Power Amp Comparison

[Little B]

Never had the mesa 2-50-2, but ive owned the vht 2 50 2, vht 2 90 2,mesa 2 90,mesa 295, and vht 2150 and classic...sounds like youre drawn to the lower power ratings, but my 2150 and classic make any preamp feel and sound just as if youve plugged straight into an amp head..no sterile "flat,dull, lifeless, sound what so ever..I would love to try out a mesa 500...not sure bout the mesa 2 50 2, but I know all the vhts can run one side while the other is off...

 

[Anonymous]

Peavey Classic 120/120 - Holy hell, so heavy it's like carrying a piece of black hole material. Sounds great though - and they are cheap. If you don't have to move your gear much (or have roadies) and are on a budget, this is a GREAT poweramp. I prefer the VHT over this, but these are solid sounding amps.

Pete[/quote]


I think the 120/120 is the best power amp for the money ever made but as you said...way too heavy so I modified mine by taking one side of the amps transformers out and cutting the weight in half and turned it into a mono 120 watt power amp and it kicks ass but...not using it since I got my Meathead

 

[ratkent]

When I had my rack rig I went through the following power amps over the years:

Randall RT2-50
Marshall 9100
Mesa 2:90
VHT 2/50/2
Peavey Classic 50/50

I was going for a Marshall type tone using a Randall RM4 preamp with all Vox or Marshall flavored modules, mostly modded. The hands down winner was the VHT with EL34s. Second place was the Peavey. The Mesa was the loudest which is no surprise since it had more power, but it was either too tight or too loose depending on how I set the various switches in the back. My least favorite was the Marshall which only sounded good completely cranked and even then had an upper midrange honk that I could not dial out. The Randall simply had no nuts and was the least punchy of the bunch. Cabinets I played through had Celestion V30s, Greenbacks and GT75s. They all responded differently to each amp obviously, but all of the cabs sounded great with the VHT. I got the Peavey as a backup when my VHT was fried by bad power at a venue and was shocked at how great it sounded too. Not as ballsy as the VHT but very similar mids and high end.

 

[petejt]

hmmm....

haha that's so cute!

 

[petejt]

The Randall simply had no nuts and was the least punchy of the bunch.

Hmmm. Good to know that.
I was considering on buying the RT 2-50 at one stage. Now I'm glad I didn't, cheers.

 

[muudrock]

When I had my rack rig I went through the following power amps over the years:

Randall RT2-50
Marshall 9100
Mesa 2:90
VHT 2/50/2
Peavey Classic 50/50

I was going for a Marshall type tone using a Randall RM4 preamp with all Vox or Marshall flavored modules, mostly modded. The hands down winner was the VHT with EL34s. Second place was the Peavey. The Mesa was the loudest which is no surprise since it had more power, but it was either too tight or too loose depending on how I set the various switches in the back. My least favorite was the Marshall which only sounded good completely cranked and even then had an upper midrange honk that I could not dial out. The Randall simply had no nuts and was the least punchy of the bunch. Cabinets I played through had Celestion V30s, Greenbacks and GT75s. They all responded differently to each amp obviously, but all of the cabs sounded great with the VHT. I got the Peavey as a backup when my VHT was fried by bad power at a venue and was shocked at how great it sounded too. Not as ballsy as the VHT but very similar mids and high end.

I haven't had that experience with the RT/250. If fact, I chose to keep it over the VHT 2/50/2 because it is plenty punchy but had a very sweet tone to it as well. Since the RT/250 can use just about any power tube (octal), it can sound and feel very different depending on what tubes are in there.