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The ultimate "blues" amp? If you close by, feel free to try


myles_rose

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Damn you myles - now I REALLY have to try one of those Univalves! :( Sounds way cool - maybe I can find one on this end of the country...

 

As for Ebay, I checked after your last recommendation & saw several in the $600 range. Not so bad for what it'll do!

 

Thanks for the kind words about New Orleans, too - my hometown! :thu: I have to agree with Gabriel E, one of the only things that has kept me from going back there is the generally sorry state of the place. I'd go if it was just me, but there's no way in hell I'm subjecting my kids to the same sucky school system that I had to overcome.

 

I still miss it. Bitch of a place to live, but they groove down there like noplace else!

 

Hey Gabriel - next time I make it down that way, we need to hook up for a meal or sumpin'! :D

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Originally posted by franknputer:

Damn you myles - now I REALLY have to try one of those Univalves! :( Sounds way cool - maybe I can find one on this end of the country...

 

As for Ebay, I checked after your last recommendation & saw several in the $600 range. Not so bad for what it'll do!

 

Thanks for the kind words about New Orleans, too - my hometown! :thu: I have to agree with Gabriel E, one of the only things that has kept me from going back there is the generally sorry state of the place. I'd go if it was just me, but there's no way in hell I'm subjecting my kids to the same sucky school system that I had to overcome.

 

I still miss it. Bitch of a place to live, but they groove down there like noplace else!

 

Hey Gabriel - next time I make it down that way, we need to hook up for a meal or sumpin'! :D

franknputer ....

 

I never understand why one sees any Univalves on Ebay. It just seems to me that somebody did not take the time to understand the amp or listen to it. It is the most used amp I own by far.

 

As far as the kind words on New Orleans ... what can one say .... you have a great river, the best food in the USA (I bet I will get some flack for saying that), and other than the weather in Summer, it's perhaps the greatest city (or at least my favorite) in the States.

 

Myles

Myles S. Rose

www.guitaramplifierblueprinting.com

www.la-economy.blogspot.com

www.facebook.com/mylesr

www.twitter.com/myles111us

 

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Franknputer/Christopher:

 

Absolutely! Send me an email and we'll hook up - have you ever eaten at Miss Hysters? Soul food to die for.

 

P.S. Wife and I are thinking about having a kid soon. If we do, we'll have to raise it somewhere else.

"You never can vouch for your own consciousness." - Norman Mailer
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"The original Mesa Boogie was a Princeton with a bassman output section, and who did this at first was a different person than most realize. The fellow that did this is gone, he died a number of years ago, but I think a lot of folks miss him a lot."

 

Barry "the Fish" Melton from Country Joe and the Fish still plays his boogie-rodded Princeton- was it the first? One of them anyway, in 1966 or so... it just screams.

A WOP BOP A LU BOP, A LOP BAM BOOM!

 

"There is nothing I regret so much as my good behavior. What demon possessed me that I behaved so well?" -Henry David Thoreau

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Originally posted by Ted Nightshade:

"The original Mesa Boogie was a Princeton with a bassman output section, and who did this at first was a different person than most realize. The fellow that did this is gone, he died a number of years ago, but I think a lot of folks miss him a lot."

 

Barry "the Fish" Melton from Country Joe and the Fish still plays his boogie-rodded Princeton- was it the first? One of them anyway, in 1966 or so... it just screams.

Ted ....

 

You may want to call Randall at Mesa and ask him who Red Rhodes was ....

 

Myles

Myles S. Rose

www.guitaramplifierblueprinting.com

www.la-economy.blogspot.com

www.facebook.com/mylesr

www.twitter.com/myles111us

 

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Good lord, there's four of these things on ebay in the $600 range.

 

I was working the V4 preamp today with another amp, and was most distressed by the resulting noise. DI's didn't seem to help.

Really pleasing tone though, made the old Les Paul feel just right for a change. Too bad it's so noisy, I'm always amazed that preamp distortion can sound so good.

 

I'm guessing this well-engineered transformer line out is what I need....

 

How many watts is this lovely when used with a speaker? I realize it must vary with the ohmage and the tubes...

A WOP BOP A LU BOP, A LOP BAM BOOM!

 

"There is nothing I regret so much as my good behavior. What demon possessed me that I behaved so well?" -Henry David Thoreau

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Originally posted by Ted Nightshade:

Good lord, there's four of these things on ebay in the $600 range.

 

I was working the V4 preamp today with another amp, and was most distressed by the resulting noise. DI's didn't seem to help.

Really pleasing tone though, made the old Les Paul feel just right for a change. Too bad it's so noisy, I'm always amazed that preamp distortion can sound so good.

 

I'm guessing this well-engineered transformer line out is what I need....

 

How many watts is this lovely when used with a speaker? I realize it must vary with the ohmage and the tubes...

Ted ...

 

The power output varies, but there is a chart on my website in the THD section that you can get to by clicking on the THD underlined name on my website. It shows the power using various tubes.

 

Keep in mind, this is a Class A amp, and the power is deceptive. Remember the Vox AC-30 at 30 watts was just as loud as a Fender Twin Reverb at 85 watts. It is much the same with a THD Univalve, it is much louder than one would expect. With a EL-34 in mine, and plugged into a Marshall 4x12 cabinet, it is just as loud as my JTM-45 (38 watts or so), plugged into the same cabinet.

 

The line out is the ticket here, there is no other amp on the market that will do this in the same way.

 

If you want more power, they also have the BiValve, which uses two output tubes. The Univalve was the hit at one NAMM show, and the BiValve was the hit at another one when they put in a 6550 and an EL34 at the same time. The sound was written up by a lot of reviewers that heard that sort of magic for the first time.

 

In any case, as I have said a lot of times in the past, my Univalve is the most played amp in my inventory, and also the most borrowed for recording projects, and even live work when mic'd up in larger venues. In a small club or bar, you may want to first try it without a mic, as they are much louder than one would expect. If you have a 1x12 EV cabinet, all I can say is stand back or start with the volume turned down :)

 

Four of them for sale in any range equal to retail just tells me that these folks wanted an amp with all sorts of channel switching or something, or did not "get it" as far as understanding the amp. I have been tempted to buy one or two of these off Ebay myself. I would just sell them to clients maybe, as some of them are great deals, as a lot of them come with a nice set of tubes a lot of the time. One other thing to remember here ... a used one is something you don't have to worry about, as you do with a lot of other amps. They are built like nothing else you may have seen, and they are virtually impossible to hurt. The transformers are amazing, and they will be an amp your grandkids will play down the road .... talking about "the stuff they played back in the 20th century", if you find one with an early enough serial number!

 

At those prices .... if they have a reserve and do not sell, contact two of the folks and buy two of them ... do a stereo rig like Mikey Wright at Voltage Guitars in Hollywood. :)

 

The only thing better than a Univalve, is two of them, or perhaps a Univalve and a BiValve.

 

Myles

Myles S. Rose

www.guitaramplifierblueprinting.com

www.la-economy.blogspot.com

www.facebook.com/mylesr

www.twitter.com/myles111us

 

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Thanks Myles!

My only concern is that it will be TOO loud, but I think going from the tranny out to my suped-up Goldtone at 6 watts will solve that.

 

I LOVE a nice transformer!

A WOP BOP A LU BOP, A LOP BAM BOOM!

 

"There is nothing I regret so much as my good behavior. What demon possessed me that I behaved so well?" -Henry David Thoreau

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Originally posted by Ted Nightshade:

Good lord, there's four of these things on ebay in the $600 range.

 

I was working the V4 preamp today with another amp, and was most distressed by the resulting noise. DI's didn't seem to help.

Really pleasing tone though, made the old Les Paul feel just right for a change. Too bad it's so noisy, I'm always amazed that preamp distortion can sound so good.

 

I'm guessing this well-engineered transformer line out is what I need....

 

Hey Ted,

Just curious, do you have a master volume on your V4? I was just playing around with mine this weekend, running it into my Sound City 120, Twin Reverb, etc., and it wasn't capable of getting a decent pre distortion. Mine has no master, just a volume and distortion knob for channel one, volume only on channel two. The distortion control is incredibly awful, but the amp grinds nicely with the volume wide open.

I've been thinking about the Uni as well, mainly to front-end all these non-master amps, the V4, SC120, and Fender. I played it in a local shop through a Bogner cab and it was OK. Then I tried the line out into a Bassman re-issue and it rocked! I've got some good power tube singles that came out of these amps when the rest of their complement died, an RCA "blackplate" 6L6GB, Mullard EL34, Philips 6550, GE 6V6, it seems like a good way to make use of them. If I could just decide what to sell so I can buy one....

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I have a couple later V4's with a master volume-one of the only master volume amps that's just as sweet as the one without.

Of course they don't scream quite like they do with the power amp full out too, but it's pretty dang credible, the best preamp distortion I've heard. I LOVE the way those ampegs break up... mmm....

 

I have a V2, don't believe it has a master volume. I remember needing to really crank it to get raunchy. It has that bizarre solid state distortion channel- actually it's kind of cool, it's just so wierd!

 

What I've been doing is running the Ampeg pre into a Gibson Goldtone set at 6 watts, probably a very different situation that sending it into a much higher wattage amps like the ones you mention.

A WOP BOP A LU BOP, A LOP BAM BOOM!

 

"There is nothing I regret so much as my good behavior. What demon possessed me that I behaved so well?" -Henry David Thoreau

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Myles,

 

Woo Hoo...

 

My Univalve just got here...

 

Since I'm planning on using it as a pre-amp for my Fender Hot Rod Deluxe, do you have any suggestions as to setting the tone controls? Is mid on each control, flat? I thought I remember reading in the POD manual that they suggested rolling off the bass and treble and pushing the mid was the actual "flat"...

 

Well, for now, I'll just start playing around with it and see what I can come up with.

 

I'll send you a private e-mail later in the week and take you up on your offer to come up there and help me tweak for a while... Looking forward to seeing you again.

 

guitplayer

I'm still "guitplayer"!

Check out my music if you like...

 

http://www.michaelsaulnier.com

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Originally posted by guitplayer:

Myles,

 

Woo Hoo...

 

My Univalve just got here...

 

Since I'm planning on using it as a pre-amp for my Fender Hot Rod Deluxe, do you have any suggestions as to setting the tone controls? Is mid on each control, flat? I thought I remember reading in the POD manual that they suggested rolling off the bass and treble and pushing the mid was the actual "flat"...

 

Well, for now, I'll just start playing around with it and see what I can come up with.

 

I'll send you a private e-mail later in the week and take you up on your offer to come up there and help me tweak for a while... Looking forward to seeing you again.

 

guitplayer

guitplayer ....

 

CONGRATS on your Univalve. I can tell you now, that even after a year, you will still learn things it can do all the time. The big problem is getting stuck with one sound you love. This happens for a few weeks (or more), but it will pass ... with yet another sound that is perfect.

 

There are a lot of tricks, but I generally run the bass at maybe 2 o'clock and roll the treble back to maybe 10 o'clock, but that is just my personal preference with a PRS soap bar guitar that I use for blues. With a 335, I set it the same for the most part, but set the attitude control to about 11 o'clock instead of higher.

 

With ECC83's in V1 and V2, and an EL-84 in the output tube section, with a strat, set everything to maximum, use the high gain input, and you will have more gain, sustain, and drive than perhaps any amp on the planet short of the GT Single (same sort of amp) with it's gain pulled out for 20dB more gain on top of its already high gain structure.

 

Feel free to call me at GT, as it may be easier than a letter.

 

Myles

Myles S. Rose

www.guitaramplifierblueprinting.com

www.la-economy.blogspot.com

www.facebook.com/mylesr

www.twitter.com/myles111us

 

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Thanks for the reply Myles...

 

I've had a couple of days now to play with this and... ummm... my fingers are SORE! :D

 

That's a GOOD thing.

 

I've tried a variety of settings, and like your trials with others have several favorites already. I've been using this as a pre-amp for my HR Deluxe and it's never sounded better. I LOVE the overdrive I can get from this. VERY musical and sustaining with NO brittle icepick...

 

One experiment I haven't made a decision about yet is: should I run the "instrument out" at full volume, and have the amp's input "really low" or should I set the amp up at a decent level and use the master line out control to add volume?

 

Actually, both ways work... I'm just not sure which one I like better.

 

I also have found the "roll" channel to be LOTS of fun. I can get a great sustain filled clean sound with the volume up to about 3 o'clock and then my pedals can take me to full overdrive. This has worked so well that I'm confident I could make this work like a two channel amp in a live setting. Nice.

 

It also is a great side of the amp for my new jazz box. VERY fat sounding jazz sounds, again clean and warm but not ice picky... :thu:

 

I scored a Randall Isolation Box with a Celestion Vintage 30 inside (on e-bay for $250), and it should arrive in a couple of days. I'm looking forward to seeing what havoc I can create at volumes not appropriate for my home studio...

 

I'll give you a call later this week once I've had a chance to get all the toys together.

 

Thanks again for steering me in this direction.

 

guitplayer

I'm still "guitplayer"!

Check out my music if you like...

 

http://www.michaelsaulnier.com

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new to this forum, but not new to the guitar/amp game...have been following this thread with great interest...been dying to try out the Uni-Valve myself...

 

i've owned and played a lot of amps over the years(i'm 44), but my favorites continue to be the tweed deluxe series(which as you probably already know, can be easiily modified for line out); the blackface deluxe reverb, and the ga-20's and ga-40's from gibson...i like the early tube saturation on the 6V6's, tho they don't offer much in the way of larger venue gain structure/volume(tho a tweed deluxe has worked well for neil young all these years...)

 

in the 6L6 department i'm fond of my '65 vibrolux reverb, which is a honkin' amp...for a little different character and when i need to move more air i go for the super reverb...

 

i like to run straight into the amp---no effects, but that is not always possible given the size of some venues...so i bump the front end with an original ts-9 followed by a boss 7-band graphic... i have recently acquired a lovetone brown source which is nice for certain applications, especially with wah...

 

i could go on, but i'll leave it at that for now...

 

always nice to meet new like-minded folks.

 

best regards,

 

SRB

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Originally posted by guitplayer:

Thanks for the reply Myles...

 

I've had a couple of days now to play with this and... ummm... my fingers are SORE! :D

 

That's a GOOD thing.

 

I've tried a variety of settings, and like your trials with others have several favorites already. I've been using this as a pre-amp for my HR Deluxe and it's never sounded better. I LOVE the overdrive I can get from this. VERY musical and sustaining with NO brittle icepick...

 

One experiment I haven't made a decision about yet is: should I run the "instrument out" at full volume, and have the amp's input "really low" or should I set the amp up at a decent level and use the master line out control to add volume?

 

Actually, both ways work... I'm just not sure which one I like better.

 

I also have found the "roll" channel to be LOTS of fun. I can get a great sustain filled clean sound with the volume up to about 3 o'clock and then my pedals can take me to full overdrive. This has worked so well that I'm confident I could make this work like a two channel amp in a live setting. Nice.

 

It also is a great side of the amp for my new jazz box. VERY fat sounding jazz sounds, again clean and warm but not ice picky... :thu:

 

I scored a Randall Isolation Box with a Celestion Vintage 30 inside (on e-bay for $250), and it should arrive in a couple of days. I'm looking forward to seeing what havoc I can create at volumes not appropriate for my home studio...

 

I'll give you a call later this week once I've had a chance to get all the toys together.

 

Thanks again for steering me in this direction.

 

guitplayer

guitplayer....

 

On the level of the instrument out, I never run it full out. It's adjustment allows you to get just the right level and tone of the UV and then balance it to the slave amps front end so you don't or do (if you want) get additional coloration from the slave amps preamp section. In most cases, my output level control is set about 50%. Wou can also add volume with the UV's level control while keeping it's front panel volume control at the place you want it for the sound you want, including the level of distortion. It is very versitile.

 

Try the ROLL channel with EVERYTHING turned all the way up, with a 12AX7 in V1, 12AT7 in V2, and a 6550C in the output .... but on the LOW VOLTAGE setting. It's pretty amazing.

 

Myles

Myles S. Rose

www.guitaramplifierblueprinting.com

www.la-economy.blogspot.com

www.facebook.com/mylesr

www.twitter.com/myles111us

 

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Originally posted by SRB:

new to this forum, but not new to the guitar/amp game...have been following this thread with great interest...been dying to try out the Uni-Valve myself...

 

i've owned and played a lot of amps over the years(i'm 44), but my favorites continue to be the tweed deluxe series(which as you probably already know, can be easiily modified for line out); the blackface deluxe reverb, and the ga-20's and ga-40's from gibson...i like the early tube saturation on the 6V6's, tho they don't offer much in the way of larger venue gain structure/volume(tho a tweed deluxe has worked well for neil young all these years...)

 

in the 6L6 department i'm fond of my '65 vibrolux reverb, which is a honkin' amp...for a little different character and when i need to move more air i go for the super reverb...

 

i like to run straight into the amp---no effects, but that is not always possible given the size of some venues...so i bump the front end with an original ts-9 followed by a boss 7-band graphic... i have recently acquired a lovetone brown source which is nice for certain applications, especially with wah...

 

i could go on, but i'll leave it at that for now...

 

always nice to meet new like-minded folks.

 

best regards,

 

SRB

SRB....

 

I think you and I share a lot of the same tastes in amps. Maybe it is an age thing .... though I beat you on the higher side, by almost a decade (53). The old Gibson's are great, and a lot of folks didn't catch the sound of the old Ampegs, Supros, and the sleeper of all time, the Sears amps. The 6V6 is also perhaps, my favorite output tube, although in Marshall JTM45's I love KT-66's (as also in a lot of Fender amps), and the GT-6L6GE.

 

Your Vibrolux was always a winner, and with one of those for rhythm or strong leads, with a smaller deluxe reverb for lead work, with an A/B switch, it is perhaps one of the best "channel switching" amps around :)

 

Myles

Myles S. Rose

www.guitaramplifierblueprinting.com

www.la-economy.blogspot.com

www.facebook.com/mylesr

www.twitter.com/myles111us

 

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