its here!! after 3 months... zinky head

Kick ass !! Bet it rocks. :AOK :AOK

 

Dude, that's SWEET!

Does that light up in the front???
Very cool....rock on!:BEER

 

I tried the 1x12 combo and a great amp! I prefer the black covering to the BV.

now avail in a 50 watter if you need more headroom. yet to try this option.

 

Is that sitting on a 2x10?

I've heard really good things about these amps, but haven't heard any sound clips.

Where'd you get it?

 

I'd love to hear some clips!!! How's the low end on that thing? Enough volume to stand up to drums?

 

neastguy,

I sent you an email.

 

Played this amp and talked to Bruce at the Anaheim NAMM show. This is a nice piece of work....and affordable within the boutique world. Good for you, man....great buy.

 

I bought a new BV25 back in June, but I got the velvet version. I was thinking, "Why buy a black tolex version when the name of the amp is the BV?" Something just seems wrong here!

I like its sheer range of OD tones you can dial in, and its lunchbox portability, too.

The 50W version has two 6L6s in it vs. the BV25's two EL84s. I'd think there are some tonal differences between the two versions.

Neastguy, congrats on your amp! Hope it was worth the wait...

 

yes, the 50 watter uses 6L6's. I emailed Zinky and he gave me a very lengthy,detailed reply. If any indication of his customer support, I'm impressed already. I would contact him directly if any questions. great guy.

I also asked him about the pro jr since he had involvement on many of the current fender amps like vibro king, etc.

he said the 50 would have more headroom and more bass (and weighs a bit more). I use mostly low watt combos. 25 is probably enough for me. I sold all my larger gear. a 50 watt 1x12 combo might be good to keep around. the 25 is really hitting 25 watts at it's max volume w/more power tube distortion. the 50 would be more of a preamp drive tones (unless you crank it up!)

either one would be great. it was very easy to plug and play which I really like. instant gratification, little tweaking required

 

I have a Superfly (which he doesn't really make anymore). Best amp I have ever played.

I've spoken to Bruce several times. He responds to email right away. BEST customer service ever. I bought it from a guy in Phx, and he drove it up to Bruce, who once-over'd it, replaced the reverb transformer, and sent it to me (for free). He's given me a huge amount of advice on how to get the best out of his machines...and LOVES talking amps.

Even talked me out of getting a road-case.

I think once you spend a little time with it, you will really love this thing.

Advice: I find that my Zinky doesn't like time based pedals (chorus, delay, etc) in the front end (although pedal manuals say to do that.) Once I put them through the loop, it sounded great.

 

I've got the BV-50 on order . Bruce described the tone to me as the same as the 25 watter only "bigger" . Not a lot more volume.
If the Master is as good as the 25 , It'll be great.

 

Are you comparing this to something in particular, or is it just not pleasing to your ears? Just curious, since I haven't had tons of small wattage tube amps to compare the cleans to. I don't think the cleans are bad, and the more I play it, the more I like them, with or without the reverb.

Ditto!!!

He mentioned the BV25 would be good in a band with dual guitars, and the BV50 would be better in a trio format from a 'covering your sonic bases' standpoint.

----- Some other details he sent me -----

Most of the other speakers he tried didn't give him the balanced tonal spectrum he was trying to produce with this amp, nor hold up in live performance. So I guess experiment at will, but leave it alone for stage use?

The single tone pot has both the bass and treble controls connected to the same shaft. A setting of 12 o'clock has both the bass and treble on 5; a setting to the far left has bass on 10/treble on 0; a setting to the far right has bass on 0/treble on 10. The Mid switch in the up position is like having your mids on 8, while the down position is like having the mids at 2.

Try running the tone controls in the treble ranges and set your impedance to either 8 or 4 for some different tones.

Here's the tube rundown -

1) Preamp tube one, 12AX7- Guitar amplification stages 1&2 (Furthest from the power tubes)
2) Preamp tube two, 12AX7- Guitar amplification stages 3&4 (NOTE: Clean channel is only two stages, switching is via silver wire relays).
3) Preamp tube three, 12AX7- Reverb return amplifier and effects loop return
4) Preamp tube four, 12AT7- Reverb tube
5) Preamp tube five, 12AX7- (Behind the power tubes) Phase inverter, power tube driver

And of course, he had to send me a mod -

"Blue Velvet runs relatively low preamp tube voltages. Less voltage means less headroom, so the preamp distorts quicker and compresses nicely. If you want more punch, you can add resistors in parallel to the existing power supply resistors (there are two of them, both are 22k, 2 Watt are the stock value, using 22k or 10k, 2 Watt in parallel with the existing parts would increase the preamp voltage, as well as the clean headroom and punch). So long as you don't go smaller than 10k, you can't hurt anything, and tube life won't be decreased."

----- On a side note -----

Don't think I'll try the mod, as I don't need it. No matter how loud I turn up the clean channel, it stays clean for me with my Dimarzio EJ humbuckers. Might be different if I had more powerful pickups in there?

I tried five different pedals in the loop, and they all lower the overall volume different amounts. Weird, but not a problem, since I was just experimenting, and I normally run them into the front end of the amp.

My amp pops when channel switching from dirty to clean. Bruce said it happens when going from one voltage level to another really different voltage level. Anyone else have this?

 

Just got my black and creme BV25 today sent from Cave Creek guitars in AZ. I was hoping to get the head since I already have 2 1x12 cabs (one open and one closed back), but there was a long wait, and I figured that having a combo would be plenty portable.

Had a chance to play it a bit before coming back to work and I really like it alot. Wasn't sure how the one knob tone feature would hold up, but coupled with the mid switch, there's a huge variety of usable tones. Plugged in my RC and BB pedals - don't think I need them - the amp will just be used for noodling and recording on occasion, and I don't see much need for extra drive pedals at all since I can get pretty much any tone that I would want from it without them (although I will keep the timmy that's coming for the clean channel - if it's at all like the TIm that I had, should work wonders on that edge of grit/drive with the strat that the Tim did so well).

Plugged in each of my other cabs - they all sound different but not necessarily better. The open back is a mesa 1x12 with a wizard. It's a widebody and so sounds "bigger" - fantastic cleans by the way. Great thump with the earcandy closed back. Very pleased with this amp purchase.

By the way, I called the Zinky shop on a Saturday just to get their hours (expecting a machine) and Bruce himself answered the phone and we spent 15 minutes talking about the BV and the Pro Jr (which he designed). He said that amp (the PJ)was designed on a Saturday when no one else was around so he could do whatever he wanted - ha ha, worked out great in my opinion. He was the one who pointed me to Cave Creek. Great guy, very helpful and along with Robert Keeley and Paul Cochrane, the epitome of good customer service. I now have a BV and a PJ and don't see any need for any more amps.