Tube amps advice

[Disappear_85]

Hello gentlemen,

I need your opinions about something, Is it worth getting a tube amp? tone wise the answer im sure is yes, but my concerns are that i live in a country where are no amp techs at all.

Now tubes i can change and bias myself that's easy of course i would have to order and ship them over seas, but im concerned if something else went wrong, or are the amps themselves (exclude tubes) are built to last?

I Have tried Boss GT-10 And POD HD Pro, and i think its totally my own fault i couldn't get some tones i like, I've also had 15 minutes with a Kemper so i can't say if its good or not, but i think me and modellers don't get along.

im currently using Engl e530 with g major 2 and a rocktron velocity 300 and im loving it.

So based on that would you advise getting a full tube amp knowing there is 0 techs in your country, or would you recommend getting the Engl e570 preamp with a rocktron power amp?

I have my eyes set on :

ENGL powerball 2
Diamond F-4 ( Chinese made amp )
Krank SST hybrid ( tube pre amp with a solid state power amp )

im leaning towards the diamond cause its only 2 channels ( less things to go wrong maybe )
The engl is made in Germany
And the Krank is mysterious there are no reviews and no decent sound clips

Other options are Engl e570 and a solid state power amp, Or the kemper but again i don't think i get along with moudllers too well, my fault of course, i see some people using them flawlessly

Thank you
And please Forgive my bad English, its not my native tongue

P.S
I'm not a gigging musician, only home use

 

[311boogieman]

Budget?
Genres?
Home or Gig?
New or Used?
Location?

 

[JackBootedThug]

i have never had a "major" problem with a tube amp. ever.

 

[Disappear_85]

Budget?
Genres?
Home or Gig?
New or Used?
Location?

Budget i can afford the Engls powerball, fireball, E570
Im going for new
Mainly home use ( maybe a gig every if there is one or jam with a drummer )
Location Kuwait, So i can get engls from Europe, Diamond and Krank SST i can order from the U.S

and the question is still, is it worth getting a tube amp knowing you have no techs at all in your country? or am i digging myself a hole?
Or should i Stick with a tube pre amp and solid state power amp?

im only asking cause I recently changed the tubes in my Peavey XXX head and still the clean channel is louder than every thing. you cant even get it past 9 o'clock without getting ear damage, is this normal? and sometimes there is a problem switching from the ultra to crunch, luckily i don't use ultra so i set it all to zero to bypass it interfering with other channels, and with no techs around am stuck with it

thank you

 

[311boogieman]

Most of the maintenance will probably be things like fuses, tubes and biasing. All fairly easy as you've stated. But technically, if you had an issue that you couldn't resolve on your own I would think you NOT would need an 'amp tech' per say - but maybe just someone who is good with electronics or amplification in general.

Remember, if an SS component goes south they are hard to diagnose and repair.

Sorry I missed your PS about this being mostly for home use.

Just based strictly on what you've posted I'd go for the Fireball II.

I would also normally tell you to look at used amps as you can get more bang for your buck but I can see how a warranty would come in handy. I'm still not sure what kind of music you play but what about the Laney Ironheart series?

 

[thunda]

Budget?
Genres?
Home or Gig?
New or Used?
Location?

Budget i can afford the Engls powerball, fireball, E570
Im going for new
Mainly home use ( maybe a gig every if there is one or jam with a drummer )
Location Kuwait, So i can get engls from Europe, Diamond and Krank SST i can order from the U.S

and the question is still, is it worth getting a tube amp knowing you have no techs at all in your country? or am i digging myself a hole?
Or should i Stick with a tube pre amp and solid state power amp?

im only asking cause I recently changed the tubes in my Peavey XXX head and still the clean channel is louder than every thing. you cant even get it past 9 o'clock without getting ear damage, is this normal? and sometimes there is a problem switching from the ultra to crunch, luckily i don't use ultra so i set it all to zero to bypass it interfering with other channels, and with no techs around am stuck with it

thank you

the XXX is a 100 watt monster. It's gonna be real loud at 9 o'clock on the dial in the house. Maybe if you play it through a 1x12 cab that has a low spl rating, but my guess is that you need a lower watt combo - something 20-30 watts. Tube amps usually only suffer problems that are tube related (things like oxidized jacks and pots can be common to all amps).

Maybe a Classic 30 or one of the low watt Fenders - Deluxe? I use a 40 watt Pignose tube amp in the house and it can get really loud. I jammed a while back with a guy who used a Crate V18 combo - it had nice tones and sounded good at low volumes as well as loud and kept up with a drummer.

 

[Disappear_85]

Most of the maintenance will probably be things like fuses, tubes and biasing. All fairly easy as you've stated. But technically, if you had an issue that you couldn't resolve on your own I would think you would need an 'amp tech' per say - but maybe just someone who is good with electronics or amplification in general.

Remember, if an SS component goes south they are hard to diagnose and repair.

Sorry I missed your PS about this being mostly for home use.

Just based strictly on what you've posted I'd go for the Fireball II.

I would also normally tell you to look at used amps as you can get more bang for your buck but I can see how a warranty would come in handy. I'm still not sure what kind of music you play but what about the Laney Ironheart series?

Thank you for responding

I know there are alot of options and amps to choose from but i narrowed it down to the ones i can ship internationally cheap using UPS, FedEx, i don't trust regular mail

My playing is mostly Metallica and Iced earth, so galloping picking and good cleans

based on what you've kindly shared, i should get a tube amp with confidence, they wont give me troubles beyond tubes and fuse, and i can't relay on warranty cause i don't know if they would honor it from where i live beside i have to ship the amp to them and wait for it to ship back.

i know my situation is difficult, im eiter going for it or maybe i should forget about the whole thing.

its between fiireball 100 ( shared EQ damn it ) vs Powerball 2 ( four channels so more things to go wrong ) vs E570 preamp ( powered by a SS amp )

 

[Disappear_85]

Budget?
Genres?
Home or Gig?
New or Used?
Location?

Budget i can afford the Engls powerball, fireball, E570
Im going for new
Mainly home use ( maybe a gig every if there is one or jam with a drummer )
Location Kuwait, So i can get engls from Europe, Diamond and Krank SST i can order from the U.S

and the question is still, is it worth getting a tube amp knowing you have no techs at all in your country? or am i digging myself a hole?
Or should i Stick with a tube pre amp and solid state power amp?

im only asking cause I recently changed the tubes in my Peavey XXX head and still the clean channel is louder than every thing. you cant even get it past 9 o'clock without getting ear damage, is this normal? and sometimes there is a problem switching from the ultra to crunch, luckily i don't use ultra so i set it all to zero to bypass it interfering with other channels, and with no techs around am stuck with it

thank you

the XXX is a 100 watt monster. It's gonna be real loud at 9 o'clock on the dial in the house. Maybe if you play it through a 1x12 cab that has a low spl rating, but my guess is that you need a lower watt combo - something 20-30 watts. Tube amps usually only suffer problems that are tube related (things like oxidized jacks and pots can be common to all amps).

Maybe a Classic 30 or one of the low watt Fenders - Deluxe? I use a 40 watt Pignose tube amp in the house and it can get really loud. I jammed a while back with a guy who used a Crate V18 combo - it had nice tones and sounded good at low volumes as well as loud and kept up with a drummer.

My problem is the clean is louder than crunch if booth set the same the clean channel is way louder, and i don't know if its a fault in the amp or is it designed that way, but its out of my hands i can't fix it if there was anything wrong with it

cheers

 

[311boogieman]

I've played the XXX but don't remember experiencing that problem with the clean channel. The XXX is pretty popular though - I would think you could google that problem and see if anyone else has a similar situation. Usually the clean channel on amps is the one that is quieter. Definitely sounds like there is a problem

I had to EDIT my response up above. I meant to say:

"I would think you would NOT need an 'amp tech' per say - but maybe just someone who is good with electronics or amplification in general."

If you don't think a manufacturer's warranty is going to work for you then why not find a used amp? A used JSX around here is like $500-$700. I got my Mesa Rectoverb head for $490. I also have a Peavey Vypyr Tube 60 combo that I got for $315.

I'm a fan of all in one tube heads so you probably won't hear me telling you to keep your e570 - but I'm sure there are people on here that think that is a good idea.

What about the Laneys (GH and IRT) and the Jet Cities?

 

[thunda]

My problem is the clean is louder than crunch if booth set the same the clean channel is way louder, and i don't know if its a fault in the amp or is it designed that way, but its out of my hands i can't fix it if there was anything wrong with it

cheers

that's why each channel has it's own volume setting and then you control the overall amp volume with the master volume. this way you can set the balance between the channel volumes...just turn up the crunch and ultra channels like you want and turn down the master...

 

[311boogieman]

^ I think he realizes that - he's just saying that it is overly loud at the 9 o'clock position vs the other channels and he's afraid something is wrong with the amp and therefore is hesitant to buy another tube amp.

On my Splawn Quick Rod and to a lesser degree my Rectoverb have to be cranked up a bit more before they get loud like the gain channel.


If you can find someone in Kuwait who has electronics background and can do basic testing with a mulitmeter and potentially use a solder iron you are golden. Solid State? not so much.