Blue Voodoo

[feilong29]

Hi everyone!

I have seen/read a lot of threads in regards to the Crate Blue Voodoo amps... opinions vary, but there is a general consensus of them not being that great, but, here me out: I currently have a Line 6 Spider III 1x12 75w amp, and it's pretty good; well, when I use my little Korg PX4 with it. The amp itself, doesn't really do me any good.

I'm really, REALLY wanting to convert to a tube, and, if I go with what I want, I'd be saving up for about a year to get a Peavey 5150/6505 head/cab. So, I've been looking, and I can get a Crate Blue Voodoo for under/around $300, and I see there is a dedicated shop that mods them. This is VERY intriguing and I figured, if there is someone taking the time out to do mods to them, then it must be worth it, and it can't sound that bad.

So, I guess my question is, would this be a good step up into the world of 'Tubes'? And if you think it isn't worth it, I know that I can also get a Peavey 5150/6505 combo (1x12 or 2x12) for $400-$700 bucks... but with those (and I have seen differing opinions on this as well), do they sound that much different than the heads? I've heard the combos sound 'darker' than the heads... but heck, I'll be honest, I've played on ONE tube amp every in my life, and I can't remember how it sounded.

Another thing to consider too! I play at home... prolly won't do the band thing, but, maybe get together and jam at some point with some people... would it be necessary to even get a new amp? I'm satisfied with my Line 6, don't get me wrong, but, I just have an itch, or, GAS to try something else.

Anywho, opinions and suggestions are greatly appreciated!

[jdr94]

I liked my bv120. The thing is to make it really sound good I had a ge7 and a sonic stomp in the loop. Im sure most will say its stupid to put a sonic stomp in the loop of a tube amp but in my experience it sounded great. Now when I had my carvin v3, mesa rec, or marshall jvm the sonic stomp would be stupid, but it works w the blue voodoo.


Edit- for what youre doing your line6 will be fine. Remember when you get a tube amp you wont have all those effects...well unless you get the line6 one which I have no experience with. What style do you play? That makes a little difference on which tube amp may be right for you.

[jgcable]

You don't need a 60w tube amp head if you play at home or occassionally jam with some friends. The Line 6 is perfect for that.
There is no sense in spending $300.00 for a BV60 and then the extra money to mod it which would cost at least $250.00
For $550.00 you could buy a 5150.
Another thing to consider is volume. You would have to play the BV60 on around 1 or 2 on the master volume if you don't want the cops to come to your house. At that level you aren't getting any tube saturation. You could always buy an attenuator but thats going to run you another $300.00. You are better off with a modeling amp for home use. Trust me.

[feilong29]

I liked my bv120. The thing is to make it really sound good I had a ge7 and a sonic stomp in the loop. Im sure most will say its stupid to put a sonic stomp in the loop of a tube amp but in my experience it sounded great. Now when I had my carvin v3, mesa rec, or marshall jvm the sonic stomp would be stupid, but it works w the blue voodoo.


Edit- for what youre doing your line6 will be fine. Remember when you get a tube amp you wont have all those effects...well unless you get the line6 one which I have no experience with. What style do you play? That makes a little difference on which tube amp may be right for you.

Oh ya! Well, I want to get over using effects, and just use the tone of the amp, ya know? This is what most people do (I assume). I play a lot of metal, but I like/want to make some melodic tunes and instrumental tracks. I'd want to dabble in some smooth jazz stuff as well. Clean channels aren't really my thing, but, that doesn't mean it wouldn't have it uses at some point. Even if the cleans are a little overdriven, I would use it anyways.

I think most of my tone NOW comes from my pickup and preamp; actually, this is very accurate because, I plugged my guitar straight into the amp, and, ya, it's a cheap amp, so, it didn't sound as good as what it did thru my processor, but, the tone of the pickup/preamp was very apparent, so, I think it would sound much better on a better amp/head. I have a hunch that, if I get this head, a tubescreamer and eq, I'll be very satisified, but, that is one of those 'try before you buy' or, but I think getting the Crate Head or Peavey 5150/6505 would be a great upgrade none the less!

[Twitch]

I will say I like the newer ones where they redesigned the head cab and had the new style crate logo. Try to find one of those. This version:

[DonP]

You don't need a 60w tube amp head if you play at home or occassionally jam with some friends. The Line 6 is perfect for that.
There is no sense in spending $300.00 for a BV60 and then the extra money to mod it which would cost at least $250.00
For $550.00 you could buy a 5150.
Another thing to consider is volume. You would have to play the BV60 on around 1 or 2 on the master volume if you don't want the cops to come to your house. At that level you aren't getting any tube saturation. You could always buy an attenuator but thats going to run you another $300.00. You are better off with a modeling amp for home use. Trust me.

EXACTLY!

5150s or 6105's are fairly cheap IMO. I wouldn't buy and mod a do-do unless your were 100% sure you'd love it after the work was done. RM100's are pretty popular here too. I'm happy with the lowly DSL100 which you can usually pick up for $650.

[jdr94]

Yeah as jg said your line6 will work fine and you will not be able to get good "tube tone" til you crank the amp up a bit. At 2 on a bv60 or bv120 you will be loud. 60 tube watts can drown out 100 ss watts. Modding the bv would be a waste imo. If you got that kind of money and def want a tube amp just get a nicer one. You could pick up a mesa single rec for about 800 or 900. Still for home jammin and light jams just use the line6 and keep bankin $ til you need the tube amp and youll have a better set up in the end.

[feilong29]

EXACTLY!

5150s or 6105's are fairly cheap IMO. I wouldn't buy and mod a do-do unless your were 100% sure you'd love it after the work was done. RM100's are pretty popular here too. I'm happy with the lowly DSL100 which you can usually pick up for $650.

Well, I suppose the 5150's and 6505's are LOUD as well eh? I guess I will just stick with my line 6 lol. Thanks for the advice guys! I will put that money towards upgrading my rr24 to gold hardware, and put the rest of the cash towards bills or a 7 string! It's always better to asked the 'wise' before making an unwise decision.

[DonP]

I use my DSL100 1/2 stack in my bedroom. But it's a big room in a big house and I don't have neighbors too closeby.

When I was in a corporate apt. a couple years back my trusty POD 2.3 with a set of Sony headphones worked great. I also picked up and XT but liked the "raw" tone of the 2.3 better. I'm not too familiar with ine 6's non-POD stuff.

[feilong29]

I use my DSL100 1/2 stack in my bedroom. But it's a big room in a big house and I don't have neighbors too closeby.

When I was in a corporate apt. a couple years back my trusty POD 2.3 with a set of Sony headphones worked great. I also picked up and XT but liked the "raw" tone of the 2.3 better. I'm not too familiar with ine 6's non-POD stuff.

I had a POD kidney bean! But, it was defective lol. Aggressive tone though. My Korg PX4 sounds great... but it didn't really sound good with the EMG 81 I had in my guitar. The J50BC w/JE-1000 sounds excellent though.

[toejam]

Any tube amp, even if it's 1 watt, will be loud! I did have a BV60 head that sounded amazing, and it had KT88 tubes in it. I should have held on to that one...

[Cygnus X1]

I've always heard the 60 watt version that toejam refers to is the better sounding and more reliable BV.
I generally avoid anything made by Crate, but some of the BV's are their bright spot.

I have only played a couple, never worked on one from a tech standpoint.
Only relaying opinions seen on amp tech sites.

[warlok]

I loved my BV-120 head but stopped playing it and sold it cause DonP kept calling it a Blue Doodoo.