Small Tube Amps

The Blues jr is a nice amp for blues and some classic rock/ mild overdrive. I have not idea how it would interact with the pod (plus there's no efx loop). The local guitar store should let you try out some tube amps with the pod.

There's also the vox valvetronix series and the Roland cube SS, both comparable to the frontman/marshall. If you like the pod as is, the Roland is probably the most neutral.
For me, the Blues jr with 12'' speaker was worth the price over the 30 watt Roland SS. But that's me.
I haven't heard the galaxie.

The Galaxie 10 is a nice little amp. I got it for my daughter for her birthday last year. I did some mods to it to get a certain sound I wanted from it. That way it would break up earlier, along with using an attenuator to take -8dB's off it. I can get what I want from it and has tone till the middle of next week. When you go and try out an amp don't be afraid to turn it up till you find its sweet spot or saturation point.

Bring your own guitar and anything you plan on using with it. Put the amp through the moves. You should ask the shop if they have a special room for this. Tube amps really come to life when their run at a certain volume. (which depends on the amp itself). I don't have a problem turning the amp up to hear what it sounds like. If they didn't want me to turn it up past 6 or 8 then they shouldn't made the volume control go to 10 or 12. I want to know if it will produce the tone I'm looking for.

Joe

Joe

If you want a Galaxy 10, you'd better jump quick! They've been discontinued. Recently MusiciansFriend has been discounting them to get rid of stock, but I haven't seen an ad for them in 2-3 weeks.

The Epiphone Valve Junior is a nice little amp, but it only has one knob, volume, so it's quite clean at low volume and has to be loud to be "crunchy." That may not be to everyone's liking.

Don't bother with these amps. Really. Or get rid of your Line6 stuff. Adding a small tube amp to the digital modeling stuff usually results in bad results. Take your gear to the shop and try it yourself. Personally I'd get something 100% solidstate to amplify a POD.

Arjen might be correct to a degree. The Line6 presets are probably set up to run through a solid state amp.

I use a Zoom GFX-1 with my Hot Rod Deluxe and Marshall DSL401. I found I had to edit the presets quite a bit. It took awhile but I am getting just awesome tones now.

Just my opinion, but I find that most effect processors have way too much of everything. You have to bring the level of everything down to get great sounds, especially if you play at volume.

I think the manufactures do this for a purpose. If you go into the music store to try out one of these pedals, you want to hear the effects. So they make everything BIG if you know what I'm saying. The Reverb will sound like you are in a cathedral. Chorus will be very deep, etc....

If they had these pedals set up properly (as for a live show at volume), you would probably think the effects are pretty weak.

So they set everything up big. You just have to tweak it and bring everything down to sound great at volumes you play at. This will sound very good with a tube amp.

Just another personal opinion, but I don't like big effects. If you really NOTICE the effect, it's too much. I find it to be very distracting myself.
So I personally like effects to be very subtle, especially when playing loud.

But everybody is different, I'm sure some do like big effects.

And as Joe always says, get an EQ pedal too!

It would work, but don't expect all the presets to sound great. It will take some dailing in to get it setup and to sound right. Generally those type of tube amps you plug in and turn them up till they sag and get down. Anytime you push their inputs you'll need to spend sometime with them to get the tone your after. I know a guitarist that uses the Rack mounted PODXT Pro in to a stereo tube power amp run mono. It does have some impressive sounds but only a small number of the presets have any decent tone.

Anyway you look at it to get great tone takes works and a creative signal chain.

Joe

Using a multi-effects pedal with tube amps is pretty much no prob since those pedals can work with whatever basic sound your amp provides. Modelers are there to replace the sound, and will get tremendously screwed over when using tube amps. Now with a 40W Hotrod you can play at pretty darn loud volumes without the tubes altering the POD-sound too much, but with a 5W epiphone amp you really can't.

But as Joe says, while it might not have been supposed to be used that way, you could accidently run into some new cool sounds. So if you're after that, and have the money to take some risks if you can't extensively try it in a store, go right ahead. If you are on a budget and just need a basic way to amplify your POD, get a amp as clean as possible (keybord, PA, guitar poweramp)

All of my tube amps have effects loops on them. I usually run my Vox Tonelab SE straight into the "power amp input" or "return" jack. This bypasses the preamp stage of the amp, and effectively makes the modeler the preamp.

You might take a look at the Atomic amp. It's a tuber made for modelers, and essentially is set up to do the same thing i'm doing.

http://www.americanmusical.com/item--i-ATO-R112.html

This is a very interesting and educational thread.

I am still experimenting with gear and have been watching for a used tube amp but now I am wondering what for.

I had no idea the modeler's (I have an RP-80) were not compatible with tube amps.

I have an Ibanex acoustic amp, a Marshall SS amp, both low end starter amps, and the RP-80 and I don't like the sound of any of it or any combination of hooking up or any of the preset sounds in the modeler or any of the edited sounds I have been trying to mess around with. I especially dislike the drums in that RP, all too tinny.

So now I have been saved some money (thanks) because a tube amp will do nothing to help what is coming out of the modeler.

But now I have lost any direction to go in for accumulating another piece of gear to play with. :(

Well, the RP80 is basically a plus version of the RP50. And the RP50 is *really* and old piece of digital equipment. Still being sold, but the technique is many years old and it doesn't hold a candle to what modern modelers can do. I doubt you'll be able to find a really awesome sound of that unit, regardless of the amp. Besides, most modeling amps have all the stuff (minus drums) already integrated and with much better quality.

For example, a RP80 plus a $250 amp of your choice doesn't come close to a Vox AD30VT. If you do get a tube amp just ditch the RP80 and get a proper tube overdrive pedal. Tubes are cool, digital is cool, but not every combination will work. Another example would be the (awesome!) Vox Tonelab. Awesome modeler and uses a nifty system to get tube poweramp sound. The way it is set-up you can mostly bypass the internal poweramp-imitation circuitry and put it into a real tube poweramp. That way you replace part of the imitation with a 'real' bit. The RP80 cannot do that and the tubes would 'color' the sound in a way Digitech didn't design the RP-series for.

Arjen, I did some reading on that Tonelab and listening to clips.

Seems just what the doctor ordered! I just bought one from musicians friend. Will sell the RP-80. Can't wait to get the Vox and start playing with it.

I saw a used Tonelab on ebay and I was right there and tempted to bid on it (it sold cheap) but I was not comfortable with the sellers feedback record, non existant as a seller. Tempting yes, to save $100 but also risk losing $200...with electronics I like to buy new anyway. I felt better getting this item from musicians friend and with free shipping, I tacked on a new strap and the usual couple boxes of strings.

Now I can't spend for the Schector Omen 6 I have been watching on e-bay but that's ok, there will be more toys down the road. One at a time.

New toys are kool! 8)

I had no idea the modeler's (I have an RP-80) were not compatible with tube amps.

JosephLefty

I wouldn't say this is true at all.

If you are talking about modeling alone, then this sounds best through a clean amp. The processor creates all the tones of classic vintage amps. In the case of modeling alone, you want an amp that does not color the sound or distort. So a solid state or super clean tube amp that doesn't distort to volume (like a Fender Twin) would be best.

But if you are talking about effects like distortions or modulation, that is completely different. A good distortion through a tube amp in saturation will knock your shoes off.

But effects processors are generally set up to be used with a small practice amp at low bedroom volume levels. Afterall, this is their customer base. And they usually sound great like this right out of the box.

But when you crank any amp to volume, including solid states, they will start to saturate or overdrive. The tone will become naturally distorted. This is the tone guitarists love. Now, most will say a tube amp in saturation sounds better than a solid state in saturation. I would say that myself. Tube amps are warmer, smoother, and thicker sounding. Solid states seem harsh to me. But not everybody agrees on this and the argument has been going on for years.

But the fact is that most pros use tube amps. And that is what you hear on recordings. :twisted:

You can easily use an effects processor with a tube amp and get these great tones you hear on the radio. But you will probably need to sit down and carefully edit all the presets.

I've owned quite a few effects processors that I have (and still do) use with tube amps. I have always had to edit them. It is a pain in the you know what. But it is worth the effort.

As I wrote before, you usually need to bring levels down. Most distortion presets have WAY too much gain. Especially when combined with your amp's saturation. This is almost like running two distortion pedals at once. So you may have to bring gain way down. And modulation effects like chorus and phase usually have WAY too much depth. So you bring these down to.

So if you are going to be playing at volume, whether at home, open mic, or gig, you need to set the processor up like that.

But once you do, LOOK OUT! :D

Thanks Wes, I will continue to play with the modelers and the amps I do have.

Next on the hit list is a Vox AD15VT or 30 (because I know we can tweak down the power level). I have been watching ebay for just the right deal. I am patient and not in a hurry. I have no problem buying amps used on ebay. So many of them have not been used much at all.

What I need to do is to stop buying guitars!...but a lefthanded Schector Omen 6 keeps calling me! I hope when I walk into the shop to drop off my latest strat purchase for a re-fret job that they don't have the Schector (they are a Schector dealer) hanging on the wall because I know I wouldn't be able to leave without it.

This hobby was not supposed to be expensive. It is turning into an addiction. But there are worse addictions out there one could have. :lol:

Joseph: You haven't even got a remote idea how insanely awesome that Vox is. Might take some time to get used to it since you can do far more then you could with the RP80, but it is more then worth it. Check out the soundclips at http://www.valvetronix.co.uk if you haven't done so already. Those are recorded with a AD60 amp, which is basically a Tonelab build into a combo. Let us know how what you think of it yourself!

Oh, why not try running the tonelab through a small SS amp first? Might save you the money on a AD30VT. Behringer (for example) has a 30W amp with an FX-loop and 10" speaker for under a hundred bucks. Should be more then what you need for home practice. And for gigs you just dump the tonelab into the mixerboard. :D

Wes: Sure, multi-effects (or just single effects) work just fine with tube amps. Heck, I don't think Eventide makes their super-expensive 19" multi-effects just to be run through a 10W crate amplifier. Question: since tube amps existed before solidstate werent most effects like distortion pedals, flangers and everything originally designed for tube amps? That they happen to work with solidstate is more by accident then by design I guess.

And with modelers it's the other way around. Although it does get confusing, with tube modelers through SS amps, SS modelers through tube amps and whatever combination you can think of. :?