In need of some advice

Joined: 12 Apr 2007 Posts: 2974 Location: UK

Good morning world.

So, I've been pretty ill the last week or so just laying in bed and I've been thinking about my current rig situation.

I have an Orange TH30 head and Orange 1x12 that I absolutely fell in love with when I tried it out at the store, so much so that I just bought it on an impulse. Don't get me wrong, it is truly a Titan of an amp, but for what I'm using it for at the moment it is total overkill. This thing was made to go in to a studio or medium sized venue and be cranked. I'm playing it at 0.1 volume in my bedroom studio and I genuinely think its a waste.

Now what would you do?

I'm looking at the Peavey Vypyr (or the VIP) and I think it might be a wise move. I haven't tried one out but on paper they sound perfect for a bedroom jammer. I'm pretty sure I'm not going to need an amp for gigging anymore, but I am excited by these new Vypyrs and it would probably suit me perfectly.

So I was thinking of selling both my Blackstar HT-5 and the Orange TH30 and get one of the new Vypyrs and have quite a bit of cash left over (which is never bad).

Anyone else been in this situation? What would you recommend?

Joined: 04 Jun 2012 Posts: 346 Location: South-West Ohio

I would recomend keeping the orange and running a blackstar ht-1 for your bedroom, or selling both and getting the Hughes and kettner tubemiester 36 [which you can run in 1 watt mode]. You never know - you might decide to play a show out with some old friends at some point, and want the extra power, and its good to have the ability.

Try both if you can - I know lanning loves his tubemeister [and it is a great sounding amp] but I liekd my blackstar just alittle bit more in the voicing for me. Both are great modern amps, and neither would be a bad choice.

FWIW I run a 20 watt head with a 2x12 oversize cab in my place and I'm having no volume issues [too loud or too quiet], but I have learned that 20 watts is PLENTY load if need be, and if 20 watts doesn't fill it then I should be going through the PA anyway, which there will be if the venue is that size.

Joined: 21 Jul 2008 Posts: 613 Location: Yorkshire, England

Is there anybody you might upset by turning the volume up? If not then just play it louder, otherwise the Blackstar HT-5 might be a bit more useful.

Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2013 5:43 pm

I can't imagine a 30w amp being too loud for a bedroom. I use a 60w 6505 2/12 combo and it sounds fine w/o peeling the paint of the walls

Why don't you pull two of the tubes and run at half power setting, that's only 7 1/2 watts to deal with

You'll find the Vypers can be loud also and don't really sound great unless you crank them a little bit (I had the big 120w combo model several years ago)

Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2013 5:52 pm

I'd stick with your Orange, matey.

What you could do is find a big cardboard box to set it in, and fill the box up tight with soundproof foam and whatnot, which'll dampen the volume. Means you can crank that baby and it won't blow holes in your ears. Mr. Green

Joined: 03 May 2008 Posts: 6624 Location: Minnesota

Northwinds wrote:

I can't imagine a 30w amp being too loud for a bedroom. I use a 60w 6505 2/12 combo and it sounds fine w/o peeling the paint of the walls

Why don't you pull two of the tubes and run at half power setting, that's only 7 1/2 watts to deal with

You'll find the Vypers can be loud also and don't really sound great unless you crank them a little bit (I had the big 120w combo model several years ago)

I get that everything is relative to each persons situation, but for what it's worth, my 20 watt, is to loud for the stage, let alone the bedroom. I rarely get to push it to 100%, and typically run the volume at 45% into a 2x12 at gig levels. I've been considering getting an attenuator.

Joined: 12 Apr 2007 Posts: 2974 Location: UK

Okay, so I was being a dumbass. Switched it to 2 output tubes and then switched it down to half power and its much easier to handle. Gah, what an idiot. I do really like the amp, I'm just worrying it's more than I need.

Joined: 12 Apr 2007 Posts: 2974 Location: UK

Okay, so I think I may to trade this amp to get something more appropriate. I love it but my family are complaining about volume levels when I have it on 0.5-0.75. Going to look for something smaller tonight and I'll keep you updated.

Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 13396 Location: Earth

Hughes and Kettner Tubemeister man. I have the 36 and it rips. The 5 and the 18 are also good choices but since you have the TH30 and may want that kind of power later on the 36 will suit you well. It's switchable from 36 to 18 to 5 to 1 and full load for silent recording. Has reverb, midi controllable and it's got an auto biasing system built in. They make a combo as well as the head. On 1 watt I can crank it and not bother my wife or the neighbours. I can also run it at full load into my interface and computer speakers for recording. At full load you don't need a speaker cab connected either which makes it simple to drag to a gig with a full PA and just run it DI if you want. I used it with my drummer and experimented with levels and it was fine on 18 watts in our jam space. At 36 watts it's more than enough for the stage. Also the power soak is midi switchable so you can run it at 18 watts and have it switch to 36 for a lead boost via midi controller.

Joined: 30 Nov 2003 Posts: 10589 Location: Canada

Here's a picture of my old den in the '80s... Laney gave me 4 stacks, and I used two half stacks at home... in a den. Granted I never turned them up. But the extra power was not a problem. The volume controls were of course pretty touchy at such low volumes, but I had an F/X unit in the loop and used it's volume control instead.

Most high gain amps get the vast majority of their distortion and tone from their preamp section... so having more power isn't a problem. Of course you'll be missing out on speaker distortion and the way air reacts with loud sounds... but you'd be losing that with a smaller amp too. I did use an EQ in the loop too to help it sound a bit "bigger" then it did, without turning it up louder.

So I wouldn't sell an amp that you love the tone of, just because you don't need the power. I did have a power soak hooked up, but never used it.

I wouldn't buy big amps for a small room, but if you have'm...

Hell, even a 6 watt (tube) Champ was too loud to be in the room with cranked!

Joined: 12 Apr 2007 Posts: 2974 Location: UK

Wow, thanks Lanning! Just checked out your videos on YouTube of the H&K and it sounds amazing! I will be playing through an Orange 1x12. I'm going to go to my guitar store soon and try it out. I'm looking for a saturated Mesa/American metal tone (similar to Petrucci tones and up the gain for Trivium kinda 6505 stuff). Does it produces those kind of tones for you dude?

Will probably put my TH30 and HT5 up for sale and then I'd have more money to play with. Do you run any pedals for OD/Distortion with it man?

Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 13396 Location: Earth

It can do anything from the ENGL kinda gain to more vintage gain. With the EQ set pretty neutral it does that "American" tone pretty well. I don't use any pedals with it for gain. It's got gobs of it already. The lead channel has about as much gain as a 5150. My guitar has Duncan Blackouts and I have the gain on the lead channel at about 12:30 and it's plenty heavy for any kind of metal.

I have tried my Mesa Throttle Box distortion with it on the clean channel and it sounds good though. The clean on the Tubemeister is super HiFi clean, but you can dirty it up a bit with enough of the gain knob. The Rhythm channel has a killer tone that can go vintage to modern rock. The Lead channel is thick and angry.