vox vt30 v/s vox ac4tv v/s laney cub 10 v/s behringer-15 watt

Guys can anyone suggest a better one among the above 4?

The vox ac4tv and vt30 go for 15k and 14k @ bajaoo. This is my max budget limit for an amp.

Other options are the all tube amps Laney cub 10 for 12500 and behringer-15 watts vintage guitar amp with vac tube for 10k.

What do you guys think is a better amp to purchase. Playing mostly rock, classic rock, blues.

Also, could there be any other and better amp in this price range that i am missing.

Thanks.

 

haven't played the VT30 (although i suspect it isn't too dissimilar froom the AD30) and the laney cub. the cub sounds good.

if you want to play rock with not too much distortion, the little vox and a simple overdrive might work out well - the power stage will saturate fastest and you'll be in blues solo country before you know it. the cub should be good too.

whatever you do, avoid the behringer please.

i personally would probably go for the cub.

 

Don't even consider the Behringer.

You have to play the Vox AC4TV and Cub 10 to decide which sound you like more. The Cub 10 has more clean headroom. The VT30 has maximum clean headroom but it's not all tube.

As for choices, others, yes; better, probably not.

 

It's gotta be either AC4TV or CUB10. AC4TV will let u go down to 1/4W.

 

Vox vt30 is a modelling amp, with 22 built in effects as compared to vox ad30vt, which has 11. As far as i know, it has the tube circuitry only in the preamp stage. Although not a 100% tube, i feel partial towards it cause of the built-in effects and the tube-like warm sound.

In the case of vox ac4tv and cube 10, they have only the basic eq settings to play around with, although i have to say that even a slight twist of the knob in these two amps can make a lot of difference in tone. Maximum effects that i could use in the future is the wah-wah pedal, and overdrive & distortion pedal.

I am relatively new in this field and as i have heard from other experienced players that once you are hooked to the actual tube amps, you cannot go back to playing on the solid-state amps.

I can either first try out the tube-like amp, the vox vt30, get a feel of it, and then after a few months switch to the all tube amps; or i can straightaway start off with the all-tube basic 4 and 10 watt models i mentioned above. My taste of music will either way remain the same.

I am really confused now. Any words of wisdom, anyone?

 

go all-tube. i don't even see any reason why you want a "tube like" amp (which IMO is a pretty good amp but not really "tube-like"). i don't like the effects that are built in, they simply do not offer enough countrol.

so don't bother with that pseudo-tube stuff....

here's a quick breakdown of the two all-tubers:

vox ac4 - will give you a nominal 5W power, there will be very little "clean" sound except at very low volumes. when you crank up the volume, the distortion will increase very quickly. saturated sounds on full volume will be thick in mids and high mids. the sound will typically be harmonically rich saturation. the attenuator is useful to get that distortion at lower volumes. if you use the lower watt settings (2W, 1/4W) your cleans will reduce drastically, at 1/4W you will have no cleans to speak of. this amp will not give you much of a bass response.

cub 10: more defined, tighter, low end, less harmonic richness than the vox but also a bit less noise at higher volumes, i would think. you will get more cleans for sure on this one, but don't expect fender-like cleans at high volumes here either. this amp also has some fantastic reviews. will probably take gain pedals a bit better (for example, i can't run a high-output pedal like the big muff into my 5W amp without problems, but my 16/20W marshall clone has no problems with that).

by distortion with both amps i don't mean full-on rock/metchul distortion, but soft-rock, bluesy overdrive and crunch. in both cases, i'd simply use a nice overdrive (tube screamer, bad monkey, boss SD-1) to push things a bit further.

so make your choice based on how much clean headroom you want. also, check out clips of my amps to understand the tonal differences between a 5W class A and a 16/20W class A/B amp. clips 2,3, 5 and 6 are of most interest to you. https://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=1046495&content=music

 

one off topic query..
Are all tube amps suitable for Metal ? or do we need to choose specifically ?

 

nope. not all tube amps for sure. you should look at a very minimum of 30W, ideally around 50W and more.

the reason - you want your power section to stay clean and not distort - metal distortion is very shaped preamplifier distortion. the smaller the amp, the faster the power amp will mush and muddy up your carefully shaped distortion. a nice tube power amp will add warmth, some compression and roundness.

that being said, the 5W amp i built for someone actually had some great metal sounds. the blackstar HT-5 also gets good metal sounds, but uses a partially solid state input stage. i prefer the way my DIY thing played. i need to integrate that circuit in a larger amplifier though, it was only decent till about 30% of the master volume.

 

I have a few queries regarding the all-tube amps. I am still getting to learn about them each day, so please bear with me. From the two all-tube amps mentioned above, i am finding the cub 10 to be more suited to my taste. Better headroom than the ac4tv. However,

1) Generally all-tube amps are very costly. The ac4tv and cub 10 are the low watt siblings of the bigger and better tube amps. So what i am getting for my money, is it really the good stuff or is it the stripped down and cheap quality version of the bigger better versions? (I hope my doubt is understandable. This is the best way i could put it)

2) Is there any sort of maintainence or special care that we have to take of an all-tube amp, apart from the normal care we take of our gear. How long can these tubes survive before we have to change them?

3) If i plug in the amp to a speaker cabinet, will it make any difference to the tone quality? Most importantly, will the sound still be the tube-sound or will it vary/change to a solid-state amp? Is there any difference in a) buying a head and plugging it in the cabinet, and b) putting a combo tube amp through the cabinet.

@flood : do you still make custom tube amps? If you do, can you please send me some more information?

Thanks.

 

1. at the price point, they're cheaper "starter" versions. mass manufactured on PCBs. i do not have anything against PCB based tube amps (i'm pretty sure vox has enough world-class electrical engineers who are more than capable designing PCBs correctly) but i do have something against cost cutting measures implemented in these amps, necessary as they may be. i don't think that i would hesitate from buying one of these, but i would definitely not spend any money on those fantastic "deals" offered by bugera/behringer.

2. not really with these two. depending on use, a tube change for sure every 2-5 years depending on how heavy you use it (estimate tube life at about 1000 - 1500 hours max, which is definitely a couple of years worth). i've owned a tube radio with the original tubes in it still running and working fine, it was 55 years old. so yeah, mileage can vary... at some point of time, a capacitor change may be necessary (however, capacitor technology has evolved considerably so the cap change is at least 10-15 years down the line).

both replacements are not too pricey either.

3. of course the sound will change - for the better. remember that your speaker is the final point - the better the speaker the happier the amp and sweeter the combination. if you coonnect it to a stranger speaker, don't complain that your amp sounds like crap. plug it into a greenback/V30 loaded marshall 4x12, and you might just piss your pants. don't expect much from the stock speaker built into these amps. they're usually the cheapest type they could source. no difference whether you plug a head into the cabinet or disconnect the speaker from the combo - the amp is still the same. and why is solid state in the picture all of a sudden?

i do still build amps, although i've been a bit slow lately. getting back at it with a vengeance at the moment. you need to PM me your mail address, let's not communicate on IGT cause the loser mods/admins have imposed a 1000 character limit on PMs. i need to have an idea of what you're looking for in an amp, and i design around that, basically. PM me and let's chat on gmail or something.

 

also, let me remind you - you aren't really paying THAT much. you can't compare a laney cub 10 to an AC30 or a vox AC4 to a cornford harlequin. those amps are fantastic, but they cost a crapload more too.... they're simply almost two times more expensive here thanks to govt. duties and all that jazz.

 

I hear Laney cub 12 (15 watts) is about to be launched in a few days. Anyone hear anything about that? It is a bit above my price limit though.

 

link?

and what is your price limit, if i may ask?

 

https://www.laney.co.uk/news/?p=588

https://www.laney.co.uk/show_prod.php?prod=cub12

https://www.laney.co.uk/show_prod.php?prod=cub12r

This suggests the release date to be 1st june :

https://www.musicstore.com/en_EN/EU...Laney-Cub-12-Combo-15-Watt/art-GIT0019398-000

Other possible release dates :

https://www.musicstore.com/en_EN/EU...b-12R-Combo-15-Watt-Reverb/art-GIT0019399-000

https://www.gear4music.com/Guitar-and-Bass/Laney-Cub-12R-Tube-Guitar-Amp-With-Reverb/D9H

Like i mentioned in my first post, it's around 15k. This might be 25% to 30% more costly, as suggested from the above links. Though it's price in India is not yet confirmed, or it's release date for that matter.

 

Too much want 0_o

 

Just trying to make an informed decision, is all. I plan on keeping the amp for a long period, hence the query.

 

Oh I was talking about myself. That Cub 12R seems to have a lot going for it.

 

It will take the cub 12 atleast 2-4 months to come here. One thing that is for sure is that it will definitely not be launched simultaneously in India as in UK/USA, which is i suppose in a week's time max.

I guess i'll go for the Laney cub 10. Im kinda already beginning to incline towards it now. Plus, 2-4 months seems like a lifetime of wait.

 

tube newbs getting turned on by the warm glow of those little beasts.

ahhhhh, how i love it

welcome to the club (soon).... you won't regret it, that's for sure.

 

Got me a new year's present:

Laney Cub 10.

Can't stop smiling. It's like someone put a big brick in my mouth.

I just LOVE it. "Amazing" doesn't even begin to express how great it is. Ah, atleast for a newbie like me.

Plugged it into my guitar, and woah, a whole new world of tone/sound opened up for me.

I'm sooo smug.

Happy new year to one and all.

Cheers.

PS: Some pics attached below.