Vicky Tweed BM -- Better than the Real Thing?

[bob p]

Here's Johan Segeborn's Christmas present to use for 2017:

It's refreshing to hear somebody that reviews so many of the great classic amps to consider that new production amps can be as good as the old ones.

As builders we've known this for a long time -- it's the circuit that provides the tone. I'm just glad to hear that some of the best gear snobs are willing to admit that you CAN get mojo out of a new build that only costs a fraction of the price of the vintage reference standard, and is built to work on modern voltages.

Merry Christmas to all!

[GunbarrelCustom]

I picked up a near mint Fender ri Bandmaster for $1,000 late last winter and put some of the savings into SoZo blue caps and nos tubes. It sounds much more musical now though the 5881 Tung Sols seemed too bright at first. I don’t know if the tubes burned in or the caps burned in, or both. Sounds better than the Vic, to me, though it sounds much better now than when it was stock. The Fender-Jensen is less efficient and smoother sounding than the Jensen ri in the Vic.

I want to try a Tone Tubby Silver Bullet (10” Chicago Blue) and a 10” greenback so I can mic different speakers for recording. I put a Chicago Blue in a Tungsten Buckwheat and can’t stop playing it! The less efficient speaker puts the sweet spot at a much more manageable volume level yet retains the punch smaller amps don’t have.

[Gambon88]

Point well made. I made a Tweed Twin “clone” about twenty years ago. That circuit just gives up the goods!

[SoulFetish]

For what it's worth, I remember being in a music store years ago that had a stock full of expensive boutique amps at the time. I grabbed a Nash tele and played a bunch of them and really wasn't all that impressed with any of them at all, except for one. It was a little combo amp at the bottom corner of the pile of amplifiers. It was a Victoria Tweed (deluxe?), and it hands down blew every other amp I played away. I don't believe in mojo in electronics really, but Victoria builds a really nice sounding tweed amp. Subjectively, there was just a really nice balance in that amplifier which stood out.