Incoming: Early VHT Ultralead

Bad.Seed

Bad.Seed

Well-known member
Managed to snag this at a great price over the weekend. Early model, 5 preamp tube so it has the 2 PI's which makes it an actual ultra lead. Curious to compare it against my CL 50. Looks to be in decent shape, so I'm pretty excited. It will be here Friday.

Only bummer is it has 6L6's in it. Anyone selling a quad of kt88's for a decent price? :LOL: :LOL:

 

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Congrats dude. I've been wanting an UL for a long time now. Almost picked one up locally a year ago but the seller decided to hang on to it. =/ I think I must have sounded too excited to buy it lol.
 
Yeah, the UL is a wicked amp. I still have my 2003, bought it new back then. $2100.

Was thinking of selling it, cause of my Revv Generator, that damn amp is just too good, knocks all of my amps away, but when i plug in, my mind goes berzerk. Such a unique tone. Boosted, they are EVIL.

Even thinking of selling my BE.... Damn Revv.......
 
I will be honest, I paid $1,300 shipped for it. I am not sure what these older non-EQ models go for, but I felt this was a good price, especially considering the 4 button footswitch is included.

We will see how it sounds, I currently own a Pittbull 50 CL and love it to death. I had a 100 CL w/ EQ and loved that as well, but my buddy wanted it so bad when I got it, he offered me a deal I couldn't refuse, so I let it go, and picked up the CL 50 for $650 a week later.

My other guitarist actually has an early Classic that is pretty much identical to this Ultralead, 5 Preamp tubes and all, and it sounds killer, so I'm super curious.

I will post some clips when it comes in, very excited for this one.
 
Congrats, I've actually got what is more than likely one of the last ultra leads without an EQ on it and it's still a killer amp. It'd be interesting to have them side by side sometime and compare all the different revisions. Ever since I figured out the buttons on the amp have to be pressed in I've been using the rhythm channel boosted with a sd-1 and it sounds great.
 
I had a 2007 with the EQ, but I have no doubt that this amp will kill. It’s a steal at $1300 even if you have to do some minor upkeep/maintenance.
 
Phil M":g8yvuvo7 said:
I had a 2007 with the EQ, but I have no doubt that this amp will kill. It’s a steal at $1300 even if you have to do some minor upkeep/maintenance.
Click to expand...

I've had the Classic both with and without the EQ. I ended upt turning off the EQ when I had it because I was easily able to get a tone I loved without dicking around with the little sliders, they became more of a distraction to me.

I found the EQ is not necessary for a good tone like it is ona Mark series amp. The I didn't love my mark IV period, but I was only able to get tones out of that that worked for me when I engaged the EQ. The pittbull definitely is fine without it.
 
It's on the truck for delivery. I have dinner tonight for my birthday with my Dad, but hoping to get sometime in with it afterwards
 
That's a GL100. I had one, it was dated 1993. Mine was just okay sounding. Kind of flat/dull and not as much gain I expected. Tried both 6L6s and KT88s in it. I found the phase inverter preamp spots were very picky with tubes. Most every preamp tube I tried made the amp noisier I had to keep the old VHT labeled one in there as well as an old Yugoslavian, I think it was. Anything modern seem to be either too hot or too noisy. Hope you have better luck with yours.

 
Well, got it in and spent a little time with it. Unfortunately, it has an issue. The volume is fluctuating after being on for 10 minutes or so. Then drops out almost completely. Pretty disappointing.

I have a good tech, but I'm not going to come out of pocket for repairs, so I'll see if guitar center can foot the bill. If they won't, it's going back.
 
Update: cleaned out the effects loops Jack's and played for 30 minutes. All seems to be well now, so that's a relief!

Loving the amp so far, not a massive difference from the 50 cl though. The tone seems a little more round with more mids. Slightly stiffer, but Fuller and punchier overall. Other than that, not much difference.
 
The 45 day window is hard to beat. Gives plenty of time to see if the problem comes back and if it different enough from what you have.
 
mhenson42":1jpnay0o said:
Fluctuations in volume usually happen when there’s a tube issue. I’d retube it and get GC to pay
Click to expand...

I changed out the power tubes for some from another of my amps and what do you know, issue is gone. Going to call up GC tonight and tell them to foot the return bill or the amp is coming back to them.
 
So, after a couple more days and some time to compare:

The CL50 seems more Saturated and a little more compressed. Less Punchy, smoother tone, overall
The UL has a more raw sound, more upper and lower mids and sounds biigger, with more bottom end punch. The amp feels a bit stiffer as well.

I like them both for different reasons, but having a hard time justifying the UL staying at $1,300 all in. Not to mention, it came with 6L6's and I'll need to buy all new KT88's if I keep it to make myself happy. I sacrificed the KT88's in my Deliverance just to see how the amp sounded.

Here is a quick and shitty comparison video. Up to the 40 second mark is the CL50, after that is the UL

 
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