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Reval Mark 1 - 150 watts Model T!!!!
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While that sounds cool, I can't think of anything more useless at this point in my music life as a 150 watt tube head. That is for people that either don't like power tube distortion (so go easy on yourself and buy a solid state amp) or their hearing.
A guy brought his 50 watt nmv Marshall to our Saturday night gig-into-a-jam. Made it very difficult for everyone else, from singers to keyboards to harp player. But he had to have the tonezzzzz.
{edited to say the other two amps were 15 watt amps and sound great, better than his in that environment. The right tool for the job, eh?}
A guy brought his 50 watt nmv Marshall to our Saturday night gig-into-a-jam. Made it very difficult for everyone else, from singers to keyboards to harp player. But he had to have the tonezzzzz.
{edited to say the other two amps were 15 watt amps and sound great, better than his in that environment. The right tool for the job, eh?}
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Looks like an impressive, super clean amp.
I am extremely satisfied with my old Sunn Solarus. With two EL34 tubes is can be a bit much. It is all about the application and can you usefully apply it; without killing small animals, or your hearing.
I am extremely satisfied with my old Sunn Solarus. With two EL34 tubes is can be a bit much. It is all about the application and can you usefully apply it; without killing small animals, or your hearing.
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There is def a place for such amps (Reeves is getting requests for Custom 400s and building them). I have a Sunn 1200s (same wattage as the Reval). I get power tube drive (not full on distortion) easily at relatively low preamp gain settings - when I'm playing bass. Had a 50 watter before that - too dirty all the time live; just OK for jams. Solid state heads for bass of 1000 watts (+/-) are now very common - to give enough headroom and avoid clipping which sounds horrible on them. By comparison 150-300 tube watts (the Reeves has 6 KT88s - don't think that'll give 400) is not all that insane, especially if you're just running a 1x15 like I am. I have a tall style 4x12 but I sure as shit ain't humping both cabs (or even just that 4x12) to every dang gig.While that sounds cool, I can't think of anything more useless at this point in my music life as a 150 watt tube head. That is for people that either don't like power tube distortion (so go easy on yourself and buy a solid state amp) or their hearing.
A guy brought his 50 watt nmv Marshall to our Saturday night gig-into-a-jam. Made it very difficult for everyone else, from singers to keyboards to harp player. But he had to have the tonezzzzz.
{edited to say the other two amps were 15 watt amps and sound great, better than his in that environment. The right tool for the job, eh?}
But for guitar, yeah (I usually use my 30 watters into a 1x12, though I also like my Sunn for guitar sometimes - never get it into distortion territory with the amp alone, but there is some tube drive happening and it's a wicked pedal platform that sounds better than most solid state stuff even when completely clean). But those doom kids just gotta have what they gotta have - huge amps (with the Model T and vintage Sunns in general being the Holy Grail) and even bigger cabs ... with a Metal Zone in front. The more down to earth ones use solid state Peaveys from the 70s (discrete TO-3 transistors like early Traynors - those actually sound good, especially the ones with OTs).
There is something to be said for tube cleans vs solid state cleans. But if you want the dirt, get a smaller amp or pull 2 power tubes. Right tool for the job - for sure.
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I really agree with that.
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Yes, I agree. There is a huge spectrum of drive tones, from just into it to full on clipping. For that Marshall KERRRANG, a 50 watter's going to be loud. Too loud for the room we were in. I shoulda brought my PowerStation and had him go through that. C'est la vie.
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@ToneChaser I did not realise that some Sunns used EL34s; thought they were all 6550/KT88 based but I just checked and yep. Interesting.
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Another easy way to take the edge off is to lose the 4x12 and use a smaller cab (as long as it ain't loaded with JBLs or EVs or something similarly high-efficiency). But I suppose it's one of them cold dead hands situations when a guy pulls in with a half stack.
An old guitarist had this sweet (modernish) Marshall 50 watt 1x12 tube combo - still had the sound if less beefy due to lack of 4x12 and open back, but at much more reasonable levels (and she used a Fender Bronco with that lovely single coil at the bridge anyway - not much bass to be had there to begin with). It surprised me cuz I didn't realise it was tube at first since it looked newish and a few other friends had Valvestate combos which were kinda sucky.
Back to the Reval for a sec; been seeing them on reverb for a month or 3; I'd say it's pretty close to a Model T (they did add a master volume though) and priced about right - on the high end of what you'd pay for a vintage T, but new with warrenty (and Mercury iron - that's 1K right there all by itself).
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He was using a 212. While there was a 112 available, I suspect he didn't want 'muffin top'.
But that 212 was blasting past his knees and killing the people 10 feet out.
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ROFL. I hate that (especially when it's so close a match but nope).... then again, in some cases it can look cool like the bass player in my other band with his wide Traynor on top of a skinny 1x15... or this classic:
Anybody consider placing the head on the 2x12, but plugging it in to the 1x12? Possibly when the dude wasn't looking? ;P
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That would have been a good option (never thought of it). And put the 112 in front of him, folded back like a monitor. Hit him in the face with his own KERRRANGGGGG.......ROFL. I hate that (especially when it's so close a match but nope).... then again, in some cases it can look cool like the bass player in my other band with his wide Traynor on top of a skinny 1x15... or this classic:
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Anybody consider placing the head on the 2x12, but plugging it in to the 1x12? Possibly when the dude wasn't looking? ;P
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No.
Signed: the guy who wants me and everyone else in the mix, not destroying it.
Seriously though, there are places for high wattage and cranked heads. Fewer and fewer of those days, but there is. There is also places where they just don't work. More and more of those these days.
The places you're playing I'm sure are appropriate for the equipment. Many places are not, no matter how stubborn the player is.
Signed: the guy who wants me and everyone else in the mix, not destroying it.
Seriously though, there are places for high wattage and cranked heads. Fewer and fewer of those days, but there is. There is also places where they just don't work. More and more of those these days.
The places you're playing I'm sure are appropriate for the equipment. Many places are not, no matter how stubborn the player is.
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Yes, but you can't get that sound without cranking the thing; they are one and the same.
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Sorry if I came off as harsh. I agree, I do like the sound of the amp but I guess I triggered on the 150 watt aspect. Amps can sound like that (if you consider limitations of human hearing) irrelevant of the amount of power they put out. I hear too often how an amp has to be stupid loud to do it. They don't.It's more about the sunn sound than the higher wattage sound, to me anyway!
No matter what you do, loud amps are going to sound 'better' because of our conditioning and physiology. They sound bigger, more impressive, more in-your-face. So do PA's. So do racecars. It's all about Fletcher-Munson loudness curves, human hearing and blah, blah, blah. But practicality dictates that in real world situations, it just doesn't work that well (at least without tons of attenuation). You're lucky if you really get to use one of these. Man, I wish I could crank a half stack, let along a full stack, anywhere I actually perform (i.e. anywhere but home by myself). I'm just hurting people and the overall band's sound if I try to use one when it isn't appropriate.
If you have just enough headroom at 30 watts, I don't see the point in 150. No real upside. There are downsides, like more weight, more money to retube, no power tube distortion or compression/dynamics. To some people, I think it's all about bragging rights. I outgrew that a couple of decades ago when I sold my pickup with the dangling balls on the trailer hitch.
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No worries, it's a discussion about gear and we all have our opinions!
But, I might wrongly express myself, I'm not drooling about the wattage monster but the fact that there's now an alternative to Sunn amps.
They are quite rare and expensive on the used market and I was happy to discover someone is building a proper clone at a good price. Still expensive but at least is seem like a quality product.
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Something to consider though: for some genres as well as some bands, a lot of volume is part of that band's image/branding/whatever.
There are bands out there who are very loud, all the time. Stoner/Doom (insert subgenre here) are going to be loud shows, so bring earplugs. Chances are a lot of post-XYZ bands are going to be pretty loud as well (in my limited experience). These bands will still play smaller venues, and the sound will be whatever the sound will be. You're actually more likely to be able to crank it at a 450-cap room than a 1200-cap room. Know what type of band you are going to see, and bring earplugs regardless.
My band plays small venues and basements. We're pretty loud. That's why we sell earplugs at the merch table.
Matt Pike from High On Fire/Sleep has this for a guitar rig, for himself:
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There are bands out there who are very loud, all the time. Stoner/Doom (insert subgenre here) are going to be loud shows, so bring earplugs. Chances are a lot of post-XYZ bands are going to be pretty loud as well (in my limited experience). These bands will still play smaller venues, and the sound will be whatever the sound will be. You're actually more likely to be able to crank it at a 450-cap room than a 1200-cap room. Know what type of band you are going to see, and bring earplugs regardless.
My band plays small venues and basements. We're pretty loud. That's why we sell earplugs at the merch table.
Matt Pike from High On Fire/Sleep has this for a guitar rig, for himself:
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Yep, I brought up the Doom thing. But High/Deaf is right in so much as even in the context of that genre, it is a bit of posturing and sometimes technically unnecessary (if you play anything smaller than an arena with that Orange rig anywhere near cranked you're literally committing a crime). I get the impression from a few Doom guys who run gear blogs I follow that a lot of these rigs are run a 1-3 on the gain knob (often no master) and all the dirt comes from pedals , so he's got a point there too. I'm sure some do actually use those amps to their fullest though; some of those dudes are fricken serious about that sort of thing; hearing loss be damned.
It's not just a Doom thing tho (where it is expected and accepted and therrefore appropriate) but in other less aggressive genres like Mathrock (see: Battles; pretty much my favoraite amp wall ever - more ecclectic; they have at least 1 of everything as regards the standards). Then there's what H/D is talking about - just regular pub bands where the dude shows up with a half stack (all other guitarists in all other bands are rocking sm-med combos) ... and hardcore punk (where you just gotta have a half stack, even at the squat house show, or GTFO ya poseur).
It's not just a Doom thing tho (where it is expected and accepted and therrefore appropriate) but in other less aggressive genres like Mathrock (see: Battles; pretty much my favoraite amp wall ever - more ecclectic; they have at least 1 of everything as regards the standards). Then there's what H/D is talking about - just regular pub bands where the dude shows up with a half stack (all other guitarists in all other bands are rocking sm-med combos) ... and hardcore punk (where you just gotta have a half stack, even at the squat house show, or GTFO ya poseur).
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Given we all know that there are 112 combos that can be paired with specific pedals to get *most* dirty tones one could want, anything above said 112 is really unnecessary. Can't hear it? Amp stand.
A 212 is unnecessary. A 412 is really unnecessary. I think there's something to be said for feeling confident in the gear you're using and that translating to a better performance.
Have we mentioned that just because someone shows up with a half-stack doesn't inherently mean that they will be louder than the guy with the combo?
A 212 is unnecessary. A 412 is really unnecessary. I think there's something to be said for feeling confident in the gear you're using and that translating to a better performance.
Have we mentioned that just because someone shows up with a half-stack doesn't inherently mean that they will be louder than the guy with the combo?
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