I have a Crate Club 20 that is a 15w, 1x10, EL84 amp. I know Crate gets a lot of shit, but they make a good low-cost tube amp.

My other amp is an Ampeg VT-120 it's a 120w combo amp (switchable down to 60w), 1x12, 6L6 amp, complete with an EV speaker. It's a great amp, but it's just too big for my current needs. I really should just up and sell it....

In Police Teeth, I use either one of two amps:



A Music Man 112-65. Chris actually owns this. It sounds pretty rad. Almost exactly like the guitar sound on Pink Flag.



A Soldano Avenger. I used this same amp in USS Horsewhip, but since then, I threw two THD Yellowjackets in the power amp section, which knocks the power down to 20 watts and it runs on EL84s instead of 6L6's. I plan on buying another set of Yellowjackets to put in there to bump it up to 40 watts, as 20 is just BARELY loud enough. I threw two Electro-Harmonix 12AU7s in V1 and V2 to tame the gain a little bit. I use the "low" input and turn everything all the way up. It sounds like an AC30 on steroids. Cool. I plan on using this a little bit more once I find a suitable cabinet. Avatar is making a cool 2x10 cabinet for guitars now. Maybe one of those.

I have this same Oliver head:



Mine came with nice RCA tubes.

$200 on ebay!!

Marshall 1980 JMP 50 watt head and Marshall 1981 JCM 800 100 watt head into a stereo Marshall 1960AV 4x12 w/Celestion Vintage 30 speakers (with each head powering 2x12's simultaneously). Fender Hot Rod Deville 60 watt 2x12 combo. The Fender is only usable on the clean channel. I run the preamp controls on each of the Marshalls each pretty low (around 5) and then just turn the master volumes on all three amps way up. With all three amps going at once, the sound is unbelievable.

For bass, it's pretty basic: Ampeg SVT Classic 300 watt head into an Ampeg SVT 8x10 cabinet. I always use a Tech 21 Sansamp Bass Driver pedal with this setup.

BadComrade wrote:I'd like to own Jess Oliver's version of the Ampeg Portaflex B-15

yeah, the powerflex...I want one of those myself. so cool. when I picked up my amp from Jess, he had a couple in his workshop.

I also have a pa100x that he's shipping back to me. I need to get a cab for them.

Music Man 212-HD 130, which I like to play through a (borrowed) 4 X 12 Music Man cabinet. When we were soundchecking before our first show, I asked if my guitar was loud enough, and my bass player said, "Are you kidding?"

BadComrade wrote:You met Jess Oliver? Wow, that's pretty cool. What did he do to your amp?

The Powerflex pictured above is for sale by the way... $2200

he's open for business on LI NY. just shoot him an email or call him. I found what looked like a great deal on vintageguitar.com for two oliver heads. they were listed as "one is working fine, the other not." The guy lived on LI, and since I was already going to be in NYC I figured what the hell. $250 for one working head and one non working, seems like an okay deal. I get there and turns out both heads are not working. after all that, I buy them anyway, because it's stupid to go through all that hassle and not have anything to show for it. I then dropped them off at Jess Oliver's to repair.

The G400R needed a new reverb tank and few tubes. I think he replaced some caps. that one was kind of a pricey repair ($220). The PA100X was in even worse shape, but I think he took mercy on me and only charged me $180 which includes shipping. So lots of hassle and leg work, $650 and I now have two oliver amps. Oh well, lesson learned.

That powerflex you linked has been for sale for a while. Although it's clean, it's way over priced. there was a clean 2x15 one on ebay (which is supposed to be more desirable) and it went all the way down to about $950 and no one bought it. I saw a clean P-500 1x15 on ebay a few months ago go for $800.

llllllllllllllllllllllll wrote:

llllllllllllllllllllllll wrote:Mesa Boogie D-180, ampeg 4x10. About to trade the cab in for a Bag-End 1x15.

I have 6l6's in my head at the moment, does anyone know if I can change to different types of tubes for a little more clean head room and power?

6550's or KT-88's should give you substantially more clean headroom. Your power output is limited by the PSU and the output transformer, so using tubes with a higher voltage rating won't increase the power output of your amp, but will increase your clean headroom due to the fact that it takes more power to make them clip out.

Furthermore, my current rig is a Seymour Duncan Convertable 100 1x12" combo that I am growing less fond with as time passes. --It looks similar to this one:

I plan on getting a 4x12 sealed back cab that will hopefully make it sound better. --If that doesn't work, I plan to get either a Traynor YGL or Ampeg V-4 head for the 4x12.

I also have a Bogen CHB-35 that may be used for practice after input and tonestack mods are performed.

!!! Hiwatt custom 50 from 1976 !!!