Help me not jump ship!

[sepherus]

Ok, my local GC got in a Fryette/VHT Pittbul 50cl for a stupid price. I always kind if dismissed the 50cl as the "not as heavy or versatile little brother" to the UL and CLX. I actually plugged into it for giggles and I was wrong. The thing sounds phenomenal no matter the settings. I can go from clean surf rock to brutal death on either channel, and it takes my beloved fuzz pedals like a champion of tone. Did I forget to mention it does a great Swedish death metal tone with my updated HM-2?

Being 50 watts, it can stay clean a little louder than my RM20, and it had a second channel, but it kicks in low enough for jamming at home. My old Deliverance never did that. Kt88s like running hotter and louder than el34s in my experience.

I'm trying to find a way to get it without having to sell off some of my MTS stuff. I've debated attempting to get the GC card and doing the 6 month interest free, but I don't trust my being able to pay it off in 6 months because I have baby #2 coming this month. Maybe I should grab an rm50 or 100 and get a JF Cali Lead? I could have Rob tune up the amp down the road, but the power section will never be the same and imo that is where most of the magic is in Mr. Fryette's amps. I should see of I can drop some of my unused pedal collection...

So any support or ideas people have would be a big help.

 

[sepherus]

Also, any RM22 owners that want to chime in are welcome too. There are a few I've seen online recently too.

 

[audiomidijace]

You seem to have a lot invested in modules.
The RM20, never did it for me.
The RM50 will make all of the difference in the world.
Head or combo.
However, the big question is did you like the VHT more
than any of your module tones? If not, then getting
Rob to make you a VHT mod and getting an RM50
will make you happier in the long run.
If so, the VHT could be a great solution for you
and allow you to bring in some cash for baby #2
by selling off all of those modules.

 

[trimix]

I would go ahead and get it interest free without moving anything else if it really is a stupid price. Once you get it home, plug your RM20's fx send into the Pitbull's fx return and shoot out your modules against the Pitbull's channels. Do it over multiple days until you're convinced which modules do something the Pitbull can't and which fall short. Then sell off anything your convinced has been bested.
I ended up selling my RM50 and switching to an RM4 to use with other heads after shooting them out side by side. The RM20 will run with no speaker load I believe making it a pretty ideal amp to do this with.

 

[JKD]

RM20 never really did any justice to high gain modules..I enjoyed it for clean and semi-distorted tones only..and that was after experimenting with almost every brand of EL84.

 

[sepherus]

I've had an RM50 in the past, and an RM4. I never got along with the RM50. It never seemed to cut it in a mix. I'm not sure it was healthy though. The RM4 I got rid off because I needed cash. My rm20 is a combo, but I usually run it through an Avatar 212 with a WGS ET65 and a Celestion v30 or a DVMark 412. I never thought it sounded all that great with high gain modules as a combo, but once it's going into a separate cab it sounds phenomenal. The stock combo cab is really dark and boxy sounding. I'm also running a lower gain PI tube in it which changed the feel in a great way all around. I think it's a 12at7 iirc.

If I get a head it'll honestly probably be an RM100 as I can find them cheaper. I'd probably yank a set of tubes, or run 6v6s and/or yellow jackets w/ el84s. I'd love to be able to load it up with kt88s and crank it though.

I have some over overlap in sounds now, but I'm a tone hoarder. For example I have 5 different pedals that are all Big Muff related, and because they all have a slightly different spin I haven't gotten rid of any of them. Really though I should get rid of 2 and have the one I use for guitar, one for bass and my old Sovtek for recording.

My actual mods I have consist of:
Mamba SE
MarkUS
Trilogy
Scorch
SG modded SL+
R-Verb
Stock Tweed (this thing is heavy and nasty)
Plexi/Teed
Egnater DLX
Egnater VX
Supra-Bold

There is tons of overlap there, particularly in the British gain area. But the SL+ and R-Verb don't get me those Judas Priest or Mercyful Fate sounds the Plexi/Tweed does. Conversely the R-Verb takes pedals best and gets doomiest and the SL+ does great low tuned high gain in the British flavor my other gain modules won't do.

I like to use different modules for layers while recording too.

You know what else could solve my problem? The E2...

I ran across Kylendm's videos of the Cali Lead. I know it suffers YouTube compression and all that, but it's darn convincing. I know Rob does/did own a real UL, which had to help immensely when a/bing to get it just right.

 

[Mike361]

Love muff pedals as well. I have found they sound the best with a simple blackface module with my 50 combo. That's why I have never sold that module. What versions are your pedals? I have a old green Russian and a few clones. But the Russian is the beast. I have a rm 50 head as well with a 2x12 cab. Also a 100 watt Marshall running a 4x12 EVH cab. I could never get along with small tubes. They just don't have the headroom or feel of bigger amps. Not a volume thing at all, just the feel of it. I would move the 20 and get a rm100 or 50. Your muff pedals will sound so much bigger.
Ps. I do all my new gear shopping using the no interest and as long as you pay in time it's a no brainier.

 

[Corium_AZ]

Hey, it's a no brainier... It's GC, just buy the thing, bring it home, play the crap out of it & you've got 30 days to decide to keep it or not! No questions asked return policy. Use it, lol! I do this with them all the time, sometimes just to demo gear I have no intention of keeping, lol. Hey, it's their policy...