So which amp is your favorite?

[rockmankelly]

Hello everybody!
I would like to meet other Tube Works users and hear their experience and how they use theirs. etc... What type of music they play and setups.
How do they like their amps! Thanks and hope to hear from fellow musicians, this looks like a cool forum!

New to this forum and forums in general.
Hope I'm posting in the right place! Did a search and did not find anything specifice about Tube Works!
Hello, Ned. If I need to post elsewhere please be patient and direct me to the proper place.

I purchased a Tube Works TD 742 at a liquidation auction last year and never had a chance to play it because of my neighbors and the "duplex" housing thing!

I finally got to take it someplace where I could crank it up and was pleasantly suprised! The TD 742 by Tube Works and B.K. Butler is a single tube in the preamp and solid state output but it sounds great! Rated at 40 watts and it's loud for a single 10 inch combo!
Of course, this is my first real tube amp! Butler designed the Real Tube
stomp box that Billy Gibbons and Eric Johnson likes. I didn't know this untill I did some web surfing!
Along the way I happened into an E-bay auction and found the "big brother" of my amp! It's the TD 752 100 watts through a single twelve!
It features two channels of either pure tube or solid state (which really shines with single coil strat types) and then the option of stacking the two modes! I am pretty stoked! I could go on and on....

 

[bruno]

my favourite, the tweed deluxe (clone of course):

 

[Guitargoblin]

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but nobody's mentioned the mighty Sovtek Mig100H 100w all-tube head. Often compared to a JCM800, but that's selling it way short. Low input is warm like a Bassman & great for using pedals through. High input is classic Marshall all the way, but more defined and better, frankly. Ballsier & less brittle than a JCM800 but gainier than a JMP if you need it to be. If you're in the market for an old-school Marshall, aren't bothered about brandnames and not willing to drop the stupid prices that good used Marshalls are going for, seek out one of these sadly discontinued Russian beasts. Just don't expect channel switching, reverb or effects loops or any of that modern rubbish. I wouldn't trade mine for anything
Then again, I am a rocker....

 

[oldflame]

Wow! That Dumble set up was cool earlier. Not sure if I'd want to fork out $20,000 + though.

A few years back I got to have a brief strum through a silverface bassman head that had been modded by Mr. Dumble back in the 70's. The guitar was on it's way to Germany via the UK. My liaison with this amp was at Denis Cornells workshop in Southend.

Gotta say that it sounded very nice and was streets ahead of the competition that would have been around back in the 70's when this thing was modded.

 

[Twanglow]

Koch Twintone. Dutch-built 50w valve combo (koch-amps.com), superb build quality, bought from Holiday Music in London a couple of years ago. Fantastic tones, especially through the clean channel, which has some clever circuitry to stop high-output pups from muddying the sound (if you choose to use it). Overdrive channel is exactly that, and it all goes through a really high-quality Koch-design speaker which (I think) is made in partnership with Jensen. You can also attenuate the output to 25 (or indeed 0) watts. Live, I add a 1x12 loaded with a Vintage 30.

My only gripe would be that the gain on the overdrive is a bit over-enthusiastic. To get the kind of British dirt that I like, I really don't need the gain channel wound up to more than a third with a Les Paul, although I can take it further with my Breezysound or Goldstar Sound. And of course there's now a Twintone 2, with a 2-stage overdrive which probably solves that issue. Look out Ebay...

 

[Ozeshin]

Serious GAS issues here....Hughes & Kettner Switchblade or a Mesa Boogie Stiletto......mmmmmmmmmmm

 

[marcusnieman]

Black Cat Cub II 15watt combo (boutique amp made by Mark Sampson who founded Matchless amps)

 

[Skybone]

Currently:

Matamp 1224 mkII www.matamp.co.uk, handmade in West Yorkshire and sounds fantastic!

 

[Guitargoblin]

+1 on Matamp, they rock! I have a 4x12 cab that I custom-ordered from them w/ Heritage Celestion 65s & it's truly intimidating

 

[Skybone]

Their 4x12's are excellent, built like a tank, but small enough to carry. I've got Celestion Hot100's in mine, it sounds amazing.

 

[Ozeshin]

I played a RANDALL yesterday....not bad at all but a bit limited.

 

[Guitargoblin]

Their 4x12's are excellent, built like a tank, but small enough to carry. I've got Celestion Hot100's in mine, it sounds amazing.

Yeah, except I got a "retro"(ie full)size one cos they offered me a deal on it. Same size as a standard Orange/Marshall/Hiwatt 4x12 and a bit of a backbreaker, alas! The only downside of brick-hard build quality & incredible sound!
I think they recommend the Hot100s as the best speaker for their own amps, but I went for the 65s cos my head is a Sovtek. The Sovtek head & Matamp cab are a terrifying match. Like a Kodiak bear crossed with a Siberian tiger!

 

[Skybone]

Those Sovtek Mig's have a fantastic reputation, especially in the heavy rock circles. The 100w head must be a fearsome beast when let loose. :evil:

 

[Guitargoblin]

Yeah, I have the Mig 100H which is like a louder, rowdier, more delinquent Marshall 2203 MV, but more versatile too, believe it or not. I also have the Mig 50, which is non-MV, like a JTM 45 or '59 Bassman and merely very, very loud, as opposed to f*****g life-threatening! Sovtek were the Tokai of the amp world. Too bad they only make tubes these days...
We still have Matamp though, Amen! :evil:

 

[Skybone]

Yeah, it's a shame that Sovtek don't build amps anymore, especially the Mig's. I thought the 50 was a scaled down version of the 100, didn't know it was a different circuit.

Thankfully, Matamp make amp's for grown up delinquents.

 

[Guitargoblin]

Yeah, it's a shame that Sovtek don't build amps anymore, especially the Mig's. I thought the 50 was a scaled down version of the 100, didn't know it was a different circuit.

Thankfully, Matamp make amp's for grown up delinquents.

With Sovteks, you had the Mig 50 & Mig 100, which are non-MV with no preamp gain. Circuits based on the Bassman & JTM 45, but with a solid-state rectifier. 5881/6L6 power tubes & 12AX7 preamp tubes.
You also had the Mig 50H & Mig 100H which are essentially the same circuits (I think) but with MV & preamp gain. These are often compared to the early JCM 800 series Marshalls, but I like them better. They seem to pack more bottom end than the JCMs, which could be down to the 6L6s. Plus, they also do the Bassman thing on the low input!
There's also the Mig 60, which runs on EL34s and is apparently like a dirtier 1987 plexi, but I've never played one so can't comment. They seem to be rarer than the others.
Of course, a Matamp is the best cab for these, or any other amp!
BTW Skybone, you mentioned you have the 1224, what does it really sound like? It may be competing for my next GAS attack, oh God here we go! :wink:

 

[Skybone]

the 1224, what does it really sound like?

Now there's a question and a half!

IMO, I think it sounds quite transparent, the amp doesn't impart as much of it's character on the sounds you hear as other amps, I guess that comes from Matamp's background in Hi-Fi. You can tell that it's running EL34's though, especially if you have the volume maxed out all the time. Most Matamp's react very quickly to your playing as well, there's no hiding behind walls of gain and distortion, because if you make the slightest error, you can hear it, even with the walls of gain and distortion (believe me, I've tried! ). What you do get is a truly impressive tone, it's really difficult to get a bad sound out of the amp, and if you do, you must have been trying for ages. Saying that, getting a truly fantastic tone takes a while too, like most amps.

The beauty of the 1224 for me, is the fact that it's power valve section is totally switchable. You can run 1 or 2 valves in Class A, or 2 or 4 valves in Class AB, giving between 1.5watts clean up to 50watts maxed, and that's before you take into account the half/full power switch and the pentode/triode switch. I'm really itching to try it out on full power sometime though. :evil:

Add in footswitchable valve driven spring reverb/valve OD & the "Voice" control, you have a really, really versatile single channel amp that is much, much more.

Yes, I do kind of like it!

If I ever buy another amp (and knowing me, I probably will!), it'll be a Matamp.

 

[Guitargoblin]

Ok, now I'm intrigued! The transparency factor you describe is something you get from Matamp's cabs too, weirdly. Individual notes (& mistakes!) stick out way more clearly even with gain. Before I got my Matamp 4x12 I was using a vintage oversized Marshall 2x12 which I'd put V30s in. It was warm sounding, but positively muddy compared to the pink Matamp beast.
Guess they're designed to make you a better player & that's no bad thing!
I reckon I'm headed for a 1224 someday. A mate of mine has one, so I might have to annoy his neighbours doing a test drive. You gotta love a single channel amp! It's got all you need if it's good. I've never, in my life, played a channel-switching amp where one of the channels wasn't disappointing (usually the "drive" channel) :wink:

 

[Skybone]

The King Street Major head is another great choice, doesn't have the clever valve switching that the 1224 has, but has got the triode/pentode & full/half power switches on the back panel, with plenty of classic rock sounds on board for good measure!

 

[Guitargoblin]

Oh yeah, forgot about the King Street....Jeff himself says that's his fave. Do you know if that one also has the individual bias pot for each valve? That's a great feature