Groove Tubes Soul-O 30 Head

Wonderful amp. VERY versatile. I play from Jazz to Fusion to Hard Rock and if I only ever had to have one amp this would be it. The previous glowing reviews here are what convinced me to get this guy and they were dead on. I paid a little over 1K for it and couldn't be happier at that price.

Amazing. You can get the dumble sound to the vintage fender sound. I have experimented some with tubes and you have to go with JJs 6L6 power tubes. There is no other option for tone. Also, and this is a big one. I use a groove tubes 12AU7 (ECC82) in the V1 socket and then 12AX7s in the rest. It adds a punch to the clean and more guts to the OD. It also tames the reverb effect. Pure magic.

Looks to be built well. I haven't had the amp long so it's hard to judge this category.

No problems so far.

I have been playing around 15 years. Previous amp was a Rivera Knucklehead. After getting this guy I sold the Rivera because I'll never play it again. That's how good this amp is. If it were lost or stolen I would not hesitate to buy for a second even at retail cost on the groove tubes website.

The useal response I get is " I didn't know Groove Tubes made amps" I didn't either untill I happen to cme across this amp at my buddies skate shop of all places!

My amp was finished in Oct. '05. J.W. was the tech who did the little tweeks for me. Jimmy did a fantastic job. My Soul-O-30 came with KT-88's instead of the 6L6's, upon my request. Patrick & jimmy hooked me up. I also run it with 6L6's-no biasing needed. Just swap and rock.

I got my amp in Oct. '05 and waited untill now to write a review.I wanted to make sure I knew what I was saying was as honest as it could get.

Basic lay out on front for Left to right: Input, Pre-bais, Gain(with pull-boost or foot switchable), Bass, Mid, Treble, Presences, Reverb(footswithable on/off) Volume, Stand By, Power.

On the back from L to R: power plug input, mains fuse, H.T. fuse, Footswitch, speakerA(Default protection, if no speaker input or gets yanked, amp shuts down to protect itself. How cool is that?), speaker B, Impedance knob-4,8,16 ohms, return, Mix wet/dry knob, send.( Effects loop) works real cool in parallel.


Her goes.... This is by far the best amp I have ever owned. I've been able to get ANY sound that I could think of out of it and some I never knew exsited! It is a 30 watt class A amp with a 3 way pre-bais knob and a boost. And a great reverb, almost Fender like.
With pre-bias switch, you are able to add more power to the front before it even hite the pre-amp. It has High-Med-Lo selections for differnt pick ups or just tones to push it harder. this is very useful to me. I'm able to tailor my tone in many ways here for differnt pick ups and tones.
It also features passive tone controls, wich interact to each other differnt than active tone controls. They sound better to me, like more of your guitar hits the speakers instead of leaveing some tone behind.
You can also change pre-amp tubes in V4 and V5 between 12AX7 and 12AT7 to give it more or less bite. Groove Tubes even has a extra tube holder mounted in the back for a spare, and included a 12AT7 for you to try.
It also features a boost that is footswitchable along with the reverb. This is great for solos or more bite. With the pre-bais knob and the boost, it like haveing 3 amps with boost or 6 amps if so inclined!
Every feature on this amp I use. Some more than others.
I've used this exclusively for the last 4 or 5 months for practice, rehersals and gigs. Late nite jams too. Itcan sound good turned down too, Better loud, but... I have had my little girl sleeping in the very next room and able to play without disturbing her!
They use double sided double think PC boards and point to point. Truely is best of both worlds.

The guitars I mostly use are Fender Teles. I have a '67 Custom w/ Gibson PAF in the neck and Joe Barden Rails in the bridge. A'72 Custome re-issue Stock neck, unkown Hot Bridge. A '72 Thinline re-issue Stock PU's. A '50's Tele w Symore Duncan Hot lead and bridge. A Modded Strat w' Texas Specials. A '69 Thineline stock. Also A SG stock, Hammer Studio Stock Duncans,Les Paul Black Beauty Custom Stock,'92 G+L ASAT stock, '98 Fender Cyclone Stock, And played many others throught is. Mostly solid bodies with a mix bag of pick-ups.They all sound great. But you will tell with out any doubt if you got a cheap or sorry pick up or guitar. The tones that come out and the little tones you never heard before.
This amps suits my styles great. I play all kinds or music through it. From rock, blues, pop, hard rock, alternitive, new wave, punk, reggae, garage, jam, a bit of country flavor,a bit of jazz, just about anything anyone who wants to jam. The sound is in this amp.
As far noise-none! The amp is dead quite, it could be an assian. Turn is on no noise untill you strum the guitar. Unless your guitar is noisey.
The clean channle can stay clean depending on what tubes your are useing and what Volume you put it. It also has that great tube break up when you want it. With the KT-88's in so much like a cross between a Fender and a Marshell it is scarey.
The distortion on this amp is pure musical. Single ended Class A all the way. Pure beautiful tube tone. I wish I had 2 of these amps, one to run clean and the other to run dirty.
I run the haed throught the matching Groove Tube 2x12 cab. It is stock with there Classic Tone Speakers made by Eminace now I Think.It sounds great with the closed or open back option.Has a slant baffle board with all 3/4" soilid core plywood and 5/8" baffle. HEAVY!!!!! But sounds amazing!
Now bit of warning here. If you use a big pedal board like me, you will notice the tone sucking differance from straight to the amp vs. going throught the pedal board. This is not the amps fault!! This too many cables and loss signal fault. I tried useing the Effects loop for this, helps a bit, not much. Have not tried a signal booster- that may cure it, but I just shrank down my pedal board. Big improvement, but still sounds best just straight to the amp. So no too pedal friendly, but not at all against it like some amps i've owned.And once agian, not he amps fault, Cheap pedals and cables fault. Got great cables now, working on better pedals.
You also have to watch the level on your OD's. I had mine set too high and over drived the amp too much so to the point that it would compress too much and loss volume. Miles at GT helped me solve that issue. And know it rocks hard!

It has been very Dependable. Never had any problems out side of a microphonic tube, but thats not the amps fault.
I've played several gigs with it, never with a back up. Use to carry a Peavy Classic 50 4x10 as a back up, but since have sold it. I only carry extra tubes with me.

I have delt with company many times. They are the best bunch of guys you'll ever talk too. Patrick over at GT has answered every question I've had, even the dumb ones. When the tube went Microphonic on me, Patrick had a replacement SET in less than a week!!!. In fact I just call there last week to find a GT dealer in my area( just moved to NY) and Patrick answered the phone and reconizes my vioce from hello! There is always a person who answers the phone, not a machine, no menues no push this or say that. Just a real person. And they love to talk shop. On several times I've talked for at least an hour with them. They love giveing suggestion on differnt set up or tubes. And there not afraid to tell you if the most expensive tubes they have will suck in your amp or not. How many companys you know would refer you to less expecive item they have or to differnt company all togher?????
Miles there has given me great tips on line about differnt tubes and settings. Even told me where to find some great NOS tubes too.
This is by far an under rated company. IMHO they should be the bar setters that other companies should try to model after.
The amp was a one year warranty, 180 days on pre-amp tubes and 90 days on power tubes.

I know it is hard to put perfect 10's across the board. I thought hard and long on it and thought about other amps I owned and thought about how I felt 9 months later. That is how I compared my ratings here.I can't think of anther amp or guitar I've owned I could say that about!

I have been playing guitar for 23 years now.I have owned or played just about every amp out there. I wasn't looking for an amp when I came across this one. A shop where I use to live, carried GT amps for a while and I just plugged in one day and that was it!!! I was bit put off because of the price and only a one year warranty. But after talking Patrick and kept tring out the amp, I took the dive. I even would bring in my guitars and amps and A/B the amps. I spend hours and over 3 months finally bought it. Wes also gave a good deal on it( THANKS WES) it lists know for around $2400.00 amp and cab and footswich. Head about $1649.00. Only draw back now is that you can only buy directly from Groove Tubes. Wich is sad, because to really get the feel of this amp you have hear it and play it. Anyone around the East Aurora, NY. area is welcome to come check out this amp. I'm sure you will love it.
If it was stolen I'd be very upset! I would buy another just as soon as could afford it. Right now I can't, other wise I'd buy another one for the 2 tones I'd like to run, or find a used one. Or maybe a used Soul-O-45....
I would give a 9 here because it is so expensive, but a lot cheaper than most high end amps and sounds better too for a lot less money than the others want. I but up against some Fender hand wired and Marshells, even a Mesa Boogie- but for price vs. tone, the GT won.
Even to this day I am trying to find a better amp for less money-- but no luck. :)
I'm not saying there are not any better amps out there. But prices off those amps are way too rich for my blood and I'm not sure that they would sound any better or hold up longer.
The only thing differnt I wish, is that I would have found out sooner about GT amps- I'd like to have a Soul-O-45 that is no longer made.

30 watts, Reverb, Effects Loop, Pre-Amp adjustment....what more could you ask for?

I play with a Les Paul Limited Ed., Fender American Deluxe Strats, Guild Bluesbird AAA & most recently a Les Paul Std. Raw with EMG's....each guitar has it's own personality & vibe! I'm mostly into classic rock & blues, and this amp is THE BOMB! Have youever play through a Fendr amp where the clean channel SINGS, CHIMES & SHIVERS.......have you ever dug into a cranked Marshall JCM800, CRANKED and knocked-out a Zep. Riff? What if you could have BOTH, IN ONE AMP, ALL TUBE, AT THE PUSH OF A SWITCH?......THIS IS IT! The clean is SICK!, With reverb, it's even SICKER!, slam the boost........YOU'RE JIMMY.....It just doesn't get any better! The only fault I have to mention is at only 30 watts (Class A), with heavy-hitter drummers, or larger venue, you MUST MIC! Bottom line is, and we;re talking ALL TUBE AMPS......as a practice amp...CAN'T BE BEAT!...as a RECORDING AMP....FORGET ABOUT IT!.....as far as preforming live, PROBABLY NEED TO MIC THROUGH THE PA..BUT WORTH IT! I LVE IT!

AMp is solid as a Rock! It's a tube amp, so handle with care and always bring a couple extra tubes!, I have NEVER had a problem with the amp, and any question I have submitted to the Groove-Tube website has been answered in a timely, professional manner. Give them a call, and a GUITAR-GUY/GAL with field your question without hesitation! This company is ROCK-SOLID! GREAT PRODUCTS, BY & FOR GUITAR PLAYERS!

I bought my amp used.....& their website provided a full owners manual, and a phone call, answered by a human being (he was even a guita player!?) answered my questions about cabinet options, Etc. TOP NOTCH CUSTOMER SERVICE! A perfect examle of an AMERICAN COMPANY, with a QUALITY PRODUCT who is NOT affraid of TALKING with their customers and answering ANY questions abouth their products! I can't say enough about how happy I am with GROOVE-TUBES!

I have been playing guitar for 5 years, however I have been a semipro drummer almost my whole life. I know you die-hard veteran guitar players know all the jokes about drummers NOT being REAL MUSICIANS...but believe me I KNOW WHAT SOUNDS GOOD, EVEN GREAT...THIS IS IT! If it was ever lost or stolen, I would DEFINITELY get another GROOVE-TUBES amp...maybe a SOUL=O 50 or & 75, DEPENDING ON How it sounded....I just don't think you can beat a low-power, Class "A" amp with SOLID AMERICAN CONSTRUCTION!IT SOUNDS SICK!!!!!!, I have the BOOST/REVERB PEDAL SO I can't really think of anything else it really needs...it just a great amp! Match it with a 1X12 Cab, or run it in tandem with another rig...NOW YOUR THINKING LIKE SRV! JUST DO IT! 'm just a real guy that loves this product...I'm not a Groove-tube employee, but I appriciate their work and dedication. Don't get me wrong, if they sent me anything for free...I'd take it....but the truth is, sooner or later, I'd prbably end up buying it anyway....their stuff is JUST THAT GOOD! Do yourself a favor and check it out!

New built head, 30 Watts RMS Class A type (4,8, 16 Ohms),one channel with boost option. It uses five dual triodes in a Class A design, each tube performing multiple functions in the circuitry. The basic preamp controls are PREBIAS, Gain, Pull-Gain +10dB boost, Bass, Middle, Treble, Presence, Reverb and Volume.
The PREBIAS control allows to modify the bias voltage for both the V1 and the V2 preamp tube stages. It's new, because in other amps this voltage is fixed by the designer.
A lower Prebias voltage setting will give the preamp stage less output for the same given input signal. It can also be used to compensate for hotter guitar PU's. This feature is really amazing when you play different types of guitars!! I like it to switch to the MED or HI PREBIAS when I play with my Tele or give my Strat the "personal" touch!
It also has passive tone controls - so you have to consider that they are interactive with one another.
Presence control changes the the highs to the power stage and makes it brighter - good for reaction on the rooms you play in.
Tube driven long spring Accutronics Reverb is simply great!! I love it because it doesn't cut highs when you crank it up!
The Rear Panel features are speaker impedance selector, parallel FX Loop, 2 jacks for the boxes and a FS-jack (FS is optional) for Reverb and Boost.
These are the features I like! Not more - not less!!
I'm playing for about 30 years blues, rock, southern rock, country and had a lot of stuff since then. It is loud, but I use also to play with a THD Hotplate to adopt to the circumstances you have to look for. It works without a loss of tone! I will keep my old Fenders - no doubt - but this little head is the best that could happen to me (except my wife and my children)!!!

I play an Epi LP Custom with Lindy Fralin HB's, Fender Tele '60 with Blues Special from LF and a Fender Mex Powerhouse Strat. That's enough - I don't need more and expensive stuff to play and it fits to my style and my instruments like ( as we say in Germany ) "the fist on the eye" - awsome !!! The clean is the best I've ever heard!! It kicks my Fenders ass! From SRV-Blues to the Metal-fraction you have all the possibilities - no lack of tone, no fuzzy or misty tones . And if this one (Soul-O 30) isn't loud enough... Buy the the higher wattage issues, but buy one, you will not be diappointed - hands down!

When I got it the reverb didn't work. I opened the back, took the reverb box and shaked it like mixing a good drink! That was it !!
But then I noticed that there was a big sloppiness in building the box. The back panel seemed to misfit to the woodden pieces they were screwed in. So they drilled another two holes into the pieces. It was too much! They forked when I unlocked the screws. So I have some additional time to spend to rebuild it into a good shape!

When I told the problem to the dealer I purchased the item from they were very helpfull and smart. But fortunately I solved the problems by myself.

I own Fender's amps (Combos) because of the big clean tone, the bluesy touch they can give and the long tradition in experience in tone. But I must confess that I spend a lot of money to improve the efficiency of the amps to my style of music in buying tubes, speakers etc. I played VOX and others. This one I cannot improve !!!!! This is perfect for me !! I play it with two cabinets (2x12) with Tone Tubbies and Weber VST Blue Dogs - the best mixture I think (for me). If it were stolen or lost - I would buy another one in a minute, if I would have the money for it on my account. It's expensive on the first look, but there are boutique amps available with less features and less consideration. Try it!