Mod my amp or buy a new one?

[lafromla1]

I currently have a stock Blues Jr.  It is very chimey and I dont really get any of that nasty overdrive out of it, even with a tube screamer. 

Lately, to play a lot of classic rock, I have been plugging into my friends older Marshall Valvestate and I can get the nastiness I need out of it.  Unfortunately, they are on the low end of reliability.  He has offered to sell it to me for $200, but its missing a knob and I can already hear a few of the pots starting to crackle, which means going in and replacing them.

I dont have a lot of cash to spend on this project, less than $500.  So, I can either go with some mods to the Blues Jr (i.e. speaker, tubes and transformer) or look to get a second amp.  If I get another one, I'd like it to be tube powered, at least in the pre-amp.  This will need to be used for some minor gigging.  Any suggestions, will help me narrow my search, so I am not wasting time on things I dont need to be looking at.

 

[bagman67]

Carvin MTS3200 combo or head/cab configuration.  You'll stay under 500 bucks and have very usable tube-driven hard-rock guitar sounds, and reliability as well.

 

[Cagey]

I currently have a stock Blues Jr.  It is very chimey and I dont really get any of that nasty overdrive out of it, even with a tube screamer. 

A Tube Screamer will let you get pretty raunchy, but it doesn't have the same character as a Marshall. Sounds a little sterile to my ears. You might wanna try one of those Fender Super Champ X2 HD units they're selling now. Still tubes, but with some amp emulation in the front end and some handy effects. Nicely priced, for what you get. Also with tubes and great sound I can strongly recommend the Bugera V22 or V55. They're a LOT of amp for the money, both less than $500, and they sound great. Even The Gear Page has several threads where the majority sing their glory. They're plywood construction rather than MDF, use ceramic tube sockets, are well-constructed... just nice. I had several of them go through here back in the early days when they had a couple engineering issues that were easy enough to fix, so I was flipping them for beer money. Loved 'em.

I certainly wouldn't be putting any money into a Marshall Valvestate. Like most modern sub-$500 amps, they're essentially disposable. If you don't like it the way it is or it needs work and you're not an electronics guy who can do it yourself, pass on it.

 

[Patrick from Davis]

This mod makes it a bit more Marshall-y.  Doesn't require much, and you can undo it as well if you want to return it to where it started.  Also there seems to be a bit of talk about it being biased too hot, which will cause tube life to drop quickly, and you get a tired sounding amp.  There are other mods to mess with the bias, and make it so that you can adjust it.  Beware of the insides of tube amps, they have lethal amounts of electricity.  But once they are discharged properly, have at it.
Patrick

 

[lafromla1]

@Cagey - I poked around for some youtube vid reviews on the Bugera V55 and it just might be what I am looking for.  I know it doesn't have an output jack to go to a monitor and I'm not sure about having the resources to mic it?  Also, I'm not the lead guitarist, but will be playing rhythm, so I dont need to blow the doors off the place, just round out the sound.  So given that info, do you think that it will be loud enough unmic'd for gigging in a small venue? 

@Patrick - I had sent BillM an email explaining what I was looking to do and what mods I would need, but he has yet to get back to me.  Its only been 2 weeks and I am sure that he is swamped, so I will try again as I get closer to a date to pull the trigger on something.

 

[jackthehack]

Before you buy/mod anything, go to a store and check out the Egnater Rebel 20; crank the tube mix all the way to the EL84 side and kick up the Drive control for "Marshally".

 

[Cagey]

@Cagey - I poked around for some youtube vid reviews on the Bugera V55 and it just might be what I am looking for.  I know it doesn't have an output jack to go to a monitor and I'm not sure about having the resources to mic it?  Also, I'm not the lead guitarist, but will be playing rhythm, so I dont need to blow the doors off the place, just round out the sound.  So given that info, do you think that it will be loud enough unmic'd for gigging in a small venue? 

The V22 is plenty loud enough for small venues. The V55 is a beast. Either one can be cranked down to behave itself at lower volumes and still get some serious saturated crunch, if you need that. Sounds better than any overdrive pedal if you ask me, because it's real. Either one, but especially the V55 will get pretty loud clean, too.

They're both the same amp internally, right down to the circuit boards. About the only difference is in the V55 they make a couple minor changes to accommodate a pair of 6L6s in the power stage instead of the EL-84s they use in the V22. The speakers are good - a number of guys have replaced them thinking they could improve on the stock part, but ended up putting the stock part back in. The reverb is a bit over-the-top for my taste, but it's clean and can be limited to a reasonable level so it's still usable. Of course, some guys like a reverb that sounds like an abused special effect, so your mileage may vary.

On both of them, the speaker plugs in, so you can undo the internal speaker and connect a bigger bottom if you need to. I had a V5 for a while, too, and for a 5 watt amp it sounded surprisingly good through a 412. The V22 and V55 really drove a 412 well. Although, I don't know how many clubs/bars are letting you even bring in a 412 any more.

Comes with a channel switch and reverb on/off footswitch, if you need that.

 

[Patrick from Davis]

The Blues Jr. mod I sent the link of is two resistors and three pieces of wire.  It makes the amp's circuit more vintage in nature.  However, if you don't want to play inside it, there are lots of options.  Also, after two weeks, I'd send a polite follow up on the first email.  He might be busy, but two weeks is not rushing anyone.
Patrick

 

[ezas]

@Cagey - I poked around for some youtube vid reviews on the Bugera V55 and it just might be what I am looking for.  I know it doesn't have an output jack to go to a monitor and I'm not sure about having the resources to mic it?  Also, I'm not the lead guitarist, but will be playing rhythm, so I dont need to blow the doors off the place, just round out the sound.  So given that info, do you think that it will be loud enough unmic'd for gigging in a small venue? 

The V22 is plenty loud enough for small venues. The V55 is a beast. Either one can be cranked down to behave itself at lower volumes and still get some serious saturated crunch, if you need that. Sounds better than any overdrive pedal if you ask me, because it's real. Either one, but especially the V55 will get pretty loud clean, too.

They're both the same amp internally, right down to the circuit boards. About the only difference is in the V55 they make a couple minor changes to accommodate a pair of 6L6s in the power stage instead of the EL-84s they use in the V22. The speakers are good - a number of guys have replaced them thinking they could improve on the stock part, but ended up putting the stock part back in. The reverb is a bit over-the-top for my taste, but it's clean and can be limited to a reasonable level so it's still usable. Of course, some guys like a reverb that sounds like an abused special effect, so your mileage may vary.

On both of them, the speaker plugs in, so you can undo the internal speaker and connect a bigger bottom if you need to. I had a V5 for a while, too, and for a 5 watt amp it sounded surprisingly good through a 412. The V22 and V55 really drove a 412 well. Although, I don't know how many clubs/bars are letting you even bring in a 412 any more.

Comes with a channel switch and reverb on/off footswitch, if you need that.

It's getting annoying, but Cagey is right on in my opinion. The Champ X2 and the Bugera are great choices in your price range. But I'll mention that the Champ X2 only uses the tube preamp on the clean channel. The clean channel only uses the 2 channel EQ. Channel 2 with all the effects and bells and whistles (including the powerful fuse software, is a solid state signal path. Also some people cluck there tongues at the lack of Mid EQ knob. The fuse software gives you mid eq control on any amp model that has a  mid eq knob. There is not much you can't do with the Fuse software, including setting the Bias and Sag on the amp section. In plain english that means you can make the X2 VERY tube like. Put another way you can have the cleans of a Blackface with the sack of Tweed fender amp. I think that Champ X2's 10" speaker is a good compromise between the 8" speaker on the Mustang I, and the 12" speaker on the Mustang II. I'd probably get one if I didn't already have the Mustang I.

Also got to back Cagey on the Bugera V22, including what he said about the speaker. I've been doing a lot of amp shopping for a 5 watt tube practice amp and have decided on the Bugera V5. But Bugera is 'french' for Behringer, who has a someone spotty reputation for reliability. Normally I'm not a FUD person, but amp repair is my family's business (for 30 years now) and they share this opinion. But in reading reviews on the Bugera 5 watt amp, knowledgeable people say they have the best off-the-shelf electrical components compared to other popular 5 watt tube practice amps. So just thought I would throw that out there.

Another amp I'll add to consider is the VHT Special 6 Ultra. A hell of a lot of good features, including a voicing feature I think you would like, and it's in your price range.