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Following on from my questions around setting gigging patches and scoring a decent tone, I've also realised that part of the hassle is that the Valvetronix amp I use adds a bunch of complexity, as each of the models are quite different and respond to the EQ / gain controls differently.

Been eyeing a proper tube setup. Originally had my eye on something from Orange: the Rockerverb combos are awesome. But...my own amp is already a 50W amp, and I get NOWHERE near using that sort of power. The attenuator sits on less than half output, even during the outdoor gigs this weekend (since I only really need it as a monitor on stage anyway).

Marshall are offering decent deals on the Vox Night Train head and matched cab (which runs a little Celestion greenback). Always liked the look of them, and really like the tone too. Also, the simplicity is great.

Any thoughts on this as a gigging combo? Would a 15W head and single speaker be loud enough for on-stage work? My thinking is that, unlike the hassles of toying with the attenuator on my existing amp, I could crank that little sucker to its full 15W and get the full benefits of the tubes being driven nicely.

(would also mean less lugging around a 28kg combo...hooray).
    From personal experience I have found that going tube and keeping things simple is the way to go.

    Sunday evening I had my little 8W on stage with a full band going and pushing out some serious rock and the amp had no problem keeping up.

    The amp did have some breakup on the clean channel but the levels coming out of the greenback was impressive to say the least and the bit of power tube breakup was very musical and sounded great.

    A 15W should do the job well and the simplicity of the Night Train is a bonus.
      Vox amps are generally LOUD for their wattage - especially with Celestion Greenbacks (98 dB sensitivity) or Blues (100dB), which are both quite efficient for guitar speakers. Greenbacks can take a bit more punishment than the Blues and have a bit less chime, but a rockier voice (compare the clips I have at http://ratcliffe.co.za/sundry/speakers ).

      The only reservation I have with using a 15W amp with a band is clean headroom - if you need to be clean and quite loud then you'll probably need to move into the 25W arena. Somehow I think in your setting though (miked) that 15W Vox will be fine as long as you don't need ultra clean tones. Try it and make sure.
        BTW have you thought of the Laney VC-15 as an alternative.

        Very impressive 15Watter and easier to carry around than the Night Train + Cab
          TomCat wrote: BTW have you thought of the Laney VC-15 as an alternative.

          Very impressive 15Watter and easier to carry around than the Night Train + Cab
          +1 for the suggestion, thanks.

          I will head past Marshall and try out as many of the small tube heads as I can. There is the Orange Tiny Terror, there is a MESA (!), I think they have the Laney as well...

          They can do the Night Train + Cab for somewhere around R6k I think, which I think sounds pretty fair. Not sure on the Laney price, but the other options are quite heavy and don't include a cab.

            • [deleted]

            • Post #6
            I played I Night train though my 112 Vox Cab with the Alnico Blue in. I really enjoy that amp.
            Also played the Night Train though a 212 Randall Closed back Cab, THAT was MASSIVE...
            and was a completely different animal all of a sudden.

            and it's size is a big plus for gigging and moving it all the time, they sound really good, and its darn loud if you crank it, more than what anyone needs.
            But like most 15w, its always on the edge of breaking up. Which suits me fine, I like it like that...

            I think they wonderful amps, if I didn't have a great 15w Vox already... This would be the one I would be having a serious look at.

            I like... ?

            //EDIT
            Warren wrote:
            TomCat wrote: BTW have you thought of the Laney VC-15 as an alternative.
            +1 for the suggestion, thanks.

            I will head past Marshall and try out as many of the small tube heads as I can. There is the Orange Tiny Terror, there is a MESA (!), I think they have the Laney as well...

            They can do the Night Train + Cab for somewhere around R6k I think, which I think sounds pretty fair. Not sure on the Laney price, but the other options are quite heavy and don't include a cab.
            I had the Laney VC-15, very small and a cool little amp... but in a gigging environment, especially outdoors that thing will get lost for sure.. I think... It's not nearly as loud as my AC15, even on 7.5w
            I like the Tiny Terror, played the combo... didn't like it at ALL with a tele... was insipid... I couldn't get a nice setting/sound... Liked it with a Strat...
            I would like to try the Tiny Terror with different cabs one day. Otherwise great amp, rubbish price for the orange cabs ?
            The TA-15? I saw them at Marshall... just sit down when you ask them the price ?

            You can have a night train with quite a bit of change.... quite a bit...
              Is the blackstar Artisan 30 in your price range (+/- R18k)

              It is switchable from single-ended to push-pull giving you 10W or 30W - in other words you can have the clean headroom when you need it. It really is a fantastic amp and you can check them out (as well as the entire blackstar range) at music company in Melville
                aja wrote: Is the blackstar Artisan 30 in your price range (+/- R18k)

                It is switchable from single-ended to push-pull giving you 10W or 30W - in other words you can have the clean headroom when you need it. It really is a fantastic amp and you can check them out (as well as the entire blackstar range) at music company in Melville
                Sounds cool, but a bit expensive for me at the moment ? Could get the NT and a nice Tele for that!
                  I played I Night train though my 112 Vox Cab with the Alnico Blue in. I really enjoy that amp.
                  Also played the Night Train though a 212 Randall Closed back Cab, THAT was MASSIVE...
                  and was a completely different animal all of a sudden.
                  +1 ~~ I suggest you give the NT a bash through the Randall Cab! It sounded awesome!

                  But it will push up the price a bit as the Randall cab is more than the NT Cab...

                  Either way, that NT head is great! ?
                    Brentcgp wrote:
                    The TA-15? I saw them at Marshall... just sit down when you ask them the price ?

                    You can have a night train with quite a bit of change.... quite a bit...
                    Well this is the thing. The NT seems to be more versatile than the Orange TT. And yeah, I'm not spending MESA money thanks ? Baby steps.

                    As you say, could maybe try the NT with different cabs, and spend a little more on the cab if needed.

                    BTW: general question -
                    How does the amp rating of the head work with bigger cabs? I mean, will it drive two speakers to produce "twice" the volume as a single? Or does that wattage get "split" between the two speakers? I know nothing about the electrical stuff.
                      Man I am sure the NT will be similar to the AC15 and the more I play it the more I realise it can nail about any tone I want out of it. I was just wondering what I'd need to do to my LP to get a nice tight med/hi gain tone out of it, all it needed was me to increase the highs and lower the bass.

                      And I am guessing the Greenback will be able to pull even more things off!
                        The power gets divided amongst the speakers. You'll still end up with more volume though.
                          +1 on the Vox NT ,........... but , ? , check out the brand new Laney 15w CUB head.......Saw one at Music Connection today .(Just Arrived)

                          Didnt get to try it out ..........., but they have the NT head , NT cab with the Green, and a Vox 1 x 12 heritage cab with the alnico blue .........So , you can do a A/B /C comparison between them.

                          Main features that differ to the Vox NT :
                          Its got reverb ! ! ,..... Foot switchable , (switch not included) ☹
                          15W and 1 W input jacks (unlike the NT that has a 7.5 / 15 W toggle switch)
                          FX Loop ! !
                          Comes with , : the new Laney CUB-CAB , a 2 x 12 open-back , Celestion 50 drivers

                          Pricing for the head and cab ? ....cheaper than the Vox NT with NT cab ! 8)

                          http://www.laney.co.uk/show_prod.php?prod=cub-head
                          http://www.laney.co.uk/show_spec.php?prod=cub-cab
                            joel wrote: +1 on the Vox NT ,........... but , ? , check out the brand new Laney 15w CUB head.......Saw one at Music Connection today .(Just Arrived)

                            Didnt get to try it out ..........., but they have the NT head , NT cab with the Green, and a Vox 1 x 12 heritage cab with the alnico blue .........So , you can do a A/B /C comparison between them.

                            Main features that differ to the Vox NT :
                            Its got reverb ! ! ,..... Foot switchable , (switch not included) ☹
                            15W and 1 W input jacks (unlike the NT that has a 7.5 / 15 W toggle switch)
                            FX Loop ! !
                            Comes with , : the new Laney CUB-CAB , a 2 x 12 open-back , Celestion 50 drivers

                            Pricing for the head and cab ? ....cheaper than the Vox NT with NT cab ! 8)

                            http://www.laney.co.uk/show_prod.php?prod=cub-head
                            http://www.laney.co.uk/show_spec.php?prod=cub-cab

                            :-\ erm, were the looks an afterthought?

                            yuck!

                              +1 on the Night Train + Cab (w/ the Greenback).

                              I gig this combination and I've never been lacking in volume. Even played a 2000 seat tent last year and got asked to turn down (had it running at half volume) because my stage volume was too high - in comparison to their Marshall JCM900 Half Stack and the Ampeg SVT450 + 8x10"! ??? Obviously it was miked up, but if it can fill a massive stage with enough volume to compete with the big amps, that's impressive IMO. I've played a few non-miked sets and it had more than enough to compete with the drums, set just over 10 O'clock on the volume. It's much louder than 15W suggests (as most VOX amps tend to be). Another thing I like about it in comparison to other valve amps is that the volume increases all the way up until the last 25% of the dial. Most valve amps tend to reach their volume ceiling and start to overdrive past a third on the volume control. The NT has usable volume for most of the volume control's sweep and it's plenty loud at that. At gigs or in church it very seldom gets set past a quarter (once again, mike up) and I've never lacked for stage volume. BTW, I tend to play it clean/ on the edge of breakup and use pedals for my overdrive/ distortion/ fuzz.

                              In the last 5 years I've gigged a Peavey Bandit (2 of 'em, sadly), Peavey Classic 30, VOX VR30, VOX AD30VT, VOX AD50VT, VOX AC30CC2X and a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe, so I've used some viciously loud amps. Right now with the NT I've never felt like I didn't have enough volume. Plus I feel I've got the best tone I've ever had. OK the AC30 was great too, but it was just too bloody heavy! ?

                                I utilise an Orange 15 W TT combo...its plenty loud with the gained dialled in a bit ...problem may lie if you wanted loud loud cleans though but that is an orange tiny terror feature ..

                                  25 days later
                                  You said you like the orange rocker 30....we'll orange is replacing it with the "thunder" 30....switchable between 30,15,7.5 watts...us prices indicate that there going to be a bit cheaper then the rocker...
                                  The clean channel is based on the orange thunder verb...the thunder verbs have the most amazing cleans iv ever heard,really,better then any fender RI at least...

                                  And orange cabs are expensive,yea,but really,do sum research and take a closer look at them,there vastly superior to 90% of other cabs on the market...

                                  O and shoot me sum pm if your interested in the ppc 2X12 cab,I'm going to sell mine to get the open back version... ?

                                  O and don't forget to check out the blackhaert handsome devil...its mind blowing,if they had a 30watt version,I would have buy it in a hart beat...
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