New D style amp from VHT

[andyhardy]

VHT has a new D style amp street price $849

https://www.vhtamp.com/avd50

[erwin_ve]

VHT has a new D style amp street price $849

https://www.vhtamp.com/avd50

Did you this pic? Posted on social media.
I bet every amp sounds very different...

[andyhardy]

Yes they look interesting


I like the -Extra Features: Mod-Friendly Handwired Eyelet Board Construction

[talbany]

VHT has a new D style amp street price $849

https://www.vhtamp.com/avd50

The amp was unveiled at the NAMM show this year and hear it's not half bad sounding . A hand-wired 100w amp for $849 will put a little pressure on Ceriatone for those out there looking for a cheap D-Style amp. That's less than what we pay for just the parts or at least what I pay. You could get one clean it up a bit replace a few critical parts or do a few mods if you don't like it's voice and still have a nice amp for under a grand (was even thinking of offering upgrades to this amp?)

Obviously China made BTW.. It will be interesting to see how many guitar /amp companies begin to have supply chain issues with this new virus? We'll see

Tony

[rootz]

That's not a 100W amp in the pictures Tony, looks like a 50 to me.

But a great price point anyhow. If QC is good, China made can be just as good as German or UK or USA made IMHO. 60ies Marshall were made pretty cheap back then and hand wiring wasn't a kind of beauty contest either. Again, IMHO this can be just as good and should be judged on it's merits.

For the price parts selection might be fine. Looks like MOX resistors in the preamp? Blue caps, probably metallized polyester?

[pompeiisneaks]

I think some of the point is that even later fenders got to be a rats nest and consistency suffered, one amp would be amazing, the next horrible, all from the same assembly team. (the later silverface era if I recall get pretty messy)

~Phil

[ayan]

That's not a 100W amp in the pictures Tony, looks like a 50 to me.

But a great price point anyhow. If QC is good, China made can be just as good as German or UK or USA made IMHO. 60ies Marshall were made pretty cheap back then and hand wiring wasn't a kind of beauty contest either. Again, IMHO this can be just as good and should be judged on it's merits.

For the price parts selection might be fine. Looks like MOX resistors in the preamp? Blue caps, probably metallized polyester?

Yes, it's a 50 watter. I ran into Scott Lerner at the NAMM show and he told me about it. Scott had liked it, I liked it as well. The amp is supposed to be a 50W clone of S/N 183, which used (the nice type of metal film) NTE resistors. I'd been unable to find those NTEs for well over a decade and then I found a place on-line that had them for cheap and ordered a whole bunch. The pictures looked perfect. When I go the resistors, they were all metal oxide and I returned them. Anyway, maybe those are the currently available NTEs, and yes, they definitely look like metal oxides.

As far as the amp itself, it sounds very good, especially considering the price. The overdrive is a bit more Boogie than I would prefer, but there is an explanation for that. Scott spoke with the rep -- I didn't -- who told him they felt the lead sound was too bright, so they used huge snubbers on V2. Easy enough to change that and actually, easy enough to change basically anything in that amp. I think I wouldn't mind getting one of those amps for gigging. As Tony said, they're definitely cheaper than the cost of the parts for a brand new build.

Gil

[rootz]

Luckily for the handy man those snubbers are very easy to replace. Board construction make swapping resistors simple too; all wires are mounted from the top side, so cannot drop out of the eyelet. Looks like a very nice tweak platform.

What surprises me most, I think, is the fact VHT makes a Dumble clone. How come? I know them for sophisticated high gain amps, power amps, expensive accessories, etc. But clones?

[BobSimpson]

I cannot make an equivalent amp at that price point.

Parts cost me more than that.

Oh, well...

[Bear]

Luckily for the handy man those snubbers are very easy to replace. Board construction make swapping resistors simple too; all wires are mounted from the top side, so cannot drop out of the eyelet. Looks like a very nice tweak platform.

What surprises me most, I think, is the fact VHT makes a Dumble clone. How come? I know them for sophisticated high gain amps, power amps, expensive accessories, etc. But clones?

The VHT you’re thinking of is Fryette, which continues on making their old and new designs. The only continuity of old VHT to new is the name.

The current VHT has been making turret wired Champ-ish amps for a while. Ability to mod was a selling point, though I cannot say whether anyone really took them up on it.

Definitely interested to find out how good the bones are on this one. If they used reasonably good transformers this could be pretty cool.