Feel free to ask Myles

[myles_rose]

Originally posted by Jotown:

Hey Myles, do you know which Phrase/Loop sampler Keller Willams uses live. I have searched the Guitar Player/Acoustic Guitar Mag, archives as well as Google/Yahoo, and have had no luck.

 

Any leads would be helpfull.

 

Also, have you ever used the Boss Phrase sampling unit?

 

Thanks in advance.

Jotown ..........

 

Sorry ... can't help you on this one, and have not used the boss unit. Try a post here on this subject and also over on www.harmony-central.com

[myles_rose]

Originally posted by Kevin F:

Hey Myles,

 

I blew out a tube on my DSL 100 Friday night at a gig. It was the second song and I didn't have a backup head so I ran direct and everthink was ok. My tech said it was the tube that runs the reverb section and that it was unusual. Have you heard of this before? The amp is only a month or two old and has been functioning great. Could it have been a bad tube from the factor?

 

I was running the head into a Crate 4ohm 4x12 (waiting for the marshall cab to ship) and have had no problems with it before.

 

Thanks for any info,

 

Kevin

Kevin,

 

Tube failure out and out used to not be all that common when tubes did not have low vacuum or gas leakage as they do today. I see this quite often using tubes from one particular vendor off the Internet that does not test their tubes in any fashion (contrary to what they say). A low vacuum tube will test normally by the way, for the first part of it's life, and then usually fail at the worst time.

 

Fcatory tubes are very inconsistant, as shown in my tube factory tests on my website.

[myles_rose]

Originally posted by Blue Note:

Myles,

 

I got the time over the weekend to install one of the matched set NOS RCA-6V6GTA's with gray plates that I got from Tube World in my Deluxe Reverb and was extremely pleased. I also finally chose the KT-66HP's over the coke bottle 6L6's in my Bantam Bass, after a few more times of swapping and re-biasing the KT's just seemed to stand above the other for me. In fact I eventually was surprised I had such a hard time deciding from the start.

 

My next project will be a silverface Champ, and Vibro Champ. I understand these are class A amps and I'm not sure how,(and if even needed) to bias one of these amps. I do not have a bias tool, I have been using a scope looking at the crossover notch.

 

Also what tubes would you recommend? Is the plate voltages a problem with these like the class AB 6V6 Fenders.

 

Thanks again for your time and knowledge.

Blue Note ...

 

The champs (with a single 6V6) are cathode biased class A and have no bias adjustment. They also run much lower plate voltages, 350 or less.

[sgguitarzz]

sgguitarzz ........

 

Of the current EL-84's, the JJ's are the best made today.

 

If you want a dynamically matched set of these rather than a statically matched set, they are at:

 

http://www.groovetubes.com/product.cfm?Product_ID=1216

Hey Myles, I checked out the link but there were different rating systems for the EL-84 tubes (1-2, 4-6, etc). Which should I pick and what is the difference. Also, all the other tubes you recommended were from VTV. I saw some of the same tubes at KCA for less. Is there any difference? Thanks.

[ManInTheBox]

So you are saying this is a good deal/reputable dealer. A good source of tubes?

Originally posted by myles111:

Originally posted by tundrkys:

Myles, what do you knoe about this guy? web page

tundrkys ......

 

I think he may be one of my blueprinting clients, and if it is who I think it is, his photo is on my website at:

 

http://www.guitaramplifierblueprinting.com/ludo.jpg

 

He is the guy standing with "Luke".

[myles_rose]

Originally posted by tundrkys:

So you are saying this is a good deal/reputable dealer. A good source of tubes?

Originally posted by myles111:

Originally posted by tundrkys:

Myles, what do you knoe about this guy? web page

tundrkys ......

 

I think he may be one of my blueprinting clients, and if it is who I think it is, his photo is on my website at:

 

http://www.guitaramplifierblueprinting.com/ludo.jpg

 

He is the guy standing with "Luke".

tundrkys .........

 

If it is the same guy, then yes. I use him for a lot of my clients on the West Coast... on the east coast I use www.dougstubes.com (Doug Preston). For NOS stuff I use Mike at www.kcanostubes.com and Charlie Kittleson at www.vacuumtube.com .... for obscure stuff and hifi tubes I use http://www.vintagelectron.com (George Low). For Integrated quads and a lot of JJ tubes, I use Bob Pletka ( www.eurotubes.com) For matched phase inverters or traced tubes, I use myself ( http://www.groovetubes.com/tubes_list.cfm?ObjectGroup_ID=107 ) anything that says "SAG" as that is my group at GT.

 

Those are my personal preferred vendors.

[Kevin F]

Thanks for the info Myles, I will probably go ahead and do a full tube replacement in the near future.

 

Thanks,

 

Kevin

[myles_rose]

Originally posted by Kevin F:

Thanks for the info Myles, I will probably go ahead and do a full tube replacement in the near future.

 

Thanks,

 

Kevin

Kevin,

 

You are more than welcome.

[Tomek]

Hello, my name is Tomek. I would like to ask You some question: what chorus pedal would You advice to me? I play rock, rock'n'roll, blues, blues-rock. I thought about Dunlop's Uni Vibe stereo chorus, some Boss chorus and Danelectro Cool Cat. I am sorry for

disturbing You and I thank You for Your reply.

 

Tomek Kuchta

[myles_rose]

Originally posted by Tomek:

Hello, my name is Tomek. I would like to ask You some question: what chorus pedal would You advice to me? I play rock, rock'n'roll, blues, blues-rock. I thought about Dunlop's Uni Vibe stereo chorus, some Boss chorus and Danelectro Cool Cat. I am sorry for

disturbing You and I thank You for Your reply.

 

Tomek Kuchta

Tomek,

 

I am not a big pedal user, but for Chorus pedals, I always did prefer the TC Electronics units. That was a long time ago, and things may have changed a lot. I'd make a post on this question and ask the folks in here as a group. I think you will get some better answers on this than I can supply with my limited expertise in this area.

[please-drive-faster]

Hello Myles,

 

I read an article where you discuss the consistency of NOS preamp tubes compared to current models.

 

I was wondering how the new Sovtek 5751 holds up to the NOS versions of the 5751, specificly the Sylvania. I haven't read much about the sovtek except that some people say that it has very low microphonics. Thanks for any reply.

[myles_rose]

Originally posted by please-drive-faster:

Hello Myles,

 

I read an article where you discuss the consistency of NOS preamp tubes compared to current models.

 

I was wondering how the new Sovtek 5751 holds up to the NOS versions of the 5751, specificly the Sylvania. I haven't read much about the sovtek except that some people say that it has very low microphonics. Thanks for any reply.

please-drive-faster ........

 

If you want a 5751, then it is still only NOS territory. The new 5751's out of the Reflector plant (Sovtek) might have a 5751 label or name, but the trace nothing at all like an original 5751, in fact, they are so far off, they should be called anything else, even 12AT7's are closer.

 

It is a tube that I cannot recommend at all.

 

If you want a real 5751, try ....

 

www.kcanostubes.com

 

www.vacuumtube.com

 

www.tubeworld.com

 

These are all great NOS folks.

[Blue Note]

Myles,

 

I got a chance to work on my silverface Champ last night. I really enjoyed playing through it and trying several different pre-amp and about 10 different 6V6's I had laying around. I had talked to you a couple months ago about four matched sets of GT6V6-HD's that I had bought several years ago for my Deluxe Reverb, and Princeton Reverb (which you did not recommend for either of these amps) well I tried one of these rated a H-4 in my Champ and even though a chord did not sound all that good compared to other 6V6's but for soloing I seemed to prefer the HD. Will this be all right to leave in the Champ? I know you had said it was sort of a low powered 6L6 and not a true 6V6.

 

Thanks again for your time.

[Blue Note]

Myles,

 

Forgot to ask in last post, but when I tried to scope my Champ I was only getting half of a sine wave. Is this normal, or do you have to do something special to scope a class A amp.

 

Thanks again.

[sgguitarzz]

sgguitarzz ........

 

Of the current EL-84's, the JJ's are the best made today.

 

If you want a dynamically matched set of these rather than a statically matched set, they are at:

 

http://www.groovetubes.com/product.cfm?Product_ID=1216

 

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

 

Hey Myles, I checked out the link but there were different rating systems for the EL-84 tubes (1-2, 4-6, etc). Which should I pick and what is the difference. Also, all the other tubes you recommended were from VTV. I saw some of the same tubes at KCA for less. Is there any difference? Thanks.

Hi Myles. I was hoping you could help me with my question above on the difference in the numerical ratings on these tubes and which would be best to use with Yellowjackets in an Ampeg Reverberocket reissue. Thanks.

[myles_rose]

Originally posted by Blue Note:

Myles,

 

I got a chance to work on my silverface Champ last night. I really enjoyed playing through it and trying several different pre-amp and about 10 different 6V6's I had laying around. I had talked to you a couple months ago about four matched sets of GT6V6-HD's that I had bought several years ago for my Deluxe Reverb, and Princeton Reverb (which you did not recommend for either of these amps) well I tried one of these rated a H-4 in my Champ and even though a chord did not sound all that good compared to other 6V6's but for soloing I seemed to prefer the HD. Will this be all right to leave in the Champ? I know you had said it was sort of a low powered 6L6 and not a true 6V6.

 

Thanks again for your time.

Blue Note,

 

The 6V6HD is actually a lower powered Russian 6L6 variant. I don't think it does all that well in 6V6 amps personally.

 

You can leave it in the Champ, but frankly, for the best Champ performance, I'd stick in a nice NOS 6V6.

[myles_rose]

Originally posted by Blue Note:

Myles,

 

Forgot to ask in last post, but when I tried to scope my Champ I was only getting half of a sine wave. Is this normal, or do you have to do something special to scope a class A amp.

 

Thanks again.

Blue Note ....

 

Did you look at the speaker with a properly grounded scope probe, have your scope sync'd properly, or better still, unplug the speaker and use a fixed load resistor.

 

You should see a complete sine waveform.

[myles_rose]

Originally posted by sgguitarzz:

sgguitarzz ........

 

Of the current EL-84's, the JJ's are the best made today.

 

If you want a dynamically matched set of these rather than a statically matched set, they are at:

 

http://www.groovetubes.com/product.cfm?Product_ID=1216

 

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

 

Hey Myles, I checked out the link but there were different rating systems for the EL-84 tubes (1-2, 4-6, etc). Which should I pick and what is the difference. Also, all the other tubes you recommended were from VTV. I saw some of the same tubes at KCA for less. Is there any difference? Thanks.

Hi Myles. I was hoping you could help me with my question above on the difference in the numerical ratings on these tubes and which would be best to use with Yellowjackets in an Ampeg Reverberocket reissue. Thanks.

The difference may be price, as both these folks have great NOS offerings.

 

On new EL-34S, I use a rating of #5 (if you want info on ratings, just drop me a line at GT (techsupport@groovetubes.com) and I will send you back a BIG 11 page document with this and more in it.

 

On GT versus non GT for the same tubes, remember, the GT's are dynamically matched, not statically matched, and tested for grid leakage, gas leakage, and low vacuum. That takes a lot of time so the cost is higher.

[milobender]

Originally posted by myles111:

Originally posted by Blue Note:

Myles,

 

Forgot to ask in last post, but when I tried to scope my Champ I was only getting half of a sine wave. Is this normal, or do you have to do something special to scope a class A amp.

 

Thanks again.

Blue Note ....

 

Did you look at the speaker with a properly grounded scope probe, have your scope sync'd properly, or better still, unplug the speaker and use a fixed load resistor.

 

You should see a complete sine waveform.

Hi guys, I hope you don't mind my jumping in here to ask a question...

 

What sort of load resistor is proper for this application? I assume you would use the same resistance as the speaker, but what power rating is sufficient?

 

Thanks,

 

Brian

[Blue Note]

Myles,

 

I spent a little more time on my Champ last night. I figured out what I was doing wrong with my scope. I had not readjusted my voltage level on my scope from my last amp which had a lot greater power output. I am able to see the whole wave now but for some reason the bottem half is distorting a lot quicker than the top. This is the reason I thought I was only seing half the signal when I got it turned up enough to make a signal the bottom was already flattened out.

 

Is this normal, it sounds fine playing with a guitar through a speaker but I have never noticed such a difference in my other class AB amps.

 

I also found some more old 6V6's lying around and after going through the whole pile again I deciced to go with a Slyvania with black plates. Don't know how old the tube is or even where it came from, do you remember any Sylvania 6V6's with black plates, and if so what do you think of them.

 

Thanks again

[Blue Note]

Milobender,

 

No I do not mind you are anybody else jumping in on any thing I have posted.

 

I will let Myles tell you what you should use because I am very new at this stuff and except for a few electronics courses in college really don't know much about electronics. I just love tube amps and have several that I could afford to collect over the years. I wish money was not a problem so I could buy more but I just can't stand to think the few that I do have are not sounding the best they could is the reason I started messing with this stuff.

 

I have two 8 ohm 100 watt resistors that I use with my scope. I plug one of the resistors into the speaker jack for a 8 ohm load or paralell the two if I need a 4 ohm then hook my scope right across the resistor.

 

This may not be right so I'm glad you asked the question Myles may say this is wrong and you'll be helping us both out.

 

Later.

[milobender]

Originally posted by Blue Note:

Milobender,

 

No I do not mind you are anybody else jumping in on any thing I have posted.

 

I will let Myles tell you what you should use because I am very new at this stuff and except for a few electronics courses in college really don't know much about electronics. I just love tube amps and have several that I could afford to collect over the years. I wish money was not a problem so I could buy more but I just can't stand to think the few that I do have are not sounding the best they could is the reason I started messing with this stuff.

 

I have two 8 ohm 100 watt resistors that I use with my scope. I plug one of the resistors into the speaker jack for a 8 ohm load or paralell the two if I need a 4 ohm then hook my scope right across the resistor.

 

This may not be right so I'm glad you asked the question Myles may say this is wrong and you'll be helping us both out.

 

Later.

Thanks Bluenote,

 

I appreciate all the help I can get! I guess I've got a similar situation, but earlier in development... I have a Fender Champ ('67), a Kalamazoo 12 Reverb, don't know the year, but it's somewhere in the mid 60's (10 bucks at a garage sale), that I want to refurbish, and I just got a Rivera TBR-1M! What a cool machine! I've spent my entire previous years of playing, 25, using solid state and only within the last year discovered tubes... wow... duh... etc... and now hopelessly hooked, obsessed, a garage sale oscilloscope, a sonic new world for me.

 

If money wasn't a problem for me... it soon would be!

 

Brian

[TieDyedDevil]

Myles --

 

From what I've read about Mesa/Boogie, the "bins" of their color-coding scheme for output tube are pretty narrow and their amps are biased conservatively for longer tube life. Is it reasonable for me to substitute tubes having different color codes in order to experiment with the effects of different kinds of tubes (as supported by the amp) and running tubes hotter or colder than stock? What are the risks in trying this without bothering to measure plate dissipation? Is M/B's spread from hottest to coldest tubes wide enough to cause problems in their own amps?

[myles_rose]

Originally posted by milobender:

Originally posted by myles111:

Originally posted by Blue Note:

Myles,

 

Forgot to ask in last post, but when I tried to scope my Champ I was only getting half of a sine wave. Is this normal, or do you have to do something special to scope a class A amp.

 

Thanks again.

Blue Note ....

 

Did you look at the speaker with a properly grounded scope probe, have your scope sync'd properly, or better still, unplug the speaker and use a fixed load resistor.

 

You should see a complete sine waveform.

Hi guys, I hope you don't mind my jumping in here to ask a question...

 

What sort of load resistor is proper for this application? I assume you would use the same resistance as the speaker, but what power rating is sufficient?

 

Thanks,

 

Brian

Brian,

 

I use a 250 watt 8 ohm resistor, so I can test most any amps with it.

 

As long as the wattage is equal or greater than the amp wattage, you will be fine.

[myles_rose]

Originally posted by Blue Note:

Milobender,

 

No I do not mind you are anybody else jumping in on any thing I have posted.

 

I will let Myles tell you what you should use because I am very new at this stuff and except for a few electronics courses in college really don't know much about electronics. I just love tube amps and have several that I could afford to collect over the years. I wish money was not a problem so I could buy more but I just can't stand to think the few that I do have are not sounding the best they could is the reason I started messing with this stuff.

 

I have two 8 ohm 100 watt resistors that I use with my scope. I plug one of the resistors into the speaker jack for a 8 ohm load or paralell the two if I need a 4 ohm then hook my scope right across the resistor.

 

This may not be right so I'm glad you asked the question Myles may say this is wrong and you'll be helping us both out.

 

Later.

Good call .....

 

Myles

[myles_rose]

Originally posted by milobender:

Originally posted by Blue Note:

Milobender,

 

No I do not mind you are anybody else jumping in on any thing I have posted.

 

I will let Myles tell you what you should use because I am very new at this stuff and except for a few electronics courses in college really don't know much about electronics. I just love tube amps and have several that I could afford to collect over the years. I wish money was not a problem so I could buy more but I just can't stand to think the few that I do have are not sounding the best they could is the reason I started messing with this stuff.

 

I have two 8 ohm 100 watt resistors that I use with my scope. I plug one of the resistors into the speaker jack for a 8 ohm load or paralell the two if I need a 4 ohm then hook my scope right across the resistor.

 

This may not be right so I'm glad you asked the question Myles may say this is wrong and you'll be helping us both out.

 

Later.

Thanks Bluenote,

 

I appreciate all the help I can get! I guess I've got a similar situation, but earlier in development... I have a Fender Champ ('67), a Kalamazoo 12 Reverb, don't know the year, but it's somewhere in the mid 60's (10 bucks at a garage sale), that I want to refurbish, and I just got a Rivera TBR-1M! What a cool machine! I've spent my entire previous years of playing, 25, using solid state and only within the last year discovered tubes... wow... duh... etc... and now hopelessly hooked, obsessed, a garage sale oscilloscope, a sonic new world for me.

 

If money wasn't a problem for me... it soon would be!

 

Brian

Brian ....

 

Your TBR1M, you will love it ....

 

I know a bit about these:

 

http://www.guitaramplifierblueprinting.com/Dscf0010.jpg

[myles_rose]

Originally posted by TieDyedDevil:

Myles --

 

From what I've read about Mesa/Boogie, the "bins" of their color-coding scheme for output tube are pretty narrow and their amps are biased conservatively for longer tube life. Is it reasonable for me to substitute tubes having different color codes in order to experiment with the effects of different kinds of tubes (as supported by the amp) and running tubes hotter or colder than stock? What are the risks in trying this without bothering to measure plate dissipation? Is M/B's spread from hottest to coldest tubes wide enough to cause problems in their own amps?

TieDyedDevil .......

 

Even with Mesa's tubes, most of their amps are overbiased and run too cool for my personal tastes. The scale from Mesa to GT is:

 

Mesa vs Groove Tubes scale

Red 4

Yellow 4

Green 5

Gray 5

Blue 6

White 6

 

If when using a #6, if I am still at less than 55% or so ID, I just go to a #7 ... outside of Mesa's range, but nicer for the tone.

 

Within Mesa's range, you will not see problems and have very long tube life.

 

If you want to stray from this range, you need to check ID.

[milobender]

Brian[/qb]

Brian ....

 

Your TBR1M, you will love it ....

 

I know a bit about these:

 

******Picture of TBR-1M*******

 

Thanks Myles, That's a picture of my new baby! I love this amp. It definately wants tweaking, but unlike alot of other posts I've read, I like to tweak... it can change right along with my ecclectic-gordian-knot moods.

 

I should receive a Bias Rite by the first of next week; and I'm going to give you a call as you offered.

 

Thanks again for all the great forums/chats/threads... It's really great information, and tremendously generous of you to provide so much time and energy.

 

Alas, you've (nearly single handedly) turned me into the beast the corporate world is hating at the moment... an employee spending the better part of the work day reading totally non work oriented info on the web!!! Great Stuff.

 

Brian

 

Oh, and my wife informed me over lunch that she's a GASS... a Gear Acquisition Syndrom Survivor!

[TieDyedDevil]

Originally posted by myles111:

Originally posted by TieDyedDevil:

Myles --

 

From what I've read about Mesa/Boogie, the "bins" of their color-coding scheme for output tube are pretty narrow and their amps are biased conservatively for longer tube life. Is it reasonable for me to substitute tubes having different color codes in order to experiment with the effects of different kinds of tubes (as supported by the amp) and running tubes hotter or colder than stock? What are the risks in trying this without bothering to measure plate dissipation? Is M/B's spread from hottest to coldest tubes wide enough to cause problems in their own amps?

TieDyedDevil .......

 

Even with Mesa's tubes, most of their amps are overbiased and run too cool for my personal tastes. The scale from Mesa to GT is:

 

Mesa vs Groove Tubes scale

Red 4

Yellow 4

Green 5

Gray 5

Blue 6

White 6

 

If when using a #6, if I am still at less than 55% or so ID, I just go to a #7 ... outside of Mesa's range, but nicer for the tone.

 

Within Mesa's range, you will not see problems and have very long tube life.

 

If you want to stray from this range, you need to check ID.

Hmmmm, that's what I suspected. Which leaves me a bit confused about M/B's guidance to replace tubes only with the same bias.

 

I wonder whether they're trying to ensure that the amp sounds "the same" as when it left the factory, or just trying to avoid a run on their stocks of hotter tubes.

[Curly Dan]

Myles:

a belated thanks to you for looking at my Bassman last weekend at Norm's ...

I got home, rebiased, and switched the Sovtek 12AX7 with the 12AX7C you gave me, and whaddya know, it knocked down a lot of the the background noise, and sounded a lot smoother to me ...

I also got some KT66's (GT #2's) to try, but they're so !$%$^%& BIG they don't fit. I might just pull the chassis, though, just to give 'em a try.

 

I followed your link to Victoria's site and read Mark's comments regarding FRED's. Do you have any experience or opinion on using these in the rectifier section? They sound intriguing.

 

Thanks again,

Curly Dan