tubetime86

I had the same experience... A drummer who lived across the hall from me in the dorms invited me to jam with him in the school's radio station studio. I went up with him one day and just took my guitar, he said 'plug into that.' I'm not positive but in retrospect I think it was an AC30. I just remember thinking 'where in the hell is all this volume coming from?' The thing was thumping my chest like I'd never felt before from a solid state. It took me two years to realize it was a tube amp.

Just to properly finish the story; the drummer turned out to be a god damn prodigy. We tried to play for like thirty minutes and he finally said it wasn't going to work. He did it politely, but it was a total dick move... 'What do you mean it's not going to work? Play something in 4/4 and maybe it would.'

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Tempoe

Mine was a 70s red Marshall 50 W head and slant cab. I got it for $400. I remember thinking it was loud. Man I wish I still had that, I traded it yrs later for a 50W combo because it was too big, what an idiot I was.

kyle62

Mesa Boogie DC-5. Nice amp, one of the best I've owned.

I just sold my last valve amp, a Marshall 30th Anniversary. All-digital now!

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Head honcho at Stubborn Sound!
https://soundcloud.com/kjmay

cdr_salamander

My first tuber was a Bugera V5, but my first READ tuber was an Egnater Tweaker. I played on SS amps for years as a kid before getting something all the cool kids had

But yeah, mindblowingly awesome.

I K0nijn I

I had a London City Bulldog as first tube amp. I don't have it anymore, but a friend has it now, so I can play it every once in a while. Great thing, but the combination of a 100 watt head and an insanely heavy cab became too much for me, so I sold it and bought a Vox AC15C1. Sold that one as I wanted and needed something more versatile, which lead me to the Dual Rectifier with 3 channels.

As far as going from SS to tubes, it was pretty insane. I didn't notice that much in the cleans at first (I had a Frontman 212R and liked its cleans), but came to my mind later on when I compared them. =P The drive channel on the Bulldog blew the Frontman away like there were no limits to how bad the Frontman was. Looking back, my Mesa slays all of what I previously had, even though I'm not that happy with it as I had wished.

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Gibson SG Standard
Ibanez RG7321 (modified)
Mesa Boogie Lone Star
Orange TH30
And some pedals.

Blktiger0

I thought I was the only one with the tube thing, but I swear mine is actually the tubes, due to only smelling it through a vent right above the power tubes....maybe it's the tolex around the edges or something else on the inside...

As for my first Tube amp, it's my Vengeance that I bought about 10 months ago. Before getting it, I owned a Squire Frontman copy, which the input jack pooped out on, a Fender Frontman 15 (what a huge change/upgrade, right? ) and then the grandaddy of them all, a Marshall MG30. All of them were awful.

Then, I got my Vengeance. I had played Tube amps before. Tons of them at stores. Valveking, 6505, Hot Rod, Picovalve, MA100, DSL401, Blackstar HT40, Mesa Dual Rec, Peavey Windsor, Mesa Rectoverb, Tweaker, you name it, I tried it. At the time, I was looking for the 6505 sound, but somewhat different. Probably something along the lines of ENGL. I got the Vengeance, hooked it up, set everything to noon (other than the Master Volume, for obvious reasons) and started playing. I loved the feel, the response, the cleans, and the overall sound, but even after tweaking and trying the recommended settings and tweaking more, I honestly did not like the overdrive channel. It was muddy, dark, and not the sound in my head. The problem here was actually the cabinet I was using (JCA24S) combined with my lack of experience dialing in Tube amps and my ears being used to solid state crap. Now, however, after learning how to dial it in and getting used to the way tubes amps sound and react, I'll never look back. I can't think of another amp that I would like more than this one. I still need to do a speaker swap in my cab, but everything with my amp is in order and I'm about to re-tube, which should improve the sound some more yet, which excites me

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My Rig:
Moser Bastard V
- Pups: Bridge
Epi Les Paul Standard
- Pups: Bridge Neck
Egnater Vengeance
- JCA24S w/WGS Retro 30s
- ZW-45 Crybaby
- MXR 10-Band EQ
- ISP Decimator
(^Those are links^ )

AsOneIStand

Bugera 333XL which I got last year. Played it, and it was ok, but just not what I was looking for. Traded it and some money for a Peavey 6505+, never looked back. As a matter of fact, the only other amps I would want besides a Peavey 6505+ are an Engl Fireball or a Mesa Boogie Mark V and I wouldn't give my Peavey up for either.

ihartfood

trace elliot speed twin. I liked it, but not enough to keep it. It incited my intensely burning GAS, and that was three years ago.

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My Rig
Like Telecasters?

shredftw

Mesa Boogie 3 Channel Dual Rectifier (not the 2010 revision) and I still have it as my main tube amp to power my AxeFx live atm. Loved it since i've had it, never been disappointed with it. It doesn't have the greatest clean channel in the world but I can live with that

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aerosmithfan95

That would be my Vintage Modern. It's absolutely amazing to my ears and perfect for covering all of the tones I want. It's quite a big upgrade from my previous amps (Fender Frontman 212R, Line 6 Spider 3, and a Squier amp that came with my first guitar).

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AF95

Epiphone LP Standard w/ Seymour Duncans
Kramer Focus 3000
Marshall Vintage Modern 2266
A handful of pedals

losing battle

When I first got my tube amp I was very meh, then when I figured out how to exploit it with my pedals I was like awwwe yeah. I gots no gain channel so.... um yeah, metal players need gain.

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LeviMan_2001

Fist tube amp was my Pignose G40V. Cheap, and a great amp. Next was my '60s Gibson "Explorer" amp. A real POS when I got it, but I've modified it and now it is %100 my favorite amp (a real sleeper too).

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Danelectro Longhorn guitar build: http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/foru...d.php?t=1564392

TheSPillow

Just got mine yesterday after playing for 7 years. Orange Dark Terror. Love it.

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steam

Gibson Les Paul Studio
Yamaha Pacifica 112
Alvarez SLM
Orange Dark Terror
Orange PPC212OB 2x12 cab
Yamaha P-85 Keyboard

mmolteratx

First tube amp was a Hot Rod DeVille in 2004. Was completely the wrong amp for me but sounded pretty decent.

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WTLT 2012
PBT Native
Gear
GG&A BotB Best Rig 2012

gumbilicious

1981 music man HD212-150. it is a hybrid amp with a SS preamp.

first all-tube amp was a tiny terror... i went back to playing the music man after the infatuation wore off.

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"A perfection of means, and confusion of aims, seems to be our main problem."
-ae

dark Mass

My first tube amp was an old beater Vox AC15 which had a blown speaker and need new tubes since the originals went microphonic. It wasn't played much since I didn't like it's "clean" tone since cranking the volume past one would make a dirty mess. Which I didn't care for at the time since was looking for the best clean tone that wasn't like the RC-120 sterile cleanliness.

My first good tube amp was my Orange Thunderverb 200. It had the features that I was looking for in an amp at the time. Good controllable dirt and cleans that are warm yet clear. It still the only the only amp that I haven't completely given up on since it's my backup to my RM100.

darkwolf291

That would be my Spandex Super Lead.


I'll let you know how it is when it's done being built

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My Name is ****ing Ace Velour.

Or Frank...

Pedalboard Thread Native: The Thrashaholic

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GG&A WTLT List

voltafan485

Peavy Windsor, it worked fine in the store but died as soon as it got home -___-
Got a refund and busted out the credit card for the Egnater Tweaker 40. I absolutely love that amp, its an amazing machine. My favorite part about the amp, which is probably true for all tube amps is when you hold certain notes and stand close enough to the amp, you hear the harmonic starting to rise above the note

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Egnater Tweaker 40
Yamaha s412
Vox AC4TV

Fender MIM Jazzmaster
Fender MIM Telecaster
Ibanez GAX70
Ibanez VBT700
Epiphone Les Paul jr.
Gibson Les Paul 60's Tribute

Various Effects

iamcline

First one for me was my Krank Krankenstein head. Tough head to figure out being new to tube amps but well worth the patience. Fortunately I've been able to play a 6505+ as well and find that one to be a very user friendly amp.

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http://www.twitter.com/iamcIine

ESP Eclipse II Standard
Krank Revolution+
Krank Revolution 4x12
MXR 10-Band EQ