Your next amp

[Hink]

BTW my next amp is on a UPS truck

[Peevy2000]

I have a Jet City 50 watt and a Jet City iso cab, I really like both. But the Orange is great too, what are you looking for tone wise? That's what matters the most.

I see the Orange claims to be Class A and has a tube fx loop but the tone stacks are fairly limited, I hate to say this but often when an amp company claims an amp is class A unless it's single ended it's really AB. I'm not saying this is the case here because class A does not have to be single ended and there is an ongoing debate about this even with Vox amps.

On the Jet city it has a similar tone stack to my 50 watt but the 50 watt has 6L6 power tubes while the smaller version has EL84s (as does the Orange it just has 4 instead of two). One thing I like about my Jet City is how the presence works with the treble control, it's unlike other amps I have or have had with a presence control and I really like it. I've been told by people more familiar with Soldano amps than I that this something they like about Soldano. The Jet City also has an fx loop but like the one on mine it's not tube buffered.

Both are two channel amps but on paper (which is not the best approach to these things) it seems to me that the Orange might be a little more limited in it's tonal range in it's tone stack. However with the power options (which I am guessing is really pentode/triode operation) it might have more unique tonal options where the Jet City will be your basic treble, bass, mid and presence (but with it's own twist on that). If the Orange is indeed class A it will have less crossover distortion which is very nice, more tone with less mud. I like this sound because you get all the hi-gain tones but there is more clarity and definition to the tone with class A.

Seeing how you know how they sound I suspect you have done this but youtube can be very helpful comparing amps and remember if you buy from most music stores if you decide you dont like it you can return it (though personally I hate returning things). I would write down a pro and con list and go from there, I hope my observations help you some

Yeah I've only been able to go on the best quality youtube videos & similar amps in Amplitube (Jet City JCA100H & Orange Thunderverb 200). I'm leaning towards the Orange because of the almost Fender amp bell like tone of the clean channel & the sparkly fuzziness of the dirty channel. You'd think the TH30/Thunder 30 would be very limited but I'm actually getting a lot of tones in the dirty channel of the Thunderverb 200 in Amplitube with just that one single shape knob, so the real things gotta be even better...right?. Plus there's a lot of gain, so no problem going from blues, rock to metal & TH30 is meant to have even more gain than the Thunderverb.

I wish I could get both because I really like the Jet City too. After doing loads of research on what amp to buy I had settled on the Jet City but then along came Orange.......

You've been very helpful Hink, thanks.

If only I lived near a decent Music Store....
My local store mainly stocks Westfield budget guitars & Roland Cube Amps

[Hink]

Hink, i might take you up on that offer closer to the summer Im one of those with a thousand ideas of which all but a few are only played out in my mind..
Do you think it's better if you mix different layers of materials? Like .. Plywood, Concrete, some kind of insulation, Air, Plywood?

Also, would there be any sense in making a 2x12 or even a 4x12 (if space was no issue)?

Another thing i thought of a while ago: If you have two speakers mounted in opposite directions so that they would cancel each other out, would that reduce the sound going out? As you would mic up one speaker you would still hear it, but the further away you get, the more the cancellation would be apparent.

Going down a few sizes in speakers, how would that work do you think? A 6.5" can deliver low bass if the design is right so maybe that could work here? (for no other reason than reducing the size of the box and because it's fun to try new things )

Lots of questions!

sorry I didn't get back to you sooner...I have thought of all kinds of filler or material, even ballistic gel but then I got the iso cab and I discovered something I never thought of.

If you wish to soundproof a room common wisdom suggests you build a room within a room with a space between each, a lot of the sound gets trapped and dissipated between the walls and the outer wall is harder for the sound to get through. Take this concept to an iso cab, a very, very small room in a big room, when the iso cab got here and I could still hear my guitar without the headphones on coming from the cab I wasn't surprised but I realized it killed it enough. A tv turned down very low could mask the sound tbh and there is no bleed through the headphones nor if I use my monitors. That little bit of sound left over has to travel through a lot of air before reaching another wall and in most cases more rooms or hallways. So while it's not completely silent in the room I am in it does have a very hard time escaping the room I am in. The only issue then would be people below me and I put it up on a milk crate to stop that. I used my re-amper and cranked it up, went down to my neighbors (he's a great guy) and I couldn't hear it at all

[Fritze]

If I would buy an amp right now it would be the Kemper. Played it at the Musikmesse and have to say that I really like it. Plays and sounds like real amps.

[Dean Aka Nekro]

60 watter instead of the 120 watt as honestly 120 is just pure overkill and a waste of power/money when revalving the power amp.
With a matching 2x12" instead of the 4x12" as it still delivers plenty, weighs less, costs less & saves space for more (of course) I might go for the 4x12" A or B though. That will be decided when I go get the thing/order the it.

Thanks for the Kemper info Chacka Everyone whom has had the chance likes it alot/positive throughout so far. Cheers mate makes me want to try one even more with each 'yep its good' Before the Kemper though I am having me one of these, Really dope for the money:
Front:

Rear:

I do not care about the overkill 120 power section in this case, For the price and how close it is to the real thing for *me/my needs* Rude to not buy. Also will have a Two Notes Torpedo Live rack unit by then so load box taken care of setups. I do have enough already to be honest but they are only replacing a few heads I used to have anyway and for alot less money (my studio partner in grind has the 5150+ covered along with others via a Bugger 6262 ) Yeah all mostly high-gain stuff but that is exactly why different flavours on a similar theme are important, Each voiced differently works much better I find for layering and specific sounds than one or two, Although I have to again admitt that the combo of a Marshall JCM2000DSL and Peavey 5150/6505-alike covers alot of ground already. Just want more ground

All the best to all as always

Dean

[Hink]

Well, my newest amp is here....it was fun for a while to think about a Dr Z Maz 8 but that would mean being in debt and besides that's not my style (high end, boutique amps). Having an amp that is single ended was one of my main concerns, the Maz 8 is and that power tube would have been an EL84. FTR the Maz 8 head is 1,600 dollars.

Another key feature I wanted was an fx loop (again the Maz 8 also has a loop), having a loop gives me more options. I can run the line out of other amps or pre-amps into the class A power amp if I went with a single ended amp.

The choice of more than one power tube was another feature I knew would be a huge benefit to me, the THD Uni-Valve of course offers this but the Maz 8 with an EL84 means you're stuck with an EL84 because the pins are much different (in size and quantity). However the Uni-valve still is basically 1000 dollars which is above my budget, maybe going into a little debt though for it would not be all that bad. However, it has no fx loop that I am aware of and the tone stack is quite limiting so forget that for now. So...the Frenzel "Champ Super Sportster"






Single ended, tubes as it shipped are 2 12ax7s, an EL34 and a 5Y3 S rectifier (JJ tubes), note on the back there is a switch for 6v6/EL34. This amp can use (without any bias adjustments) 6V6, 6L6, EL34, KT66, KT77, KT88 and with a Yellow Jacket adapter (which I have two of) I can also have a single ended EL84. I can also use different rectifier tubes or a solidstate rectifier. (naturally I can use 12at7s or 12au7s in the pre as well)

It has exactly what I want for an fx loop, a direct power amp in. (Think Jet City pre-amp into the single ended power amp )But it also has this feature.

Another feature which broadens the use of the amp is the installation of a post output trannie Line Output Jack with a Line Level control which allows you to use this amp as an effects box....or to drive a higher power amp with. If you unplug the speaker, an internal load is automatically connected across the output to give you loaded output tube distortion. (Please Note: Since the output of the Line Out is post output transformer, you can crank the Master up on the amp and then by adjusting the Line Out Level control to match the level required for the amp you are driving, and then turning the Master or Volume control down on the amp you are driving, you can get loaded output tube distortion at low power levels. This eliminates the need for an attenuator. )

So given the fact that my studio is pretty much hybrid between in the box amp solutions (like AT, GR and VANDAL) as well as physical tube amps that is a very cool feature. What's missing from IRs? A power amp sim but this has that base covered as well and though I have not tried it yet I'm sure this will be nice with IRs.

It does have a Pentode/Triode switch which I like and a nice full tone stack (unlike a Fender Champ) with a presence control. Along with giving you great high frequency control, the Presence control has a pull switch on it that will defeat the feedback and give you an open less compressed sound with faster pick attack.

The line out is separate from the fx send and both have their own control as you can see on the back.

Now I could have had up to three output sockets added with a switch between them so I could have all the same tubes in place and switch to which one I wanted or even use all three (not sure how that last part would work). At 100 dollars more plus the cost of tubes I decided that it's no big deal to swap the tubes.

Before shipping this amp is under 600 dollars and what I have done is added more than one amp to my tool box. A nice thing about my other Frenzel (at half the price of this one, in fact the other Frenzel with the power tube option and this Frenzel combined is still less than a Uni-valve) anyhow with both I can use the smaller one as a pre cascading into the new one giving me gobs of gain. The preamp uses two 12AX7's with DC on the filaments for low noise so it will be quiet yet even more flexible and on both I have the F (Fender) and M (Marshall) inputs. This is cool because they give you the ability to use an aby box on either or both so it's also a 2 channel amp but you can combine them too (which is interesting, I do this on the little Frenzel). This amp will be a great companion to my first Frenzel I'm quite sure. I am thinking about adding a 5 dollar mod from Weber to my first Frenzel, a Raw control which bypasses the tonestack but if I put a cap across it I can have a single tone control...this might work even better as a gain stage.

Again though no case, Frenzel does sell both cases and cages but for more than I want to spend. Besides Antique Electronics Supply sells the exact same cages unfinished for much less (the small one is 37 dollars and the larger is 42 or 43 dollars).

This pretty much is the final piece of the puzzle to give me a wide variety of amp tones and configurations and still with this amp added in at less then the cost of many re-issues, used classic amps and boutique amps. Of course it's 100% point to point hand wired and basically depending on the tubes I use and the mode I run it in anywhere from about 2 watts to 12 watts (Frenzel says that with the EL34 it's 10 watts, with the 6v6 it's about 5 so I'm guessing about two in triode mode and as I understand it a KT88 is a little more power so that's where I get about 12 watts).

A lot of bang for the buck, which IS my style and true quality. I like having an amp with a rectifier tube and Antique Electronics also sells all types of tubes and singles as well. This amp should be a great companion for use with AT or VANDAL as well as impulses and with my attenuator and iso cab I can run it wide open.

Frenzel IMO is the best deal on tube amps today, the only issue is the wait time but this year it took one month less...now I'm off to have fun

[hibidy]

But its doesn't look like it would make a very good shelf?

Congrats!

[Hink]

no but it does look nice sitting next to the other Frenzel on top of my JC50 head...which will be getting black grill work now that I have my balcony back. Cutting it and painting it is all I have to do, I have plenty left over from the boogie.

I'm actually more impressed with this than I expected, part of me kind of felt like I was settling having talked myself into the lower priced amp but I was wrong or really I was right to begin with. Champagne and caviar I am not...nor do I ever want to be...thanx my friend

[hibidy]

I don't think that it's settling. I mean, you know what you want, you know you like Frenzel, so I don't see how that is settling. I might relate to that a little because as you might recall, I actually considered a custom guitar. Turns out there is no f**king way But getting the guitar I did wasn't settling.

I love being a gear junkie

[Crackbaby]

Thanks for the long read! The amp looks great!

[Hink]

Thanks for the long read! The amp looks great!

I learned to type here at KvR

[Hink]

I'm not going to do an extended review like I did the other Frenzel because frankly I'm not sure many are all that interested but I'll hit some points so far (it's gonna take months to fully explore how this amp works with everything I have).

The EL34 is okay (that's what it came shipped with), better for cleaner sounds than hi-gain when using the amp on it's own. It really sounds great with a 6v6 in it, later I'll be trying a 6L6 and a YJ with an EL84 (next month I'll order all three KTs and another rectifier tube). I do wonder if the EL34 will change much after burning in for a while.

Using the line out on the Jet City into the power amp in on the Frenzel is better than I hoped for, it does as I expected just using the gain from the Jet City (or gains as it were because it's a two channel amp) and bypasses the Jet City's tone stack. This is very cool because the Jet City has a unique tone with how the treble and the presence interact with each other so I'm really able to get quite different tones this way.

The first Frenzel into the input of the new one is just what I expected but I do think a raw control on the first Frenzel would be a wise mod. I was very worried that "once you've heard one Frenzel you've heard them all" would apply here but thankfully both have vastly different characters.

The pentode/triode

I have not tried the line out yet with an IR

Class A is a very deceptive tone imo (in a good way), once again I find myself asking "where is all the distortion?" When in fact all the gain is there, it's just so much quieter. As many people know I love harmonics and use many techniques to achieve them, often this is one of my "benchmark" tests for amps. Because all the noise is gone but all the gain is there harmonics and squeals simply have more the frequency range all to themselves as they are not competing with crossover distortion and they sound great.

I do not think I will add a cage to either Frenzel but I do think on both ends of the amps I will put wood sides on to class them up some.

Would I buy a third Frenzel? Not before I build my next amp, but I still say this is the best bargain on tube amps there is. It even came with a certificate saying this amp was custom built for John Hinckley, corny but cool...so yeah, I could see me getting another Frenzel(s) down the road

[trimph1]

I'm sorta stuck between:

Jet City JCA22H



And The Orange TH30H




I like the sound of both amps but I'm sorta leaning towards the Orange TH30 & matching 112 cab which would cost around £850, but the Jet City & cab would be over £200 cheaper.

Anyone tried these Amps, what would you go for?? Unfortunately, I can test these Amps out myself

That is quite the pairing to compare with each other.

Myself, I'm more partial to the TH30H as it seems to have the tone that I'm after more than the Jet City does. But I certainly would not kick the Jet City out of any running..it is a darn good amp for the money.

[hibidy]

Depends, are you going for a "bluer" tone or something a bit more "orange" ?

[metalifuxx]

Does anyone know anything or have first hand usage with the Bugera v5 class A 1x8 combo amp? My friend was thinking about getting one. Under $200. It has an additional speaker out jack with enough power to drive a 4x12 cab as well.

http://www.bugera-amps.com/EN/products/V5.aspx