Vox Night Train

[tot_Ou_tard]

Now this is the real cheesegrater:

15 or 7 watts 2 EL84s.

Has anyone played one?

 

[ibanezjunkie]

played one in machinehead music while i was on work experience. Was a slow week while i was there so i had some time on my hands. also ive known the store manager for years, hes always pointed me away from dodgy stuff and towards good stuff. He recommended i try this, so i did

in 2 words: loved it.

stays a nice clean until about 6 on 7watts and about 5 on 15 watts.
its hell loud and sounds awesome.

 

[tot_Ou_tard]

How VOXy & how Marshally is it?

 

[ibanezjunkie]

its got a distinct british drive when you turn it up. reminds me of the handwired marshalls.

 

[FrankenFretter]

On the way...

My Night Train should be here on Wednesday. Am I the first Fretter to get one? I also picked up an Epiphone Valve Jr. cab to go with it. Both were sale priced, so I don't feel too horribly guilty. Now all I need is an LP to go with the new amph...

 

[bigG]

Hey Frank, congrats to you, man! I've been a Vox lover/owner since the 60s. I just couldn't justify yet another amp, much less another Vox (see my sig).

But I had GAS the minute I heard abt the Night Train! Let us know what you think of it. I've seen many clips online, and I can only imagine you'll love it! :bravo:

 

[tunghaichuan]

I like the protective cage on that amp. It is very cool and reminds me of the vintage Dynaco and Eico hifi amps I used to own. :AOK:

tung

 

[ibanezjunkie]

the only part i dont like is the price.

its more than the windsor 100w head, and the bugera 6260.

and the TT, but the TT isnt in the same league.

 

[bigG]

I like the protective cage on that amp. It is very cool and reminds me of the vintage Dynaco and Eico hifi amps I used to own. :AOK:

tung

tung, my brother! The very first "high-end" audiophile gear I bought was a Dynaco pre-amp and Dynaco amp! I still have 'em boxed up in my closet! Remember their Quadaptor? I still have that, too. My first rig also consisted of two Dynaco A50s (three-ways) and two Dynaco A25s (two-ways) and sold me forever on acoustic suspension (non-ported) speaker cabs! Also still have my AR-1 turntable w a Shure cartridge/stylus (can't remember the model #). All safely boxed and stored away for many years now, along w some NAD stuff and some MacIntosh stuff...

Man, what a hi-fi sound that set-up put out! Those speakers were renowned for their bass response and balanced frequency response in those days!

Good stuff, good memories! Really glad you brought up the Dynaco name!

 

[bigG]

the only part i dont like is the price.

its more than the windsor 100w head, and the bugera 6260.

and the TT, but the TT isnt in the same league.

IJ, neither are the Peavey nor the Bugera...IMHO. It should cost more. It's in a league above all three alternatives you mentioned, again, IMHO...

 

[ibanezjunkie]

what i meant was,the TT and the Vox arent in the same league. but for the same price i could get a big high gain head.

but these are all preferences

although i do love the marshall/vox power amp saturation when you crank the volume.

 

[FrankenFretter]

the only part i dont like is the price.

its more than the windsor 100w head, and the bugera 6260.

and the TT, but the TT isnt in the same league.

It was actually about half of what I was expecting. And because it's a blem, that saved me even more (there's still 1 left on Zzounds, if anyone is interested). Once I sell my AD30VT, I should have most of the GAS guilt assuaged. It was kind of between the Mack Gem (thanks to Robert for making me GAS for a Mack...) and this one. The Gem won't ship until August, and this was available now, and at almost $200 less. Haven't given up on the Gem, but it's going to have to wait for a bit now.

BTW, this is my first all-tube amph since the 80s, when I owned a Carvin X100B, replete with a full stack of 2 4x12 cabs with Celestions. That got stolen in 1990. I hope that dirty rotten so & so gets his karmic justice. Not that I'm bitter or anything.

 

[ibanezjunkie]

a vox night train full stack would be awesome.

i played it through a 1x12 in machinehead, didnt look at the back. would it be able to run a fullstack? enough speaker outs?

 

[tunghaichuan]

I had a Dynaco ST-70 with a replacement board that I installed. It was the first hifi tube amp project I did. The replacement board used a 6GH8A in place of the expensive and hard to find stock 7199. 6GH8A tubes are about $1 each at hamfests. I bought a bunch from one old ham radio guy, and still have them.

I had a matching preamp, the PAS-3. It was completely stock.

My other two pieces of gear were an Eico HF-86 stereo power amp and matching HF-85 preamp. The power amp sounded very good for guitar, much better than the ST-70, IIRC. I still have the build manual for the HF-86, mine was built from a kit. I'm still contemplating building one from scratch. Virtually all the components are still available.

I believe that a group of investors bought the Dyna name and is now selling reissues of the classic Dynaco amps.

Sadly, I got rid of them on eBay a few years ago. Having that vintage gear is cool, but kind of a PITA to maintain. I couldn't operate them in the summer, as those power tubes put out a lot of heat.

BTW, this is getting off topic, but what would you recommend for a modern stereo setup, solid state? I don't need (and can't afford) Mark Levinson's gear, but am looking for some mid-fi level gear. Rotel? NAD? Feel free to take this to PM, if you don't want to clutter up this thread.

tung

tung, my brother! The very first "high-end" audiophile gear I bought was a Dynaco pre-amp and Dynaco amp! I still have 'em boxed up in my closet! Remember their Quadaptor? I still have that, too. My first rig also consisted of two Dynaco A50s (three-ways) and two Dynaco A25s (two-ways) and sold me forever on acoustic suspension (non-ported) speaker cabs! Also still have my AR-1 turntable w a Shure cartridge/stylus (can't remember the model #). All safely boxed and stored away for many years now, along w some NAD stuff and some MacIntosh stuff...

Man, what a hi-fi sound that set-up put out! Those speakers were renowned for their bass response and balanced frequency response in those days!

Good stuff, good memories! Really glad you brought up the Dynaco name!

 

[tot_Ou_tard]

BTW, this is getting off topic, but what would you recommend for a modern stereo setup, solid state? I don't need (and can't afford) Mark Levinson's gear, but am looking for some mid-fi level gear. Rotel? NAD? Feel free to take this to PM, if you don't want to clutter up this thread.

tung

Why not start another thread? I'd be interested in reading what you guys have to say.

 

[tunghaichuan]

Done.

Thread is here:

http://www.thefret.net/showthread.php?p=142682#post142682

tung

Why not start another thread? I'd be interested in reading what you guys have to say.