Best Tube poweramp only ?

  • Thread starter Thread starter alund
  • Start date Start date
Vht's 292 & 252 does pack quite a wallop for a 2 spacer.I like them better than mesa's 292 & 50. If I wanna save my winged c big vht beasts for more serious gigs,I'll often run into the 2 spc vhts for tinkering around.
Thought we'd see a little more love for marshall El 34 100/100.theyre not too bad.
 
I've had both the VHT 2150 and the VHT 2100 Classic, both are beasts. Mesa stuff sounds great too...
 
Racerxrated said:
The Hammer 320. Killer.

But, I'd say the best (Subjective of course) are either the 2150 or 2100 (VHT)...not played them myself but I hear they are the most 3D of all the units. I've owned the Strategy 400, monster amp and now own a HH M900 (same as the famous V800 but 2 in/outs vs 4).
Click to expand...
My 2150 is a great poweramp, but I don’t consider it to be particularly 3D (at least relative to the other gear I have). I think of it more as sounding precise, clear and well balanced. Good for modern stuff or something more transparent to run through, but not as flat sounding like the HH V800 I had. The Langner Brutus is where the more 3D/detailed tone and warmth is at, but it sounds looser & spongier vs the 2150. It sounds kinda like a beefier, more robust SLO power section imo. Very nice midrange. Those are the 2 poweramps I’ve kept
 
Last edited:
Can anyone describe how the 2100 sounds vs the 2150? I’ve got a 2150 and curious how the 2100 compares with having EL34’s & 4 powertubes vs 2 KT88’s
 
Honestly all of the ones I've owned have been good

All of the vht Fryette stuff is fantastic - 2150 esp

Peavey 5050

Marshall dual mono

Boogie 2 90 2 was good

I only use a poweramp for slaving the Larrys line out to wet cabinets, and the power station is relatively uncolored, so works fantastic for this.
 
braintheory said:
My 2150 is a great poweramp, but I don’t consider it to be particularly 3D (at least relative to the other gear I have). I think of it more as sounding precise, clear and well balanced. Good for modern stuff or something more transparent to run through, but not as flat sounding like the HH V800 I had. The Langner Brutus is where the more 3D/detailed tone and warmth is at, but it sounds looser & spongier vs the 2150. It sounds kinda like a beefier, more robust SLO power section imo. Very nice midrange. Those are the 2 poweramps I’ve kept
Click to expand...
Sam, do you use your power amps mostly for preamp use? For W/D/W the HH does reproduce the slaved amps original tone best; if that’s a future rabbit hole for you. HH would have been best for that application. I’m sure the Langner and VHT will work well though. They’ll just add their own color.
 
Racerxrated said:
Sam, do you use your power amps mostly for preamp use? For W/D/W the HH does reproduce the slaved amps original tone best; if that’s a future rabbit hole for you. HH would have been best for that application. I’m sure the Langner and VHT will work well though. They’ll just add their own color.
Click to expand...
I use them for both preamp use & slaving amp heads into them. The Langner is definitely more colored than most poweramps, but a very pleasing color. IME most “transparent” gear hasn’t stayed for me and still usually has some subtle color usually in not as pleasing a way. I may try wdw in the future to explore it, but it hasn’t really appealed to me

I’m not a fan in general of modulation fx with high gain amps. It always sounded kinda gimmicky & dated to me, to me it’s sorta like a girl trying to use make up to look better. I especially hate when it’s done in gear demos (so many channels using some reverb or delay in there), kinda diminishes the purpose of them. I just sometimes use my vintage spring reverbs to make my clean tones prettier, but I never use them when testing gear or doing something more serious. I’ve always just been trying to get the best naked/unaffected tones I can get
 
Since this is a poweramp thread and there's lots of talk about the vhts,here's two articles from my guitar player mags 92'& 94'.Both articles were reviewing the then new
20230113_000832.jpg
big boy preamps of the day.They talk about what amps were used for testing the preamps and thier findings.Lets go back in time & enjoy!
20230113_001113.jpg
 
Really u have to ask what your goal is, if you want hard hitting brutality the 2150 with KT88s OR GE6550 is in the same vein as a mesa S400 or M180, the 180 is mono but has the same exact power section as the Coliseum. The single note marshall-esq dna is not far off when you run the vht classic, all el34 and for my money the best poweramp for that tone.
 
alund said:
Exactly what the title states. What is the best or top 3 best and why? Soldano? VHT2150? Mesa strategy?
Fryette PS, 2/90/2, Marshall? I only have experience with some of these. Why is the 2150 regarded as the one? Or is it not?
Click to expand...
For preamps or for slaving wdw?
 
braintheory said:
Can anyone describe how the 2100 sounds vs the 2150? I’ve got a 2150 and curious how the 2100 compares with having EL34’s & 4 powertubes vs 2 KT88’s
Click to expand...
Not until someone plays through it, they dont sound like anything just turned on and sitting. :yes:
 
The PA50 from KSR is really cool as you can move it quite easy. The NFB control is also really useful. They are coming out with a rackmount stereo power amp soon. Barring that I would likely go with a Fryette
 
savant421 said:
Strategy 400 - a brute. Heavy. Expensive to re-tube but crushes all
Click to expand...
Wrong, "it crushes all" is a stupid comment. It has a flavor, runs on 6l6 and is if not one of the best ever made but cannot represent all tones. If someone wants a flat power amp that doesn't color the tone then the S400 crushes nothing. It comes down to what someone wants to achieve.
 
So I’ll get back to what I’m trying to achieve. Back story; I’m 53 and have played for 40 years. I grew up on 60-70-80s music. I stopped listening to new stuff when I started my career. I do enjoy the “grunge era” but haven’t kept up with newer high gain stuff at all. Just stuck in my decade so to speak. So I’m looking for anything that will compliment those sounds. On top of that, I want rack gear. It’s just easier for me. I don’t play to coliseums or huge places. 100-300 folks. Sometimes outside. I personally have a mixture of poweramps/preamps running at the same time. 1 is dry; 1 is wet; then a lead which is on/off specifically for that. Each runs into a 2x12 cabinets. Yes 6 speakers. It’s a lot but it works for me. I don’t know that hauling a boat anchor is the right thing to do except for people to look at my gear and say “that’s a big cock”, like Amber Waves said about Dirk Diggler. I have, like everyone else here a fascination with tweaking things to get a more perfect sound. My stereo atomic reactor, which sounds better than my Mesa 50/50 could probably be better—- hence the question in the thread. The other two power amps include a Soldano 100watt poweramp alone and the Fryette PS100. Both very cool. I would say that if I had to live with this sound forever I would be more than happy. BUT… of course, we can’t help but think… is there something better? By the way I play gigs about 5x per year so hauling shit around ain’t a big deal to me for now. I have trailers to move shit so not concerned about that. I have friends that help move stuff so no big deal there either. All the responses from above, I suspect I already knew but it’s nice to hear them again. And get new input. Thanks guys. BTW, without rigtalk I would still be lost. Appreciate all the input.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top