Have I mentioned that I really am in love with tubed audio gear?

[Pierre.Suave]

Check this out...

http://www.rolls.com/product.php?pid=VP130

I just got this today, so I can listen without setting up the ENTIRE sound system, but with headphones instead.



I am going to be doing my best to get the tube burned in... :P

So far, it sounds pretty damn good.

[kimmerspixelated]

1. SO, you're really and truly

a sound freak??

[Pierre.Suave]

3. yes

100%

[flvegan]

2. At first thought, I thought this might be about

loading the back of your Audi with Bazooka speakers.

[Pierre.Suave]

4. Oh god

Never.

[Pierre.Suave]

5. Because I did not mention it above

This is a tubed phono amp for a record player.

[FKA MNChimpH8R]

6. Gonna be using that little sweetheart with the Marantz

table? I think it'd be a perfect match. I think your other phono stage is more suited to the big VPI table.

Mmm - headphone amp. Niiiice. Wish I had something with a headphone out.

[Pierre.Suave]

8. Probably

I am goi g to tear down the Marantz when I get it and see what can and what can not be cleaned and upgraded first. I plugged this into the vpi earlier today and it sounded great through my Grado phones, but I agree the big BAT is better suited to the more detailed vpi table.

[SacredCow]

7. Me, too.... in a slightly different way....

One of my babies:

[Pierre.Suave]

10. Wow

Sweet!

[FKA MNChimpH8R]

11. That an ORIGINAL blackface Bassman?

If so, 1000 cool points to SacredCow! 500 if it's a reissue.

Man, that big hunk of gorgeous looks nearly pristine.

[SacredCow]

13. Original...

1966 Bassman... Tubes and capacitors have been replaced, but otherwise all original, including the brown-label Jensen speakers.

[bluesbassman]

16. Nice rig SC!

I had a pre CBS Bandmaster and a Bassman. The Bassman got completely rewired with NOS caps, hotrodded and converted into a combo amp. Foolishly traded it for a Les Paul Custom as I was playing in a rock cover band at the time and my stage rig was a Marshall JMP.

This is my current amp, it's a reissue.

[SacredCow]

25. I like the Super Reverbs...

Really- my playing would be more suited to a 4x10 Bassman, but I got such a deal on the one I have.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

9. Very cool.

Fender amps rock! My honey has a Twin Reverb guitar amp he still uses. Weighs a ton.

I am still using my antique component stereo I got in high school. It's transistors, not tubes, but still old. Marantz receiver circa 1971. Total 30 watts output. Nowadays that is laughable, but it's 30 CLEAN watts. It has never given me a bit of trouble. I took it in and got the dash lights replaced once.

A friend of mine had a McIntosh amp back in the 1970s. Some thief broke in and wanted to steal it -- but the thief couldn't lift it !!! :D :rofl:

[FKA MNChimpH8R]

12. Bet that Marantz weighs a ton

compared to its modern equivalent. I had a Marantz 2270 (70/wpc) back in the 1970s and the thing was a hernia hopper at 60+ pounds. Real power supplies weigh a LOT. Not only was it built like a battleship, it sounded good, too.

The nice thing about a lot of modern high end audio gear is that it's too heavy to steal. You want my EgglestonWorks Andra II speakers, buddy? They're 210 lbs. EACH. Get 'em out the front door and you earned 'em. Don't forget the Lamm amps at 75 lbs each. Lotsa luck, chump.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

19. Yeah it does.

But I can lift it and I'm a girl. So it's about 15 lbs!???

It's a 2215. You're right, the last 2 numbers in the model no. are the watts per channel.

I was the only girl in high school or college who had a component stereo and knew how to put it together and take it apart. now it has a turntable, a Denon six-stacker CD player, an old dual cassette player, the Marantz, and 2 original no-name speakers.

This started b/c I have been a musician since age five (started piano lessons) and as a result have been a classical music freak all my life. ANd behind that are classic rock, jazz, and opera.

[backwoodsbob]

40. same here

got some old cerwin vega d10's with replacement double voicecoil woofers.If you can carry em down the driveway to your car you earned em

[mitchum]

21. The Twin doesn't weigh a ton...

it only ways 92 pounds...that feel like a ton. :)
I also use one and found that it is easier to just take the wheels off of it, heave it up and carry it in my arms.
That whole holding onto the handle and wheeling it along doesn't work when one is tall. Leo Fender must have been a short man.

[triguy46]

14. Here's my home built diy stereo tube amp

Looks are very deceiving. Very Strong very loud, very clean, www.tubedepot.com

Also have a home built tube preamp

[darkstar]

18. I can smell those tubes from here!

sweeeeet!

:thumbsup:

[triguy46]

20. and fun to build...

4 hours. My son has souped his up with bigger capacitors and diff tubes.

[mitchum]

22. Hey, nice work

[Pierre.Suave]

24. That is ultra cool!

:thumbsup:

[hunter]

28. That's pretty.

I haven't built anything using tubes for a long time.

I used to hang out with an artist who was a glass blower, and she made a couple of electron tubes and gas glow thingies. That'd be going right back to the roots, wouldn't it? It's 1908 and Lee De Forest is creating his Audion...

By the time the transistor was invented vacuum tubes were a very sophisticated technology and that's why tube equipment can sound better than a lot of mass market solid state equipment.

My current obsession with archaic technology is film cameras, another very sophisticated technology that's been eclipsed by digital elcectronics. Don't get me started... ;)

[conscious evolution]

44. When my dad

was at Georgia Tech in '49 at the end of a semester on tubes some guy from Bell Labs walks in and says "Gentlemen,meet the transister.Everything you just learned is now obsolete."

They were pissed.At first.

[hunter]

53. Some of the early transistor radios were obviously designed by vacuum tube guys.

I've got an old transistor radio built on a metal chassis that looks just like a vacuum tube radio -- in the places where the tubes would go are five little transistors, each transistor in a socket with long leads standing proud above the chassis deck.

I worked through the circuitry and it's just WTF??? bizarre. It's as if a guy who knew everything there is to know about five tube radios beat and bent and twisted a five tube design to work with transistors, never quite understanding what transistors were about.

Seeing the first little Sony transistor radio probably knocked that poor designer flat on his ass.

But I guess it's also possible the radio was designed for Americans who "knew" their radios, and weren't going to "buy any cheap Jap stuff." When I was a kid there was always some old guy around who wouldn't buy "Jap stuff" and it was usually the same guy who was freaking out because the "coloreds" were moving into nearby neighborhoods.

[seemunkee]

29. Was that a kit?

[triguy46]

52. Yep www.tubedepot.com

[triguy46]

15. and a Silvertone twin 12 tube guitar amp w/spring reverb

very "surfy" sounding

[bluesbassman]

17. Excellent preamp P.S!

Bellari makes great stuff. Very warm and true sound. Good choice! :thumbsup:

[Pierre.Suave]

23. It sure does...

:P

[cemaphonic]

26. I read a great news story once about tube gear

Some big corp (pretty sure it was either Microsoft or Disney) was putting together a new multimedia studio about 10 years ago. When the day came to start installing all of the gear, the engineers were busy putting stuff together, and some suits were hanging around watching and checking stuff over to make sure they got everything they ordered and the like. One of the suits opens a box to find one of those giant Telefunken mics, noticing that it has a bunch of scratches, and maybe a dent or two. He takes it over to one of the engineers, shows him the condition and suggests they send it back for a replacement. The engineer shrugs and says that he thinks it looks like its in pretty good shape for a 40-year old mic.

The suits were amazed and called back to their bosses to make sure that they were really supposed to have spent $5000 on an ancient beat-up microphone.

My dad is retired from the FAA, and he was telling me that a ton of air traffic control and other aviation electronics is still tube-based, and it is pretty difficult to keep a supply of replacements flowing, since there are so few tube manufacturers in existence anymore.

[Pierre.Suave]

27. Some people just are not aware

Of the awesomeness of tubes and vintage audio gear.

[mitchum]

31. And THAT'S a really good thing

I am quite happy for them to consider it to be "old fashioned junk"
I want to continue to pick up tube gear for ridiculously low prices

[Pierre.Suave]

34. yeah, well...

some of us pay ridiculous amounts of money for new tube gear...:)

[seemunkee]

30. I bought one of these a couple of weeks ago

Funky little tube kit fom Japan. Cheap, but will be fun to play with. The horn speakers are great for a laugh.

[Pierre.Suave]

33. That looks really cool

How does it sound?

[seemunkee]

39. a bit muddy

I have my computer speakers running through it and although it gives the bass too much of a bump I do like how it mellows out the high end. For $150 I don't expect much, just thought it was a fun little thing to play with. The horn speakers have ports on the back that you are supposed to put soda straws in to "tune". I have some other tubes around that I might give a go in it just to see what they do.

I got one of the Jolida hybrids for my sone by trading a stacking washer/dryer combo to the guy that distributes them. I should have kept it for myself. I need to get some tubes in my rig one of these days.

[guitar man]

32. me too

I have one of these little gems that goes to all my gigs with me ;)

[Pierre.Suave]

35. Nothing sounds better than

a Tubed guitar amp! :thumbsup:

[no name no slogan]

36. Until some assclown mishandled your gear and the tubes blow

Sorry, but if I'm playing out I swear by transistor. I've had too many problems with popped tubes because some douchebag doesn't know how to be gentle when he's in a rush to get your gear off stage.

Just my $.02 though.

[Pierre.Suave]

37. Well, the only douchebag handling my gear is me...

:P

[guitar man]

38. yep

that's why, when possible, which is almost every gig, I am the only one to handle my amps. I also have a little Vox cambridge transistor amp I carry as a backup in case I pop a tube in the middle of the show.

[no name no slogan]

41. That's a good plan. Don't trust anybody with your gear, unless you're paying them.

Always carry one backup of everything. It seems like more than once I've had something get broken, no matter where/when I've played. There are certain clubs in Minneapolis who are notorious in how they handle non-big name acts, and treat you like shit if you're not part of the kool kids klub.

Right now, I'm playing through a Roland JC-120 Jazz Chorus. I run my guitar rig and a guitar synth through it, in stereo. It's good for very clean, unprocessed, uncolored sound, which is what you need with the synth. You can always throw on effects and pre-amp later (which I do, with great gusto).

[mitchum]

43. No...no...no...you're breaking my heart!

You! Using a...Jazz Chorus???!!!
You sick sick man :)

[no name no slogan]

46. For the type of music I play (and the instruments), nothing else will do

It's got the best clean sound of any amp out there. The guitar synth sound really good through it. The 12-string on the clean channel is absolutely heavenly. If I want to dirty it up, just slap tube pre-amp on it. I've tried numerous other combinations of tube and transistor amps, and this one works the best out of all of them. :)

[mitchum]

49. Just teasing...

I imagine it does respond really well to the guitar synth. And you did say that you are slapping a tube preamp on it.

Confession time: This weekend I found one of those little Park/Marshall solid state 15 watt jobs with the built in chorus for $15. The speakers had been pulled. Maybe the previous owner was planning to upgrade?
Anyway, hooked it up to the 15" cabinet I use for the Moog while at home. It really does quite a good imitation of the classic Jazz Chorus sound. I have now replaced the...15 watt (I can't believe I am typing these words) Crate (another $15 bargain), which was in the at home synth chain, with the Park.
When I take the synth out for gigging I just run it through a Twin. I'm a dirty boy.

[no name no slogan]

50. That sounds cool!

IIRC Jan Hammer used to run a lot of his synth gear through guitar amps in the 1980s. It definitely adds an edge to the sound you don't get through the PA or through a keyboard amp. I'm a big fan of twins myself. I never really got into the who stack thing and have always dug the sound of a good combo amp. :D

[mitchum]

51. You are correct...not only Hammer, but also Stevie Wonder and many others...

hell, even Kraftwerk, would run their synths through guitar amps and mike the speakers both live and in the studio. At the risk of sounding like a gear queen...it really does warm up the tone!

[BarenakedLady]

42. Locking: No sex threads.

[Pierre.Suave]

45. I will admit that the little Bellari is a looker...

but come on, it doesnt look that good...:P

[BarenakedLady]

47. I dunno

There was a program on the BBC about men having sex with their cars.

I don't put anything past you dudes.

:crazy:

[Pierre.Suave]

48. yeah but...

That was the BBC, this is Merika...

:P

[seemunkee]

54. Tube Lust

http://www.enjoythemusic.com/tubelust/