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Myles, I have a question out of pure curiousity. Is it possible to make an amplifier that gets 100 watts out of 4 6V6 tubes, and has anyone ever done it? I ask because it seems to me all I ever saw 6V6s used in was lower wattage amps. Just curious...

Always remember that you are unique. Just like everyone else.

 

 

 

 

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A 6V6 is pretty much a 14 watt maximum plate dissipation tube. You could probably push them to 25 watts but not for very long.

Myles S. Rose

www.guitaramplifierblueprinting.com

www.la-economy.blogspot.com

www.facebook.com/mylesr

www.twitter.com/myles111us

 

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Jamie,

 

I just posted a reply to this over on the Z Forum. Talk about timing :) I also linked the thread on my facebook page.

 

Myles S. Rose

www.guitaramplifierblueprinting.com

www.la-economy.blogspot.com

www.facebook.com/mylesr

www.twitter.com/myles111us

 

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  • 1 month later...
Myles- I have not been on here in a while. I recently bought a '66 blackface super reverb and I got a very good deal. Had all the caps and resistors changed. The tubes all seem fine. When I play the amp with a tube screamer (vol 5) the amp volume suddenly decreases like 80%. I can turn if off for 30 minutes and it comes right back on full volume. Any ideas?
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Have the tubes tested. If that is not the problem the amp needs to see a bench to verify voltage are proper and stay proper.

Myles S. Rose

www.guitaramplifierblueprinting.com

www.la-economy.blogspot.com

www.facebook.com/mylesr

www.twitter.com/myles111us

 

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I will have the tubes re-checked. If I need replacements what do you recommend in CP or NOS? Also I have heard that removing the pre in V1 will help the amp break up earlier (assuming you're playing in the reverb channel). Is this safe for the amp? Thanks for your help!
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Removing V1 will slightly raise your voltages and will disable the normal channel. Keeping the tube in there assures you always have a nice spare on hand though. Personal preference but you may not really hear that much of a difference depending on your own ears.

 

I always recommend NOS in tone stages.

 

Myles S. Rose

www.guitaramplifierblueprinting.com

www.la-economy.blogspot.com

www.facebook.com/mylesr

www.twitter.com/myles111us

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

You are quite welcome.

 

If you wish to sort of pay it forward please circulate this link and/or info.

 

 

It may seem early but it takes a bit of time to prepare Thanksgiving for 5,000+ folks.

 

Many of you have helped in the last three years. I am asking for your help again this year.

 

Please also consider sending this link to your friends and associates. Bump it once in a while to keep it visible.

 

Thank you to all of you once again.

 

http://la-economy.blogspot.com/2012/09/it-is-time-to-think-about-thanksgiving.html

 

Myles S. Rose

www.guitaramplifierblueprinting.com

www.la-economy.blogspot.com

www.facebook.com/mylesr

www.twitter.com/myles111us

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hey, Myles! :wave::cool:

 

Biasing my Fuchs Lucky 7 (old, original, 'Mk I', Gain/High/Mid/Low controls ONLY) with a DMM, nominally looking for -50mV at pin 8 of the EL34, as recommended by Fuchs. Using the same JJ tube as the amp shipped stock with when new.

 

I found it had drifted to -43mV; under-biased/hot, correct? Just for experimentation's sake, I re-set it to -52mV, a little bit over-biased/cold. I think I liked it better before.

 

What's a safe bias range here with this amp, minimum/under-biased to maximum/over-biased? I want the amp to sound warm and fat and full, with the Gain (its sole volume-control) set to about "3:00 O'Clock" (most of the way up) using the guitar's volume-controls and my "touch" to "play the amp" and vary from clean to overdriven and distorted.

Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do?

 

~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~

_ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _

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Hahhaahh! :D:thu: Already been there, too- just after posting here- I just wondered what your thoughts would be, and wanted to compare. 'Scool. :cool:

 

Can't fault your advice there, huh? :thu::cool:

Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do?

 

~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~

_ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi, Myles -

 

I need some help with an issue I have with my Hot Rod DeVille 4x10. The deal is that I bought a used late 2000's Hot Rod DeVille from a friend that runs a guitar store and I'm pretty sure he took good care of it. I took it to rehearsal yesterday and played it for about 2 and half hours; I ran a Dean Soltero loaded with Seymour Duncans into a Vox Joe Satriani Satchurator pedal and a Dunlop Crybaby Wah. We were doing a demo, so the studio guy ran a line from the Preamp Out to the mixing board with a standard instrument cable.

 

I played through the clean channel set on about 3, and a little reverb and presence. I would get this distorted sound from the amp (on 3 in the clean channel), where I would expect a fairly pristine clean sound (allowing for the relative effect of the hot SD pickups). In addition, engaging the Drive channel and More Drive (without any overdrive pedal), it sounded really flabby and "farty". Towards the end, when I would switch on the Vox overdrive the volume would drop.

 

So, at the end of the rehearsal, the amp just dies. It turns off completely, no light, no power, no sound, no nothing; just completely dead. I call my buddy who sold it and he said I might have blown the output transformer because I ran a line from the preamp out to the board, despite the fact that the manual says that is precisely one of its functions. So I bring it home, to take to the shop on Monday to get it checked out. Just out of curiosity I plugged it in the next day and, lo and behold, it switched on and worked. It still had the same distorsion problems on the clean channel (using a different guitar).

 

Can someone help me out on what this might be, so I don't get screwed by the repair shop guys? It would seem that the distorsion issue and the amp failure issue are due to different problems, but I have NO clue, as this is only my second tube amp in all my life (six months ago I had bought a Peavey 6505+ 1x12 combo, which I sold to buy the Hot Rod, because I play mostly blues and blues based hard rock and I could not get into the amp's distorsion and relative lack of clean headroom, but it never gave me ANY issues at all).

 

I really appreciate all the help you can give!

 

Regards -

Andy.

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This could be many things. Is the fact it died at the end of rehersal applicable to the problem rather than during? I don't know.

 

Were speaker left connected while you took the pre out into the board? If not, you could have caused damage to the OT

 

This amp needs to see a tech bench. It could be many things and internet help will possibly cause more damage in the short term or a longer path to resolving the problem.

 

 

Myles S. Rose

www.guitaramplifierblueprinting.com

www.la-economy.blogspot.com

www.facebook.com/mylesr

www.twitter.com/myles111us

 

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Myles,

a guy here in KC has an old SG Sytems amp listed on Craig's List for $100. Here is the ad. I remember seeing them back in the mid-70's, but I never did much with them, so I don't really recall much about them except they didn't seem to be around very long. I did see a bass player blow up a 4x10 SG amp once, which, sadly for him, wasn't a bass amp. Can you tell me if it's a total dog or worth buying? Also, how hard is it to come buy the RCA(or other manufacturer) 8417 power tube, and are they horribly expensive?

Always remember that you are unique. Just like everyone else.

 

 

 

 

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Many times an amp is "rare" is because it was never popular because the design was flawed, the tone left something to be desired or it was unreliable.

 

If you want to have a project to fiddle with and don't care about the value or expense, I suppose this would be just as good as restoration of an old TV or sewing machine. If you are looking for the amp as an eventual player I'd pass.

 

The 8417 output tubes generally run about $60-85 each when you can find them.

 

Myles S. Rose

www.guitaramplifierblueprinting.com

www.la-economy.blogspot.com

www.facebook.com/mylesr

www.twitter.com/myles111us

 

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I purchased a early 90's Peavey Classic 30 not too long ago and not to long after I had it the Blue Marvel speaker gave out. I installed a Celestion 70 80 I had lying around. My question is, I have another speaker that I would like to try, but it's only 8 ohms and the amp calls for 16 ohms. I've heard conflicting stories and was wondering if it will damage the amp if install the 8 ohm speaker?

 

Thanks

Scott

Les Paul Studio Deluxe, '74 Guild S100, '64 Strat, JCM 900 Combo, Peavey Classic 30 1x12, Peavey Classic 30 Head, CBG
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  • 1 month later...

Hi Myles,

I picked up a Fender Greta and would like to get some more clean headroom out of it. It is a 2 watt amp with a 12AX7 preamp tube and a 12AT7 power tube. I've never seen that before. What if anything can I do to get some more cleans?

Thank You

Anthony

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2 watt amps are not designed for clean headroom. You can have a tech alter the gain structure but in the end you will never have much headroom. Try a 12AY7 in V1. That is about all you can do short of modding the amp.

Myles S. Rose

www.guitaramplifierblueprinting.com

www.la-economy.blogspot.com

www.facebook.com/mylesr

www.twitter.com/myles111us

 

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Hi Myles,

I picked up a Fender Greta and would like to get some more clean headroom out of it. It is a 2 watt amp with a 12AX7 preamp tube and a 12AT7 power tube. I've never seen that before. What if anything can I do to get some more cleans?

Thank You

Anthony

2 watt amps are not designed for clean headroom. You can have a tech alter the gain structure but in the end you will never have much headroom. Try a 12AY7 in V1. That is about all you can do short of modding the amp.

 

Myles is, of course, correct; though I'd like to add that, from my experience with low-wattage tube-amps, you CAN improve your clean-tone dynamics and perceived headroom if you adjust your picking "touch"- especially if fingerstyle or pick & fingers- and roll-back your guitar's volume-controls. Not only how hard, but how and where you hit the the stings- particularly the low, wound strings, and especially the 6th/Low-E string.

 

You might also spend a little time tweaking the height of your pickups and their pole-pieces to optimize tone and balance- I've done this and had others assume that I'd upgraded to different pickups altogether!

 

I used to think that nothing less than a 60 watt tube-amp would do for me; now I find that a 7 watt tube-amp can sometimes still be too loud in a full band setting!

Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do?

 

~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~

_ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _

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Thanks Myles. I'll try the 12AY7. It seems to be a sturdy little beast, and if you use the volume and tone knobs on a single coil guitar it helps. It's a novelty amp and I bought it on Black Friday. My Pignose sounds better!

 

Just play it and have fun.

Myles S. Rose

www.guitaramplifierblueprinting.com

www.la-economy.blogspot.com

www.facebook.com/mylesr

www.twitter.com/myles111us

 

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  • 1 month later...

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