New Vintage Modern owner

[bbcaz]

Got a great deal on a used 2266B at Guitar Center. It was sitting in the store for at least 8 months, as the price kept coming down. Actually, I forgot it was there, and I went to GC to buy strings. I saw it, sitting in the same place for like, almost a year. The price was $749, I had to buy it! I didn't even get strings. I was so psyched about getting this amp. I wanted one ever since they came out. It looks brand spanking new. So I put $200 down, asked GC to hold it for me, and I will pick it up in a few weeks. Now I can add the VM to my JTM 60 2x12 combo, that I love, as you don't hear to much about the JTM 60 anymore, but it's a great amp. I wired a fan right under the EL34's to keep it cool, sounds beautiful! I use the clean channel only, nice break-up with my Les Paul. I use a Boss ME-70 in the front end. Sounds nice with my Strat also. Anyway, glad to be part of this forum. So much cool info on the Vintage Modern.

[Spotted Dog]

Welcome! That's a great price, congrats.

[bbcaz]

thank you Spotted Dog

[surfnorthwest]

[ryanmichael95]

Welcome...I'm a new VM owner myself and am having a great time with it, every day!

[bbcaz]

Thanks guys. Can't wait to get it to rehearsal and crank it !!

[kerrpow]

hey there,

yeah I've got a jtm 30 that I really like and yes you don't hear much about the 60's.

another great amp. VM's are great amps also.

rock it to a nubb bro.

[SteveD]

Welcome to the forum bbcaz.

[Vavoom]

Yep, I bought one too......Got tired of waiting for my AFD...heh.....

Well I have had my VM 100 Watt Head for 24...er...19 hours.
Here is my take after a 1 hour session.
First takes:
-Sounds good loud
-Difficult to dial in a nice sound at bedroom level
-After tubes warm up it sounds much better
-Putting an attenuator on it makes it sound a bit
better at the quiet club, bedroom level
-I a/b'd it with my Top Hat Blues Deluxe with a Marshall Blues Breaker II pedal and it was interesting. Understandably different but interesting.

For now I'm keeping this amp...I will run it through some band practices and much playing through 10 or so guitars then give you guys some of my valuable pearls of wisdom (barf)!

Marshall's I've owned:
JMD 100 watt head
TSL 100 Head 1/2 stack
JVM 100 watt 4 channel 1/2 stack
50 watt combo (25 years ago)
30th Anniversary 1/2 stack
50 watt 1970 head (plexi)
Probably 3 others I can't remember......

I currently own and use:
33 watt Top Hat Blues Deluxe (main amp now)
40 watt Fender Blues Deluxe
Mesa Trans-Atlantic 5/30 watt head
Mesa 5/50 watt Express combo with ext cab
2 Marshall cabs....one with Vintage 30/GT-75 mix
and one with GT-75's

That's just the guitar amp stuff.

So here is what I'm hoping to achieve with the VM.
I'll experiment with cabs and tone settings on and the numbers I play that demand the "Marshall Tone", I'll use that bad boy till I have it wired. I will look at this site more and glean some hints/tips on tone settings but this amp is pretty straight forward. Use pedals for the low gain setting to taste, if any and really dial in that nice rock Marshall tone with the high gain setting. Really gotta watch that "body" setting or you can get flubby and dull.

Right now I would say my only beef is, is that the VM can be "brittle" sounding. And this could be a few things.....not waiting for the tubes and the amp to warm up and also break in......also cab selection and tone tweakage.

So for now I'm giving it a one hour review of ........ 7

It did NOT knock my socks off but I'm willing to give it a good hard look. I think if I return another item to G.C. they may just dis-own me.

[SteveD]

I'm pretty sure it's just a question of spending a bit more time with it.

[surfnorthwest]

Also the GT12-75 speakers really are not a good choice to pair with the Vintage Modern. Of course tone is subjective but I would suggest trying greenbacks.

[gtrman]

Yep, I bought one too......Got tired of waiting for my AFD...heh.....

It did NOT knock my socks off but I'm willing to give it a good hard look. I think if I return another item to G.C. they may just dis-own me.

Give it some time. This amp is not supposed to knock your socks of right away ..
Whatever sound you dial in now will eventually get a lot better ... it sure did for me !

[sugarkane]

Vavoom - you do not list the guitars you've paired with the VM. Can't say enough times with this amp (IME) it's RUBBISH IN = RUBBISH OUT.

In a few months I owned and binned a 2001 Custom Shop Stratocaster, a 1999 PRS Custom 22 and a 2004 Les Paul Standard. Not cheap axes. They sounded rubbish through the VM. There was a good reason for this. IMHO they were rubbish sounding guitars (gotta say they all looked great, and were light to wear - I think priorities have changed all out of whack at the guitar manufacturers).

Other amps (say Mesa) minimise to a greater extent the gap in sound between good and bad. Not this amp.

After months of disappointing knob-twidding I did the smart thing. Bought good sounding guitars. B-i-i-g-g jump in VM results.

I'm not jumping to any conclusions about your set-up or wanting to disagree with others who've got happy results with kit I didn't like.

P.S. Your initial impressions remind me of my first week with the VM. It's not what I feel now.

[Vavoom]

[quote="sugarkane"]Vavoom - you do not list the guitars you've paired with the VM. Can't say enough times with this amp (IME) it's RUBBISH IN = RUBBISH OUT.

In a few months I owned and binned a 2001 Custom Shop Stratocaster, a 1999 PRS Custom 22 and a 2004 Les Paul Standard. Not cheap axes. They sounded rubbish through the VM. There was a good reason for this. IMHO they were rubbish sounding guitars (gotta say they all looked great, and were light to wear - I think priorities have changed all out of whack at the guitar manufacturers).

Your right about garbage in, garbage out (as we say in U.S.A.).
But I'm more of a believer in the main vibe/tone comes from the fingers first, then amp/guitar/speakers/pedals.

Anyways the guitars I played with the VM 100 watt head?
1959 RI LP (hand picked from about 25 or 30)
1952 RI Twisted Tele Custom Shop
Anderson Strat
1996 Les Paul Standard with Duncan 59 p/u's
1952 Telecaster RI

Actually the best tone I have got to date is ...since I haven't been able to turn it up past halfway, is on the low gain setting with Anderson Strat and an A/C boost by exotic effect with middle of the road gain settings. Very nice.

[JkGriffin]

Give it some time. This amp is not supposed to knock your socks of right away ..
Whatever sound you dial in now will eventually get a lot better ... it sure did for me !

If I may?

I agree that it's not a good sounding amp out of the box... It do require some tweaking, trying and failing on all the knobs and buttons that the amp have...
But do not forget to try some adjustments on your tone knobs on the guitar either... It made a world of difference when I tried it in the store... so now I'm anxiously waiting for my own to try some more.

Vavoom - you do not list the guitars you've paired with the VM. Can't say enough times with this amp (IME) it's RUBBISH IN = RUBBISH OUT.

In a few months I owned and binned a 2001 Custom Shop Stratocaster, a 1999 PRS Custom 22 and a 2004 Les Paul Standard. Not cheap axes. They sounded rubbish through the VM. There was a good reason for this. IMHO they were rubbish sounding guitars (gotta say they all looked great, and were light to wear - I think priorities have changed all out of whack at the guitar manufacturers).

May I ask what kind of guitars you think is good sounding if THAT is rubbish sounding guitars?