Aw geez, I just ordered a new amp

[gordo]

Don't know if anyone has seen them but the new Vox MV50 series looks pretty cool.  Fluorescent tube preamp (!!!) and a 50 watt power amp.  Three flavors: Clean (Fender), AC (duh), and Rock.  I ordered an AC.  Standby for a full report when it gets here.  My wife is going to have my head on a stick.  Then again I can just hide it in my guitar case. :-)

[Matt]

You know what they say, it's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission

[somnif]

Interesting to see those flat slide-tubes in production use. I remember when the tech demos started hitting the scene, they looked fascinating.

[wgc]

I was thinking about one too, will anxiously await your nad post

[jimilee]

Dammit! Well I just bought. Fender Blues Jr tweed. I feel your pain sir. It's all I can do to play it.


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[WormBoy]

This 'nutube' technology looks like a lot of fun ... would also be great for the DIY scene to make 9V powered tube pedals. The amp is tiny, but I haven't found a pic of the AC adapter yet  .

[somnif]

Out of curiosity, how is it with headphones?

I'd love to have a tube amp, but I live in a shoebox apartment with thin walls and imaginary insulation. This little beast looks to have decent reviews with a cab, and I'm curious how it would suit my needs. Is it sufficiently tube-ish? Or is it just a decent solid state amp with a bit of tube flavoring.

[somnif]

This 'nutube' technology looks like a lot of fun ... would also be great for the DIY scene to make 9V powered tube pedals. The amp is tiny, but I haven't found a pic of the AC adapter yet  .

Looks to use a 19V brick adapter, similar to a laptop: https://stat.ameba.jp/user_images/20170426/11/nico1959/04/46/j/o1280096013922598675.jpg?caw=800

[WormBoy]

Adapter is almost the same size as the amp  . That would be a downside for me: I would prefer the power supply to be integrated into the amp. Just to make it more robust on stage. But, I already have a Quilter mini head, so not looking to buy more small amps anyway.

I saw that Korg had some prototypes of pedals with the nutube as well ... http://korgnutube.com/en/gallery/. Including a guitar preamp pedal. Sounds like fun to experiment with one of these buggers.

[gordo]

I think they use an external adapter so they don't have to deal with noise and heat.  Class D runs very cool.

I haven't played it yet but the demo's look really impressive.  One of it's strong suits is the headphone output and in fact the demos I heard sounded just as good either miked thru a cab or direct out to a board as if it were a pedal.

Hoping to have it by about Wed or Thursday of this coming week.

[culturejam]

Here's the website for info on NuTubes: http://www.nutube.us/
And there's more data here: http://korgnutube.com/en/guide/

They are very sensitive and cost $50 each in small quantities.

[nzCdog]

I saw those new amps... very tempting for the price.   

[nzCdog]

Here's the website for info on NuTubes: http://www.nutube.us/
And there's more data here: http://korgnutube.com/en/guide/

They are very sensitive and cost $50 each in small quantities.

Hmmm.... overdrive pedal dreamin.  If they weren't so spendy I wasn't so busy... I'd love to have a play with one of these, thanks for the link

[gordo]

Well the little amp showed up last night and I took it to a rehearsal to see how it would hold up.  Keep in mind that I have my Lab Series L5 and a 50w Marshall JMP at my disposal so it's up against some tough standards.  When you open the box there's nothing to prepare you for the size of this thing.  If you've seen the videos or pictures it gives you some idea, but the little chicken head knobs are smaller than the pedal sized ones we've been using.  These are micro chicken heads.  It has a 19V power supply, roughly the same size as a computer brick.  Gain, Tone, and Volume with a retro-cool little analog output meter.  On the top you get a viewport to the Nutube guts with very exotic looking blue LED lighting.  The Nutube has two florescent windows on the top that look like old calculator displays.  Switches on the back are for speaker impedance, Standby/Power, Eco - which turns the amp off if it doesn't produce any output for 15 minutes (cool feature if you forget to turn it off, but can be disabled), and Deep/Flat.  Headphone/Line (1/4" stereo/mono) and Output jacks are the only outputs and I've not tried the headphone feature yet.

How's it sound?  Loud as f**k and I have to admit the Nutube gizmo is pretty cool.  I am NOT a fan of Class D amps so I roll into this thing a bit biased.  I have no qualms about solid state given that my go-to amp for a very long time has been the L5, even with a JMP right beside it.  It responds nicely to guitar volume changes like a tube amp (or the L5) does and in this case pulls off the Vox top end in spades.  It doesn't have a ton of gain on tap but can kick out some pretty thick grind.  I've got it setup to be just on the edge of breakup and then push it over the edge or reign it back in as needed.  It responds very nicely to pedals.

So the bottom line is that I'm going to use it at my next gig.  My old L5 is like a comfortable pair of slippers so it's not going anywhere.  This thing isn't going to redefine amplification as we know it but know this:  I hope we get access to these chips at some point and if taken to extremes I can see them being serious contenders to real tubes.  For the $199 price tag I think this is a no brainer for at the very least a backup amp you can throw in your gig bag.  That said it could become the nucleus of a pretty versatile rig at any price point.

[nzCdog]

Hmmm... sounds very intriguing. In other news I just bought an AC15 C1X with Alnico blue.  My initial thoughts... it's heavy!

Ima check out some more demo's of your wee matchbox version for sure