Best head

thomasross20

That's it ordered now with EL34s... though it did say it was on pre-order so I've asked how long it's going to take!

Note to self:
Read up on valves (e.g. do I have to buy matched pairs) and how to change. This site seems good:
http://www.ampvalves.co.uk/

--> I assume it's mainly power tubes that need changed. The V40 has two EL34s in the output... and 3 12AX7 for pre-amp. So I'd by matched EL34s if I ever needed to and just 3 separate 12AX7s (to be honest, I don't know if a pre-amp valve blows if they all need to match or not.. maybe you can just replace the one). To be honest, I'd get the whole set changed, I think. That site says you should change every 500-1000 hours of playing. That's going to be pretty often for me! 
I think I'll be using Mr @ICBM for all my amp servicing needs

57Deluxe

Definitely Ruth in 1991

Teetonetal

@thomasross20 you went for a V40 in the end? Hope it proves to be a good choice, sure it will . Thanks for listening to my track last night, what I wanted to show you was the value of a reactive load - I've seen elsewhere that you are into recording, and I reckon that if you go for a valve head, then this is an essential piece of kit to get... It enables you to both get a super quiet but good home sound and drive the amp properly, but it also makes recording a doddle. Just attenuate to zero, take a feed to the interface, get some impulse responses and you are done... (two notes torpedo comes with WOS3 a self contained program, but I got better results from helix.

Last night I had my brunetti in 50w mode, pushed quite hard, and it's all coming through the headphones as you heard from the track, it sounds pretty much liek a good recorded guitar...

digitalscream

@Teetonetal is bang-on. For your recording needs, you'll be much better off getting a reactive dummy load (I think I've mentioned this to you before). To all intents and purposes, the sound you get with one of those direct into your interface then using good cab impulses is essentially going to be indistinguishable from the real thing in a mix.

Drew did some tests, and his amp(s) with a reactive load kicked the crap out of the AxeFX and Kemper in terms of sound quality.

thomasross20

Sorry for banging on about it but is power scaling + DI out not the same thing but better?

digitalscream

thomasross20 said:

Sorry for banging on about it but is power scaling + DI out not the same thing but better?

No, not even close. A reactive dummy load occurs after the speaker outputs, thus allowing the amp to behave exactly as it would in a real situation. The dummy load then pretends to be a speaker (with its variable impedance at different frequencies, which you don't get with 99% of DI outs or any resistive loads) as far as the amp's concerned, and that signal then has the cab impulses applied in your DAW.

Remember, this is about getting the best signal possible from your amp into your DAW - it's not just about making it quieter, although that's a great side effect since you can effectively run your amp as hot as you want within the power capacity of the dummy load.

Doing it this way will get you the best possible sound for recording, short of putting a mic in front of a cab in a well-treated room and turning your amp up.

Teetonetal

^what he said

@Digitalscream and @Drew_fx are far better than me at being able to explain this, but I absolutely concur with the above post. I am luck to have a helix and bunch of VSTs for recording, but recording using the reactive load with helix providing IR/Cab duties and audio interface as been a huge eye opener for me. The feel is there, the sound is there and it's all using an amp I know 100%

And, when you change amp, you no longer need to worry about any of these power scaling or master volume issues. Just buy the one you want to gig with

thomasross20

Is this something I can add external to the amp (do I have to get it built in)?

Teetonetal

it's an external product. Shur, Two Notes and Fryette make the popular ones.

digitalscream

Oddly, the Suhr looks to be about the cheapest these days - the AMT PE-120 is up at $495, which sucks with the current exchange rate.

AMT do have a 15W one at $115, which is great if your amp has a low-power mode and probably the best value you're going to get. Plus there's a forum discount code for the AMT shop which gets you 10% off.

EDIT: In fact, given that the V40's low-power mode is 7W, the 15W one would do you absolutely fine. Bargain-tastic!

thomasross20

I think I'd rather have it external then.

digitalscream

thomasross20 said:

I think I'd rather have it external then.

Solid choice, that

RaymondLin

My mate's Head and Cab just arrived.  

ThePrettyDamned

digitalscream said:

Oddly, the Suhr looks to be about the cheapest these days - the AMT PE-120 is up at $495, which sucks with the current exchange rate.

AMT do have a 15W one at $115, which is great if your amp has a low-power mode and probably the best value you're going to get. Plus there's a forum discount code for the AMT shop which gets you 10% off.

EDIT: In fact, given that the V40's low-power mode is 7W, the 15W one would do you absolutely fine. Bargain-tastic!

That actually would be quite a bargain. I wonder how it would cope with a cranked up ac15...?

digitalscream

@ThePrettyDamned - pretty badly, I'd imagine. Those things put out quite a bit more than 15W when they're no longer running clean...

thomasross20

That Boogie looks awesome. I like their cleans but that's about it, unfortunately. Damn loud, too.

digitalscream

It'd actually be pretty good if we could do a comparison of an amp with a DI out (eg Laney IRT Studio) with the same amp run through a dummy load, both with impulses.

Anybody want to lend me a Laney?

hugbot

I'm considering one of the matrix solid state jcm800 thingys. 2kg weight!

thomasross20

Somebody is selling one on gumtree for cheap @hugbot - I consdered it myself!

digitalscream

hugbot said:

I'm considering one of the matrix solid state jcm800 thingys. 2kg weight!

I saw one on one of the Facebook groups today - £300. Want me to try to dig it out?