Question:
A couple of months ago I was at Guitar Center looking at amps. I tested one, a B-52 100w tube 2x12 combo. It was very very nice, with like three channels, each with seperate volumes/eq controls. Anyway, the price tag was about $800, and I'm thinking about buying it. Has anyone else played/owned any B-52 amps? Anything I should know about them?
Just remembered the model number: B-52 AT-212, possibly some variation on the AT-212 part involving the dash.
Answer:
I'd stay away. There are much better amps out there for that price.
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Originally Posted by ApparentlyNothing I'd stay away. There are much better amps out there for that price.
It was absolutely incredible when I played it in the store and i like the sound and the headroom I get on it from it being 100w. Is there some technical issue with them I should know about?
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I know what you mean. I played them when my town got a GC recently. They certainly do sound good, but I will also agree that you can get a much better amp for the price.
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Save $200 more dollars and buy an AC30...... ok so I'm a little biased.... but only cause I freakin love my amp.
Essentially, you can do whatever you want, but my advice is to try out some other amps in that price range and see what you think. 3 channels? 100 watts? Seems a little much to me. You could find a smaller wattage tube amp with 1 or 2 channels and pay for TONE instead of watts or features.
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Originally Posted by ApparentlyNothing Save $200 more dollars and buy an AC30...... ok so I'm a little biased.... but only cause I freakin love my amp.
Essentially, you can do whatever you want, but my advice is to try out some other amps in that price range and see what you think. 3 channels? 100 watts? Seems a little much to me. You could find a smaller wattage tube amp with 1 or 2 channels and pay for TONE instead of watts or features. what if he needs that many watts for the tone he wants??
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Originally Posted by thesteve what if he needs that many watts for the tone he wants?? Well, then forgive my assumption that he's not playing at ear pearcingly high volumes at very large venues, unmiked, and needs crystal clear clean tone. But generally, people don't need 100 tube watts. You can still get great clean tone at 50 watts. Even at 30 watts, you can get really loud and still have great clean tone, but it starts to break up a little once you get pretty loud.
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Originally Posted by ApparentlyNothing Well, then forgive my assumption that he's not playing at ear pearcingly high volumes at very large venues, unmiked, and needs crystal clear clean tone. But generally, people don't need 100 tube watts. You can still get great clean tone at 50 watts. Even at 30 watts, you can get really loud and still have great clean tone, but it starts to break up a little once you get pretty loud. sigh...
What so many people overlook it seems is that not everyone wants the sound of a thick AC30, a slightly overdriven Classic 30, or a cranked 50W Marshall Plexi.
Sure there are those of us (myself included) that love the soup that only overdriven power tubes can produce, but believe it or not, there are people who want completely unaffected pre-amp distortion. the entire purpose of the AT-212 is to create a cheap Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier style combo amp. Can you get that tone out of a smaller amp? sure...are you going to be able to get that same tone out of a smaller amp in venues even when mic'd? maybe, maybe not. Are you going to find that tone with any of the amps I mentioned above? very doubtful.
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Originally Posted by thesteve sigh...
What so many people overlook it seems is that not everyone wants the sound of a thick AC30, a slightly overdriven Classic 30, or a cranked 50W Marshall Plexi.
Sure there are those of us (myself included) that love the soup that only overdriven power tubes can produce, but believe it or not, there are people who want completely unaffected pre-amp distortion. the entire purpose of the AT-212 is to create a cheap Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier style combo amp. Can you get that tone out of a smaller amp? sure...are you going to be able to get that same tone out of a smaller amp in venues even when mic'd? maybe, maybe not. Are you going to find that tone with any of the amps I mentioned above? very doubtful. But I just said, you can get that with 50 watts. 30 watts, probably not. But I think 50 watts is plenty to be loud enough when miked, and still get pure power amp signal. Now, if you're a really loud band playing big venues, then you'll need more. But on average, I think around 50 watts should be plenty.
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Originally Posted by ApparentlyNothing But I just said, you can get that with 50 watts. 30 watts, probably not. But I think 50 watts is plenty to be loud enough when miked, and still get pure power amp signal. Now, if you're a really loud band playing big venues, then you'll need more. But on average, I think around 50 watts should be plenty. 50 watts (in my experience) dirties up pretty quick. Granted, i've not heard too many 50 watters that are set up to be clean machines either.
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I recently did an experament w/ my amp (120w 212) where I pulled two power tubes essentialy reducing the power output to 60w. Here's the interesting part, there was barely a noticable drop it output volume but I noticed a significant drop in clean headroom.
I of course did this so I could achieve power tube saturation w/o having to be in a different area code than my amp, but it seems like RubberChipmunk is looking for the oposite effect.
Dispite the general consensus amongst CGR posters there is ,in fact, a place for 100w tube amps, that include venues other than woodstock. How many blues and country players use Fender twins? How many have there amps dimed? There is a place for small 112 30w tube amps(ya know I love em) and a place for 550w ss heads(well...maybe not), and there position in life is not determined by their stature but by their ability to express the tone that someone has in thier heads.
Sometimes the believers in small tube amps can be just as biased(pun intended) as the 100w marshall guys, anytime you say one is decidedly better than the other you shut yourself off to a world full of different tones.
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as an owner of a 120 watt tube amp...I could play woodstock without distorting. The amp is freaking loud!
The thing is, even for pristine clean, that is overkill for 99.999% of people, (myself included)
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Originally Posted by BillSPrestonEsq as an owner of a 120 watt tube amp...I could play woodstock without distorting. The amp is freaking loud!
The thing is, even for pristine clean, that is overkill for 99.999% of people, (myself included) This was my point. Not that 100 watt amps have no use whatesoever. Just that most people tend to not need that use. 100 watts is overkill in my opinion for most people.
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Originally Posted by ApparentlyNothing This was my point. Not that 100 watt amps have no use whatesoever. Just that most people tend to not need that use. 100 watts is overkill in my opinion for most people. It may be overkill, but if he can't find the sound he likes in any other amps what should he do?
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Originally Posted by wesley7777 It may be overkill, but if he can't find the sound he likes in any other amps what should he do? excellent point...while you may be able to achieve that "recto sound" at a lower wattage, what amps are out there that do it? (yes the single recto may be an obvious answer)