Should I go a VHT PB45???

[Ambient]

Hi gents,

Just wondering about pulling the trigger on a VHT Pittbull 45 1 12 combo.

Issues are:
I have read so many mixed reviews of VHT reliabilty - don't know what to take as gospel. Harmony Central is a strange beast!!!
There is such limited info on the web about them (most VHT users are metal guys) - the VHT website is just as bad as Bad Cats was!!

Im in Australia - so factory services are a no go. The amp was built around 1999 and may need a reverb tube mod........

I have read these things eat tubes -----

Pluses:
Australia no longer has a VHT dealer and these amps aren't for sale everyday. Maybe my only chance to get one.

Any advice would be much appreciated.


Should I just wait for a Memphis series????



cheers

[carbz]

I've got a 45 and really dig it. Actually of all the amps I've owned and have owned a few nice amps...Naylor, Aiken, Marshall Jube and have played a Komet 60, Concorde, Tophat emplex, Elmwood, Slo.....etc I find the PB 45 to hang with most of them and like it better then a few without having to use a drive pedal. The drawback is the amp runs very hot and I've had some tube/noise issues with mine. Probably not as well designed for reliability as the other amps mentioned but its a great sounding amp. It can do metal but not really limited to that. When you crank the master look out! Its kind of modern but vintage sounding at the same time. The stock speaker and reverb sucks IMO. I put a a Scumback in mine and its way more ear pleasing. Clearly you will have to change the (power tubes) more often then normal but sound wise its really fantastic.

[fetishfrog]

They are fantastic amps...I own 2 VHT's and have had no reliability issues, and I have beaten mine thoroughly. I own a 50ST and a D120H. The 50ST is voiced similarly to the 45, and can cover pretty much any tone except death metal, and it covers them well. Grab it if you can.

[Ambient]

thanks for the info guys.

I am looking to replace a modern fender twin, because it can't do heavy distortion. I know I shouldn't have expected it too but I brought it when I was young and knew no better!!!!

Would I be able to cover Jazz, Blues and Funk and Post Rock gigs with this amp?

[drezdin]

I love mine (the head not the combo) and I think it can cover those styles. Like carbs said, crank the master and it comes alive.

[Slick51]

I love mine...

I've owned two 50-12 combos (EL84s); one 50-12 (EL34), 4 50CLs, and this 45/4-10 (two JBL D110Fs and 2 Kendrick Blackframes) is as sweet as they come. I've found my VHTs to be bulletproof...and that Twin won't even be a memory in 6 months if you get the 45, IMHO...

Also, the EL84 reverb driver tube doesn't sound too bad either, especially in a band setting. Don't worry too much about the EF86 mod. It's not too gruesome to mod either...a local tech with a call to Stevie Fryette (VHT owner) could do it, no prob.

My 1/50 dollar

[Ambient]

Thanks again guys.

Would you believe that I have found 3 PB45's for sale in Aus right now.
Ones a head with matching 4 10 in ivory!!!! vrare over hear.

Anyway I am now tossing up between a 2003 and a 99 model -- both are the same price but the old one has a road case.

I think the newer one would be good. However I am considering buying one from the States and putting a new power tranny into it....... would VHT be cool with this. Reason for this thinking is that these combos are $2000 AUD and secondhand US ones are much cheaper - the shipping cost.

cheers

[Hamer95USA]

Hey Ambient,

I own a 2001 green vinyl VHT Pitbull 45/12 1x12 combo amp that I purchased from a fellow TGP member here last year. It's a great amp that I use to rehearse & gig with my classic hard rock/classic metal band or my Top 40 band. The amp's reliability is good, but it does get hot and will need to have its power tubes changed after a couple of years like any other tube amp. The preamp tubes I replaced when I first got the amp since the tubes in it were worn out. I didn't care much for the stock P-75E speaker that came with it so I installed an 8 ohm Celestion Vintage 30 speaker in the amp and I like it much better now. I can easily nail blackface or HiWatt clean tones in the clean channel and JCM 800 style overdrive tones in the drive channel. The later version of the Pitbull 45 amps has the Class A/AB switching, a footswitchable channel switching, boost, effects loop, and reverb. If you decide to buy the Pitbull 45, you might want the later version with the footswitchable channel switching, boost, effects lool, reverb and Class A/AB switch.

Guitar George