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Tube Amp Heads / Solid state Amps

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I have a 50 watt Vox Valvetronic amp which I use for home practise at approx a quarter of its output, anyone familiar with Vox amps and in particular the Valvetronic range will know that it has various amp simulator settings as well as various FX.

 

I have gone through all the amp simulator types and FX trying to get the sound of Free's

'All Right Now ' lead break but cannot do so - have tried the amp also with a multi FX pedal,

one of the new one's on the market: Zoom G3X ( which incidently is absolutely fantastic ) but still cannot get this sound I want.

 

So.......I'm considering purchasing a Tube amp head to run with a new speaker cab I've recently bought ( only looking for a small output though - 5 watt plenty ), have seen a couple of Tube amps that interest me and reasonably price for the amount of usage it will get.

 

Any experienced players on here who would recommend a Tube amp over a Solid state one -

And am I likely to get that much sort after sound of Free's 'All Right Now' if using a Tube Amp ?

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I'm not a guitarist as such, I'm a music producer/live engineer. I have had a Vox valvetronic in the past, (and although decent for what it is) it's no where near using a proper valve amp. I currently have an AC30 which is great, sounds like you hear on a lot of 'classic' records. Probably not quite what you are looking for, I've had Fender deluxe/twin type amps in the past that would get very close to what you are looking for.

 

I suspect that a vintage Marshall tube amp would be what was actually used in the Free song. To me, most of the modern ones I've come across don't sound all that great though.

 

A lot of the sound comes from the playing and instrument as well, string bends etc, and the guitar, a Les Paul.

 

For reasonable money I would check out the combos by Fender, a champ, a deluxe, if you're feeling like getting an ASBO from the neighbours, get a twin!

 

Or if you've just won the lottery, seek out a super sweet 60's or 70's vintage Marshall head!

 

Ps. Ditch the Zoom pedal if you're looking for anything approaching an authentic sound. Just crank them valves up!!! ;-)

Edited by Tuffty

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Just remember not to use gain. Kossoff didn't use gain. Free, Led Zeppelin, ACDC etc hardly used any gain. They got the sound by turning the amp up and getting the power tubes and speakers rattling their nuts off! You're not going to get that sound accurately unless you can get a tube amp that you can crank up to the max without blowing your windows out and the neighbours complaining :-)

 

I've not tried it, but you could try a Marshall Class 5 tube amp. Even 5 amps is pretty loud though but the later models have an attenuator which goes down to 0.5 watts.

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I've been playing for a fair while and I have had solid state and tubes amps.

I think for what you are after you definitely need tube. You don't need to have the same kinda amp as what those guys used to use to get that "Free" type sound. If you get a decent tube amp with a good drive channel then you'll get close to it.

I would say avoid distortion channels and pedals and stick with driving the amp...or there are some very nice drive pedals out there (Sweet Baby by Joyo...only about £30 new and amazing!).

 

I have a good 20w tube amp up for sale if you fancy a look...let me know.

It's switchable between 3 and 20w for home and stage use! So you can really crank it

 

---------- Post added 10-07-2014 at 22:29 ----------

 

Oh should have said...the amp I have for sale is a Hayden and its £180 in great condition!

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Seems everyone is telling me to choose a tube amp over a solid state amp ?

 

The Vox Valvetronix AD50VT I have, has a simulated Vox AC30TB in its selectable menu,

so using this amp model I should be able to achieve the sound I'm after for Free's 'All Right Now' ?

 

I don't want to go to unnecessary expense buying a tube amp for the sake of one song and if I can get away with using the equipment I've already got : 4 amps in total - 3 Vox and a Line 6 ( currently being offered for sale in Musical Items ).

 

Another pointer is the fact that I only play for my own amusement, so don't need anything big on output or expensive. I mentioned that I have seen two tube heads that are of interest to me and price wise within my budget - one is an Orange Micro Terror priced at £99, the other is made by a company called SubZero and priced at £ 84.99.

The latter being more to my liking due to its retro appearance, having more controls, and optional outputs: 4ohms, 8ohms and 16ohms.

 

The only thing that puts me off buying it, is the fact that the amp head has two tubes to replace if they go, and to replace would be a third of the price I had bought the amp for, whereas, buying the Orange Tube head there is only one tube to replace.......its a case of Swings and Roundabouts - if I can get what I want from the equipment I've already got then that will save all problems and expenditure.

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That's the thing really...it's going with what is best for you and your situation to be honest.

You will never get "the sound" using a solid state BUT, you will get something that resembles it and that might well do for your situation. IF you were to go for either the Orange Tiny or the SubZero i would go with the Tiny all day long. They are pretty damn sweet sounding amps. My bassist (plays guitar too) has one and it does sound very very good! Simplest of simple amps but it does a great job!

 

If you're sticking with the solid state then your best bet maybe to grab yourself a nice od pedal (overdrive, not distortion) like the sweet baby by Joyo that I mentioned before. Dirt cheap pedals but sound fantastic. I use 2 of them but, I do use it with a tube amp so not entirely sure of the results with a solid state.

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