I suggest you get the Nomad and join the club....it is a phenomenal amp, not only in the sheer versatility, but in it's ability to do all of it extremely well. Extremely transparent cleans, great blues tones, and all out punishing recto type crunch...only with more character. Add to that a global master and solo boost controls, what else do you need?

If you get another chance to test drive it, do yourself a favor and plug it into a 4x12....absolutely unreal. It outran my Rivera through my 4x12, but it wasn't a fair fight, I have yet to really dial the Rivera in, just plugged in and went for it.

Good stuff up there form the Rivera site on tube descriptions. A couple are missing: 6V6 (Deluxe Reverb, etc.) and EL84 (Vox, etc.). More and more lately I'm interested in smaller amps (that happen to use these tubes), not just because of practicality, but because I love the tone of these valves.
Greg

=========================

Couldn't find a good decsription, but here's a start from the Boogie site:

http://www.mesaboogie.com/US/Smith/bad_attitude.html

Selected notes:

"Both tubes have modest power handling capabilities of around 15 watts per pair. Both were widely used in the 1950s and '60s..."

"The 6V6 was widely used by Fender during the '50s and '60s for their low power models...Operating below the distortion threshold, the 6V6 sound is "skinny"-not objectionably thin, but bright nevertheless with bouncy, resilient dynamics. When overdriven, the low order second and third harmonics rise to predominance, obscuring the bright high frequencies and "fattening" the sound in a way which is a trademark of American blues."

"Meanwhile in Europe--particularly in England-during the same period, the EL84 was the power tube of choice in small amplifiers. The sound of this tube is very different from that of the 6V6. The EL84 possesses a glassy brightness whose emphasis is in frequencies higher than the bright zone of the 6V6...an aggressive, snarling bite..."

The 84 is a great tube and I agree with you on the penchant for lower wattage amps...the 84's sound fantastic when you punch the crap out of them. The Nomad being all of 45 watts loves to be flogged hard. I also have been finding myself running the Rivera on Triode mode instead of pentode which lowers the overall output dBs allowing for some flogging to take place.

Can't say I was able to do that with my TSL 100 running fulll bore, opening that sucker up was like starting an earthquake, the sheer volume was intolerable. I am contemplated retubing one side of the TBR with 6L6's just for variety...plus I'd love to hear that Rivera clean through a hot pair of 6L6's

Bonus for 84's, they're cheap as all get out.

VHT amplifiers! www.vhtamp.com

Amp companies I miss:

Vox
Crate
Engl

Whis I could write something about them, but I lack the first hand knowledge required. Anyone else?

*cough*

http://www.hughes-and-kettner.com/

If you guys have hand-on experience with these Hughes&Kettners etc, please feel free to share as it's pretty easy for everyone to find all those manufacturer websites...


When it comes to VHTs, the Pittbull is a bad mutha. 3 channels, footswitchable graphic eq, half power function, power and gain to spare and tones modern as hell. Suits almost everything. Smokes your average boxes. A buddy's got a 2x12 Pittbull, I've gigged it a couple of times and loved it. Btw, the Pittbull won the 100 W GP combo shootout back in '92. The runner-up was the 30th Anniversary Marshall (yup, the blue one).

How would you guys rate the lead tone of the jcm900 series of amps? Whats it sound like?

For me it's all about my mesa boogie road king combo. Before I bought it I tried out a marshall tsl122 and considered a legacy but I stumbled onto a road king for $2200 so I jumped on it. I now have just about any tone imaginable at my fingertips in a convenient combo.

For me it's all about my mesa boogie road king combo. Before I bought it I tried out a marshall tsl122 and considered a legacy but I stumbled onto a road king for $2200 so I jumped on it. I now have just about any tone imaginable at my fingertips in a convenient combo.

That's quite an article! Nice job, should be helpful to many that read it.

Matt

Matt's Music Center
35 Pleasant St
Weymouth MA 02190 USA
781-335-0700
www.mattsmusic.com

a brand I haven't seen on here is Hughes and Kettner, the Triamp and the Duotone are quite nice amps. Too bad the price is pretty much up there with Mesas and such. I myself am looking for a nice 2x12, and so far I've got it down to Peavey, Mesa/Boogie, and possibly Soldano (well, if they make one), oh and possibly Bogner if I can afford it. Used section here I come! Ha ha.

heh, my bad, I must have missed the two people who talked about H&K amps. I've played with the original Triamp onstage before, and it was very nice sounding. Unfortunately that was when I had only been playing for about a year, so I wasn't really looking for tone so much as just getting the job done. What I do remember though was that the clean was really pretty (lol, I believe I used a Squier as a backup for my Schecter [which was in drop B] so the clean sounded really bright, but I did get a chance to use my Schecter in standard tuning and it sounded great. Lot's of nice pronounced mids and such but with a nice high end and just enough bass), and the high gain channel was just great. Since I was playing a very heavy song, I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was nicely surprised because the distortion doesn't break up when tuned low. Standard it's just all 100% wonderfully crunchy distortion. You can describe the distortion like chunky peanut butter! But yeah..ahem. It's a nice amp. Although I believe that I've changed my mind and feel like saving up a butt-load of money and getting a Bogner Uberschall. Yippee!

Stumbled on this guy's website, several clips of various amps. Might be helpful to someone for reference.

http://www.chrissnider.net/amp_clips/index.htm

Enjoy.
Greg

I have been living with my Mesa Boogie Rect-o-verb 50w head and rectifier 2x12 cab for about three months now, and it inspires me every time that I plug into it. I disagree with whomever commented that Rectos do not deliver the clean goods, as my favorite tone are from the clean to slightly overdriven timbres. I primarily use the clean, raw, and vintage modes, occasionally using the clean/driven for blues, and modern for the recto tones. The presence control really helps to shape the tone, especially setting it optimally for chordal vs. single note lines. I highly reccomend that anyone trying out the amp read the user's manual regarding "correct"usage of the presence knob. I play a 2002 Jem 7 VWH and a '91 Strat Plus with EMG DG20 active pu's through my rig. The first time I heard my strat through the Mesa I knew I had found "it".