Class A guitar tube amp combos

[My_Shrimp_Cot]

I've been thinking about buying one of these but I don't know all the upside/downside of them.

 

What makes a Class A tube different?

 

Well, here is what I was told.

 

1. Class A amps sound great

2. They were popular way back but the tubes run so hot that they burnt out all the time.

3. They have fixed this problem with newer technology

4. They seem to run on REALLY low wattage. 5 watts is a loud practice amp. 15 watts is LOUD period. You can gig with 20-25 watts.wtf?.

5. The cases they come in are REALLY fricken' ugly, like Crates' Palamino.

 

 

Can you get modern sounds out of these amps? Or are they just for rock-a-billy and Beach Boys type stuff?

 

 

 

[CygnusX-1Bk2]

My room mate just got a THD Bi-Valve 30 class A head that sounds awesome. It is "around 30 watts" and is plenty loud enough to play with a drummer. It sounds really nice. It is very modern, somewhere between a Marshall and a Mesa, with a bit of Vox flavor. Very straight forward, excellent distortion.

[defrushfan01]

B-52 makes a great combo all tube amp. it has 3 tube selections, and man its a 60 watt amp, and that thing ROCKS. I was playin it at Guitar Center and man Slaying The Dreamer by Nightwish rocked on that amp. check it out.

[My_Shrimp_Cot]

QUOTE (CygnusX-1Bk2 @ Sep 27 2005, 05:02 PM)

My room mate just got a THD Bi-Valve 30 class A head that sounds awesome. It is "around 30 watts" and is plenty loud enough to play with a drummer. It sounds really nice. It is very modern, somewhere between a Marshall and a Mesa, with a bit of Vox flavor. Very straight forward, excellent distortion.

That looks (and sounds) awesome. thanks for the info.

 

 

[My_Shrimp_Cot]

QUOTE (defrushfan01 @ Sep 28 2005, 11:06 AM)

B-52 makes a great combo all tube amp. it has 3 tube selections, and man its a 60 watt amp, and that thing ROCKS. I was playin it at Guitar Center and man Slaying The Dreamer by Nightwish rocked on that amp. check it out.

Here is a head that is similar to what you are talking about, I think.

 

 

B-52 60W head

 

But it doesn't say if Tube A is class A. I am trying to learn the difference between a class A and other types of tubes

 

 

http://img3.musiciansfriend.com/dbase/pics/products/48/481307.jpg

 

That amp looks sweet by btw.

[My_Shrimp_Cot]

QUOTE (CygnusX-1Bk2 @ Sep 27 2005, 05:02 PM)

My room mate just got a THD Bi-Valve 30 class A head that sounds awesome. It is "around 30 watts" and is plenty loud enough to play with a drummer. It sounds really nice. It is very modern, somewhere between a Marshall and a Mesa, with a bit of Vox flavor. Very straight forward, excellent distortion.

Here is a quote from the site.

QUOTE

Like the UniValve, the BiValve is a single-ended pure Class A design. However, it has two output valves which are wired in parallel and combined through a special output transformer to deliver up to around 30 watts. You can use almost any output valve you like without touching any kind of bias adjustment, and get this: in the BiValve you can use them in any combination as well. Combined with the capability to take almost any preamp valve, this makes the BiValve even more of an amp-tweakers dream than its predecessor. Because there's such a wide range of tone available you your style.

 

 

So somehow this is still a 15 watt setup with 2 output valves and a transformer??

 

It's really over my head.

 

I guess I should worry less about the technology and just worry about how it sounds.

 

"DUDE, It goes to 11!"