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fwiw I do worry that we've been on borrowed time with tube manufacturing for a good decade now, and even if a single factory in Russia keeps cranking them out who knows how reliable they will remain. But yeah a Quilter or many solidstate amps already out there can probably get you as close as the TM amps do for like $200-300.

tallchris wrote: Seems like Fender is banking on people spending that much to get something that looks like an actual amp like a Fender Twin instead of an ugly spaceship microwave like the Quilters.

I like to say they were "designed by the Keebler elf family, if that family was Republican". I love those little power block heads though, and they're easy enough to hide away..

I recently bought my second ART Pro VLA 2 stereo compressor/limiting amplifier and I think, for the price, it's pretty damn good and is hitting up there above its weight/price class. I I have a small 1/2" 8-track reel-to-reel home studio and already had one I'd use for input and recording (it's Just me so I never need more than 2 inputs at a time), wanted to get another compressor for mixing out without having to repatch and lose settings and shopped around for another compressor and decided not to bother with another in that price range, this one did that trick the first time so I'll go with what I know.

I use the second in a 'NY style compression' manner for my output and mixing down and it's great that way to lift things up in the mix and really glue things together. The tubes in it are in the gain stage, so not a true tube compressor, but it sounds really good and really transparent, for the money, I think, it's a good deal. Would probably work nicely to warm things up in the digital world too. I've seen them in really high end studios sitting next to 1176s and LA2As. It's great for mixing down. I would recommend it for a home studio. Most online reviews back that up too. They've actually gone up in price on the used market, I got my second as a B-stock for just over $200, which I thought was a steal.

Les Moore wrote: Sat Sep 18, 2021 10:02 am I recently bought my second ART Pro VLA 2 stereo compressor/limiting amplifier

I'm pretty happy with my Pro Channels. Don't know why I slept on these ART units for so long. I never liked the old little MPA but this higher volt version is pretty cool. For the price you get a lot of totally useful sounds.

chris wrote: Mon Sep 13, 2021 6:05 pm

Kniferide wrote: Sat Sep 11, 2021 2:44 pm

chris wrote: Fri Sep 03, 2021 10:04 pm "For parts" EV 635a—You don't work. I thought I could repair you but I can't even figure how to get you apart. You were supposed to be indestructible.

The only one of these I have ever seen broken was because the foam melted to the diaphragm. I was able to fix it with a diluted mixture of rubbing alcohol and water, and a paint brush very lightly brushing the melted foam off the Mylar. Took a lot of rounds, but it works now. Sounds a little different than my other 635a's so it wears a piece of red electrical tape like a Scarlett letter.

Thanks! I'll try this and report back in a few days.

Unfortunately no luck, I think the coil in the diaphragm must be broken. Bosch's customer service isn't very helpful with these older mics too, it would seem.

chris wrote: Sat Sep 18, 2021 4:48 pm Unfortunately no luck, I think the coil in the diaphragm must be broken. Bosch's customer service isn't very helpful with these older mics too, it would seem.

Honestly, if it is the coil, I'd just toss it and find another on Ebay. They are still pretty cheap, I highly doubt Bosch offers parts for a 635a.

Regarding the digital Fenders, I think you all covered the biggest problems. I think you'd be much better off getting whatever quilter style box and a nice cab or a much more flexible digital system, especially for that money. You could probably find a way to just plug an iphone in to a cab with comparable results.

On the other hand, I did like some clips of those solid state, transistor based Orange Crush amps that have been out a while. There's plenty of cool sounding solid state gear, but if you are going digital, I don't know why you'd box yourself in with something like the fender. I don't even like digital TVs because the computer usually goes wonky before anything else, and those appliances are designed to be disposable.

Does make me want to find a nice little power amp set up where I can make some transistor/IC preamps to swap around. Light weight and mobile, at least.

Behringer RD-6.

It sounds close enough, has an additional clap sound, direct outs, a bunch of syncing options and a pretty useless distortion section. I like it, it's fun and Amazon has all the funky coloured ones on sale for only $130us or $180can. Get your Lungs on.

pet fever detector wrote: Tue Sep 21, 2021 12:43 am Behringer RD-6.

It sounds close enough, has an additional clap sound, direct outs, a bunch of syncing options and a pretty useless distortion section. I like it, it's fun and Amazon has all the funky coloured ones on sale for only $130us or $180can. Get your Lungs on.

How does it feel, quality-wise, compared to the Roland/Aria stuff?
No regrets?

brownreasontolive wrote: Tue Sep 21, 2021 8:32 am

pet fever detector wrote: Tue Sep 21, 2021 12:43 am Behringer RD-6.

It sounds close enough, has an additional clap sound, direct outs, a bunch of syncing options and a pretty useless distortion section. I like it, it's fun and Amazon has all the funky coloured ones on sale for only $130us or $180can. Get your Lungs on.

How does it feel, quality-wise, compared to the Roland/Aria stuff?
No regrets?

There are two things that I'm not crazy about. The 1/8th inch direct out jacks on the back of the unit, they sit flush to the case instead of sticking out a bit like the jacks on top of the unit and none of the jacks are fixed to the chassis with washers or anything, they are all PCB mounted. They feel sturdy enough for me as I'm not hard on gear and will be using it for a bit of messing around at home.

Otherwise, all the knobs, buttons and switches all feel good to me. It's a really light, plastic chassis but there is no flex or creakiness to it. It sounds good, it sounds like a 606.

I don't have any experience with the Roland stuff aside from poking around at it in the music store for a few minutes.

No regrets.

pet fever detector wrote: Tue Sep 21, 2021 12:43 am Behringer RD-6.

It sounds close enough, has an additional clap sound, direct outs, a bunch of syncing options and a pretty useless distortion section. I like it, it's fun and Amazon has all the funky coloured ones on sale for only $130us or $180can. Get your Lungs on.

I ordered a green one.