New to Tube Amps

antdimaio · 30th November 2011

Whats up everyone,
Jst got my first tube amp, a crate VC5212. I love the clean channel, and the dirty channel is great for blues and lower gain classic rock. But i like playing some heavier stuff VH, Maiden, Mettalica. I was wondering what could i do do these kinds of sounds. Should i get an od and run it in front of the amp or put it through the effects loop. Are there tubes i could put in that would give the amp more gain. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance

drbob1 · 4th December 2011

Tubes are not going to take that amp into modern metal territory. They can increase the bottom end a little, or make the distortion come one sooner but it'll still be mainly the same amp. A speaker change could help a little more, IIRC that's a Yamaha copy of a Celestion G12M25, which will break up sooner than a good metal speaker would. Might try switching in a Vintage30, they're used in a lot of metal amps and they're cheap used.

To increase the gain, you'll need a pedal. You want one that'll preserve the bass, so a traditional Tubescreamer or Bluesbreaker type pedal isn't going to help. A DOD250 or MXR Distortion+ are cheap, and will definitely get you VH and more old school metal. For more authority, I think you'll want a pedal with a 3 Band EQ. The latest flavor of the day over at The Gear Page is Wampler's Slostortion, which should turn that amp into a pretty good imitation of a Soldano SLO. I know VH used them. Or a Dr. Scientist The Elements would be a good choice.

NoPro · 6th December 2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by antdimaio

Whats up everyone,
Jst got my first tube amp, a crate VC5212. I love the clean channel, and the dirty channel is great for blues and lower gain classic rock. But i like playing some heavier stuff VH, Maiden, Mettalica. I was wondering what could i do do these kinds of sounds. Should i get an od and run it in front of the amp or put it through the effects loop. Are there tubes i could put in that would give the amp more gain. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance

get the tube amp as dirty as possible without it sounding completely overloaded. then add a distortion pedal. small tube amps plus distortion pedals when "recorded" can sound very good like an expensive marshall or the latest kick ass amp. the effects loop is something im still wondering about. diff tubes can make a difference. JJ's are pretty good.

cortisol · 6th December 2011

You could look into replacing any short plate tubes with long plate equivalent. But in truth maybe the design of your amp just isn't capable of hi gain metal.

Lots of players are doing the Andy Sneap thing and using a Tubescreamers as a boost into the valve preamp of a valve guitar amp. It seems to tighten up the bass end of the guitar and put a hot signal into an already overdriven amp. Maybe a touch less drive on the amp with more output from the pedal.

Apart from that the Hardwire Valve Distortion is pretty awesome and affordable and will get you a variety of metal tones. Have a look at it on the proguitarshop YouTube channel.

30th November 2011	#1
antdimaio Gear interested Joined: Nov 2011 Posts: 1 Thread Starter	New to Tube Amps Whats up everyone, Jst got my first tube amp, a crate VC5212. I love the clean channel, and the dirty channel is great for blues and lower gain classic rock. But i like playing some heavier stuff VH, Maiden, Mettalica. I was wondering what could i do do these kinds of sounds. Should i get an od and run it in front of the amp or put it through the effects loop. Are there tubes i could put in that would give the amp more gain. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version Email this Page	Search this Thread: Advanced Search

4th December 2011	#2
drbob1 Lives for gear Joined: Nov 2009 Posts: 1,420 3 Reviews written	Tubes are not going to take that amp into modern metal territory. They can increase the bottom end a little, or make the distortion come one sooner but it'll still be mainly the same amp. A speaker change could help a little more, IIRC that's a Yamaha copy of a Celestion G12M25, which will break up sooner than a good metal speaker would. Might try switching in a Vintage30, they're used in a lot of metal amps and they're cheap used. To increase the gain, you'll need a pedal. You want one that'll preserve the bass, so a traditional Tubescreamer or Bluesbreaker type pedal isn't going to help. A DOD250 or MXR Distortion+ are cheap, and will definitely get you VH and more old school metal. For more authority, I think you'll want a pedal with a 3 Band EQ. The latest flavor of the day over at The Gear Page is Wampler's Slostortion, which should turn that amp into a pretty good imitation of a Soldano SLO. I know VH used them. Or a Dr. Scientist The Elements would be a good choice.

6th December 2011	#4
cortisol Lives for gear Joined: Aug 2006 Posts: 601	You could look into replacing any short plate tubes with long plate equivalent. But in truth maybe the design of your amp just isn't capable of hi gain metal. Lots of players are doing the Andy Sneap thing and using a Tubescreamers as a boost into the valve preamp of a valve guitar amp. It seems to tighten up the bass end of the guitar and put a hot signal into an already overdriven amp. Maybe a touch less drive on the amp with more output from the pedal. Apart from that the Hardwire Valve Distortion is pretty awesome and affordable and will get you a variety of metal tones. Have a look at it on the proguitarshop YouTube channel.