Best reasonable priced Vintage Tube Amps

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Larsongs
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Re: Best reasonable priced Vintage Tube Amps

Post by Larsongs » Sat Aug 08, 2020 10:45 pm

46346 wrote:
Sat Aug 08, 2020 2:58 pm
Larsongs wrote:
Fri Aug 07, 2020 10:03 am
This looks like a Sweet Deal on what appears to be a great Modded New Vox AC15!! On Sale! $599.00

Watch the Video....

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail ... -combo-amp

interesting. those upgrades seem good! i'm not sure about the current build quality on these, there was a generation of chinese made AC's that a few friends had trouble with, but that may have improved. i have one of the hand-wired chinese AC-15's , and that's been very reliable and sounds great. i just burn through EL84 tubes quite a bit. but they're affordable.

Lars - can you identify the speaker in your DRRI? or post a picture?

cheers.
The nice thing about Sweetwater is they're pretty good at these Custom Modded Runs as they do them in their own Mod Shop.. Plus, you get 45 days to try it out.. If you don't like it return or exchange it....

My DRRI is a recent model.. Speakers: 1-12 in. Jensen C-12K, 8 ohm Speaker with Ceramic Magnet.

Is there anyone making clones of the 60's vintage DRRI Speakers that sound like the originals? I'd be up for that & an NOS Tube upgrade...
Last edited by Larsongs on Sun Aug 09, 2020 6:16 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Best reasonable priced Vintage Tube Amps

Post by OffYourFace » Sat Aug 08, 2020 11:11 pm

I may have to grab one of those Vox AC15s...

Re: DR, I have a 1976 DR and I have a 50w Jupiter 12" in it. I love it. It sounds like a Jensen on steroids. You can crank it and it takes fuzz pedals really well. It's a nice big sound.

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Re: Best reasonable priced Vintage Tube Amps

Post by postchrist » Sat Aug 08, 2020 11:18 pm

absolutely love my musicmaster bass amp! those old ampegs mentioned are very cool as well.
lying dog-faced pony soldier.

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46346
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Re: Best reasonable priced Vintage Tube Amps

Post by 46346 » Tue Aug 11, 2020 2:44 am

well, Lars, as i understand it that Jensen C12K was an improvement over the earlier ones that i was complaining about.
some folks are happy with them, but i've only had them as a day rental while traveling and i do feel they were an improvement.
i have little doubt that an upgrade could sound better, but probably not as dramatic as with the earlier reissues.
there are a few great options on vintage Jensen/Fender style speakers. figure on $100 - 200 for a quality upgrade.
Mike mentioned Jupiter, i have a long history with Weber, and have also enjoyed WGS.

and i wouldn't try to talk any of y'all out of that AC15... unless you were really looking for the mystique of a vintage amp,
which can really have an allure, something from a faraway time *does* bring some mystery...
but Voxes can be so noisy, kind of by design, exacerbated by vintage components... i'm glad my AC15 is fairly recent!
Cat Museum, ACME, Malcolm Mooney, Dream Apes, The Cooling Time, Kind Hearts and Coronets, Quarks

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Re: Best reasonable priced Vintage Tube Amps

Post by Larsongs » Tue Aug 11, 2020 1:09 pm

I was hoping that someone here could recommend a Speaker for my 65 DRRI that sounds as good the Vintage Original Utah's...

That Sweetwater limited Run Vox AC15 Amp is very interesting, especially at Sale price $599.00...

If I didn't already have a great AC15 with Blue & my Upgraded AC10, I'd get one..

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Re: Best reasonable priced Vintage Tube Amps

Post by 46346 » Fri Aug 14, 2020 6:48 pm

i'm afraid i can't speak to the sound the Utah 12" but i have a few 10's from earlier and later, they give me that Fender sparkle and scooped mids, reminiscent of the Jensens of the time.

i don't think the Utahs appeared in these amps until the silverface era. but they're good.

most of the new makers are inspired by, or compared to, the classic Jensens.

i don't think the sound is that far off from the Utah, but check out the makers that were mentioned above -
you can read up on their designs, and ask them questions. surely you'd want an 'American-style' design.
if you mention you want a a DR Utah sound, they may have an idea.

if you were curious about British style, you could do a quick swap with the speaker in your Vox.
but BE CAREFUL - those Blues are only rated at 15 watts - don't go cranking the bass during your test, and don't crank the volume for long at all!
Cat Museum, ACME, Malcolm Mooney, Dream Apes, The Cooling Time, Kind Hearts and Coronets, Quarks

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Re: Best reasonable priced Vintage Tube Amps

Post by Larsongs » Fri Aug 14, 2020 9:23 pm

A learned friend on another forum told me the Utahs appeared on the first Deluxe Reverbs. Then Oxfords appeared next..

According to him the Weber 12F125 replicates the Utahs. The 12F150 replicates the Oxfords.. Weber recommends the 12F150 for current 65 DRRI's....

I listened to Soundclips of both on Webers site.. They both sound better than the Stock 65 DRRI Speaker.. No Ice picky harshness...

Thanks...

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Re: Best reasonable priced Vintage Tube Amps

Post by OffYourFace » Fri Aug 14, 2020 10:21 pm

Larsongs wrote:
Fri Aug 14, 2020 9:23 pm
A learned friend on another forum told me the Utahs appeared on the first Deluxe Reverbs. Then Oxfords appeared next..

According to him the Weber 12F125 replicates the Utahs. The 12F150 replicates the Oxfords.. Weber recommends the 12F150 for current 65 DRRI's....

I listened to Soundclips of both on Webers site.. They both sound better than the Stock 65 DRRI Speaker.. No Ice picky harshness...

Thanks...
I always tell people to get this for their DR.
https://jupitercondenser.com/product/12 ... r-speaker/

Webers are always so stiff and bland at first in my experience. For whatever reason, the Jupiter sounds great right away and gets even better when it breaks in.

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Re: Best reasonable priced Vintage Tube Amps

Post by 46346 » Sun Aug 23, 2020 3:17 am

those Jupiters look like good quality. i've noticed how obsessive they are about their capacitors, i bet they're not screwing around!

i've had the same experience having to 'break in' the Webers, but they've always rung out nicely, eventually.
i have picked up quite a lot of them for half price on the used market, probably as people did not think about the break in period before deciding they were unhappy. indeed, i have heard them relax into their intended sound over time.

these days, whenever i get a new (or used) speaker, i hook it up at my studio with my loop pedal repeating my favorite chords, followed by some silence, then some high and low single notes, more silence... repeat! i put the amp on a moderate volume and go home for the night. that seems to break it in , without the ear fatigue. one time, the coil actually warped by the next day, and i was able to return it as defective, instead of getting stuck with that surprise a month later!
Cat Museum, ACME, Malcolm Mooney, Dream Apes, The Cooling Time, Kind Hearts and Coronets, Quarks

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Re: Best reasonable priced Vintage Tube Amps

Post by cpeck » Tue Aug 25, 2020 8:02 am

There are still deals to be had if you’re in the right place at the right time. I bought a JMI era AC30 head for $800 a few years ago and a 76 Superbass for around the same price. Both needed some service, but well worth it. Probably not a lot of hot deals on Reverb, but Craigslist should be fruitful.

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Re: Best reasonable priced Vintage Tube Amps

Post by Mechanical Birds » Mon Aug 31, 2020 12:12 am

For <100w stuff, Sunn made about a million different amps that were usually pretty much the same, with the different name designations referring to what cab they came with. If you don’t need a 150w T or 4 digit S series amp and can get by on 50w-75w, the Solarus, Sonaro, Sonic, 100s, 200s, etc. are all great.

Silverface Fenders are pretty cheap

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Re: Best reasonable priced Vintage Tube Amps

Post by constantineguitars » Tue Sep 01, 2020 1:47 pm

I went down this road myself especially pursuing a Tweed Deluxe. However, after seeing the prices for what you get for that much money, I purchased a Mojotone Tweed Deluxe 5E3 kit and never looked back. Super happy with it. I have had an opportunity to compare it to vintage Fender gear and I couldn't see the magic when comparing an original with a handwired reproduction but that's just my ear. It was a whole lot of fun to build as well.

I eventually added a spring reverb unit to it and now I like it better than a twin reverb.

Image

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Re: Best reasonable priced Vintage Tube Amps

Post by Riffraff » Thu Sep 10, 2020 8:42 pm

Vintage Traynor's are still very affordable. I picked u p an early '70s Traynor YBA-1 several years ago for $400. I spent another $56 on new filter caps and a few addition components to do a few Plexi mods to it. I like it better than the actual Plexi I used to own.

Disclaimer: I recorded this immediately after a couple of hours working on the amp in a non-heated barn. It was 25 degrees F and my hands were so cold I could barely move my fingers let alone play. :D

Here's a short clip of what the modded YBA-1 gives you:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPIEzNvQgts

I found a YGL-3 for my son for $300. We replaced the electrolytics in that and put some new speakers in it (WGS ET65 & VET30). It was still loaded with it's original Philips labeled Mullards and all the 12AX7's were still good. He could have sold those and made his money back. Of course that didn't happen. That amp is a Twin reverb on steriods. It's the loudest amp I've ever heard and has so much clean headroom it can hurt you. ;D He is a big Stevie Ray fan and that amp nails that tone.
Last edited by Riffraff on Tue Sep 15, 2020 1:26 am, edited 3 times in total.

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Re: Best reasonable priced Vintage Tube Amps

Post by Shadoweclipse13 » Thu Sep 10, 2020 9:36 pm

46346 wrote:
Sun Aug 23, 2020 3:17 am
these days, whenever i get a new (or used) speaker, i hook it up at my studio with my loop pedal repeating my favorite chords, followed by some silence, then some high and low single notes, more silence... repeat! i put the amp on a moderate volume and go home for the night. that seems to break it in , without the ear fatigue. one time, the coil actually warped by the next day, and i was able to return it as defective, instead of getting stuck with that surprise a month later!
That is a fantastic idea!!!
Pickup Switching Mad Scientist
http://www.offsetguitars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=104282&p=1438384#p1438384

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Re: Best reasonable priced Vintage Tube Amps

Post by papa_hotel_delta » Fri Sep 11, 2020 9:47 am

I haven't bought a vintage tube amp in 20 years and when I see the prices now it makes me cry. Overall my best score of all time was an octal tubed Ampeg rocket (or possibly the brown Fender Pro which was impossibly loud to play at home), Ampegs still seem to be relative bargains. Currently I'm in the "I've just sold my last tube amp" category so this is all nostalgia.

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