HarpNinja
623 posts
Sep 14, 2010
8:39 AM
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I got it last night. It is a solid low-watt harp amp. It doesn't stay clean. It doesn't have feedback issues. It has solid bass. It has the volume of a Champ type amp.
The stock tubes are totally worthless. Well, the 6v6 is. The 12ax7 is a Sovtek WA, so it could be worse, but I felt the stock speaker was a bit constipated and faired better with a Tung Sol RI. I'll try a different 6v6 today.
I used my HG50 1210 as an extension cab. WOW!!!! Huge bottom end, lots of bite, and great cut for gigging. The Cannabis Rex is perfect for this amp - too band it is 1x10!
With the HG speakers, it is totally giggable. You'd need to mic it, but it was loud and similar to 3ish on the dial of the HG50. Obviously the HG kills it in all areas.
Stock, the amp is like having my HG on 2 with the tone controls all about 2.
The low power mode might work for practice. It was ight. The pull-boost doesn't work well for harp with the 12ax7. Too much feedback. You could tube down and use it for a tweedish sound, but I liked the normal channel cranked up to about 75% of the dial with the tone 1/3 of the way up.
All-in-all...totally worth $200 IF you have some tubes to roll. If not, add another $30 or so.
I could live with the speaker, but won't, lol. In talking it over with Eminence and researching online, I think I'll try the Lil' Buddy. It will be a tad darker than the C. Rex, but have all the pros of a C. Rex.
I am hoping I can just turn the tone knob up higher and get some highs. Otherwise, I can swap a resistor if there isn't enough cut.
Granted, the stock speaker would probably open up with break in, but the C. Red was just so much better!!!!
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Mike
Last Edited by on Sep 14, 2010 8:40 AM
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toddlgreene
1772 posts
Sep 14, 2010
8:42 AM
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Good report, Mike. Thanks for the info. Where did you find this amp?
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Crescent City Harmonica Club
Todd L Greene, Co-Founder
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HarpNinja
624 posts
Sep 14, 2010
9:08 AM
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Rich's Music Exchange in NY. I asked for a sale price and they said $189 shipped. I thought I had a JJ 6v6 on hand, but it was a spare rectifier in a 6v6 box. So I bought one from the Tube Depot for $15 (got another Tung Sol RI too)...the shipping there sucks, it was like $8 for the two tubes and a total of $37.
So for $227, I have an awesome practice amp with lots of bells and whistles. I will try it with a friend's Eminence Lil' Buddy next week. They go about $50 used...so it puts me a tad over my $250 budget if I buy one, but the extra Tung Sol shouldn't really count as it is really a spare for my HG 50.
One thing I noticed on the amp was that the input jacks aren't really all that tight. I am trying to avoid spending any more money on anything to do with the amp, but I could see where a better speaker cable and better input jacks would be nice for a "gigging" amp.
Rather than do that, though, I am trying to save for a HG Rock Bottom. I suppose I might fix anything that breaks on the amp, but it is what it is.
If I was really wanting a nice small rig for constant gigging, I would get the $400ish VHT Classic 6, throw in a C. Rex, JJ 6v6, and Tung Sol RI and melt faces. It is more than the Epi Valve Jr stack, BUT PTP made in the USA. It can also take any sort of power tube, whereas the one I have doesn't have enough room to put in a 6L6, etc. That'd run around $500-525.
I'd think that'd be more on par with a Double Trouble type volume and feel...but with a blackface tone.
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Mike
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toddlgreene
1774 posts
Sep 14, 2010
9:14 AM
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I thought I read it was hand-wired in China, and would assume so due to the price? No huge difference and no big deal if it looks and sound good.
On the subject of the jacks being loose, is it just the jam nuts that hold the jacks to the chassis? Check those first before assuming the jack itself is bad. My Epi came with a loose input jack-I had to open it up just to tighten it. So much for QA/QC.
Had you heard of anyone else using this VHT as a harp amp? You might be a pioneer!
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Crescent City Harmonica Club
Todd L Greene, Co-Founder
Last Edited by on Sep 14, 2010 9:16 AM
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HarpNinja
625 posts
Sep 14, 2010
9:28 AM
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I'll check that out, Todd. I just felt the 1/4" was a little loose in the jack.
The Special 6 is PTP in China with a 10" speaker.
The Classic 6 is PTP in the US with a 12" speaker.
I know of no one who has tried this amp for harp. I personally think it kills the other little mass prodced 5w SE amps out on the market on so many levels. The con being is is not based on a tweed amp. But it is easy enough to mod!
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Mike
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Ev630
751 posts
Sep 14, 2010
10:03 AM
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How do you know it kills them? Do you mean, all things considered, price-wise? What have you compared it to?
I listened to a guitar clip of the amp on Youtube and it's easy to hear it would make a decent practice amp with respectable tone.
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HarpNinja
626 posts
Sep 14, 2010
10:45 AM
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I liked it better than the Fender Champ 600, Epi Valve Jr, Crate V8 (think that's what it's called), Fender Vibro Champ XD, and SF Champ with Weber Sig AlNiCo.
It does everything the SF Champ does, but has a bigger sound and is a bit raunchier.
I think it currently sounds like a stock Super Champ XD. There are differences, I'm sure, but it has that same sort of early breakup.
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Mike
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HarpNinja
627 posts
Sep 14, 2010
10:50 AM
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FWIW...I am playing over lunch and the speaker isn't really that bad.
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Mike
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Ev630
752 posts
Sep 14, 2010
10:37 PM
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Ah okay. Maybe I missed the comparisons in an earlier thread. Thanks.
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tmf714
247 posts
Sep 15, 2010
8:58 AM
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Get in touch with Bob Pletka at Eurotubes-he's great with the VHT amps. 503-659-7401. He is on the West Coast,so don't call too early in the morning,or late at night.
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BAG
32 posts
Dec 07, 2010
5:54 AM
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Ordered mine yesterday from Amazon after seeing HarpNinja play through his at a gig a coupla weeks ago. Should be here this week.
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toddlgreene
2194 posts
Dec 07, 2010
6:04 AM
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I saw a video last night of Nic Clark playing thru one that was 'slightly modified'(not sure what that entailed), and it sounded very sweet indeed. If I had known about this amp before I got my little Epi, I might have gone for it. Seems like a lot less work to get it sounding suitable to me.
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Todd L. Greene, Codger-in-training
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HarpNinja
808 posts
Dec 07, 2010
8:38 AM
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I think it was Rick Davis's which as a Cannabis Rex and a couple of circuit mods.
Mine hasn't been tinkered with other than the tubes and speaker. It is a pain to flip speakers in it, but what I should do is use my Looper to do an A/B video of the speakers and tubes.
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Mike
VHT Special 6 Amp for Harp Blog
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Swezey8
41 posts
Dec 07, 2010
10:35 AM
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Agree that the VHT is a sweet amp- and absolutely amazing for $200! Picked one up off Amazon about 2 months ago and love it. I had to sell off my Bassman when I moved and was without an amp for awhile. This has more than satisfied my amped playing! Rick's blog said he heard no difference with a tube swap, but I swapped out both for a NOS 6v6 and TungSol pre and heard a noticeable improvement.
I played two small gigs with a 4 piece band and it was more than enough volume and sat in the nice breakup range volume-wise. Just played a gig last Friday at a huge hall (about 500 people- much larger than a realized before getting there lol) and miked the amp through the PA and it sounded great. Thinking about just getting one of the EV mics Adam uses to mike his small amps and be set for awhile (or until I save up enough for a HG35!)I think someone has a video of that performance so I'll try and post if I can get ahold of it.
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HarpNinja
809 posts
Dec 07, 2010
11:05 AM
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Personally, for mics, I like the Sennheiser e906 and a drape over mic. There is the e609 too, which is about the price of a SM57.
If you like the stock speaker, a lineout might sound good to your ears too, as the speaker is pretty flat sounding. I suppose one could use a speaker jack to do that?
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Mike
VHT Special 6 Amp for Harp Blog
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chromaticblues
367 posts
Dec 07, 2010
11:14 AM
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Mike did you say it has a 10" speaker and is there enough room to put a rectifier tube in do you think?
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Swezey8
42 posts
Dec 07, 2010
11:52 AM
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Thanks for the info HarpNinja! You're reviews were my inspiration to pick one up. That was a question I had too(and Rick mentioned it in his review on his blog): what would a line out to the PA entail? Would I need a dedicated line out or as Mike asked would a speaker jack do that?
BTW I'm not sure if I'm 100% in love with the stock speaker, but I'm going to give it time to break in awhile before I start thinking of a swap. Sometimes that's all a spkr needs... *crosses fingers lol
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exdmd
5 posts
Dec 07, 2010
12:42 PM
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Rick Davis mentioned on his blog that he plans to sell modded VHT Special 6 amps soon. No details when, or price yet.
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HarpNinja
810 posts
Dec 07, 2010
1:13 PM
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@chromaticblues, I have no idea. Personally, I wouldn't bother trying.
@Swezey8, I am fairly certain you can get it installed in one of the speaker outs. I haven't done this yet, as I have a Sennheiser e906 to mike the amp, but think it is a good idea.
The stock speaker is 97 dB and not super loud. It is eq'ed very flat to be a good recording amp for guitar. I think any 10" speaker change will color the tone and at least not reduce volume.
The Ramrod has worked great for me. If you listen to the clips with the Mark Cameron band on my website (see sig and click on the Marine Band on the homepage), the amp miked doesn't sound like a small amp.
I know a lot of that is mic choice, but in Rick's clips, it sounds like a small watt amp, which can be a very desirable trait. I think my amp with the tube/speaker changes doesn't sound like a 6w amp when paired with my Ultimate 57. I am just illustrating the amp's diversity with those comments.
Personally, I don't know how valuable Rick's mods really are. It depends on what you want from the amp. I think the speaker change and maybe even tube changes would be more drastic depending on how they are carried out.
For example, the plate value on the preamp tube is already relatively "low" for guitar, from what I understand. In a single 12ax7 amp that is very feedback resistant, I wouldn't want to do much to that at the risk of losing some of the bite and reducing the bottom or top end.
I think if I was trying to use a "hot" mic, I'd just plug into input number 2. That is just my approach, and not necessarily better...I'd just want to A/B the sonic differences before tweaking as I think anyone into small amps will find it 100x better for harp than what is already out there.
I also think there is a point where a $200 amp that sounds great isn't a $200 amp anymore. Mine, without any tech work was about $275. If I got it modded by someone and added a line out, etc, it might be a better deal to get a different amp. Just a thought.
Really, the stock speaker isn't bad at all. The 6v6 sucks. The 12ax7 is ok in some amps - it is the same as my HG50. I only changed speakers because I wanted to gig with it in a rock band situation at times.
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Mike
VHT Special 6 Amp for Harp Blog
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BAG
33 posts
Dec 16, 2010
4:10 PM
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Wow Mike, thanks again for the tip. VHT outta send you another commission check.
Ordered my VHT from Amazon and picked up a couple JJ 6v6 and a Tung Sol from TubeDepot and replaced the stock tubes and now I got me one heck of a basement blaster. Really pleased with it so far though I've barely started testing it.
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BeelzeBob
18 posts
Dec 08, 2011
3:32 PM
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I just heard from a poster here who bought a classic 6 and said it had a circuit board in it. It also didn't sound good for harp in his opinion. Too bad, it has a 12" speaker and line out, and you can find them on eBay for around $200 US.
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Gnarly
130 posts
Dec 08, 2011
11:15 PM
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I've got a used one on the way with an Eminence speaker and EL84 adapter and tube . . . salivating . . .
Should be here Monday!
It's not here yet, UPS comes in the late afternoon--
Is it worth putting a line out in place of the footswitch?
Last Edited by on Dec 12, 2011 12:03 PM
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Willspear
3 posts
Dec 09, 2011
8:27 AM
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I have been blown away by the tone of the special 6 stock. I didn't feel the need to mod it right away. I'd imaging a better speaker and some good tubes and it will scream. It really nails that brash trumpet sound with a turner mic with a ceramic I have been using a lot lately. The mic leans bright the amp leans a little dark tge two meet in a nice spot. The tone knob is actually useable with that mic which is a first in that regard as I usually roll all the way off the tone to compensate.
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Gnarly
133 posts
Dec 12, 2011
8:55 PM
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The amp came today, and it has a pronounced hum at higher volumes, even with nothing plugged in.
Is that normal?
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paul45
89 posts
Dec 13, 2011
6:58 PM
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Mine was used when I got it and making funky noises, tubes cure it.
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LSB
117 posts
Dec 13, 2011
7:41 PM
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Bought mine new, swapped out some of the tubes, but yeah it has a hum that gets louder the more you turn it up. Even with no mic plugged in.
My Harpgear Double Trouble also has hum.
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Gnarly
134 posts
Dec 14, 2011
1:32 AM
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It sure is loud--works good for guitar too (got my strat copy out of storage).
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