Lightweight Tube Amp

Bill Maynard · From: Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA

I am seeking to find a lightweight tube amp that I can use and get the cleanest sound out of. I personally can't seem to get the sharpness out of these solid state units that I want. Anyone with the same problem out there who has solved it?

Thanks...

Bill

Darvin Willhoite · From: Roxton, Tx. USA

I had a Mesa Boogie .50 Caliber plus that wasn't very heavy. I never could get a sound out of it that I liked, so I sold it. It was pretty noisy too, and that bugged me. I sent it to Mesa Boogie twice to try to get the noise reduced, and both times they claimed it was within specs. Others may have had better luck. I don't know about the weight of their other models.

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Darvin Willhoite
Riva Ridge Recording

Randy Beavers · From: Lebanon,TN 37090

I use an Alembic F2-B tube preamp, then into the power amp section of any Peavey that has that loop. It gives me the vintage "Fender" sound with the power of a Peavey. Your mileage may vary!

Ron ! · Posted 28 Feb 2005 6:49 am

I use 2 Peavey Ultra tubes with a 15" BW in them.Normally they come with a 12" but I like the sound of a 15".
These amps are very light.And they are 80Watts.
I had the same problem you had and solved it this way.

Ron

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Nikaro SD10 4x6 ,Nikaro SD10 4x5,2 Peavey Ultratube 112

European Steel Guitar Forum

Bob Carlucci · From: Candor, New York, USA

Randy's set up is a good way to go!.. However if you are like me, its ALL tube or nothing.. I would really forget about a tube combo amp. You may like a Fender Vibrosonic, but I would NOT call that "lightweight".. My suggestion is to go with a tube head and small lightweight 1x15 cab..

You can use a Showman,Showman Reverb, Bassman 100 or 135 or a 100 watt Traynor reverb head which is even cleaner than a Fender, more powerful,more headroom and the EL 34 driven reverb is among the very best I have ever heard. There are quite a few good clean tube heads available,and a small 1x15 cab should pose no problem.. I use a Peavey E115 cab.. big sound,light as a feather... Just remember some of the better tube heads I mentioned don't have reverb,so you will have to use outboard stuff.. I do and it sounds great... Another possiblity is a small rack system with tube pre and power amps,but then you get away from the "light" factor.. I still say a good small 1x15 cab and a well set up Showman reverb head is all you'll ever need,UNLESS you play big venues with a loud band...you WILL run out of headroom with most tube amps under that scenario,unless you have good sound reinforcement,and a sound man who knows what he is doing..... bob

[This message was edited by Bob Carlucci on 28 February 2005 at 06:53 AM.]

Marco Schouten · From: Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Has onyone tried the new Evans hybrid amp (tube pre-amp and ss power amp) ?

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Steelin' Greetings
Marco Schouten
Sho-Bud LLG; Guyatone 6 string lap steel; John Pearse bar; Emmons bar; Evans SE200 amp

Bobby Lee · From: Cloverdale, California, USA

Lightweight tube amp? Isn't that an oxymoron?

James Quackenbush · From: Pomona, New York, USA

b0b,
Not at all......Your wallet is "lightweight" after you pay for it

......Jim

Greg Simmons · From: where the buffalo (used to) roam AND the Mojave

Hey, speaking of tubes, I think those bass players are on to something...

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I always knew that there was something out there that I needed to get to.
And it wasn't where I was at that particular moment."
-Bob Dylan

[This message was edited by Greg Simmons on 28 February 2005 at 06:30 PM.]

Harold Parris · From: Piedmont, Alabama USA

If you use a tube preamp to give you the tube sound most all of us steel player like to hear, a good solid state power amp will not change that tube sound. It will amplify it and if reverb is needed, which in most cases we want it, a quality reverb circuit will not take away the tube sound. You can get the best of both technologies. Power tubes are hard to get and very expensive. The small tubes in a preamp are common to find and are not that expensive. They don't generate the heat a tube power amp does either. I know each person has their own taste for sound but you can come out much cheaper and get a great tube sound by using the tube preamp and transistor power amp.

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Sierra Session Guitar, EMCI Double 10 Guitar, Nashville 400, Session 400, and Evans FET 500 HiVolt, and Gretsch Nashville Pro Steel Amps, Keith Hilton Digital Sustain pedal and Digital Sustain Box .
Harold Parris email hparris9@aol.com

[This message was edited by Harold Parris on 28 February 2005 at 07:01 PM.]

[This message was edited by Harold Parris on 28 February 2005 at 07:02 PM.]

Randy Carson · From: San Antonio, Texas, USA

I also have a tube pre with a solid state power rack system that warms it up.

However its a tuff nut to crack because the tube power section is important for the real 100% tube sound, and as stated you will run out of headroom on some jobs.

I've been fighten this tube sound thing along time and have all but given up except in NON LOUD SITUATIONS. heavy or light

I do like the the 1x15 cab and a head, but make sure you get as much power and headroom as possible. and a little RV3 and your set.
Randy

David Doggett · Posted 28 Feb 2005 7:53 pm

William, you haven't stated how much power you want in the amp. High volume and lots of clean headroom require a lot of weight in a tube amp. I have tried tube preamps into transistor power amps, and transistor preamps into tube power amps (Music Man). But there is nothing like the combination of tube preamp and tube power amp that you get in the old silver-face Fender amps. I have broken up the weight with a Dual Showman head (100 watts) or a Super Twin head 180 watts) and a separate 15" speaker. For something with less power I took a silver-face Pro REverb (60 watts) and put a 15" speaker in it. Great sound, but less headroom than the above, and still pretty big and heavy. I tried a Peavey Delta Blues (30 watts) which comes with a 15" speaker. It has limited headroom, and I am not crazy about the sound for steel. For low volume situations, someday I want to take a silver-face Vibrolux (40 watts) and build a custom cabinet to hold a 15" speaker. I have tried one of these disconnecting the internal two 10s and hooking up an external 15" speaker. It has the same great Fender tube sound as Twins and Duals, but less volume and headroom. But it is surprisingly loud, and could work for some low volume gigs, or any situation than can be miked. The main problem is that six-stringers love Vibroluxes so much that they drive the prices up.

Bob Carlucci · From: Candor, New York, USA

David.. You probably already know this,but you and I think in almost identical terms when it comes to steel guitar amplification... Anyone that shares ANY of my thought patterns need to be VERY afraid!!

bob

Jerry Hayes · From: Virginia Beach, Va.

I have a Fender Hot Rod DeVille 2-12 that's not really any heavier than my Nasville 400 solid state. Only problem is if you're wanting to use it for steel they're only about 60w so that's not enough.....JH in Va.

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Livin' in the Past and Future with a 12 string Mooney Universal tuning.

David Doggett · Posted 1 Mar 2005 8:27 am

I know Bob. After I started playing steel again a couple of years ago, I tried every amp I could get my hands on. I bought some, tried ones owned by other players, and lugged my steel in to Guitar Center and tried every amp in the store. I played amps with low volume gigs and high volume gigs. I discovered several things: 1) solid state amps sounded passable but sterile at moderate volume, but sounded harsh when stressed at high volume; 2) the best sounding amps at all volumes for steel are silver-face Fenders - they play clean to the top, and have lush lows, warm mids, and sparkling highs, with gorgeous tube harmonic overtones throughout, and the earlier black-faces and more recent pc-board Fenders don't have this sound; 3) I like the sound of 6L6s better than EL34s or any other power tubes; 4) the sound I like derives from the combination of the tube preamp and the 6L6 power tubes - combinations of solid state and tube don't cut it; 4) 15" speakers sound best for steel; 5) pedal steel requires 2-4 times more power than a regular guitar, because we attack notes with the volume pedal at least half off, and use the extra power for sustain; 6) a silver-face Fender tube amp will blow away a solid state amp with twice the wattage (I'm not exactly sure why, but I have proved it over and over in side-by-side comparisons in high volume practices and gigs). So I just like to keep sharing this hard-won information every time the amp issue comes up. There may be something as good as a SF Fender in the boutique or high end market, but I sort of doubt it, because most of those are made for regular guitar and are designed to have "crunch" and early breakup. As far as accesible and affordable amps go, the SF Fender is it.

[This message was edited by David Doggett on 01 March 2005 at 08:33 AM.]

Bob Carlucci · From: Candor, New York, USA

David.. complete agreement!! I dumped a bunch of Blackface amps,for the simple reason that the Silvers were BETTER sounding over all..The blackface amps were great,but were prone to "overdrive" too easily when I didn't want them to.

They are GREAT blues amps, but IMHO the Silverface units are a little better overall.. cleaner sound,more headroom,louder, and they still sound great overdriven with a good pedal.. The only amp with EL 34 I LOVE for steel is the old Traynor.. LOUDER and cleaner than ANY Fender 100 watter,GREAT sound for steel,and the EL 84 driven reverb is as deep as the ocean. If you ever find one at a good price grab it.. Think of a Music Man sound without the sterile SS preamp,, they have that warm all tube front end... I had 4 of them.. and wish I still had one.. They are starting to fetch Fender like prices..bob

David Doggett · Posted 2 Mar 2005 10:23 am

Bob, are the new Traynors just as good, or is it only the old ones. Any particular models?

Bob Carlucci · From: Candor, New York, USA

David.. The new Traynors are strictly guitar amps.. I don't think they make a seperate head. They are most likely a PC board too.. yuck...

The Traynor head you want is called a YGL-3 I believe, or a Mark III .. That is the 100 watt/reverb version.. GREAT reverb and much nicer trem than a Fender. They also made a 50 watt reverb head and I think a 150 watt monster but they are rare. The Mark III 100 watt heads are often on ebay,they also made a twin size 100 watt combo w/2x12,but it is heavy as hell!!... I did NOT like the sound of the speakers.. they were very cheesy.. A good set of JBL's would have turned it on, but it was too heavy.. I really did like those amps for steel, but they did not sound as good with guitar.. actually too clean... NO distortion EVER...

I am not sure they are worth the money anymore because, they are really starting to get close to what a Showman Reverb is going for,in which case I would buy the Fender, Sometimes you will see them in the under $300 range,, usually well used! bob

Bob Carlucci · From: Candor, New York, USA

David.. Just checked Ebay.. there is a MarkIII at $465,, with 2 days left!!!.. Thats MORE than a Showman.. The word is out on Traynors... a few years ago you could buy them for $150.... bob

Michael Brebes · From: Northridge CA

The Traynor Mark3's are great. I've got a combo that I bought new in 1973, but now it's got EVM12L's, which makes it unbearable to move without the wheels. Also bought a head a couple years ago for, yes, $150. It doesn't hurt to have a backup.
If you want a really clean sound, another option is a Sunn 60w or 120w head. They have different names, but they basically only made two models. One is Volume, Bass, Treble, with Hi and Lo boost switches. The other is Volume, Treble, Mid(sometimes a Mid switch that changes the tone to more like Fender), Vibrato, and Reverb. They are capable of making a Gibson P-90 pickup sound more like a Fender Tele/Strat.

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