Posted: 10/4/2008 12:12:15 PM EDT
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Alright, let me just say this is not a question, but rather an experience with these amps that I feel/ hope might help someone else that's interested in these amps. About two years ago, I came into a small amount of money. I have a 4x12 speaker cabinet loaded with Celeston Vintage 30's. Great sounding speakers. I wanted a good amp to put on top of it. Now, I've never had anything against Mesa. I always liked their amps, liked the way they sounded, but I felt they had become too popularized and I didn't want to fall into that "everyone AND THEIR GRANDMA" category. So, off I went to the music store that handles alot of boutique amps. I dicked around with the Orange amps, I like the way they sounded. The owner steered me towards the VHT Pitbull 100 watt heads. I plugged up, tweaked the knobs a little. Tons of gain, tone was in no shortage. I went home and slept on it. I researched a little and could find nothing but positive feedback on the particular amp. I bought it for $2,300.... I know... not cheap but I always said you get what you pay for and it sounded great in the music store. I started jamming with some friends of mine and for some reason, the louder I cranked it, the thinnner and weaker it sounded and for the life of me I couldn't get the guitar to "cut through" the drums and bass. I wound up unplugging it and setting my 1979 Marshall JMP on top and using it. Summary and my review of the VHT Pitbull heads... I found that when cranked it produces a compressed, almost solid-state sound rather than a tube head.I had the model with the EQ on the face and nothing I could do cold bring the tone where I wanted it to be. I've heard these amps described as "anti-rectifiers" as in they sound opposite the dual-rectifier. Since then, I've traded it for a dual rectifier and couldn't be happier. I recommend anyone interested in these amps spend alot of time with it BEFORE purchasing it. My expereince was that it sounded completely different outside the music store and even moreso once it gets cranked and competing with other instruments. |
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Weird, I've only heard good things about VHT amps. I've never used their heads so I can't say anything about them, but their power amps are great. I can't think of anything I don't like about the power amp that I own or the ones I've heard. At loud volumes they only sound better to me. If you still have the VHT head, try using more mids and less bass in your tone. High mids can help cut through other instruments. Just another question, what guitar were you using at the store when you tried it out, and what kind do you have at home? Try checking in the Tone Tips thread posted at the top of the forum too, lots of good advice there. |
I don't remember what guitar I used at the store, but at home I have a Gibson LP studio with a Lindy Fralin humbucker in the bridge. I also have an Ibanez RG with EMG's in it. I don't have the head anymore I traded it straight across for the Recto. I just don't see anything better(IMO) that the VHT amps did. I mean, to me tone is like music or anything else. It's all about personal taste, but I like a big, fat tone and I just found that the Recto does it better than the VHT. Also, like I said, it sounded "transistory, solid-statey" to me. Kinda like not what a tube head is supposed to sound like IMO. I must be hearing(or not hearing) the same ting as everyone else though. ETA: I also heard nothing but good things about the VHT amps when I researched them before I bought mine. I'm not bashing them, just kinda puting it out there if anyone else is looking at buying one. |
