VHT Sig:X or Deliverance - reliability

[ironcity]

Playing in club environments, anything can happen. I had a three day gig I just got back from. For some reason my Modern Classic didn't like the electric, but my Metal worked fine. The next day the MC worked fine....no biggie.

This thread is a mind singe But every time I listen to your (Greazygeo) clips, I'm thinking of going for it. Excellent clips man - it's got the tone I think I'm looking for, and though deciding off of clips is always a risky proposition, I haven't heard that tone in the other amps I'm considering (ENGL, CAE, Elmwood...), except for maybe the Splawn QR.
Still wonder if the Deliverance might be more durable...?

 

[Shiny_Surface]

Gibson headstocks can explode at any time but people still have them

Kidding........................easy boys

IF the guts looked sub-par for VHT yeah I would be concerned but they look the same as any UL as far as I have seen.

The one difference I noticed about the PCB's in the UL vs. the Sig X is that the UL had one PCB sub-board for all the powertubes + two preamp tubes, and another main PCB that contained 4 preamp tubes plus everything else. Than smaller PCB strips for the pots/jacks.

The Sig X looks like it has one huge PCB with everything on it...

 

[Digital Jams]

Gibson headstocks can explode at any time but people still have them

Kidding........................easy boys

IF the guts looked sub-par for VHT yeah I would be concerned but they look the same as any UL as far as I have seen.

The one difference I noticed about the PCB's in the UL vs. the Sig X is that the UL had one PCB sub-board for all the powertubes + two preamp tubes, and another main PCB that contained 4 preamp tubes plus everything else. Than smaller PCB strips for the pots/jacks.

The Sig X looks like it has one huge PCB with everything on it...

I did not notice that, maybe that is part of the cost savings? My jvm is one big board so if something blows up I guess the whole board gets tossed

I have 4 years left on the warrenty so not worried

 

[Shiny_Surface]

Did the UL have the pots mounted to the chassis, then connected to the PCB with wires (flying leads) or am I remembering it wrong? I know for sure that the Sig:X has PCBs mounted vertically that all (or most?) of the front panel controls mount to...

My '03 UL had the pots bolted to the chassis, but they were also attached to smaller PCB strips I believe. Those smaller PCB strips were then connected to the main PCB, it's been awhile though I could be wrong...

 

[Loudness250]

Gibson headstocks can explode at any time but people still have them

Kidding........................easy boys

IF the guts looked sub-par for VHT yeah I would be concerned but they look the same as any UL as far as I have seen.

The one difference I noticed about the PCB's in the UL vs. the Sig X is that the UL had one PCB sub-board for all the powertubes + two preamp tubes, and another main PCB that contained 4 preamp tubes plus everything else. Than smaller PCB strips for the pots/jacks.

The Sig X looks like it has one huge PCB with everything on it...

Actually it has one main big board but another smaller board mounted to the side which actually still has quite a bit of stuff on it.

 

[-=MYK=-]

Why is everyone selling their VHT? They must not sound as good as the hype.

 

[jkdsteve]

Why is everyone selling their VHT? They must not sound as good as the hype.

Usual cycle on a new amp would be my guess....

 

[70strathead]

If I think back thru my amp use....my first amp big enough to gig with was a Yamaha G100 210 combo...it would shut down after 15 minutes....in the shop repeatedly.....cracked PCB

72 50 watt Marshall.....blew up every time before a big gig. Ended up borrowing something everytime and it was always something different going wrong with it.

77 Marshall 2203...caught fire in the studio. Then later an OT went at a gig....bummer. Both were tube failure related.

Wizard Metal....the channel switching wouldnt work at a gig.....club's stage electric was tied into the coolers. The voltage would drop enough to not let the relay kick over.

I'm sure there are more.....lots of gigs over the years and stuff happens.

don't u hate when that happens? Blown fuses have been a problem for me in the past as well as dirty power. The funniest equipment mishap thing that happened to me one gig was actually my echoplex decided to take on a mind of it's own and spew out the tape ribbon all over the place in the middle of a tune and resulted in some very strange flutter sounds and a rats nest ! The root cause was overheating and just mechanical failure. I'll never forget during our set break i had to maunally untangle and guide the tape through the mechanism and some people were observing scratching their heads?

 

[Juggernaut]

Why is everyone selling their VHT? They must not sound as good as the hype.

I'm not..... I LOVE the way my Sig:X sounds.

 

[degenaro]

Usual cycle on a new amp would be my guess....

The cycles goes like this every single time...

- New cool amp on the market
- People buy them up left and right
- People start selling them within a week or two
- People start threads or reply to posts asking why everyone is selling theirs

Like clockwork...

You forgot the initial excitement when the anouncement comes up building to near hysteria..."this going to be the BEST EVAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRR!!!" and then the stuff you mentioned starts.

 

[Greazygeo]

If I think back thru my amp use....my first amp big enough to gig with was a Yamaha G100 210 combo...it would shut down after 15 minutes....in the shop repeatedly.....cracked PCB

72 50 watt Marshall.....blew up every time before a big gig. Ended up borrowing something everytime and it was always something different going wrong with it.

77 Marshall 2203...caught fire in the studio. Then later an OT went at a gig....bummer. Both were tube failure related.

Wizard Metal....the channel switching wouldnt work at a gig.....club's stage electric was tied into the coolers. The voltage would drop enough to not let the relay kick over.

I'm sure there are more.....lots of gigs over the years and stuff happens.

Yep, stuff happens. Guess I've been very, very lucky? I've probably had 50 amps in my life from solid-state Crate and Fender combos, to stuff from Diezel, Bogner, VHT, Marshall, Mesa, etc... The only problems I've ever had in my life are the three listed above. Those were all in the last 4 years and with VHT stuff.

My friend "hmj" on here also had a 50CL fry on him. He had to send it back to VHT for PCB upgrades or something. Not real sure, but it was serious enough to send it back to them.

I don't have the technical knowledge to make any statements about VHT stuff being built cheaply or anything like that. I'm nowhere near qualified enough to make those statements. But it does leave a bad taste in my mouth when I've had several "issues" while using their products. Ya know?

As far as tone goes, I totally dig them. They make some of my favorite sounding amps for sure.

Yeah things happen. I gigged with my UL for 4-5 years solid and never had any issues. I had it plugged in at home and we had a big t-storm which caused a power surge and shorted out an op amp in my FX loop. Pretty easy fix.

 

[Greazygeo]

don't u hate when that happens? Blown fuses have been a problem for me in the past as well as dirty power. The funniest equipment mishap thing that happened to me one gig was actually my echoplex decided to take on a mind of it's own and spew out the tape ribbon all over the place in the middle of a tune and resulted in some very strange flutter sounds and a rats nest ! The root cause was overheating and just mechanical failure. I'll never forget during our set break i had to maunally untangle and guide the tape through the mechanism and some people were observing scratching their heads?

If stuff didnt happen, we wouldnt have the cool stories right

Ahh the echoplex days.....we used to use one for the vocals since we couldnt afford the new digital units yet. I can remember our sound guy robbing 8 tracks to rewind the tape cartridges.

I can see the mess of tape now!

 

[Hollywood]

Hey Greazygeo, I really appreciated the phone time today. I had to pack alot in a short time so forgive the hyped up monologue. I am going to check out as much info as I can on these vht's and then I will give you a shout. Hey, what speakers work the best with the vht's? I have celestions, and scumbacks.. I run both straight and angle cabs, but usually just bottom straight cabs. I read where some guys say the vht cabs hold the magical edge for Vht heads, so what's the 411 ?

 

[Juggernaut]

Just my 2 cents.....

I have a Randall XXL Cab with V30s and G12T-75s and it sounds FANTASTIC with the VHT. I haven't had the pleasure to play it through a VHT cab yet, but I'm getting great tone with my oversized Celestion loaded cab.

 

[Hollywood]

Cool. I got a straight cab, mojo made looks like a old plexi cab with celestion greenbacks in it. Old school greenbacks. I got another cab same cab, mojo, old school plexi look straight cab loaded with scumback mixed in x pattern, 2-h-75 hp 65 watters, 2- m-75 65watters. I got several other cabs with other celestions in them. I also have a marshall cab, angled top cab with the v-30 celestions in it. Older version v-30's, according to most folks the good ones. Maybe one of these cabs will do the trick. Otherwise, I gotta buy a cab too.

 

[philb]

Just came back from band practice. As usual, I took the sig X. It sounds fantastic.

 

[Greazygeo]

Hey Greazygeo, I really appreciated the phone time today. I had to pack alot in a short time so forgive the hyped up monologue. I am going to check out as much info as I can on these vht's and then I will give you a shout. Hey, what speakers work the best with the vht's? I have celestions, and scumbacks.. I run both straight and angle cabs, but usually just bottom straight cabs. I read where some guys say the vht cabs hold the magical edge for Vht heads, so what's the 411 ?

Howdy Hollywood! Nice talking to you as well. Did you get stuck working afterhours?

I like either amp thru the Deliverence cabs. As for Celestions...the 65's work well, 75's are ok (if they are well broken in) and GBs for more mid gain type tones. I don't like V30's or H30's with anything like most people know.

 

[Hollywood]

Yeah, I got stampeded by customers with a few funds left. So, I did what I do. And I left later than I should have. I have a room full of greenback cabs. So I guess I will need to remedy this. I really like my scumback speaker loaded cab. I have the v-30 cab at work in the office, have not used it in a year. I have a couple of 75 celestions in boxes some where. I never liked them for some reason. What speakers come in the vht cabs? And I see there is 2 diifferent cabs as far as style. What is the difference????????

 

[Greazygeo]

Yeah, I got stampeded by customers with a few funds left. So, I did what I do. And I left later than I should have. I have a room full of greenback cabs. So I guess I will need to remedy this. I really like my scumback speaker loaded cab. I have the v-30 cab at work in the office, have not used it in a year. I have a couple of 75 celestions in boxes some where. I never liked them for some reason. What speakers come in the vht cabs? And I see there is 2 diifferent cabs as far as style. What is the difference????????

I'd try what you have and see what you think. I like GB's but for high gain / high volume stuff, they can get a bit fuzzy sounding.

The VHT cabs come with VHT speakers (P50E). Deliverence cabs are a bit more traditional sounding. The Fat Bottom cabs are very tight and focused sounding. They are both still tight cabs, but the D cabs are not as tight. I dont like the FB cabs myself, but the D cabs are killer!

 

[Hollywood]

I wonder if I could buy 4 speakers and put them in one of my cabs? What speakers would be a good choice? Say for high gain and for vht heads? Oh yeah and how much??