Anyone still using a tube amp?

greg said:
I sold all my tube amps since getting the FM9. But lately I've been thinking about getting another tube amp. Does anyone still use tube amps now and then, or do most just use their Fractal?
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I use my FM9 for 90% of the time and the other 10% I use my Hughes & Kettner Grandmeister 36. I recently put new valves in it and it sounds great. Such a versatile amp - can’t see myself getting rid of it any time soon. 🤘🏻
 
I use a ton of tube amps... but not how you might think lol. :)

Have a few preamps mostly for a bit more variety (ada mb1, mp2, triaxis, tbraxx). Whenever I turn the guitar preamps on (mp2/triaxis) it is a stark reminder of how much quieter the axe fx is. all sound great... but all require an awful lot more wrangling to get the right sound.

I have several tube power amps (mesa 20/20, peavey 50/50 and 60/60). I freq turn on my poweramps and either some traditional 2x12s or my greenboys for a bit more "wall of sound" feel. I try to remember not to ever dial in my presets when using them tho.

have a dsl100 and a deluxe in the room... but it has been a loooong time since I turned either on. I should sell them... but every now and then I like to peel paint.

all this said... if I had to scale down to just a few items it'd def be my axefx, rme, and studio monitors. would still be oodles more than i need!
 
No more toobs here.

I talk a lot with a buddy who really loves a traditional Signal chain. Amps through reactive loads or attenuators, pedal trading and buying, constructing and reconstructing pedalboards, musings of creative loop path switching...

I'm very happy for him. He loves it. But I don't. The axe fx is so much easier. It has solved my issues with chasing the tone dragon.

I feel like he's a photographer and I'm an illustrator. He wants to travel the world looking for his version of the perfect natural landscape to capture, while I can imagine what I want and sketch it up.
 
greg said:
I sold all my tube amps since getting the FM9. But lately I've been thinking about getting another tube amp. Does anyone still use tube amps now and then, or do most just use their Fractal?
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Still have the tube amp itch.... Just ordered a Fryette PS-2 for that purpose.

Been using PA/Cabs w/ Fractal for years - it's the only way to go. A Tube PA is the icing on the cake.
 
Living space constraints have forced me to move my home office and guitar room into the same small bedroom. Amps and pedals moved to storage. May end up selling them all. For me its not a question about tone, but how can I fit everything into downsized space.
 
Daveis said:
Living space constraints have forced me to move my home office and guitar room into the same small bedroom. Amps and pedals moved to storage. May end up selling them all. For me its not a question about tone, but how can I fit everything into downsized space.
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Stack up, not out.
 
MSS said:
Just curious as to your opinion on the Axe purple model and the Revv purple channel. I think I am close to the G50 voicing by changing the tubes to EL34 Mullard and bias hot at 70.
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So I’m pretty sure the Axe model is the 120 Mk3 Rev A amp. Which I owned before trading for a Bogner and then missing that amp enough that I decided to get a G50. The G50 is a lot more pissed off. It reminds me of a Mark IV Mesa amp in Pentode/Midgain/Full power. The axe model isn’t worlds apart.
 
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I still have 7 tube combos. In addition, I use two different frfr setups with my FM-3, as well as a QSC power amp into a pair of JBL G730s from the late 80s. Lastly, I also can pair my FM-3 with a Mesa 50/50 tube power amp and two Mesa 1-12" cabs.

They all sound great, but I can get a much wider range of sounds at a much wider range of volumes with the FM-3 doing the dsp and the amps/cabs/frfrs just providing volume. I still love plugging into a TopHat, Mesa Maverick, NMV Marshall, or 5e3 when I can get 'em breathing, but none of this is a religion to me; the end justifies the means IMO when it comes to playing music. That said, if I were limited to one unit/tech (the "desert island" scenario), I'd take an FM-3 and an EV or Yamaha coax stage monitor over any tube rig I've played in 60 years of doing so. Would've killed for this stuff in the late 60s.
 
I still have tube amps. I like the simplicity as a change of pace from using my FM9.

I'm currently using a Rivera Suprema Jazz Recording with no effects when practicing. It enables me to focus on my technique without concerns about the various options a modeler offers.

It's a 1x12 55 watt combo with no gain channel and plenty of headroom so using it is as simple as it gets. I got the 1x12 version instead of the 1x15 combo because the 12 is better suited for amplifying the FM9 if I ever want to use the FM9 as a modeler going into the Rivera's effects return.

Since I didn't get the 15" speaker I decided to pair it with my Los Lobottom Sub 1 to give it a little more bottom end. The two sound like they are made for each other and I couldn't be happier with it as a rig. I still love the FM9 and will go back to using it full time at some point but while I'm working on my chops in preparation of going back to gigging in a few months the no frills Rivera rig is ideal.

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I am a big supporter of variety.

Once going 4CM with an EVH 5150iii 6L6 50, out to a 212 (wood type = pine, not ply) cab loaded with a G12EVH & V30 (both bought new in 2018), there simply was no going back to one or the other.

I've been saying it for years,

- The ability to use both in tandem provides limitless versatility with endless possibilities, while additionally allowing full digital control/processing of a base analog/tube signal in real-time!

Originally I was doing this with an Axe-Fx II, I bought in 2013. I snagged an FM3 in June 2020 and have used it since instead.
 
sprint said:
+1 - TM20Dlx here - one of the very few tube amps out there with built-in load box AND good quality bypassable cab emulation (Red Box) AND XLR out AND speaker out defeat. Can't beat it for the low price. I've added a Voodoo lab midi switcher and JHS switchback box to mine for midi based channel switching + fx loop bypass to facilitate routing the TM's pre only or loaded pre+p.a. tone into Axfx. Purists scoff at the SS component designed into the beginning of the input stage, but imo you just have to experiment more to get OD-DS pedals dialed in for it.

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Next step is a FM3 with built in tube amp :) But I like that the manufacturers see the need for low volume after many damaged ears ... Is it possible to use your own IRs with the H&K and if you compare the sound with the FM3/AXEIII, is it still as good like the FAS sound on low volume? Low volume with 1 Watt means bedroom volume?
 
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sprint said:
No, unlike Revv amps for example, there's no built-in IR capability - just the RedBox options which are kind of like IRs but in a different format. Sometimes I disable RedBox and apply IRs from Axfx to the H+K output.


Hard to compare as there is no H+K amp model or RedBox IR models in Axfx - It has its own character within the zone of a clean/hard rock amp - the hi-end is a bit on the bright-harsh side. I use it mostly to drive Axfx models into a real tube power section + open back cab, but sometimes run it as a full amp just for something different.
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Very interesting use cases, but it sounds like it's mostly your power amp for AXEfx with a real cab.
If you need to decide between AXEfx+SoldStateAmp+FRFR or H&K+cab, what would you take?
 
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