Tuesday, November 23, 2010

VHT Special 6 Amp - First Impressions

My new VHT Special 6 amp arrived a couple of hours ago and I've already given it a hard workout. My first impressions? I'm impressed! Very impressed. This little amp sounds great right out of the box.

The VHT Special 6 is a point-to-point wired tube amp that sells for $200.00. The power tube is a 6V6, the same tube that powered vintage Fender and Gibson amps and has such wonderful natural harp tone.

Here are a couple of videos I made within minutes of the UPS guy dropping it off. In the first vid I am playing a bullet mic with a Shure CM element, very similar to a vintage Green Bullet mic. In the second video I'm playing a Front & Center mic with a crystal element.







The Shure mic is plugged into the "Lo" input and the F&C mic is plugged into the "Hi" input. Otherwise, the controls were the same for both.




This little 6-watt (nominal) amp has caused me to rethink my favorite starter amps. Already, this VHT seems to have more volume and much better tone than the low-priced EL84 amps such as the Epiphone Valve Junior. It's 10-inch speaker blows away the Fender Champion 600, and it just runs rings around the old Kalamazoo amps. The amp has a natural warmth and crunchiness and it responds well to the pressure you put on the microphone. It is essentially a blackface Fender Champ with 10-inch speaker for $200. Amazing.

The VHT Special 6 amp begs for mods with its intelligent open design, eyelet board, and point-to-point wiring. The next step will be to take this little gem to Mission Amps in Denver for bench testing and upgrades. As I said, stay tuned...

Jump to Step One Mods

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