Rawcabs!

[Chuck H]

There used to be, and there probably still is, something about it on the PV site so I don't recall the test conditions. But no matter, you can be the judge in a blind test:

Test
https://youtu.be/EX9su1L-JAE

Results
https://youtu.be/JnEP4-iIr68

Huh.?. I came to the definitive conclusion that both amps, set up as they were for the test, sound bad.

But really, I can see where so many chose the TransTube as the "tube" amp because it sounded like other transistor amps designed to sound like tube amps. That is, likely some ear tested interpretation of "tube amp sound" based on the opinions of... Who? Maybe the demographic most likely to purchase an amp in that price range? Which hardly includes serious aficionados and professionals. I was able to accurately tell which was the tube amp. But I didn't base my choice on EQ. You can clearly hear the signature attack envelope and dynamics of each type of amp. Even on clean tones most of the time. IMO that's where most "SS sounds like tube" designs fall short and that's what I was listening for. I have to admit though that I needed to hear them side by side for the difference to stand out. So I guess the TT effort is not bad. Still, "not bad" nearly always amounts to damning with faint praise.

[nickb]

Here, I found the info on the test. It was done as a double blind test at Nashville. The players got it wrong 100% of the time. See highlighted bits:

PV_TT.pdf

Entire doc here

[J M Fahey]

Thanks for posting.

Two interesting conclusions arise fron thatbtest:

1) wrong (or to be precise, very limited) choice of beta-testers: **all** were Pro "Nashville pickers" and we know what that means: KILLER pickers but exactly that.
To begin with, they play loud and **clean** ... excellent for their Music of course, but hardly representative of the "average guitar player", whateverv that means, and:

2) statistically, being 100% wrong is amazing, very unusual, and exactly the same as being 100% right ... only they liked the opposite of what was tested.

100% *anything* means there is a GROSS difference between them, so it can be easily and consistently be picked by even the least sensitive tester.

Real "no detectable difference" approaches 50% as you increase test sample, same as flipping a coin.
100% choosing a non Peavey amp does not really help their cause, personally I would have swept that result under the carpet and put some heavy furniture on top

[Steve A.]

Steve, do you really think the OD channel on the V22-Infinium is THAT great?!?

I own two of them. (Long story about how I ended up with a pair.) They disappoint me.

While I think the normal channel gets a thumbs-up for great chimey cleans, I can't say that I've ever found much pleasure in the gain channel. Like you, I'm a classic rock, blues, jazz sort of guy...

What kind of guitars are you guys using with the V22 who love it so much?* What kind of signals are you feeding it?* Considering how much everyone else loves this amp, I feel like I definitely must be doing something wrong.

I guess I should have mentioned that I really don't care much for the OD channel in most mass-produced tube amps — these days I usually just use the Clean channel with a low to medium gain pedal or two for overdrive. (Hot tip: the Keeley Oxblood is like a real Klon Centaur, but on steroids! Not a Klone but an original design from Robert & Co. with some help from Jack Orman working the bugs out.)

Most of the time I play either recent $700-800 Gibson Les Pauls or some sort of knock-off. I like vintage style humbuckers, like Burstbuckers or Seth Lovers. That being said I just got a Gretsch G5438 Pro Jet with 4.3k Blacktop Filter'Tron pickups and love it! It is fun to play unamplified because the extensively chambered body makes it like a semi-hollow bodied guitar, but without the F holes. And in the middle position you get some really great chime-y (and other) tones blending the two pickups.

Solid Body :: G5438 Pro Jet?, Rosewood Fingerboard, Gold

Truth be known I have a V22 Infinium head but hardly ever use it since it is wider than the small cabs I haul around (no sense bringing out the big guns for a casual open mike!)

My amp du jour is the $199.99 Vox MV50 Clean head that weighs less than a pound and can fit in the palm of my hand. For the full 50 watts I plug it into an old EVJ cab with a freshly installed 4 ohm Warehouse Guitar Speaker ET65 (their version of a Celestion G12-65.)

Believe it or not it has a tube preamp- you can see the tube in the diamond shaped window on the top of the amp. However it is not a traditional tube in a round glass bottle- it is called a NuTube and it is in a clear plastic rectangular box.*** Of course the power amp is Class D to get so much power in such a small package. The head is so light that I put a velcro hooks strip on the bottom of it and a velcro loops strip on the speaker cabs.



Review: Vox MV50 Series Amplifiers | Guitar World

When I don't need all of that power I really like my modified VOX AC4C1-12... I added a Cut control to tame the highs and installed a 16 ohm WGS ET65. With the Gain down and (master) Volume up you get all of the chime of an old Vox but as you turn the Gain up you get more modern sounds. I also added a specially wired switching jack so that I can use the amp as a 16 ohm 65 watt speaker cab (the switching jack disables the internal connection to the AC4C1 chassis like a headphone jack but backwards!)

Vox AC4C1-12 Review | The Budget Guitarist

Steve A.

*** Nutube ? English | korgnutube.com ? English

[nickb]

The test was very badly designed. A small sample size plus four tube amps and just one Transtube. This plus the choice of question meant they'd be wrong 80% of the time by chance alone. They should have done an ABX

[J M Fahey]

Funny thing it that they *apparently* chose *one* Tube Boutique amp 100% of the time so it definitely stood apart from all others.

If I were that guy IŽd setup a sales office at Nashville and become Millionaire

Of course, the question should not have been "which one do you think is the Transtube"? but "which one do you like best/worst"? nd only after the answers are written, draw conclusions.

Obviously the test was done in good faith, I trust Peavey, but was poorly designed.

To boot, that model at least was meant for Metal players, they even included the nasty buzzy mid scooped switch, so using fast clean pickers was useless.

Funny thing is Nashville pickers *love* 2 very good dedicated Peaveys: Nashville 400 and its smaller brother (which anyway is about 250W), heavily compressed/limited to never ever clip, and loaded with loud and sharp JBL clones (Black Widow).
As opposite as can be to Bandits.

As a side note, the huge magnetizer used for Black Widows was sold at auction a couple years ago and I only knew it 2 months too late, I would have bought it in a jiffy.
I bet it sold as scrap metal