Hunting a Bluesbreaker-esque tube amp

Orange Lester · 08-06-2009, 03:50 PM

without the bend over marshall price. Any suggestions?

Liam · 08-06-2009, 04:17 PM

Are used BB reissues still that expensive in the USA? They sound pretty good, mine was £350 (about $500 I guess).

What sort of budget are you looking at, and how loud do you want it to be?

Orange Lester · 08-06-2009, 04:28 PM

Will be in a sound isolation room most of the time, miked. < 900 bucks is what Im thinking

Eggman · 08-06-2009, 05:46 PM

Howdy,

Assuming you already have a satisfactory cab (1-12, 2-10), consider a used Dr. Z Carmen Ghia head. It's 18 watts, with a duet of EL84s. It's got a Vox/Marshall feel to it. Great for raunch, with just two knobs. Sounds great with my 335. Good luck!

Eggman

snaredrum · 08-06-2009, 07:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Liam

Are used BB reissues still that expensive in the USA? They sound pretty good, mine was £350 (about $500 I guess).

What sort of budget are you looking at, and how loud do you want it to be?

you got a BB for £350? cripes!

greenalbatross · 08-08-2009, 02:13 PM

The days of the $500 BB are gone. I bought mine for $600 14 years ago. Current used prices are around $1000. I'm not doubting that the Z is a phenomenal amp, but you won't get the BB/JTM tone with EL84s. You might want to look into Ceriatone or scour the used markets for a clone.

st.bede · 08-09-2009, 03:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by greenalbatross

The days of the $500 BB are gone. I bought mine for $600 14 years ago. Current used prices are around $1000. I'm not doubting that the Z is a phenomenal amp, but you won't get the BB/JTM tone with EL84s. You might want to look into Ceriatone or scour the used markets for a clone.

yhea, I paid about 900$ for mine....worth it IMHO

Liam · 08-09-2009, 03:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by snaredrum

you got a BB for £350? cripes!

Early last year, maybe tail end of the year before. Ebay. And when I went to collect it, found I was buying it from Nathalie Imbruglia's guitarist, a top bloke and great player. I seem to live in this small charmed world of extreme good fortune and nice people.

It did have a small tear in the grill cloth. (It's been used quite a bit since, and has another one now.)

Emiel · 08-09-2009, 05:28 PM

Hi,

I wanted to have that Bluesbreaker overdriven tone, you know that fat, organic, smooth but still a bit aggressive if needed. I couldn't get that from a (stock) Marshall 1962 Bluesbreaker, it had to be cranked and that was simply too loud for me. I needed something with a gain knob.

So eventually I compared it to this nice Orange AD30TC 2x12 combo. Channel one sounds incredible, exactly like early Clapton, Peter Green, the lot. And it doesn't need to be cranked... it's 30 watt, quite loud, but at low volumes it sounds nice too. Just like the Bluesbreaker it has a tube rectifier so it gives you that great 'sag', that smoothness in your sound. When I brought it for the first time to my bluesrock band, everyone said: "hey that's really a bluesy amp. It sounds just like Clapton and Green with the Bluesbreakers". Well voila!

08-06-2009, 03:50 PM	#1 (permalink)
Orange Lester Member Join Date: May 2009 Location: Old North State Posts: 39 Thanks: 0 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post	Hunting a Bluesbreaker-esque tube amp without the bend over marshall price. Any suggestions? __________________ 2004 Gibson Les Paul Standard Plus 2000 Gibson Les Paul Standard 2009 Razilea Acoustic "Sarah" My pedal Board and a tubz aampage

08-06-2009, 04:17 PM	#2 (permalink)
Liam V.I.P. Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Preston, Lancashire, United Kingdom Posts: 3,539 Thanks: 39 Thanked 39 Times in 11 Posts	Re: Hunting a Bluesbreaker-esque tube amp Are used BB reissues still that expensive in the USA? They sound pretty good, mine was £350 (about $500 I guess). What sort of budget are you looking at, and how loud do you want it to be?

08-06-2009, 04:28 PM	#3 (permalink)
Orange Lester Member Join Date: May 2009 Location: Old North State Posts: 39 Thanks: 0 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post	Re: Hunting a Bluesbreaker-esque tube amp Will be in a sound isolation room most of the time, miked. < 900 bucks is what Im thinking __________________ 2004 Gibson Les Paul Standard Plus 2000 Gibson Les Paul Standard 2009 Razilea Acoustic "Sarah" My pedal Board and a tubz aampage

08-06-2009, 05:46 PM	#4 (permalink)
Eggman Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Bossier City, La. Posts: 83 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: Hunting a Bluesbreaker-esque tube amp Howdy, Assuming you already have a satisfactory cab (1-12, 2-10), consider a used Dr. Z Carmen Ghia head. It's 18 watts, with a duet of EL84s. It's got a Vox/Marshall feel to it. Great for raunch, with just two knobs. Sounds great with my 335. Good luck! Eggman

08-08-2009, 02:13 PM	#6 (permalink)
greenalbatross Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 166 Thanks: 0 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post	Re: Hunting a Bluesbreaker-esque tube amp The days of the $500 BB are gone. I bought mine for $600 14 years ago. Current used prices are around $1000. I'm not doubting that the Z is a phenomenal amp, but you won't get the BB/JTM tone with EL84s. You might want to look into Ceriatone or scour the used markets for a clone.

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08-09-2009, 05:28 PM	#9 (permalink)
Emiel Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: The Netherlands Posts: 193 Thanks: 2 Thanked 4 Times in 2 Posts	Re: Hunting a Bluesbreaker-esque tube amp Hi, I wanted to have that Bluesbreaker overdriven tone, you know that fat, organic, smooth but still a bit aggressive if needed. I couldn't get that from a (stock) Marshall 1962 Bluesbreaker, it had to be cranked and that was simply too loud for me. I needed something with a gain knob. So eventually I compared it to this nice Orange AD30TC 2x12 combo. Channel one sounds incredible, exactly like early Clapton, Peter Green, the lot. And it doesn't need to be cranked... it's 30 watt, quite loud, but at low volumes it sounds nice too. Just like the Bluesbreaker it has a tube rectifier so it gives you that great 'sag', that smoothness in your sound. When I brought it for the first time to my bluesrock band, everyone said: "hey that's really a bluesy amp. It sounds just like Clapton and Green with the Bluesbreakers". Well voila!

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