my lord it’s so good. Running it in full headroom 120w mode with all the power tubes pushing it is just a sound you have to play.

IIC+. Channel-specific diode modes. The clean channel and vintage mode in the higher gain channels sounds great with tube rectification, while you can set higher gain modes to silicon rectification. Yes you can do this on the MW recto as well, but not on earlier models.

IIC++. Brit mode, very misunderstood, but if you set the amp to spongy mode instead of bold, use the EL34s only, run the gain and bass dimed, and hit it with an SD1 out front, you have a JCM 800 in your Road King. It’s incredible for 80s rock and metal sounds, and you’d have to switch out the power tubes to do this on the Roadster.

IV. The pedal for it is so ridiculous it scares other players from trying to play your amp without asking you first.

V. It just sounds better than all other rectos I’ve owned. I’ve had 7 or 8 rectos now and the one I’ve kept is the RK2.

VII. Yes it’s heavy, but it’s 55 lbs and still marginally smaller than most Marshall and Randall heads.

 

[Eagle]

Just seeing this now and while I can see the point I also know there are a few guys out there, myself included, that swear by the RK2. Here’s why:

I. All the best of the recto sounds.

IIA. The ability to play fully saturated at bedroom volumes. The RK2 sounds better at bedroom levels than even the Mini Rectifier and Rectoverb 25. It’s not even close. You’d think the lower wattage amps would do this better, but no.

IIB. There is magic to running 6L6s and EL34s at the same time. You can only do this on a handful of amps. The orange channel in Modern especially is insanely rich sounding in this config.

IIC. Tweed mode. The clean modes are the Lonestar cleans but still sound pretty basic. Both clean and fat need a treble boost or compressor circuit up front to sound right. Tweed mode though, my lord it’s so good. Running it in full headroom 120w mode with all the power tubes pushing it is just a sound you have to play.

IIC+. Channel-specific diode modes. The clean channel and vintage mode in the higher gain channels sounds great with tube rectification, while you can set higher gain modes to silicon rectification. Yes you can do this on the MW recto as well, but not on earlier models.

IIC++. Brit mode, very misunderstood, but if you set the amp to spongy mode instead of bold, use the EL34s only, run the gain and bass dimed, and hit it with an SD1 out front, you have a JCM 800 in your Road King. It’s incredible for 80s rock and metal sounds, and you’d have to switch out the power tubes to do this on the Roadster.

IV. The pedal for it is so ridiculous it scares other players from trying to play your amp without asking you first.

V. It just sounds better than all other rectos I’ve owned. I’ve had 7 or 8 rectos now and the one I’ve kept is the RK2.

VII. Yes it’s heavy, but it’s 55 lbs and still marginally smaller than most Marshall and Randall heads.

It’s not smaller than a Marshall head.
I was glad to get rid of my RK , replaced by the vastly superior VH4.

 

[Desertdweller]

It’s not smaller than a Marshall head.
I was glad to get rid of my RK , replaced by the vastly superior VH4.

Not front to back, but side to side, definitely is a couple inches less wide. Haven’t tried a VH4, but for rectos I’ve yet to play a better recto than the RK2.

 

[paisleywookiee]

It’s not smaller than a Marshall head.
I was glad to get rid of my RK , replaced by the vastly superior VH4.

I’d take any modern Rectifier over a VH4.

 

[Eagle]

I’d take any modern Rectifier over a VH4.

Have you had your ears syringed lately?

 

[paisleywookiee]

Have you had your ears syringed lately?

Not keen on Diezel at all. VHX is the shittiest expensive amp I’ve ever heard.

 

[jellodog]

Not really the most complex compared to many of the contenders in this thread; but the 3rd Power Kitchen Sink came to mind.

AC, Fender / American & Plexi all in one.

With a blend knob so you can blend between AC & American voices:

Most complex? Probably not, but it certainly ain't simple!

 

[Eagle]

Not keen on Diezel at all. VHX is the shittiest expensive amp I’ve ever heard.

Totally fed up of rectos .

 

[JiveTurkey]

Totally fed up of rectos .

You're doing it wrong

 

[Devin]

Don't know much about it really but at least visually the Rodenberg Flexamp 3 looked like it had a ton of shit goin on

 

[paisleywookiee]

Totally fed up of rectos .

I've heard from a good source they've about had it with you too, sir!

 

[Eagle]

I've heard from a good source they've about had it with you too, sir!

Anything Mesa has terrible support in the UK which doesn’t help and the stupid pricing.

 

[paisleywookiee]

Anything Mesa has terrible support in the UK which doesn’t help and the stupid pricing.

I can totally understand that. That would be frustrating.

 

[Ed DeGenaro]

Guytron GT100, GT100-X, and GT100 F/V, i.e. one tube preamp, two tube power amps in series.
The first poweramp is EL84 into a load resistor, which is then amplified by the big 100W EL34 poweramp so you can obtain poweramp saturation on any volume.

And as much as the idea sounds Great it needed serious modding so it didn’t feel like you’re dragging your pick through a sponge.

 

[Ed DeGenaro]

Not keen on Diezel at all. VHX is the shittiest expensive amp I’ve ever heard.

Thing is that a VH4 is 2800€ in Germany, VHX is 3400.
90s Recto here is 4200.

Jus’ sayin’