# Another low cost low watt tube amp...



## Robert1950 (Jan 21, 2006)

The VHT Special 6. One tone, one volume. One 6V6 and one 12AX7. Not a PCB, but hand wired in China. It is mod friendly. List price for combo with 10" is 199.99 US and head is $179.99. VHT Amplification










Here is the Premier Guitar Review - VHT Announces the Special 6 Handwired Amp - Premier Guitar


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## Emohawk (Feb 3, 2006)

A Chinese made amp with an eyelet board, chassis mounted sockets and Cliff jacks & pots with solder lugs??? Am I on Candid Camera? Where's Alan Funt?


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## Robert1950 (Jan 21, 2006)

Emohawk said:


> A Chinese made amp with an eyelet board, chassis mounted sockets and Cliff jacks & pots with solder lugs??? Am I on Candid Camera? Where's Alan Funt?




I'm a neophyte when it comes to looking at this stuff, so comment just went over my head.


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## keeperofthegood (Apr 30, 2008)

LOL

From the reading and comments I have read: the trouble with modern pcb and sockets is they are not made in the 1970's. In the 1970's a pcb was 1/16 inch thick or thicker, hard as nails, and a socket was likely to snap in half before the solder gave way on the pins. Modern day, the boards are thin, and flexible. They do not handle the heat or the mechanical strain the way they did 40 years ago. So, people get solder failures a lot on socket pins (and anything else that flexes) as a result.

So, modern day people view sockets mounted to chassis as significantly better.


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## gearalley (Oct 23, 2009)

ahhh China. Is there anything they can't do? Sounds like we finally have a small watt head with a Fendery tone!


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

The board on this amp appears to be quite thick and they seem to be using eyelet construction....two good points as starters

Am I wrong? Other opinions please.

Cheers

Dave


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## starjag (Jan 30, 2008)

greco said:


> The board on this amp appears to be quite thick and they seem to be using eyelet construction....two good points as starters


I agree. It looks well done. The heat is not going to be extreme with only two tubes. Chances are an amp like this is going to last for a long while.


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## david henman (Feb 3, 2006)

...i paid $370 for a blackstar ht-5 five-watt tube head. that was about three months ago and i'm still thrilled with it.


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## jimsz (Apr 17, 2009)

david henman said:


> ...i paid $370 for a blackstar ht-5 five-watt tube head. that was about three months ago and i'm still thrilled with it.


I tried one of those yesterday and was really impressed. It actually could be used for smaller gigs, but I'm not sure if there's enough headroom for clean tones without running through a PA. Have you tried this one in gigs, yet? The one I saw was $439, looks like the prices have gone up.


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## david henman (Feb 3, 2006)

jimsz said:


> I tried one of those yesterday and was really impressed. It actually could be used for smaller gigs, but I'm not sure if there's enough headroom for clean tones without running through a PA. Have you tried this one in gigs, yet? The one I saw was $439, looks like the prices have gone up.


...lou at kaos, in toronto, sells them for $370.


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## jimsz (Apr 17, 2009)

david henman said:


> ...lou at kaos, in toronto, sells them for $370.


That's a big difference in price. Too bad Lou wasn't on the West coast.


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## hardasmum (Apr 23, 2008)

The tone on the demo sounds great, but why are all these gear demo videos full of cliche blues riffs? They're useless to me. I would love to see a video where a guy or gal is just playing some nice power chords.

I apologize in advance to the blues players on this forum


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## jimsz (Apr 17, 2009)

david henman said:


> ...lou at kaos, in toronto, sells them for $370.


Holy crap, I sent an email to the store about the discrepancy and they sent me this link:

Price drop: $369!!!

http://www.tapestrymusic.com/index.php?route=product/product&keyword=blackstar&product_id=1691


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## hardasmum (Apr 23, 2008)

I saw this VHT head for $299 at Capsule Music today. Also noticed a Dr.Z 1x12 for $379 and a compact Marshall 2x12 for $399 that you can plug it into!


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## traynor_garnet (Feb 22, 2006)

hardasmum said:


> I saw this VHT head for $299 at Capsule Music today. Also noticed a Dr.Z 1x12 for $379 and a compact Marshall 2x12 for $399 that you can plug it into!


Does anyone know why there is such a huge discrepancy between the US and Canadian street price? This isn't just a "dollar thing" . . .


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