Tubes..glorious tubes...(ramble..talking out my gear dilemma)

[scozz]

Wow, so many folks from CT!

I'm originally from the South, but was in CT/NY (fairfield/westchester) area since March of 97.

I will miss some things, but I never could adapt to the pace of life, and since the pandemic, people have gone totally bonkers. It's so good to be back amongst my kinfolk again My Daughter and Wife love it here, but I think they are feeling a bit out of place- they both have a smidgen of a Bronx accent (and a bigger proportion of the attitude).

Looking to get in some more playing time this w/e.

Fairfield County, yup I was born, raised and lived in Danbury Ct, in Fairfield County, until I was 30 years old.

Then in 1986, I moved to Warren CT in the western hills of Litchfield County, spent 20 years there.

 

[Ufoscorpion]

Finally got moved to NC, and after a few days of chaos, got a few minutes to unbox my amp/s and set them up after over a year and a half in storage. I've got a whole loft to myself for my gear.

Glorious tube tone. I missed it.

Its been so long I forgot just how loud the ORi20 needs to be to give up the goods. Even in low power mode, it will be too loud for the neighbors once the master is up enough to start getting some gain. So I hooked it up to my Rockcrusher, put the amp on full power and ended up in studio mode (most amount of attenuation), which is quiet enough I think (wife said it wasn't too loud), and it was very nice to have some dynamics and singing sustain (forgot how good my # Les Paul really is after so long playing through the CODE25) .

But it was not really optimal for what I want to hear. It's just amp, no real speaker interaction. I then tried it in mid power with less attenuation, and it was a different sound and feel, maybe better. Then I tried low power with very little attenuation which got me in the pushed right to the edge but not ready to blow up tone zone I wanted but the speakers are just not doing anything at all so it feels awful. Boost mode did not really help anywhere- it just made for a flubby fizzy mess.

So I have to revisit some things I'd rather not do, but have little choice otherwise.

Perhaps a OD or Boost pedal of some sort...

Maybe a MIAB like the Distortron, Small Box, Animal, or SL Drive into a barely breaking up attenuated ORI20H...

Maybe my Class 5 with the right pedal (treble booster?) and also attenuated...

Maybe I'll just continue to play my CODE 25 primarily, though it was so apparent how much better tubes feel, and how much better sustain/dynamics are with the tubes. It's good for really low volumes and headphones, but 1s and 0s just aren't the same. Funny what we can get used to over time.

I had forgotten about and found in storage a VOX VXT20 modelling amp I had bought several years ago which I had given up on- it has one of those weird cheap outboard power supplies and did not like my old house's electrical quirks. It's got an OK plexi model which I made a clip of HERE, years ago.

Maybe a 1W DSL?

Maybe a Purplewind Nano head?

I really don't know.

As a first step, I'm inclined to drop my 55HZ back into my cab, wire it up for that one speaker (eliminate a G12M) as the H mags seem to like low volumes better than any M20/25, and go from there. Ill throw some blankets in the cab. I have a few boosts (Xotic EP boost, Dunlop Echoplex boost, Bad Monkey), and a Bogner LaGrange to get me started as well on the pedal front.

Why can't neighbors learn to live with cranked Marshalls?

My Ori50h sounds killer at low volume , but does need a good boost/od and attenuation . I use aBuxom boost ( coz it’s freaking awesome ) and a torpedo reload . Best compromise to volume I’ve come across . Nearly forgot , greenbacks a must with the origins .

 

[Tom Drouhard]

Finally got moved to NC, and after a few days of chaos, got a few minutes to unbox my amp/s and set them up after over a year and a half in storage. I've got a whole loft to myself for my gear.

Glorious tube tone. I missed it.

Its been so long I forgot just how loud the ORi20 needs to be to give up the goods. Even in low power mode, it will be too loud for the neighbors once the master is up enough to start getting some gain. So I hooked it up to my Rockcrusher, put the amp on full power and ended up in studio mode (most amount of attenuation), which is quiet enough I think (wife said it wasn't too loud), and it was very nice to have some dynamics and singing sustain (forgot how good my # Les Paul really is after so long playing through the CODE25) .

But it was not really optimal for what I want to hear. It's just amp, no real speaker interaction. I then tried it in mid power with less attenuation, and it was a different sound and feel, maybe better. Then I tried low power with very little attenuation which got me in the pushed right to the edge but not ready to blow up tone zone I wanted but the speakers are just not doing anything at all so it feels awful. Boost mode did not really help anywhere- it just made for a flubby fizzy mess.

So I have to revisit some things I'd rather not do, but have little choice otherwise.

Perhaps a OD or Boost pedal of some sort...

Maybe a MIAB like the Distortron, Small Box, Animal, or SL Drive into a barely breaking up attenuated ORI20H...

Maybe my Class 5 with the right pedal (treble booster?) and also attenuated...

Maybe I'll just continue to play my CODE 25 primarily, though it was so apparent how much better tubes feel, and how much better sustain/dynamics are with the tubes. It's good for really low volumes and headphones, but 1s and 0s just aren't the same. Funny what we can get used to over time.

I had forgotten about and found in storage a VOX VXT20 modelling amp I had bought several years ago which I had given up on- it has one of those weird cheap outboard power supplies and did not like my old house's electrical quirks. It's got an OK plexi model which I made a clip of HERE, years ago.

Maybe a 1W DSL?

Maybe a Purplewind Nano head?

I really don't know.

As a first step, I'm inclined to drop my 55HZ back into my cab, wire it up for that one speaker (eliminate a G12M) as the H mags seem to like low volumes better than any M20/25, and go from there. Ill throw some blankets in the cab. I have a few boosts (Xotic EP boost, Dunlop Echoplex boost, Bad Monkey), and a Bogner LaGrange to get me started as well on the pedal front.

Why can't neighbors learn to live with cranked Marshalls?

Crank it for 15 minutes and enjoy it and if the neighbors say something to you then at least you'll know where you stand. Maybe you'll meet other musicians to jam with by doing so.

 

[vtrain]

For what it’s worth, the Quilter isn’t actually that good for low volumes. It gets loud quickly on the dial and doesn’t really sound good until it does. It does however have a headphone output.

If you don’t want to give up an amp, I’d recommend a basic MIAB and be done with it.

 

[jeffb]

For what it’s worth, the Quilter isn’t actually that good for low volumes. It gets loud quickly on the dial and doesn’t really sound good until it does. It does however have a headphone output.

If you don’t want to give up an amp, I’d recommend a basic MIAB and be done with it.

My understanding is that using the 1 Watt mode with a 9V power supply instead of the stock one it comes with greatly reduces the volume- have you tried it in that config?

 

[Bodhi F. Dharma]

Rent a rehearsal space once a week. Take your gear in there crank it out the way it’s meant to be. That will be good medicine and get you through your tone DTs

 

[Mike Corey]

Finally got moved to NC, and after a few days of chaos, got a few minutes to unbox my amp/s and set them up after over a year and a half in storage. I've got a whole loft to myself for my gear.

Glorious tube tone. I missed it.

Its been so long I forgot just how loud the ORi20 needs to be to give up the goods. Even in low power mode, it will be too loud for the neighbors once the master is up enough to start getting some gain. So I hooked it up to my Rockcrusher, put the amp on full power and ended up in studio mode (most amount of attenuation), which is quiet enough I think (wife said it wasn't too loud), and it was very nice to have some dynamics and singing sustain (forgot how good my # Les Paul really is after so long playing through the CODE25) .

But it was not really optimal for what I want to hear. It's just amp, no real speaker interaction. I then tried it in mid power with less attenuation, and it was a different sound and feel, maybe better. Then I tried low power with very little attenuation which got me in the pushed right to the edge but not ready to blow up tone zone I wanted but the speakers are just not doing anything at all so it feels awful. Boost mode did not really help anywhere- it just made for a flubby fizzy mess.

So I have to revisit some things I'd rather not do, but have little choice otherwise.

Perhaps a OD or Boost pedal of some sort...

Maybe a MIAB like the Distortron, Small Box, Animal, or SL Drive into a barely breaking up attenuated ORI20H...

Maybe my Class 5 with the right pedal (treble booster?) and also attenuated...

Maybe I'll just continue to play my CODE 25 primarily, though it was so apparent how much better tubes feel, and how much better sustain/dynamics are with the tubes. It's good for really low volumes and headphones, but 1s and 0s just aren't the same. Funny what we can get used to over time.

I had forgotten about and found in storage a VOX VXT20 modelling amp I had bought several years ago which I had given up on- it has one of those weird cheap outboard power supplies and did not like my old house's electrical quirks. It's got an OK plexi model which I made a clip of HERE, years ago.

Maybe a 1W DSL?

Maybe a Purplewind Nano head?

I really don't know.

As a first step, I'm inclined to drop my 55HZ back into my cab, wire it up for that one speaker (eliminate a G12M) as the H mags seem to like low volumes better than any M20/25, and go from there. Ill throw some blankets in the cab. I have a few boosts (Xotic EP boost, Dunlop Echoplex boost, Bad Monkey), and a Bogner LaGrange to get me started as well on the pedal front.

Why can't neighbors learn to live with cranked Marshalls?

The pedal I got for my DSL 40CR is the Earthquaker Plumes. I then got a MXR Super Badass Distortion. I know, not life changing pedals, buyt they really work when you need to be at low volume. Especially the Plumes.

 

[vtrain]

My understanding is that using the 1 Watt mode with a 9V power supply instead of the stock one it comes with greatly reduces the volume- have you tried it in that config?

Actually I don’t think I have tried it partly because I’ve heard it doesn’t sound as good. But you’re probably right, that would be a way to get less volume out of the Superblock.

 

[scozz]

…………If you don’t want to give up an amp, I’d recommend a basic MIAB and be done with it.

I’ve never used one of those, do they really get that Marshall sizzle?

 

[eastwood6]

I’ve never used one of those, do they really get that Marshall sizzle?

As always,YMMV. I have a Fulltone OCD (one of the newer versions) that I use as a boost with my non-master-volume amps (1974x, DRRI). If I line all my amps up (3203, and including the 2204S I used to have), with my guitars, my pedalboard, and my fingers, I can get them all to sound 80% similar with little tweaking at low to medium volume. And yes, to my ears, the OCD (which is a MIAB style pedal) has that “sizzle”.

Things change at higher volume (the 2204 would knock you silly with sheer grunt when cranked compared to the others) but for most circumstances I can get “my” sound pretty consistently regardless of the combination used.

 

[jeffb]

edit- needs a do-over