When you find YOUR amp, things just seem right.  Thankfully I found the Laney VC30 212.

My VC30 212 was manufactured in 2006 in the UK (where I believe they are all made).

This is a very versatile amp in that you can really do a ton of different things with both the clean and drive channels.  It can serve well as both an acoustic and electric gtr amp.  I’m using mine with a Fender Stratocaster, single coils.  As well, I’m using a Line 6 M13 stomp in the front end input (non effects loop). This setup works well and the amp handles the M13 signal beautifully.

The power of this amp is more than anyone would ever need, including those who play arenas.  It’s 30 watts of class A power (meaning, there’s absolutely no tube sag… the power section is always “hot” or “on” so what you play automatically comes through as signal).  Many amps are A/B or “push pull” design which is simply a property of their specific architecture and they have a different “feel” than class A.  I particularly enjoy class A architecture because I tend to use a lot of time based effects.

Preamp section is as follows:  Valve 1 is you main input signal (and your clean channel).  Valve 2 is your drive channel and Valve 3 is the phase inverter.  All three of these valves are 12AX7’s.

Power stage is made up of EL84’s (four of them).  There’s so much power on tap that you’re going to stay clean for a long time on that normal channel.

One issue I’ve had with other valve amps in the 30 watt range has been their incredibly touchy volume control.  The Peavey Classic 30 and the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe would go from silent to loud, all within the first notch on the volume knob.  This amp has a more gradual volume control so it’s well managed.

The only issue I have with the amp is the effects loop.  It’s a parallel loop which basically means that not all of the signal is hitting the loop.  Rather, it’s taking some of the signal and applying it to the loop and the balance of the signal is directed to the speakers.  The result is that when using the 4 cable method, coupled with delay effects, there’s a phasing issue with the signal.  It’s enough to where I won’t use it.  Tus, going straight to the input (which isn’t bad at all but IMO, a parallel effects loop is a design flaw).

The VC30 212 has quite possibly the perfect tone for my needs.  There have been may who say that this amp is a “knockoff” of the Vox AC30 but I disagree.  True, it’s very similar in design and in some ways, tone, but the VC30 stands on its own.  Such a beautiful, clear full clean tone and a wonderful, gritty but not harsh drive tone.  Everywhere in between, the amp gives me a lot of variables and, coupled with headroom, there’s not a lot more I could ask for.

Standard Accutronics spring reverb that has a great range and is never mushy.  Again, useful on all counts.

I’ve been through a lot of amps recently and without question, there is nothing better than the VC30.  Again, I like a lot of clean headroom and clarity and this amp provides it but with a warmth than you can only get from a quality tube amp. 

The drivers are Celestion Seventy 80’s and are well voiced for this amp. 

After taking a look inside the chassis, I found that there is a combination of PCB and point-to-point wiring, which was a nice surprise.  The most inportant aspect of the wiring IMO, which is the valve sockets, were entirely point to point hand wired. 

The cabinet is very solid, not too heavy for a 2×12 tube combo.  Overall, I’m extremely confident that this amp is durable.  The back panel has a thick cage to protect the tubes and speakers.

As for support, I’ve found that the value of a product also sits with the support from the manufacturer.  I’ve asked questions and Laney reps in the UK have always answered within 24 hours.

These are not inexpensive amps and they’re not exactly easy to find on the used market.  However, if you can get your hands on one, it’s a worthy purchase.

If anything ever happened to it, I’d replace it with the exact same amp.  Not something I can say about a lot of other pieces of gear I’ve owned.

Joe Faraldi
http://joe.faraldi.com

As the proud owner of the new Apogee ONE converter, I got a little inspired and recorded “14th Street”.

Quick story behind the vibe here…

Growing up in the shadow of NYC, we would try to get over there as much as we could in order to simply “do the New York thing”.  So, when my friend Dave got his license at 17, we started making fairly regular trips across the bridge… just to try to get in clubs that always kicked us out, or to simply hang with the natives.

Because of the fact we didn’t really have believable I.D.’s we spent more time outside than inside.  Somehow on one of these nights we migrated downtown to the west side, over by the meat packing district and quickly found out that pretty much all of the small bodegas didn’t really give a damn about selling us beer.  So we’d ret our regular buzz going with Grolsch (with those cool ceramic bottle caps).  Two for each of us in brown paper bags and we’re golden.

Some nights, we’d hang with the prostitutes, admittedly in the hopes of… well, hey we were teenagers with beer.  It got to be that some of these girls were really cool and a couple of them would give a big smile when we’d visit.  (oh, and now we realize that some of them just HAD to be dudes.  All I can say is thank God we never found out for sure.  May have never recovered from that.)  I look back now and think we probably dodged a few bullets back then, but the experience, the environment, the sounds and the people stuck in my mind.  ”14th Street” lays down those days in music.  Enjoy.

This is an instrumental track that I recorded using my Epiphone AJ200SCE acoustic through a condenser mic into GarageBand.  The only added effect is a bit of reverb on the second guitar track.

Kind of a Latin feel.  If you’re wondering, Il Sangue means “The Blood”  Enjoy and let me know your thoughts.

Peavey Classic 30

There are a lot of things to consider when searching for a quality guitar amplifier.  Now, understand I’ve never been a so called “tube snob” but I do realize and appreciate the differences associated with solid state and tube circuits.  Even so, a manufacturer’s ability to stick a tube somewhere in the schematic doesn’t automatically result in a world-class tone.

Now, I’ve owned a couple of pretty awesome solid state amps in my time and have had great results.  Some noteworthy mentions are the Fender Frontman 212R, Peavey Bandit 65 (1984 model), Kustom Quad 200HD (head), Peavey Bandit 112 TransTube and Fender Deluxe 112 Plus (1995) model.  Each of these amps have beautiful clean tones and marginal drive tones.  In fact, I think the latter is where the solid state amps really suffer when compared to a quality tube amp.  It was at this point I decided that a tube combo was in my future.

How to choose… The Criteria

As my knowledge increased from a ton of reading, watching online and discussions with friends, I came to the realization that I needed very specific properties in order to achieve a stage and studio amp.

• Wattage:  From my experience, I needed a minimum of 15 watts.  Anything below that would force me to push the volume levels to the point of perhaps too much breakup, thus effectively taking away the clean headroom I desired.
• Speaker Size:  Absolute minimum was 10″ but even that would be a stretch.  Could I move enough air with a 10″ speaker?
• Channels:  It wasn’t a make or break but having two channels would be really nice.  It would just add to the utility of the amp.
• Effects Loop:  Again, not a make or break but with my Line 6 M13, it would be great to have that functionality.
• Budget:  $600 max.  Yep, THAT is the challenge.

So I created a short list of amps that fit those (some or all) criteria.  Here’s what I found…

• Fender Hot Rod Blues Jr.:  $599
• Fender Hot Rod Blues Jr. NOS: $649
• Fender Super Champ XD:  $299
• Peavey Classic 30:  $599
• Bugera V22: $349

So I was fortunate enough to have the store manager at Guitar Center in Independence, MO set me up with a side by side of all these amps.  I spent time with each one and each has it’s own strengths.  Here’s a brief on them…

• Fender Hot Rod Blues Jr.:  Excellent tone but a little too “boxy” for my ears.  Also, the highs were almost too high (my No.1 is a Telecaster) with single coils.  I was looking for more clean headroom out of this amp and the single channel told me that this might break up too early.  Wonderful tone… but not for me.
• Fender Hot Rod Blues Jr. NOS:  Better than the standard series but still didn’t astound me.  The Jensen driver warmed things up quite a bit but the differences were not enought to make me a buyer.
• Fender Super Champ XD:  Love the idea of this amp and I really wanted to like it.  Problem was that it’s a 10″ driver and that also made it too strong in the mid and high ranges.  Great modeling but I was looking for a straight amp.  Great price for a bedroom or studio.  Not for stage unless mic’d always.
• Bugera V22:  Excellent full tone from this amp but you really needed to crank it in order to get that driver moving.  It sounded more like a 10 watt than a 22 watt.  By itself, it would be sure to please but next to these others you could hear it’s weaknesses.  However, at $349 it’s a great deal and if that’s your budget, buy that amp.
• Peavey Classic 30 : This amp wasn’t at all expected.  In fact, I added this to the list of contenders by chance.  I was walking around the store and saw it out of the corner of my eye and figured I’d give it a shot.  (Funny how things work that way).  Well, as the story goes, it came home with me.  Here’s the details…
  • Wattage – 30TUBE watts was plenty for me and actually fit my needs even more because I like a lot of clean headroom out of an amp.  As stated before, the Fenders didn’t really give me enough clean at higher volumes.
  • Looks – Tweed is beautiful.  The grille is distinctive and classy.  Chrome chassis.  Real chicken head knobs.  Real (non-LED) jewel light and this awesome looking “cage” that protects the tubes.  (Apparently, earlier models didn’t have the cage and were subject to tube rattle.  Nice fix, Peavey)
  • Weight – This amp weighs about the same as my solid state Fender Deluxe 112 Plus which was a nice surprise.  It’s manageable and is easy to put in the back seat of my little Mazda.
  • Speaker – Blue Marvel (made by Eminence) 16ohms great frequency response
  • In’s and Out’s – Effects loop (HUGE benefit for me.  I use the Line 6 M13 effects system and I’m able to assign specific effects to either the front end of the amp or to the effects loop.  Great function.  Also, the amp has an extension speaker out which allows me to add on another 16ohm cabinet.
  • Dual Channel – Normal channel for cleans and a gain channel for dirt.  The gain channel has a pre and post gain control so I can dial in the gain I want without blasting the amp.  Also has a sweet spring reverb and a boost button.
  • Sound – Of course, this is the biggest item in the decision making process.  The Fenders sounded great in my opinion after some tweaking.  The Classic 30 made the Fenders sound thin in comparison.  If I had to illustrate it in words, it’s like the difference between shotgun gauges.  The Blues Jr. was a .410 gauge.  Effective, but pretty narrow.  The Classic 30 was a 12 gauge, sawed off.  Wide, powerful and it does the job.  The breadth of tone coming from this amp made me immediately feel confident in knowing that I can play anything through the C30, knowing it will sound great and still be the right amp for that particular job.  Wonderful bass response from that Blue Marvel.  Lovely compression from those tubes.  Confident mids that I was almost able to control through pick attack and shimmering, sparkling highs that were comfortably at home with the other frequencies.  No glass coming from this amp.  All sweet sounds, on all three pickup positions on the Telecaster I used for these tests.The gain channel was equally impressive.  From my experience with other Peavey amps, they seem to have the tradition of “if you’re gonna include a gain channel, then INCLUDE a GAIN channel”.  Meaning, there is plenty of gain if you want it.  At about 11:00 I was really crunching, pinching at 1:00.  Backed off on the gain and I got some nice clipping tones.  Also the amp responded well with rolling back the guitar volume.The boost button is interesting as well.  Like I mentioned earlier, there’s a ton of clean headroom in this amp.  If I want clean with just a hint of breakup, I hit the boost.  It’s similar to playing the clean channel with a Tubescreamer 808 in front of it, with just a little bit of drive engaged.  Real useful and sounds fantastic with my Tele’s and Strat.

So there you have it.  The Classic 30 is the hands-down winner of this comparison by a wide margin.  Plus, the fact that it’s made in Mississippi by people who not only answer the phone when you call, but also spend time with you on whatever question you have, it’s a no brainer.  The bottom line question is this:  Would you rather your amp manufacturer put their funds into marketing, or manufacturing.

God bless.
Joe Faraldi
www.faraldi.com
jfaraldi@faraldi.com

As a performing musician, I’ve spent (probably too much) money on a very wide range of equipment.  If you’re a fellow musician you absolutely know what I mean!  For whatever reason, I’ve always gravitated towards multi-effect systems rather than single stomp box pedals because I like neatness… having everything in one “box” just makes sense to me.

Over the years, I’ve owned enough of them to basically open a music store!  Each of them had their uses and none of them were “totally useless”.  However, by design, a multi-effect is intended to be all things to all people and that is a VERY tall task for any effects manufacturer.

That said, the following is a list of multi’s I’ve owned and a brief commentary on each one.  (Hey if you have one of these and it works for you, I’m all for it!!)

• DigiTech RP50: For me this was a perfect introduction to multi-effects.  In fact, I still believe this would be a good addition to any guitarist’s pedal board or a fatastic item for late-night headphone playing.  I think it had a drum machine which was cool.  At the time I wasn’t too concerned with bypass tone because I had a really horrible amp.  Useful but I grew out of it pretty quickly.
• DigiTech RP7:  Now THIS was a cool multi-effect.  Pretty old but this thing had some great distortion sounds because of the fact that inside the circiut was a 12AX7 preamp tube which warmed up the tone and provided great overdrive sounds.  The unit I had was very old and pretty beat up.  I replaced the tube to a JJ and it just improved the sound.  I was gigging a lot at the time so there was a concern about this thing dying in the middle of a set so I sold it.
• Line6 POD 2.0:  The bean.  This multi also served as an amp modeler (my first one) which at the time was a very cool thing for me because, again, I had a crappy amp.  After getting this I started to realize the importance of how different amplifiers affeted tone.  I was using a Crate Powerblock with a couple of PA speakers (I simply did the line in / line out thing which worked well because there was no preamp in the circiut) and it sounded great.  Ended up buying the small floor board which connected to the POD via a computer network cable (strange but I get it) which kind of coiled up on stage which was annoying.  Also, the form factor of this unit was annoying.  It was a bean.  Great for home use but on stage it was very awkward.  The tones and models, however, were very impressive.
• Behringer V-Amp Pro:  Rack mounted unit, blue, lots of lights and many connection options.  That was about all it had going for it.  I did have this massive floor board that “kind of” controlled the unit.  I mean the thing was the size of a freaking surf board.  Overall, good for someone just getting into modeling units, but the tones were very sterile and ultimately it proved to be a step backwards for me.
• Vox VT100:  Ok, this was a good idea… get an amp AND modeling together.  So wait, the amp actually models other amps?  But isn’t the VT100 an amp?  Um… Ok, I’ll give it a shot.  Well, if you want sheer power, this amp is great.  However, the amp modeling on this thing is absolutely horrible.  Everything was incredibly dark, even the AC-15 model was dark.  It sounded like a blanket was draped over the speakers.  I read online that a lot of VT100 owners would place an EQ pedal in the effects loop in order to clear up the sound.  I actually tried this and, sure it made things better but this amp cost me $649.  Should I really need to spend more $$ in order to make it sound useable?  I returned it and am very glad I did.— [ At this point, I bought a new amp.  Solid state Fender Frontman 212R.  Great cleans and lots of power.] —
• Line6 POD XT Live:  Can you see a trend here?  Amp modeling was great but at this point I was getting more and more displeased with the “work” that had to be done in trying to match up models for use during a set and wanted to really see if I could pound the front end of my amp with effects in order to get a purer tone.  Now, I also play in church where stage volume is pretty much nonexistent, so the XTL was ideal for this type of situation.  Plug right into the board, set my models and away we go.  Seriously, this unit is probably the BEST on the market for this setup.  In fact, Line6 actually touts the XTL as a unit that lets you “leave your amp at home”.  Problem is, ask any performing musician… do you REALLY want to trust your entire sound to the board or would you rather have some control on stage with an amp?  I need to have an amp on stage and the XTL’s tone through the amp, though very good, wasn’t it’s strongest point IMO.  I did use it for a while and if I had the coin, I would own one again, simply for church use.
• Boss ME-50:  Got a different amp at this point.  Sold off the Frontman because I got a sick deal on a new Peavey Bandit 112 TransTube which I will also review in the near future.  Unbelievable amp.  Light, brutally powerful and the best clean tone I’ve ever heard out of any amp I’ve owned, and yes I have owned tube amps.
  The ME-50 was my first foray into a multi-effect that was NOT an amp modeler and I really liked it.  This unit can be had used for $150 to $175 and it’s worth every penny.  The distortion effects are the strong point of this unit.  In fact, Boss COSM modeling technology reigns supreme on this thing.  My favorite distortion / OD model was the OD-2.  It sounded exactly like the OD-2 stomp box.  The interface was great if you just needed one sound.  What I mean is you set the knobs for the three units… distortion, modulation and delay.  You can turn them on and off.  If you wanted to have more than one “bank” of tones, you could set that up in “memory mode” but because of the board interface, you never really knew which was which.  There was no screen to tell you.  If you have a good memory of your settings then cool it could work.  However, switch those banks and ____ oh sorry for the 1/2 second delay in my typing.  There’s also a 1/2 second delay in changing the settings.  AAAAHHHH!!!!!!  Boss, you had me then you lost me.  This was the main reason for parting ways with this multi.  As guitarist and lead vocalist, I can’t have a total sound drop out in the middle of a song and honestly, I don’t want to have to time my switching or mute my strings on an off beat.  Great dirt, just ok modulation, super delay, horrible live.
• Line6 M9:  I was about to start collecting individual effect pedals because I was fed up with multi’s.  Then I saw a posting on a great forum that I’m part of ( TDPRI.com - Telecaster Guitar Forum) about the M9 and the M13.  Now, these guys and gals in this forum and hard core tone freaks and typically multi-effects are not really a first-choice for this population of players.  However, this posting was different.  The discussion gave very high marks to the M9 and many opinions were “you just need to try it… you’ll get it”.  So Guitar Center had this 15% off deal with a trade in and I bit.  $340 out the door.Needless to say, this unit is far above anything else mentioned in this discusion and is without question a professional stompbox modeler that a very trained ear would love as if the models were the originals.  I won’t go to deep into all the actual effects because there are over 100.  However here are a few observations:”Classic Distortion” [Model = ProCo Rat] : I had a Rat back in the 80’s and anyone who knows the Rat also knows that once ProCo got the ideal to change the chip on this wonderful distortion, things went down hill fast.  The old version was, in mine and many others’ view, the perfect distortion for classic and hard rock and a very useable distortion for blues.  I can tell you honestly that this model IS the Rat that I had in the 80’s.  I mean it even responds to pick attack, gtr volume roll off perfectly.  The output knob even plays just like the original, giving it a TON of headroom.  My setting has the distortion at 12:00 and the filter at about 1:00.  Sounds huge and cuts through a mix perfectly.”Tube Drive” [Model = Chandler Tube Driver] :  Never played an actual TD but this thing sounds beautiful.  Keep the drive low and you get a really nice soft clipping.  Move past 12:00 and you have a mean saturated sound that emulates a 12AX7 tube being pushed hard.  Note: I recall trying the “same” model on the POD XT Live and the results were terrible.  Way too much treble and not a lot of range in the distortion levels.  Apparently Line6 worked this thing out and it’s perfect.”Overdrive” [Model = DOD-250] :  Apparently this is a Yngwie classic.  I don’t really listen to him but many players love the DOD-250 circuit and from the “Overdrive” model I can hear why.  Wide range of drive for personal taste and gets super aggressive at higher levels.Other notables on this unit (hey I’m up to like 1773 words!) are the modulation effects, delays and reverbs.  Too much to mention here but I can say that everything I’ve tried (and I’ve been spending a lot of time with this thing) is useful.  Tube echo at a short setting along with ‘63 Reverb after it (oh you can change how the effects are set up in line btw) and you’ve got a sick chicken pickin’ tone.  The Digital Delay set at dotted eighth and you have sounds like The Edge. In fact, I tried two delays, one feeding another and got some cool effects by tweaking the types and the times.Functionally, the unit shines.  There are three effect “columns” or what Line6 calls “units” each with two footswitches.  Each unit can have three “states” of operation.  For example, I can have Unit 1, switch A, switch B or switch off (bypassed).  So there are many combinations across all three units, all of which make up a scene.  There are six scenes available within a single “folder” and there are four folders overall.  So, there are actually 24 total scenes. (I use two right now).

  Size:  The M9 can fit in a small shoebox.  It’s tiny but perfectly set up for using your feet.  Unless you have a size 17 shoe, you won’t hit two buttons at once unless you want to.  The size blew me away when I saw it in person.

  Looper:  Included is a very useful, fully functional looper that allows you to record up to 56 seconds of audio.  You can also overdub, erase, reverse and (most importantly) switch scenes and settings on the fly, allowing you to layer other cool tones.  Looping is great for practice and also for writing.  The only negatives are 1. you can’t save the loop once the unit is shut down and 2. it does not have an “auto start” like the DigiTech Jamman.  Either way, the looper is just fine and IMO an added cool functionality of this unit.

Final thoughts on the Line6 M9 are that it is literally state of the art.  You just won’t get the same reproduction of tone from any other multi effect unit.  It’s meant to be used with an amp so if you’re looking for someting to go straight to the board, get the XTL.  I now use it at church and keep my Bandit 112 low with a mic in front of it.  Sounds better than the XTL.  It’s not cheap at $399.  However, if you look at it from the perspective of what you get inside, it’s an absolute steal.  The only thing with the M9 is that it’s only going to live in front of your amp which, for many performing musicians these days, is limiting.  I really like the M9 but returned it because it wasn’t the WHOLE package.

• DigiTech RP500:  This is my second go-round with the RP500.  (Kind of like dating a girl, dumping her and then realizing that she was everything you ever needed/wanted)As I get older, I think my ears and my music sense matures (which is a good thing, believe me.  I used to think David Lee Roth had a great voice.  ‘Nuf said)So actually before I returned the M9, I bought another RP500, simlpy to do some side-by-side comparisons.  I only compared them based upon the lowest level of utility that they both shared; meaning, I only used them in front of an amplifier because this was all the M9 was made for.  Both had their strengths and the M9 had more in the way of “coolness factor” effects, plus the M9 reproduced these effects (oh and the OD/Dist stomps it has are PURE BLISS!!!)  But then, I started to tinker with real life situations and how I would use these units and quickly discovered that the M9 was very limiting.  Look, if I were well off financially, I’d keep both.  In fact, my wife even said, “keep both”.  However, I can’t do it because my conscience says, hey man, make one of them work for you.So I did.  I kept the RP500… for a while.  Teah I’m fickle but the fact is, I eventually found that there were weaknesses in the unit (and likely, ALL amp modeling units).

Now understand, in certain situations, these things are perfect (church for example).

So now, while playing at church or recording, I have yet another amp in my arsenal and my recent recordings are the proof.  For example, this track is an example of a model of a Vox AC30TB that I created and recorded from the XLR output of the RP500 to the clean input of my DAW interface. (The solo track is what I did.  The backing stuff is Garageband).

Needless to say I was very pleased with the RP500 sound and versatility but eventually, I realized that it still didn’t come close to the feel of a tube amp.

So for the right uses, the RP500 is the right choice. 

UPDATE:  As needs change, so does gear.  I no longer have the RP500 because although it had some cool tones, I still missed the purity I get from a good tube amp (Classic 30).  I did get the Line 6 M13 which is only stompboxes and a review is forthcoming….

THIS is why gear manufacturers are so wealthy!!

God Bless.
Joe Faraldi
jfaraldi@faraldi.com