Hmmm, you guys got me thinkin'....

I've got a Fender Showman that I've had since high school (~1978). Bought it off my guitar teacher. He needed the cash, and I needed a bigger amp. I had a Princeton Reverb at the time and was in a band that was getting serious. He sold the rig to me for $300. Seemed like alot of $$$ at the time (I was 16). A guy I knew at the local music store (Veneman's in Springfield, VA) told me I got a deal. He told me the speakers alone were worth more than I paid for the whole setup. Cool!

The head is a '68 model based on date stamps I found on the components inside. The cabinet is factory equipped with two 15" JBL D140's (actually bass speakers).

A few years ago, I got a wild hair and bought a Line 6 Flextone II with the pedal board. I'll admit it's been fun playing with all the different settings and sounds, but there's still something not quite right. I still have the Fender :) .

The reason I bought the Line 6 was to capture a "punchier" sound. It has more punch, but something's missing. It sounds "lifeless" for lack of a better term.

My thinking is that maybe what I should do is get a one or two twelve cabinet for the Showman head. The 15" JBLS are too "clean" and lack midrange punch.

What do you guys think? Am I barking up the wrong tree?

So...no one has an opinion on a Univalve? Many great amps have been mentioned in this thread, but the vast majority are outside of my price range (need to save money for pcar projects).

The Univalve *seems* like a great amp. Especially for the price. Plus, I like the idea of swapping tubes out for different tones.

Mike

Not in my world. i had a single Black Widow 15 combo ..smoked it.

Had a twin 15 stack ...smoked it.

bought an Ampeg 8x10 SVT used a stereo BGW amp 450 a channel bridged mono at 900wtts. Preamped..now we're talkin'. Smoked the BGW after a few years.
Downsized to a Hartke 7000 and bought their 4x10 cab as a "laptop" unit for small venues. Still use the Ampeg 8x10 for outdoors and big halls, but it's like taking a refrigerator with you to the gig. Something to be said for transportability and a good sound crew.

A vintage Fender valve head? That sounds like a keeper to me. I wish I still had my two Marshall Super lead heads (a 1969 100w and 72 50w- that 100w was truly a WMD). You are correct re the 15's- I'd try a 2x12 cab and see how you go, Celestians or like, or maybe a Fender 4x10.

Re the Univalve and swapping tubes. Im not familiar with the beast, but swapping tubes is not something you can do on the spur of the moment....there are surley better options in the search for tone.....(psst...try the little behringer box)

Stuart - a wise man once told me that "tone was mostly in the fingers - listen to the all time greats. You can hear their signature tone through an AM clock radio!!".......or words to that effect.

Another secret, apparently is knowing a good luthier.

Is that Higel Tuffnel or Zack Wyld in your avatar thingie? Dear god, this board attracts all sorts.....))

That's Zakk. Now there's a dude with a signature tone!

Mike,

I have never heard one but the UniValve looks like a great idea. The amp would be ideal for home studio owners as it enables them to generate a great valve amp sound that will not result in the neighbours calling the police. Whack in the your required valves, engage the power soak and have it going straight into a desk or at low volume from your choice of cabinet. It also means that you can you can experiment for months with different combinations of preamp and output valves until you find the right combination - all this without having to rebias the amp or modify valve sockets. not to mention - it's cheap!!

BUT - what you hear on record or live is so much more than just the sound of the amp. I once a/b'd a 100w Marshall though a Marshall 4x12 and a mesa boogie 4X12 and for me when it ran through a boogie cabinet it was stunning - the sound was tighter than the classic Marshall sound which tends to break-up. I guess it depends on how fussy you are about your tone. A UniValve with the same valve combinations as any of the high end amps will never sound like any of them - though you may get into a similar region. Replacing a cabinet with a power soak will do nothing for you but keep your neighbours happy. For anyone really into guitar the sound of and amp and cabinet going 10/10ths can make your hair stand on end, listen to Vernon Reid of Living Colour - those guitars are recorded at amazingly high levels.

100 miles isn't that far - take your p-car for a run and go and listen to a UniValve, it's cheap and seems versitile(ish) and who knows it may sound fantastic.

Cheers,
Nigel

Thanks, Nigel. Your thoughts echo mine regarding the Univalve.

For sure, it will never sound exactly like a Plexi or a Twin Reverb, but that's not my goal, ultimately. I've played through enough amps to know that trying to emulate what comes out of a CD is a losing proposition.

I'm mostly looking for some good, honest, tube amp sound that can achieve some power tube saturation at reasonable levels. The Univalve seems to be able to deliver on this while allowing some entertaining experimentation with different tube combinations.

As for tone, I agree regarding Vernon Reid. If I had a "holy grail" of tone I was after I would say something along the lines of Social Distortion's tone on "White Heat, White Light..." mixed with some good Billy Gibbons "Deguello/Eliminator" era tones and some Weezer "Maladroit" and Green Day tone thrown in for good measure. Tall order, huh?

Now, a Univalve isn't going to do the above exactly, but it might prove to be fun trying.

Thanks for the comments.

Mike

Thanks for the re-assurance Stuart. I'll give that a go. (sorry IROC I didn't mean to hijack your thread http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1117729722.gif)