Feel free to ask Myles

[roy d]

Myles,

 

Can you say something about bias and fixed bias amps? How does one deal with this? Are you constrained to try to find tubes that matched the ones that were taken out or, or, or...

 

thanks

Roy

[dave251]

Myles- Need your opinion on "metal" bottle NOS tubes...6l6, 6v6, 12at7, 12ax7, and several others...these are all marked JAN. I will be reselling these for a friend...

[myles_rose]

Originally posted by dave251:

Just unpacked the new Fender Pro Junior a while ago...I was bummed...sounded like a motorboat. I tried swapping places with the two 12AX7's...made it worse. Hmmmm. Pulled out the "bad" one, moved the other back to the preamp, and put a 12AT7 in the splitter hole....MUCH better, more quiet, although not as quiet as it should be...so it's going back. They'll ship me another.

 

These tubes are labelled "GT" by the way...

 

Even with all the noise, I like this little amp. Should be just the right thing for the neighborhood jam. Hopefully the next one they send will be a bit quieter....

 

BTW, one of our regulars here at the B&B is bringing me several boxes full of NOS tubes. I'll be going through them....most of them will be from the 50's and 60's, as his dad shut down the radio/tv repair about 1970...been hiding all these years. He's supposed to be sending me a list...so I'll let you all know what we've got.

Dave ....

 

The GT/Fender tubes are tubes that GT tests for Fender. It may be that the AT7 got bounced around in amp shipping at some point and went bad. On new amps, Fender will be happy to replace the tube. In a LOT of cases, on AT7's used by Fender, these are actually NOS JAN Philips, so look at the plate structure.

 

These are cool amps.

 

On your NOS stash ... good luck in finding some great pieces!

[myles_rose]

Originally posted by roy d:

Myles,

 

Can you say something about bias and fixed bias amps? How does one deal with this? Are you constrained to try to find tubes that matched the ones that were taken out or, or, or...

 

thanks

Roy

Roy,

 

This can be a very indepth subject. If you want a TON of info to weed through:

 

http://www.svetlana.com/docs/tubeworks.html

 

Basically, what I do (and did and recorded on your amp) is look at the current draw when we put in a set of "5's" to make sure we were not pushing things too far. Higher numbers will generally draw more current, lower numbers less. There are optimum ranges that each amp likes, even in a cathode biased class A amp like your Peavey.

[myles_rose]

Originally posted by dave251:

Myles- Need your opinion on "metal" bottle NOS tubes...6l6, 6v6, 12at7, 12ax7, and several others...these are all marked JAN. I will be reselling these for a friend...

Dave,

 

Metal cased tubes were early verions used in a lot of military stuff. As an example, the B-52 bombers that were around during my era in the military used a lot of metal cased 6L6's in their electronics.

 

They tend to me very microphonic in audio applications, and early amps with metal 6 series preamp tubes are greatly upgraded when these were replaced with glass bottle tubes.

[Frank C]

My Triaxis has v2 and v3 for rythm, v1 and v4 for lead channels and v5 for effects. I play funk, jazz, and fusion. What are your recommendations for 12ax7's and why? How about the 6L6's and 12ax7's in mesa 290.

[reggieisadork]

Hey Myles, this is the coolest thing anyone with a vast supply of "useless information" has ever done. If I had a wife she'd probably say the same thing.

Ok, on to my question. Have you used the THD Yellow Jackets? Are they all they're cracked up to be? And more specifically, have you used them in a Fender Blues Deville? Thanks a lot Myles. Hope you have a great Thanksgiving.

God bless,

[myles_rose]

Originally posted by Frank C:

My Triaxis has v2 and v3 for rythm, v1 and v4 for lead channels and v5 for effects. I play funk, jazz, and fusion. What are your recommendations for 12ax7's and why? How about the 6L6's and 12ax7's in mesa 290.

Frank ....

 

Hard question!

 

First off, V1 in your amp actually feeds everthing else, so the most bang for the buck is the change of just this one tube first.

 

In prefer the 12AX7C9 in V1 of your preamp, and the Formula preamp from Mesa. They are very linear, moreso than say a 7025 or ECC83, and more have more output (different than gain) than a 12AX7R2 (Sovtek 12AX7LPS). The other choice (all personal preference, would be a 12AX7R3 (Electro Harmonix).

 

In the 290, my clients use 6L6GE's or 6L6S's and matched phase inverters (12AX7C).

[myles_rose]

Originally posted by reggieisadork:

Hey Myles, this is the coolest thing anyone with a vast supply of "useless information" has ever done. If I had a wife she'd probably say the same thing.

Ok, on to my question. Have you used the THD Yellow Jackets? Are they all they're cracked up to be? And more specifically, have you used them in a Fender Blues Deville? Thanks a lot Myles. Hope you have a great Thanksgiving.

God bless,

reggieisadork ....

 

I think I have used the THD Yellow Jackets in just about every amp I can think of that I have or see.

 

In most Fenders, including yours ...

 

In Mesa Mk1, II, III, rectos

 

In most Marshalls.

 

To me, they work great. A quad of them in a 100 watt Marshall has the same sort of character as an EL-34 with the class A EL-84's, still puts out close to 30 watts or more actually (up to 40 maybe), and makes most AC-30's envious.

 

Some folks may love them, some may hate them, but I think they are great.

[Frank C]

Back to the Triaxis,In My manual it says v1 is lead 1 input, v2 input for all other modes, v3 lead and rhythm mixer( not sure what that means), v4 is lead 2, v5 effects return. I was also told the schematic shows lead 1 and 4 only engage in those modes.If i'm playing rythm channel I can pull v1 and still play rhythm channel.I'm confused about v1 and v2.This is important to me because funk and jazz clean sound are just as important as lead channel. 6L6s are Svetlana's? Could you clarify all this for me? I tried to call mesa for clarification but could'n get through.

[JonObi]

Hi Myles,

 

I am looking to re-valve my Marshall JCM900 4100 (Hi-gain Dual Reverb)head, used with a Marshall 1960A cab. It still has the stock tubes in it and, while i'm not unhappy with it's sound, i'd like to try and improve it.

 

I have very little knowledge of tubes and have been looking at your site + read many of your informative posts on the Harmony Central website,and i was hoping you could offer some advice.

 

Basically, I would like slightly more gain (i.e - modern rock), yet I want some amount of versatility as I also play Jazz and Blues, so a good,deep clean sound would be nice. I appreciate it's impossible to cover all bases, so please forgive me if what i'm saying is totally unrealistic. I find that the JCM as it is can be versatile, just a little too...well..."Marshall-like" :-). Doh!! I liked it when I got it.

 

Anyway, could you recommend a pre-amp and power-amp tube combination that will come closest to my requirements. I've been looking at the

Electro-Harmonix 12ax7's and have read good things about them, and alos the EH EL-34's. My only reservation with these is will they provide enough gain?

 

Thanks very much for your time and assistance. I look forward to hearing your reply.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

JonObi....

 

For more gain and a more agressive nature in these amps, I use a high gain selected ECC83 in V1 and V2. These have a lot more output than the stock tubes.

 

GT has them in kits in the SAG (Special Applications Group), but not a lot of them, actually, at this moment, three kits (they stay in my desk).

 

http://www.groovetubes.com/product.cfm?Product_ID=1737

 

The problem is, for Jazz and Blues, these will be too noisy, and too much front end gain and not the right ratio of power amp section gain.

 

For that sort of sound, I use in V1, a 12AX7C9.

 

To cover "more" bases, but not all, most of my clients have what is called a TT kit. This has a selected ECC83 for the "Brit" stuff, a 7025 for the "brite" stuff (60's rock), and a 12AX7C for overall stuff ... 60's, 70's, jazz and blues. Depending on the need, V1 is swapped.

 

http://www.groovetubes.com/product.cfm?Product_ID=1768

 

I also make up specific tube for specific applications:

 

http://www.groovetubes.com/product.cfm?Product_ID=1773

 

The 12AX7EH is a good tube, and perhaps the most consistant of any of the current Russian offerings.

 

The EH EL-34 is close in curves to the old Siemens, but most of my clients prefer the new tooling Chinese EL-34's. These are sold under the Ruby Tubes name, as they developed this tooling. I reviewed these tubes not too long ago:

 

http://www.guitaramplifierblueprinting.com/el34.html

 

On that page, ignore the old data on Chinese tubes. This is older stuff that Watford has not gotten around to updating. The new Chinese tubes are stronger than the Russian tubes and handle modern amp B+ voltages very well now.

 

The Chinese EL-34's are available in a straight bottle and a slightly larger bottle. Both trace about the same, both better (or at least more linear and consistant than the current Russian tubes).

 

I use the EL-34C in a LOT of clients amps.

 

The EL-34's that are NOT the E34Ls, are more in line with the original Marshall sound. The E34Ls is more agressive with more pronounced mids and lows. It is also a 30 watt tube, not a 25 watter as all other EL-34's.

 

Hope this was of some help.

 

Hi again Myles,

 

I've done a little more research on the tubes, and for the pre-amp tubes, thanks to your guidance, i think i'm going to go with the following;

 

- a ECC83 - Electro-Harmonix or JJ

 

- a 7025 - could you recommend any one in particular?

 

- and a 12AX7C - again an EH or a GTECC833S.

 

Any other suggestions would be more than welcome.

 

As for Power-Amp tubes, most things seem to point to EL34's. I have (believe it or not!!) even less knowledge on these, but have been recommended Svetlana's or the GTE34LS (all Groove Tube recommendations were from Doug Chandler @ GuitarXS). What do you think of these tubes?

 

One last thing, when ordering the Power-Amp tubes should I get a matched-quartet, or 2 pairs? (once again, I apologise for my ignorance - but i'm learning!!).

 

As always Myles, thank you very much for your time and assistance. The information you've offered has been so useful, I thank you.

 

Cheers

 

JonObi

[myles_rose]

Originally posted by Frank C:

Back to the Triaxis,In My manual it says v1 is lead 1 input, v2 input for all other modes, v3 lead and rhythm mixer( not sure what that means), v4 is lead 2, v5 effects return. I was also told the schematic shows lead 1 and 4 only engage in those modes.If i'm playing rythm channel I can pull v1 and still play rhythm channel.I'm confused about v1 and v2.This is important to me because funk and jazz clean sound are just as important as lead channel. 6L6s are Svetlana's? Could you clarify all this for me? I tried to call mesa for clarification but could'n get through.

Frank ....

 

The functions you mention are the prime functions of some of the tubes, but not the only function. V1 and V2 are 80% of the tone and gain, so start with just V1 first, and see how you like that. It may save you money. The effects loop driver is not part of the tone stage, so save your money there.

 

Mesa STR-454's are Svets

 

430's are Sovtek 5881 WXT's (6L6GC Fender too)

 

420's are Chinese.

 

Hope that helped.

[JonObi]

Hi Myles,

 

Thanks very much for the advice - I think I'll be ordering from Watford valves, who I've only heard good things about - should be ok with them.

 

When I take my amp to the amp tech, is there anything I should specify about the layout for these tubes (i.e. - which tube in v1, v2, etc...).

 

One last question (hopefully!!) - I have read about the 7025 being a 'bright' tube. Is this bright as in 'Treble' - I ask this as I play a strat mainly (w/3 single coils) and was wondering if this would sound a little too bright.

 

If so, could you suggest a tube to use instead, with the same sort of headroom for clean sounds, but maybe with a little less of a bright sound.

 

Thank you very much Myles for all your time and assistance - as always it is massively appreciated.

[Yonx]

Hey Myles!! I'm going to take your advice on the Mesa Blue Angel re-tube. Looking forward to making it sound better (love it now though!). Since you own one as well (1x12), and I've noticed that there are 2 jacks for every speaker impedance, have you ever run another speaker or cabinet with the internal? This goes for any other of you BA cats out there as well...

[myles_rose]

Originally posted by JonObi:

Hi Myles,

 

Thanks very much for the advice - I think I'll be ordering from Watford valves, who I've only heard good things about - should be ok with them.

 

When I take my amp to the amp tech, is there anything I should specify about the layout for these tubes (i.e. - which tube in v1, v2, etc...).

 

One last question (hopefully!!) - I have read about the 7025 being a 'bright' tube. Is this bright as in 'Treble' - I ask this as I play a strat mainly (w/3 single coils) and was wondering if this would sound a little too bright.

 

If so, could you suggest a tube to use instead, with the same sort of headroom for clean sounds, but maybe with a little less of a bright sound.

 

Thank you very much Myles for all your time and assistance - as always it is massively appreciated.

JonObi .....

 

Watford Valves are super folks. Their stuff is really top notch, and their matching is great.

 

As far as the layout of the preamp tubes ... no tech is necessary. These are cathode biased, meaning there is no adjustment of any sort required.

 

As far as your "one last question" ... there is no limit or count on number of questions ... so this does not have to be your last question

 

7025's for most folks in Marshall type front ends with Strats and Teles are too bright for most tastes. BUT .... if you use pedals in the front end of these amp, with many pedals, you loose treble and definition, so some of my clients use the 7025 in V1 when they use pedals. Bottom line here ... personal preference.

 

I like the 12AX7C and 12AX7R3 (Electro Harmonix) these days for an all around tube in v1.

[myles_rose]

Originally posted by Yonx:

Hey Myles!! I'm going to take your advice on the Mesa Blue Angel re-tube. Looking forward to making it sound better (love it now though!). Since you own one as well (1x12), and I've noticed that there are 2 jacks for every speaker impedance, have you ever run another speaker or cabinet with the internal? This goes for any other of you BA cats out there as well...

Yonx ....

 

The BA is a super amp. They sound great stock, even with the stock Sovteks, but improve dramatically with better tubes.

 

The nicest output tubes for the 6V6 section are NOS by a LOT. These amps show the best of great tubes as they are Class A, even in the 6V6 section, much like the Fender Tweed Deluxe, rather than the later brown and black face Deluxe.

 

The best tubes in the 6V6 section are maybe RCA Black Plates, but these are PRICY. What a lot of folks are learning to prefer, as they are sort of not as well known, are the killer French Mazda NOS tubes. I have some of these that I use and keep for friends, but one fellow I send a lot of my clients to, Doug Preston, I think still has some of these pretty darn cheap. If you are interested, his email is: djp@optonline.net

 

He also usually has some pretty inexpensive JAN Philips NOS stuff.

 

The other cool guy for these is Mike at KCA ... www.kcanostubes.com

 

I have a few of these Mazda sets on ebay at http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=14947&item=1920931632&rd=1 but the other folks are probably cheaper, as mine were matched on a curve tracer and have a lot of time in them.

 

If you want an RCA type tube, the Italian Fivre is super, made under RCA license a few decades back. I have a few of these too, but they are even more pricy. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=14947&item=1920931480&rd=1 .... These are killer in Fender tweeds, blackfaces, silver faces, and your amp too.

 

Your internal speaker is 8 ohms. To run a second speaker cab at the same time, if it is an 8 ohm cabinet, just stick your internal speaker plug into one of the four ohm jacks and the other extension 8 ohm cab into the other 4 ohm jack. This is how that works.

 

For a real BIG sound ... unplug the internal speaker and plug a 4x12 Marshall 16 ohm cabinet into the 16 ohm jack and stand back!

 

I do that all the time.

[JonObi]

JonObi .....

 

Watford Valves are super folks. Their stuff is really top notch, and their matching is great.

 

As far as the layout of the preamp tubes ... no tech is necessary. These are cathode biased, meaning there is no adjustment of any sort required.

 

As far as your "one last question" ... there is no limit or count on number of questions ... so this does not have to be your last question

 

7025's for most folks in Marshall type front ends with Strats and Teles are too bright for most tastes. BUT .... if you use pedals in the front end of these amp, with many pedals, you loose treble and definition, so some of my clients use the 7025 in V1 when they use pedals. Bottom line here ... personal preference.

 

I like the 12AX7C and 12AX7R3 (Electro Harmonix) these days for an all around tube in v1.

Hi Myles,

 

Thanks for the help - seeing as there's no limit on questions...

 

When I use pedals I run them in the FX Loop (except wah or distortion) - so i'm thinking that the 7025 may be too bright, I may still give it a try though. Could you recommend another tube, suited to good, warm clean tones in case the 7025 is not to my tastes?

 

So my best bet is to put the 12AX7R3 in v1, and the other two in either\or of the other slots? Sorry if it sounds like i'm repeating myself - it's the first time i've re-tubed my amp, so I want to make sure it's right!!

 

Thanks a lot Myles - great advice.

[myles_rose]

Originally posted by JonObi:

JonObi .....

 

Watford Valves are super folks. Their stuff is really top notch, and their matching is great.

 

As far as the layout of the preamp tubes ... no tech is necessary. These are cathode biased, meaning there is no adjustment of any sort required.

 

As far as your "one last question" ... there is no limit or count on number of questions ... so this does not have to be your last question

 

7025's for most folks in Marshall type front ends with Strats and Teles are too bright for most tastes. BUT .... if you use pedals in the front end of these amp, with many pedals, you loose treble and definition, so some of my clients use the 7025 in V1 when they use pedals. Bottom line here ... personal preference.

 

I like the 12AX7C and 12AX7R3 (Electro Harmonix) these days for an all around tube in v1.

Hi Myles,

 

Thanks for the help - seeing as there's no limit on questions...

 

When I use pedals I run them in the FX Loop (except wah or distortion) - so i'm thinking that the 7025 may be too bright, I may still give it a try though. Could you recommend another tube, suited to good, warm clean tones in case the 7025 is not to my tastes?

 

So my best bet is to put the 12AX7R3 in v1, and the other two in either\or of the other slots? Sorry if it sounds like i'm repeating myself - it's the first time i've re-tubed my amp, so I want to make sure it's right!!

 

Thanks a lot Myles - great advice.

JonObi

 

The 7025 probably will be too bright if the effects are not loading the amps input.

 

What I use most in that position are the 12AX7C's, but make sure they are 9th generation Chinese, the latest. The R3 (EH) is also good there, but not as linear as the C9, and not as full or warm, though a lot of folks like the R3.

 

Hope that helped.

[LDSGuitar]

I have a few questions about the groove tubes soul-o-single (before I run to buy one). How easy is it to switch tubes during a performance? I am wondering how much down time there would be between changing preamp tubes or changing the power tube. Further, would I be flirting with scorched fingers to even attempt changing power tubes midway through a two-hour performance? Other than that (I hate to bother you), is the single capable of achieving moderate volumes while staying clean?

 

Many thanks,

ldsguitar

[Frank C]

Hi Myles,

I contacted mesa about the Triaxis. They told me v1 is not in chain in clean rythm mode.v2 is what would normal be v1 in most amps.So the 12ax7c9 should be in v2 I believe,but since v1 is input for lead 1 and v4 is lead input for lead 2,(the main solo channels) should I consider 12ax7R3 for those?Mesa told me they are now using 12ax7EH for their amps now.Is there a chicago dealer for 12ax7C9 and R3?

[JonObi]

quote:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

JonObi .....

 

Watford Valves are super folks. Their stuff is really top notch, and their matching is great.

 

As far as the layout of the preamp tubes ... no tech is necessary. These are cathode biased, meaning there is no adjustment of any sort required.

 

As far as your "one last question" ... there is no limit or count on number of questions ... so this does not have to be your last question

 

7025's for most folks in Marshall type front ends with Strats and Teles are too bright for most tastes. BUT .... if you use pedals in the front end of these amp, with many pedals, you loose treble and definition, so some of my clients use the 7025 in V1 when they use pedals. Bottom line here ... personal preference.

 

I like the 12AX7C and 12AX7R3 (Electro Harmonix) these days for an all around tube in v1.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Hi Myles,

 

Thanks for the help - seeing as there's no limit on questions...

 

When I use pedals I run them in the FX Loop (except wah or distortion) - so i'm thinking that the 7025 may be too bright, I may still give it a try though. Could you recommend another tube, suited to good, warm clean tones in case the 7025 is not to my tastes?

 

So my best bet is to put the 12AX7R3 in v1, and the other two in either\or of the other slots? Sorry if it sounds like i'm repeating myself - it's the first time i've re-tubed my amp, so I want to make sure it's right!!

 

Thanks a lot Myles - great advice.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

JonObi

 

The 7025 probably will be too bright if the effects are not loading the amps input.

 

What I use most in that position are the 12AX7C's, but make sure they are 9th generation Chinese, the latest. The R3 (EH) is also good there, but not as linear as the C9, and not as full or warm, though a lot of folks like the R3.

 

Hope that helped.

 

--------------------

Hi Myles

 

Yep - that helped, as did all the other advice you've given me over the past week - Thank you very much.

 

I'm going to order from Doug Chandler, and I think i'm pretty sure i've got the right choice now. Anyway, this is what I think I'm going to go with;

 

- 12AX7R3

- 12AX7C9 (in v1)

- GTECC83S

- A matched quartet of GTE34LS (as recommended by Doug).

 

(p.s. - does it matter where the other 2 12AX7's go in the amp - i.e. - v2 or v3?)

 

Just to clarify - this will give me more gain and a warmer clean sound at higher volume's, then my amp gives me now?

 

Thanks again Myles, your help's always appreciated.

 

Cheers

 

JonObi

[myles_rose]

Originally posted by LDSGuitar:

I have a few questions about the groove tubes soul-o-single (before I run to buy one). How easy is it to switch tubes during a performance? I am wondering how much down time there would be between changing preamp tubes or changing the power tube. Further, would I be flirting with scorched fingers to even attempt changing power tubes midway through a two-hour performance? Other than that (I hate to bother you), is the single capable of achieving moderate volumes while staying clean?

 

Many thanks,

ldsguitar

ldsguitar....

 

The Single is like any other amp, the tubes get hot. I can change preamp tubes no problem, but I am used to that. Power tubes, I use a potholder or a special rubber tube puller. (a piece of old t-shirt works fine too).

 

Tube access is a piece of cake on the combo, and on the head, I leave the back bracket off the amp, so this is easy too. The head even has enough room to velcro something like a few stomp boxes or effects in the head (or combo) and run them to the effects loop, rather than loading the amp's input and loosing high end. It also makes for a neat and clean installation.

 

On headroom, it is more than one might imagine, but speaker efficiency can make a huge difference too. I typically run a little 6V6 in my own amp with either an open back Mesa cab with a Celestion, a Marshall 4x12 cab, or on top of a Fender Deluxe Reverb using it's speaker. This is about 6-8 watts, but for some reason that breaks all the laws of science, class A watts are louder than class A/B watts. (This is maybe why a Vox AC-30 with 30 watts or a DC-30, is as loud as an 85 watt Fender Twin Reverb). With a 6L6, EL-34, KT-88 or 6550, the power is up over 18 watts or more.

 

Recently, I used my head with a Fender Showman 1x15 cab. These are ported with a JBL speaker. 1 watt into these cabs is about 105db out, so with my little 6-8 watts, we were getting about 115db out of this "overgrown champ", and it was louder than my big 100 watt amps. Mind you, the clean headroom aspect is not the same as any 50 or 100 watt amp, but they are loud and with typical sound reinforcement, can be used in any venue.

 

The Eagles have three of them. Joe Walsh has two of the three ... one head and one combo, of the three. They seem to work fine and dandy for them I guess.

 

Guitar World has a December 2002 review that I have on the GT website at the bottom of the pages on these amps. It is a bad scan job on my part, but you can get their feelings.

 

This stuff is at:

http://www.groovetubes.com/product.cfm?Product_ID=1619

 

If there are folks in the L.A. area that want to play with these, over at Norman's Rare Guitars in Tarzana, they have a combo, a head, a 1x12 cabinet, a 2x12 cabinet, and a Solo 45. They are a GT amp dealer. Normal GT dealers do not carry amps, there are only a few of them, as the amps are out of the GT Custom Shop.

 

Anybody here in my area is also welcome to contact me and play mine. I also have a THD Univalve if you want to compare features or sound or whatever. They can be set up to use the same tube compliment as well as the same speaker cabs, for a good A/B idea. I can set things up in less than 30 seconds to go from a high headroom clean jazz KT-88 to an over the top shread metal amp, depending on your whim and taste.

 

Feel free to bring whatever guitar you like, or you can use any of mine, as I seem to have a guitar or two lying around most of the time.

 

Hope this helped.

[myles_rose]

Originally posted by Frank C:

Hi Myles,

I contacted mesa about the Triaxis. They told me v1 is not in chain in clean rythm mode.v2 is what would normal be v1 in most amps.So the 12ax7c9 should be in v2 I believe,but since v1 is input for lead 1 and v4 is lead input for lead 2,(the main solo channels) should I consider 12ax7R3 for those?Mesa told me they are now using 12ax7EH for their amps now.Is there a chicago dealer for 12ax7C9 and R3?

Frank ....

 

I would still try the tube first in V1, and then in V2 as I have found it makes a nice difference.

 

The dealers in your area would be:

 

AAA SWING CITY MUSIC

1312 Vandalia Street

Ciollinsvile, IL 62234 Phone: 618/345-6700

Fax: 618/345-2004

 

 

BYASSEE KEYBOARD AND SOUND

521 West Main St

Marion, IL 62959 Phone: 618/993-8562

Fax: 618/997-9736

 

 

ELMORE MUSICAL WHSE

3611 West Willow Knolls Road

Peoria, IL 61614 Email: bevertoncarusonmusic.com

Phone: 309/692-1253

Fax: 309/692-5109

 

 

FLORES MUSIC

523 Caroline

Pekin, IL 61554 Phone: 309/346-7731

 

 

FLYNN GUITARS

2522 Greenbay Rd.

Evanston, IL 60201 Phone: 847/491-0500

Fax: 847/491-6100

 

 

GRAVITY AUDIO

125 N Randolph

Macomb, IL 61455 Phone: 314/241-0190

Fax: 314/241-8434

 

 

GUITAR CENTER (330)

8250 S. Cicero Ave.

Burbank, IL 60459 Phone: 708/422-1400

Fax: 708/422-1857

 

 

GUITAR CENTER (332)

2375 S. Arlington Heights Rd.

Arlington Heights, IL 60005 Phone: 847/439-4600

Fax: 847/439-4636

 

 

GUITAR CENTER (334)

2633 North Halsted Avenue

Chicago, IL 60614 Phone: 773/248-2808

Fax: 770/248-3038

 

 

GUITAR CENTER (336)

298 W. Roosevelt Rd.

Villa Park, IL 60181 Phone: 630/832-2800

Fax: 630/832-8895

 

 

GUITAR CENTER (337)

143 S. Skokie Valley Road

Highland Park, IL 60035 Phone: 847/579-1830

Fax: 847/579-1850

 

 

GUZZARDO MUSIC

3010 Charles Street

Rockford, IL 61108 Phone: 815/229-5020

Fax: 815/229-1441

 

 

HARRIS TELLER INC.

7400 South Mason Avenue

Chicago, IL 60638 Phone: 708/496-2100

Fax: 708/496-2130

 

 

LUTHIER SHOPPE

1717 Wabash St.

Springfield, IL 62704 Phone: 217/546-1615

 

 

MINSTREL MUSIC

8041 N. Milwaukee Ave.

NILES, IL Phone: 847/965-2550

Fax: 847/965-2551

 

 

MUSIC GO ROUND CHICAGO

1658 N. Milwaukee Avenue

Chicago, IL 60647 Phone: 773/342-2460

Fax: 773/342-2475

 

 

MUSIC GO ROUND- ARLINGTON HEIGHTS

305 East Rand

Arlington Heights, IL 60004 Phone: 847/394-9755

Fax: 847/394-9753

 

 

MUSIC GO ROUND- ORLAND PARK

9192 West 159Th Street

Orland Park, IL 60462 Phone: 708/873-9030

Fax: 708/873-9032

 

hope that helped ....

[JonObi]

Hi Myles,

 

JonObi ....

 

Wow ... this is getting long!

I know, I know!!!! But the search is now over. Woo hoo!!!!!

I'll be ordering from Doug tommorrow - I'll let you know how things sound next week.

 

Thanks for all the help over the last week - I know more now than I did a week ago (which was absolutely nothing ), which is nice.

 

Cheers Myles

 

JonObi

[PBBPaul]

Myles,

 

I have an original Ampeg Reverberocket (1962?) that needs some help. I believe that my preamp tubes are bad (they are original). I had it retrofited a few years ago to take 6L6 power tubes due to the lack of availability of 7591's. I had it re-capped as well. Now it will occasionally work for a few minutes before shutting down altogether. I don't have it in front of me but I believe that the pre tubes are 6SN7 and/or 6SL7. Do you have any advice on where to get these and which are best?

 

Thank you as always,

 

Paul

[myles_rose]

Originally posted by JonObi:

Hi Myles,

 

JonObi ....

 

Wow ... this is getting long!

I know, I know!!!! But the search is now over. Woo hoo!!!!!

I'll be ordering from Doug tommorrow - I'll let you know how things sound next week.

 

Thanks for all the help over the last week - I know more now than I did a week ago (which was absolutely nothing ), which is nice.

 

Cheers Myles

 

JonObi

You are more than welcome

[myles_rose]

Originally posted by PBBPaul:

Myles,

 

I have an original Ampeg Reverberocket (1962?) that needs some help. I believe that my preamp tubes are bad (they are original). I had it retrofited a few years ago to take 6L6 power tubes due to the lack of availability of 7591's. I had it re-capped as well. Now it will occasionally work for a few minutes before shutting down altogether. I don't have it in front of me but I believe that the pre tubes are 6SN7 and/or 6SL7. Do you have any advice on where to get these and which are best?

 

Thank you as always,

 

Paul

Paul,

 

You can get these from Groove Tubes (you can email them at sales@groovetubes.com ) or call Rick Benson at 1-800-459-5687 toll free. There are also adaptors that need no amp mods that will allow you to use a 12AX7 or 12AT7 in their place.

[LDSGuitar]

Originally posted by myles111:

The Single is like any other amp, the tubes get hot. I can change preamp tubes no problem, but I am used to that. Power tubes, I use a potholder or a special rubber tube puller. (a piece of old t-shirt works fine too).

 

Tube access is a piece of cake on the combo, and on the head, I leave the back bracket off the amp, so this is easy too. The head even has enough room to velcro something like a few stomp boxes or effects in the head (or combo) and run them to the effects loop, rather than loading the amp's input and loosing high end. It also makes for a neat and clean installation.

 

On headroom, it is more than one might imagine, but speaker efficiency can make a huge difference too. I typically run a little 6V6 in my own amp with either an open back Mesa cab with a Celestion, a Marshall 4x12 cab, or on top of a Fender Deluxe Reverb using it's speaker. This is about 6-8 watts, but for some reason that breaks all the laws of science, class A watts are louder than class A/B watts. (This is maybe why a Vox AC-30 with 30 watts or a DC-30, is as loud as an 85 watt Fender Twin Reverb). With a 6L6, EL-34, KT-88 or 6550, the power is up over 18 watts or more.

 

Recently, I used my head with a Fender Showman 1x15 cab. These are ported with a JBL speaker. 1 watt into these cabs is about 105db out, so with my little 6-8 watts, we were getting about 115db out of this "overgrown champ", and it was louder than my big 100 watt amps. Mind you, the clean headroom aspect is not the same as any 50 or 100 watt amp, but they are loud and with typical sound reinforcement, can be used in any venue.

 

The Eagles have three of them. Joe Walsh has two of the three ... one head and one combo, of the three. They seem to work fine and dandy for them I guess.

 

Guitar World has a December 2002 review that I have on the GT website at the bottom of the pages on these amps. It is a bad scan job on my part, but you can get their feelings.

 

This stuff is at:

http://www.groovetubes.com/product.cfm?Product_ID=1619

 

If there are folks in the L.A. area that want to play with these, over at Norman's Rare Guitars in Tarzana, they have a combo, a head, a 1x12 cabinet, a 2x12 cabinet, and a Solo 45. They are a GT amp dealer. Normal GT dealers do not carry amps, there are only a few of them, as the amps are out of the GT Custom Shop.

 

Anybody here in my area is also welcome to contact me and play mine. I also have a THD Univalve if you want to compare features or sound or whatever. They can be set up to use the same tube compliment as well as the same speaker cabs, for a good A/B idea. I can set things up in less than 30 seconds to go from a high headroom clean jazz KT-88 to an over the top shread metal amp, depending on your whim and taste.

 

Feel free to bring whatever guitar you like, or you can use any of mine, as I seem to have a guitar or two lying around most of the time.

 

Hope this helped.

It helps a lot. Thanks. (now all I have to do is work up the cash)

 

ldsguitar

[myles_rose]

Originally posted by LDSGuitar:

Originally posted by myles111:

 

Hope this helped.

It helps a lot. Thanks. (now all I have to do is work up the cash)

 

ldsguitar

ldsguitar .....

 

Looks like we have a similar problem in life

[rsf1977]

Hey I saw this band the Hot Snakes and the guitar player did this thing where he tuned his amp head around and then put his guitar up to the tubes and it started making this wierd feedback kinda chirping sound. What do you think was happening and would it be bad for your tubes?