My VHT UL arrives this week...

[garthfluff]

Any of the owners out there got any tips?

[Sepultorture]

yeah, don't give up on it so easily, tweak and tweak and tweak and trust me you will find your sound.

plus the amp is EXTREMELY picky what kind of Cabs it likes, so you might need to experiment on that one. i recommend VHT fatbottom 4x12 cabs

James (7 dying trees) recommends Celestion 85's or classic lead 80's

[zimbloth]

I'd do a search on here, I've had a million discussions about just such a topic you can read about. I've even posted pics of my settings and stuff like that.

You're also welcome to PM me or other users if you'd like.

Congrats and good luck

[Daemoniac]

I have no VHT, but it does have a 6 bnd EQ, and my amp does have one of those; make sure you tweak it. It can make the difference between a rawer, normal sound, and a really compressed, liquid distortion.

Of course, not speaking on actual experience, its only an assumption, but i def think it will be at least similar Have fun with it dude!

[7 Dying Trees]

OK tips:

1) Get used to how the amp sounds, it's a bit of a shock as it's going to be tight and dry. It's a good thing, but it does show up a lot of inconsistencies in peoples playing they may have never noticed before. Having said that, when you hear them you can then fix them. This amp wioll improve your playing.

2) Boosts are nice, a clean boost of a tubescreamer is nice, but not necessary as the amp has more gain thatn you'll probably ever need and just sounds great anyway.

3) Get the best sound you can out of the amp before messing with the EQ. Basically get it so that the amp sounds great with a flat EQ. If you then need to EQ it after that, then do it subtely so that the EQ and non-EQ both sound cool, that way you effectively can have another "channel" in a way.

4) Have fun and crank it

Also, when it comes to cabs, speakers that I like are celestion 85's and classic lead 80's (which sound really good with a selection of amps) as they both have a really sweet midrange, soft non piercing highs (really nice for lead playing) and tight punchy bottom end.

Zimbloth and a few others really are adamant about the VHT fatbottom cabs, so I'd actually recommend you try out the fat bottom, try out a cab with celestion lead 80's, and possibly a c90 loaded mesa cab if you can. This amp is picky about speakers, it really is. I am also using orange cabs with replaced speakers btw.

[7 Dying Trees]

Ah just seen you're in scotland, in which case, if you don't want to stump up the 800£ (or whatever it is) for the VHT cab, then go find a marshall cab, sell the speakers and buy some classic lead 80's (as the 85's are ridiculously hard to find )

Basically I spent a year trying to buy a marshall cab loaded with classic lead 80's that sounded awesome with both my triaxis/rivera and the VHT (and 5150...the whole lot). The reason i got celestion 85's is because for some reason i remember that those were the speakers in it, but then found out they were classic lead 80's, hence why i know both sound good... Basically an 80's or earlier 1960B cab (in any state of tolex disrepair, you actually want it for the wood as they were still doing a good job), or get an orange cab and swap speakers.

[Apophis]

congrats and we;re waiting for PICS

[Sepultorture]

yeah i looked at the Celestion site and never even saw 85's there, so i imagine they might be discontinued

[7 Dying Trees]

They are definately discontinued! You can find the in old peavey butcher cabs though, and some old rivera's, they pop up from time to time, but mainly in the US and are a bit of a bitch to track down!

Classic Lead 80's are nice though, and you can still get them.

[garthfluff]

I've got a V30 loaded Framus Dragon cab at the moment, so it looks like the V30s will be getting taken out of that for the 80s.

[7stringless]

I run cl80's and v30's with my VHT. CL80's on top and v30's on the bottom. I've used 75's as well. All sound great and make the amp sound more alive. Although I should mention that the cl80's needed a lot of break in time.

J

[Sepultorture]

Originally Posted by 7stringless

I run cl80's and v30's with my VHT. CL80's on top and v30's on the bottom. I've used 75's as well. All sound great and make the amp sound more alive. Although I should mention that the cl80's needed a lot of break in time.

J

I wonder what that cab would sound like in an X pattern

[blackrobedone]

Trust your ears when it comes to cabs and such. I had a Mesa with V30s and it didn't sound good, but then every other cab I've used it has sounded good (Rivera, Marshall, hell, even a Behringer). So you don't necessarily need the holy grail of speakers and plywood.

Dude is right about the eq. Don't mess with it at first. Go flat and tweak everything else.

If you don't like that clangy sound you get on chords get used to it. It will not go away. New preamp tubes will not fix it. That's how the amp sounds. I love the sound of single notes on it but A string power chords sound very . . . different.

You can boost or not - but really you don't get much more out of VHT UL with the gain past 6. Might as well boost if you turn to 7 and you need more. I use a BB AC Preamp and it works the best of the 4 overdrives I've used with it.

Just leave the Presence and Depth at 5 or below. In fact, I've got everything at about 5 even on the front of the amp (maybe mids at 4). I don't think it makes a difference in tone whether the channel volume is high and the master low or vice versa. Also, there is one button that seems to have very little effect - it's the button that's supposed to give more gain as you play higher notes. I don't hear it personally.

Good luck!

Stick with it though, if you're not instantly in love. I wasn't sure about it at first but it has survived many an amp shoot-out since I've kept it. I will probably own it forever.

[FortinAmps]

Originally Posted by garthfluff

Any of the owners out there got any tips?

It was my main gig amp for many years and I still own it. Awesome amp for metal in my opinion.

If you have the UL with the graphic EQ, use it sparingly. Barely moving the graphic EQ sliders with yield large changes. If the foot pedal gets on your nerves, save the head aches and get an RJM Amp gizmo to handle the switching. RJM even make the break out cables from the amp to the switcher. I wish that was around when I needed it.

Cheers,
Mike

[garthfluff]

Thanks for all the responses guys.

7DT: I'm looking into the 80s, seems I shouldn't lose out to much selling on the v30s and buying the 80s so I'll be getting that done when work dies down a bit in the next 2 weeks. My Mesa Single and 6505+ are getting shipped today. So hopefully I'll have this to me by the weekend. I got a steal on this, far too good for me to pass up. Don't worry, you'll be getting more than a few pics when it arrives too.

[7 Dying Trees]

Cool The 80's do sound nice, but I have tio admit that the ones I base my opinion on are broken in, but, I will be getting a set for my other orange cab.

And if you already have an orange cab, then give that a shot, you may like it with the v30's, as I know it doesn't sound bad through mine. I do prefer the 80's/85's though. Hell, you could even just get a set, try them out, and then see which you like best, if you don't like the classic lead 80's I'd do a swap for my v30's with you.

[Nick]

garthfluff where did you get your VHT?