dchernov551

Welcome aboard and congratulations with your JTV 59! :) Playing in a Yes tribute band sounds like a perfect situation to use James Tyler Variax guitar, not to mention the fact that Steve Howe himself mentioned all the benefits of this amazing instrument before! I have visited your web page and was left in awe - a powerful and heartfelt tribute with so much of it's own! It's amazing that the JTV59 worked great for you and that you could use all the five models and do not have to switch guitars anymore. :) I must say that you are an amazing guitar player, really! :wub: Thank you so much for introducing yourself and sharing your music here!

Thank you so much for all of your messages! I did not make my choice yet and still searching for a good amp that would open up all the greatness of the JTV guitar. So far (if we speak of the tube amps), I still think of the Blackstar HT5 amp. If we put the tube thing aside and speak of the solid state and digital amps, Yamaha THR 10 sounds good. I want to thank each and everyone for your kind replies and suggestions! @Sparky: Thank you so much for your reply and the comments concerning the Blackstar amp. Out of all the options, it seems to be the most suitable for my needs. However, I am still a bit concerned about the volume, wondering if it can sound well at the bedroom levels. @Toneman2121: If I could choose, then that would be Vox AC30! :D :) @DieterWelzel: Thank you for clearing things up with the Marshal JMD:1! @Benni2407: You discuss an important point in your message. As I was looking through the reviews and opinions on Blackstar HT5, I was constantly hearing about the hybrid amps and some people were saying that Blackstar HT5R is not a full tube amp. Then others claimed that it is a full tube amp which was built by some interesting and innovational scheme. Anyway, it is the sound that matters and the response that can echo the movements and the feelings in your fingers. Since I have never played a tube amp before, I have zero experience and always remind myself that only a fully cranked tube amp can give that proper sound. Since I can't play at high volumes, I am looking for something that would give me a good tube sound at the bedroom levels, if at all possible. It's great that you can play your Blackstar HT Club 40 in a flat and that the sound is great! What do you think of the emulated output? Have you tried it? I wonder if the volume pot sensitiveness is the same with HT series of Blackstar amps. But in any case, it would be possible to adjust it! :) Thank you so much again for your message! @Anthonylee: Thank you! Yamaha THR 10 sounds like a very interesting amp and Soren Andersen is one of my favourite guitarists. I have to thank him for my choice of effects and inspiration! It's hard to tell - I have Roland Cube 40 XL which is a digital amp, so that would probably leave it standing in the corner. A tube amp would probably differ (or not?), so it's hard to decide. Thank you very much for suggestion! @Nikoniablue: Fender Super Champ X2. Actually, it was one of the amps I was looking for and sounds like a good one! Unfortunately, can't find it in the local shops to try out. There is Fender Champion 600 amp that I can try! :D :lol: @Thorneven: You are absolutely right - it has to be the amp that you have tried and liked the most at the local store. Unfortunately, not every store in one's reach carries each model that sounds or looks interesting. There is always a certain risk which you kindly mentioned, - the sound is not the same in the store and in person's bedroom and the impression that we may get may change when we get home. It is when and where Internet comes to help - you get advices, opinions, thoughts and people share their experiences and tell of how they got their tone and what it took. JTV guitar made it possible to cover a lot of musical ground and play different styles of music. Now it looks like I need to find an amp that would let me play in the vein of progressive rock, starting from the beautiful cleans and getting good overdriven tones once the heavier parts kick in! Thank you very much again for your kind message and advices! @Pheld: Thank you for your message! If I could name a tone that I would like from a tube amp, then the first thing that comes to mind is VOX AC30 tone and the likes of Tom Petty, R.E.M., The Shadows, Pink Floyd. I do play 80's metal and metal ballads and sometimes like going through the heavier territories, but my heart is always with good clean tones! That's right - very few tube-amps perform well at low volumes and the only amp I still think of is Blackstar HT5R (12 inch speaker), but I do not know how well it will do at low volumes. An amp-sim... What would you advice from the amp-simulators? I have my Roland Cube 40XL modelling amp, but there is no flat response-speaker option as far as I'm aware. It has good cleans through the clean channel, but having good acoustic sounds from Variax would be very important. What would you advice from the modelling amps or amp sims? Thank you again! @rlumpkin: Thank you for your reply! Yamaha THR 10 sounds interesting and always calls up a smile. It has a very good sound, too. Did you try to record with it via USB? Thank you again! :) With the best wishes and deep respect, -- Denis

Thank you so much for your replies, guys! :) I am currently trying to decide between Egnater Tweaker and Blackstar HT5R as the most possible applicants for what I am trying to do. Even though it is my birthday tomorrow, I still want to do more research to be sure what is the good and the right choice. As Sparky kindly suggested, the tube amp for something like JTV guitar should be able to do variety of tones to show all the great things that the instrument can do. A place where I bought my JTV89F has Egnater Tweaker available, but I am wondering if it might be a bit too loud for bedroom playing. 15W versus 5W in Blackstar HT5 would be some difference in terms of volume. Sparky, how would you compare Egnater Tweaker to the Blackstar HT5? Which cleans were better for you and what would be better for direct recording from the output, in your opinion, if you have tried this option? @DieterWelzel, thank you for your message! I haven't considered anything from Marshalls before, so thank you for the tip. Did I understand you right that this particular amp that you have will do fine at the bedroom volume levels? I am completely new in the world of tube amps, so I am always wondering if big amps do require loud volumes in order to give the right sound. :D @Benni2407, yes, the emulated line out is an important point since recording with the tube amp is what I am after and the way how it works in this relation is probably one of the most important aspects for me, not to mention the tube feel and the sound. So another plus to the Blackstar amps, it seems. :) Thanks again for all of your messages and help! With a JTV guitar, a good amp looks like a must have! :wub: -- Denis

Hello, brothers (and sisters) in Variax! :) I am not sure if this is the right forum branch to ask about it, but since I am the JTV user and the question is related, I'll give it a try! The question is: what would be a good tube amp to use with the JTV guitar mostly for the bedroom playing? Currently I have Roland Cube 40XL amp which suits me fine, but I always wanted to move on to the tube sound. I do not know if the difference is really significant or it is mostly the legend from the old times, but even Youtube videos show how different, vivid and rich the tube amps sound when played in "guitar straight to amp" chain. I went through the search engines to look for information and opinions differ from person to person which makes it pretty hard to understand for a person like me who has never played a tube amp before. From what I have understood, for a bedroom playing and recording straight into audio interface, even 5-10W should be more than enough. There are different brands, different tubes and so on, but what would be a good option to come along with the JTV guitar to showcase all of it's capabilities and beauty? If I could, I would get Line 6 amp, the part of the Dream Rig, but for the moment it is too expensive, so I have to look for something cheaper. In terms of sound, I would be happy to get something that could give me the VOX AC30 sound and some tones from the alternative rock of early and middle 90's, maybe even a bit grunge sound here and there. And would tube amps like Fender Greta or Crate V58 would be any good to get to know what a tube sound is? :D ;) Any advices, opinions and thoughts are welcome! -- Denis