Tabs ....and ampli!?!

tvthewiredturtle wrote:

you bet... preamp tubes usually start going south after 6months of gigging and practicing, supposedly they are to last 2yrs but thats for bedroom warriors.
This doesnt mean they dont work but all the great distinct tones you first heard
are now kinda dull. ...sound familiar? maybe?

@TV
SIX MONTH????? I heard something about 10 years...

Ok, i`ll try this first. Than we will see.

@Pete: Hi Mate, you´re amp sounds very cool. That´s nearly the sound i`m looking for.

@Shaker: thanks for the Info. I was thinking over buying this amp, but with your`s and TV`s opinion i`ll better think over it again.

Thanks

Brett wrote:

tvthewiredturtle wrote:

you bet... preamp tubes usually start going south after 6months of gigging and practicing, supposedly they are to last 2yrs but thats for bedroom warriors.
This doesnt mean they dont work but all the great distinct tones you first heard
are now kinda dull. ...sound familiar? maybe?

@TV
SIX MONTH????? I heard something about 10 years...

Thanks

seriously man, NOS tubes do last upwards of 2yrs if you are a weekly giggin
guy but no way on the reissues unless your amp is bias right in the middle (which
means no killer tone, just okay tone). If your amp has a tube rectifier, they normally
go 11 to 13 months.. and they just quit totally when they go. Definitely not a tube to ignore, even power tubes tend to take out a screen grid resistor if they blow.

Take care of your tube amp and it'll take care of you

btw.. my father still at age 65 has to try to make sure I am never correct and
he has the same crap tubes in his twin amp he's had for 8yrs. It finally last month
started making crackling sounds. He plays a half hour a day at really low volumes so there is proof somewhere on the planet that if you keep your amp in one place in the corner of the family room and put the slip cover on it after every practice session and carefully wait 2 minutes before flipping your standby switch on, you too
can have progressively thinner crappier tone each yr you wait for your tubes to die.
...and he's smiling on the inside at this moment.
I think I'll charge him full retail for tubes.

Oh, i believe your words and really appreciate you comments. But this was new to me and i`m not a newbie. I will order now new Tubes for my amps!!!

About the red Flag thing (external cab with 8 Ohm speaker)
here is my manual. I use conf. 2:

tvthewiredturtle wrote:

I heard the 65' Princeton reissue with several custom shop tele at NAMM this
last week... That amp breaks up in the highs and keeps the lows..holy xmas
that thing sounded great going through the PA system..
Affordable and portable with tube reverb ... Almost as good as my old
67' Princeton Reverb!!

Tried it myself today, it totally agree - breaks up really nice in the highs. The owner of the store were really suprised himself how good that amp sounded! He had not tried himself so he really went happy and offered me a good price which I am considering.
Anyone want a Traynor YCV 40 with a V30 ?

Brett wrote:

Oh, i believe your words and really appreciate you comments. But this was new to me and i`m not a newbie. I will order now new Tubes for my amps!!!

About the red Flag thing (external cab with 8 Ohm speaker)
here is my manual. I use conf. 2:

Why does modern fender never cease to amaze me..wow. So its 8ohms, but
when you engage the ext speaker jack with another 8ohm speaker the total
load is now 4ohms, or you can put a raw 1/4 plug into the main speaker jack
which opens up the 4ohm tap on the output transformer and the extension
speaker jack is now just a 4ohm output...

not bad. this means you could get yourself a 2x12 cab with a 4ohm load just
like a bassman, disconnect the internal speaker, plug in a dummy jack to the amps speaker output and run the signal from the extension jack to the 4ohm bassman
cab.

Fun stuff man! This makes sense of the mod for earlier versions of this amp
that have a yellow/green wire sitting inside the chassis unused (no extension jack)
and you can use that instead of the 8ohm tap, to convert your amp to straght 4ohms.

All to say, you are never using the full power of that amp until you use a 4ohm load
which would allow it to run at near 100% instead of the stock internal 8ohm speaker which makes the amp run at 50% power.

You realize that is like unhooking 4 of your 8 cylinders in a V8 engine. That sucks... but it sez that this circuit design of the blues deluxe is capable of much more bassman like tendencies which means more headroom and tone spectrum for your gretsch!

tvthewiredturtle wrote:

not bad. this means you could get yourself a 2x12 cab with a 4ohm load just
like a bassman, disconnect the internal speaker, plug in a dummy jack to the amps speaker output and run the signal from the extension jack to the 4ohm bassman
cab.

good to know...

To use a good 2x12 cab is my future plan.

So, now i`ll start to "customize" my little amp. New Preamp tube is ordered. I`m just looking for a new speaker. Greenback`s only have 25 W...hm..maybe a Celestion Vintage 30...



Cool...

Brett wrote:

tvthewiredturtle wrote:

not bad. this means you could get yourself a 2x12 cab with a 4ohm load just
like a bassman, disconnect the internal speaker, plug in a dummy jack to the amps speaker output and run the signal from the extension jack to the 4ohm bassman
cab.

good to know...

To use a good 2x12 cab is my future plan.

So, now i`ll start to "customize" my little amp. New Preamp tube is ordered. I`m just looking for a new speaker. Greenback`s only have 25 W...hm..maybe a Celestion Vintage 30...



Cool...

the delicious soulful Greenback is 25watts but remember in the amp 8ohms is only 50% power, so a V30 is overkill(it'll still sound awesome of course). The Celestion G12H30 is rated at 30watts and can handle pretty much everything the V30 puts out, it just has more cone break up earlier for smoother overdrive. The V30 has always a kind of fizzy upmids bark when you hit it
with lots of overdrive. I liked my cab with a greenback and G12H30 for rock better
than the v30 cab
BUT.. when it comes to rockabilly Setzer style, he never pushes the amp that hard (turn a blonde all the way up and the overdrive is F'n awesome like ACDC but so loud you need a diaper)
so the V30 shines in delivering a really full sonic spectrum at low"ish" volumes..but
this in a closeback cab. Open backs never deliver the lows fat enough.. that
big tight fat bottom your gretsch wants to hand to your ears. Big Fierce klang, kerrang and thwomp..

you know..

Yep, got it.

Sometimes pictures helps a lot....

tvthewiredturtle wrote:

Brett wrote:

tvthewiredturtle wrote:

you bet... preamp tubes usually start going south after 6months of gigging and practicing, supposedly they are to last 2yrs but thats for bedroom warriors.
This doesnt mean they dont work but all the great distinct tones you first heard
are now kinda dull. ...sound familiar? maybe?

@TV
SIX MONTH????? I heard something about 10 years...

Thanks

seriously man, NOS tubes do last upwards of 2yrs if you are a weekly giggin
guy but no way on the reissues unless your amp is bias right in the middle (which
means no killer tone, just okay tone). If your amp has a tube rectifier, they normally
go 11 to 13 months.. and they just quit totally when they go. Definitely not a tube to ignore, even power tubes tend to take out a screen grid resistor if they blow.

Take care of your tube amp and it'll take care of you

btw.. my father still at age 65 has to try to make sure I am never correct and
he has the same crap tubes in his twin amp he's had for 8yrs. It finally last month
started making crackling sounds. He plays a half hour a day at really low volumes so there is proof somewhere on the planet that if you keep your amp in one place in the corner of the family room and put the slip cover on it after every practice session and carefully wait 2 minutes before flipping your standby switch on, you too
can have progressively thinner crappier tone each yr you wait for your tubes to die.
...and he's smiling on the inside at this moment.
I think I'll charge him full retail for tubes.

TV, Do you think the brand of Rectifier Tube has any bearing on the tone?

shaker wrote:

tvthewiredturtle wrote:

Brett wrote:

tvthewiredturtle wrote:

you bet... preamp tubes usually start going south after 6months of gigging and practicing, supposedly they are to last 2yrs but thats for bedroom warriors.
This doesnt mean they dont work but all the great distinct tones you first heard
are now kinda dull. ...sound familiar? maybe?

@TV
SIX MONTH????? I heard something about 10 years...

Thanks

seriously man, NOS tubes do last upwards of 2yrs if you are a weekly giggin
guy but no way on the reissues unless your amp is bias right in the middle (which
means no killer tone, just okay tone). If your amp has a tube rectifier, they normally
go 11 to 13 months.. and they just quit totally when they go. Definitely not a tube to ignore, even power tubes tend to take out a screen grid resistor if they blow.

Take care of your tube amp and it'll take care of you

btw.. my father still at age 65 has to try to make sure I am never correct and
he has the same crap tubes in his twin amp he's had for 8yrs. It finally last month
started making crackling sounds. He plays a half hour a day at really low volumes so there is proof somewhere on the planet that if you keep your amp in one place in the corner of the family room and put the slip cover on it after every practice session and carefully wait 2 minutes before flipping your standby switch on, you too
can have progressively thinner crappier tone each yr you wait for your tubes to die.
...and he's smiling on the inside at this moment.
I think I'll charge him full retail for tubes.

TV, Do you think the brand of Rectifier Tube has any bearing on the tone?

Well technically the rectifier has nothing to do with the tone but rather with the conversion of AC to DC current.. but because a tube rectifier doesnt react as "quick" as a solid state rectifer, a great deal of guitarist want a tube rectifier for its feel or sag as the guitarist attacks the note clean or overdriven. It feels nicer when you are playing a slab guitar to have it in a nice open back combo when you've got a say a maple neck strat or telecaster..

Having said that, some amp are built utilizing different versions of a rectifier tube, say a
Vox AC-30 uses a little GZ34 ( USA spec's it 5AR4) and being that its a psuedo Class A amp
they give that rectifier tube max voltage to keep it stiff and tight, very much not like
a reissue '59 Bassman thats using a 5UG4 large glass bottle tube rectifier...

So... you end up with players experiment with the voltage sag or tightness of an amp say with a stock 5UG4 and adjust the "sag" or feel by swapping in a 5Y3 to lower the amps headroom and getting a real sag and compression or tightening things up by moving up to a GZ34.. The only thing tighter than that to my knowledge is a Solid State Rectifier plug, and that is the exact swap in I use on a Fender Deluxe. I hate a fender deluxe's 6V6 with a gretsch but a change of its power tubes and slight bias correct allows you to put a set of 6L6 tubes in and remove the rectifer tube for a
SS rectifier plug. That amp instantly shines for hollow and semi hollow at very decent SPL.

..I guess I didnt answer you directly as you asked if "brand" might affect tone. I'm sure some will try to argue but you can only smile when their argument uses "feel" terminology.
Brand can affect your performance but not tone... A Ruby Tube GZ34 is a really nice rectifier tube and does its job for at least one yr of gigging amp performance, but a NOS frend MAZDA GZ34 will last double that..

Another good but kinda funky example is a Condom (eessh), its job is to protect you from STD's and help in Birth control... As long as the Condom is of a quality construction, it doesn matter what brand it is, technically its a physical barrier between a man and a woman genitalia( I cannot speak of the other sorry).
Brand and design can affect performance though....

tvthewiredturtle wrote:

True bypass isnt a concern on your pedals? signal attenuation... stuff like that?

Ummmm...

Well, for live stuff, I'm pretty sure nobody have noticed wether or not my pedals are true bypass anyway.... About a year ago, I came across a 301, and when I feel like haulin some extra gear, i bring it. And for recording, of course. But this weekend the DanEcho (I fixed a broken soldering, and it's still working ) was small enough to fit my carry-on luggage as we flew to the Netherlands for a gig. So it'll probably be with me on-and-off for another ten years. I use a Gollmer Booster (handmade, Swedish) to push the front end of the Bassman, and the sound is pretty good IMO.

Anders

gretschoholic wrote:

tvthewiredturtle wrote:

True bypass isnt a concern on your pedals? signal attenuation... stuff like that?

Ummmm...

Well, for live stuff, I'm pretty sure nobody have noticed wether or not my pedals are true bypass anyway.... About a year ago, I came across a 301, and when I feel like haulin some extra gear, i bring it. And for recording, of course. But this weekend the DanEcho (I fixed a broken soldering, and it's still working ) was small enough to fit my carry-on luggage as we flew to the Netherlands for a gig. So it'll probably be with me on-and-off for another ten years. I use a Gollmer Booster (handmade, Swedish) to push the front end of the Bassman, and the sound is pretty good IMO.

Anders

the Devil kills a Kitten and the angels cry when you dont use low capacitance cables and true bypass effects.

tvthewiredturtle wrote:

The
preamp tubes are 12AX7a stock tubes but the europe equivalent of vintage
american tubes are the JJ ECC803 longplates. They are great in these amps..
Tighter bass and puncy mids with sweet smooth highs.

Hey TV,

i changed the Preamp Tubes. I bought exactly the JJ ECC803.
Awesome. The gain is now a little less, it`s not that loud at 2 as is was. (but very small different)
But the sound is much better.
I changed the speaker also ( i took a Vintage30...the greenback will be taken later in my external cab).

It is not a new amp or completly different sound, it sounds like a Fender Blues Deluxe but with more punch, more "Fender"-sound. Great. Together with my cab the sound has more headroom (is this right to say in english?).

In Summer i will go for new Powertubes...!

Thanks for your suggestions.

tvthewiredturtle wrote:

gretschoholic wrote:

tvthewiredturtle wrote:

True bypass isnt a concern on your pedals? signal attenuation... stuff like that?

Ummmm...

Well, for live stuff, I'm pretty sure nobody have noticed wether or not my pedals are true bypass anyway.... About a year ago, I came across a 301, and when I feel like haulin some extra gear, i bring it. And for recording, of course. But this weekend the DanEcho (I fixed a broken soldering, and it's still working ) was small enough to fit my carry-on luggage as we flew to the Netherlands for a gig. So it'll probably be with me on-and-off for another ten years. I use a Gollmer Booster (handmade, Swedish) to push the front end of the Bassman, and the sound is pretty good IMO.

Anders

the Devil kills a Kitten and the angels cry when you dont use low capacitance cables and true bypass effects.

Gretsch -> Korg DT10 -> Gollmer Booster -> Voodoolab Sparkledrive -> Gollmer 60's Trem -> DanEcho (or RE301) -> Fender Bassman 6G6-B. I use George L's all the way. Does that at least save the kitten?

gretschoholic wrote:

tvthewiredturtle wrote:

gretschoholic wrote:

tvthewiredturtle wrote:

True bypass isnt a concern on your pedals? signal attenuation... stuff like that?

Ummmm...

Well, for live stuff, I'm pretty sure nobody have noticed wether or not my pedals are true bypass anyway.... About a year ago, I came across a 301, and when I feel like haulin some extra gear, i bring it. And for recording, of course. But this weekend the DanEcho (I fixed a broken soldering, and it's still working ) was small enough to fit my carry-on luggage as we flew to the Netherlands for a gig. So it'll probably be with me on-and-off for another ten years. I use a Gollmer Booster (handmade, Swedish) to push the front end of the Bassman, and the sound is pretty good IMO.

Anders

the Devil kills a Kitten and the angels cry when you dont use low capacitance cables and true bypass effects.

Gretsch -> Korg DT10 -> Gollmer Booster -> Voodoolab Sparkledrive -> Gollmer 60's Trem -> DanEcho (or RE301) -> Fender Bassman 6G6-B. I use George L's all the way. Does that at least save the kitten?

Kitty probably still loses a paw because the Korg DT10 is not true bypass and would need upgrading to the new Korg Pitchblack which has true bypass...
so right now your guitar is running through the entire length of the tuner and the danecho circuit whether engaged or not. You have sinned by capacitance loading and
attenuating your guitar's high end.

ps. being serious, do you hear a significant difference in your performing volume if you
take those offenders out of your signal chain?

tvthewiredturtle wrote:

gretschoholic wrote:

tvthewiredturtle wrote:

gretschoholic wrote:

tvthewiredturtle wrote:

True bypass isnt a concern on your pedals? signal attenuation... stuff like that?

Ummmm...

Well, for live stuff, I'm pretty sure nobody have noticed wether or not my pedals are true bypass anyway.... About a year ago, I came across a 301, and when I feel like haulin some extra gear, i bring it. And for recording, of course. But this weekend the DanEcho (I fixed a broken soldering, and it's still working ) was small enough to fit my carry-on luggage as we flew to the Netherlands for a gig. So it'll probably be with me on-and-off for another ten years. I use a Gollmer Booster (handmade, Swedish) to push the front end of the Bassman, and the sound is pretty good IMO.

Anders

the Devil kills a Kitten and the angels cry when you dont use low capacitance cables and true bypass effects.

Gretsch -> Korg DT10 -> Gollmer Booster -> Voodoolab Sparkledrive -> Gollmer 60's Trem -> DanEcho (or RE301) -> Fender Bassman 6G6-B. I use George L's all the way. Does that at least save the kitten?

Kitty probably still loses a paw because the Korg DT10 is not true bypass and would need upgrading to the new Korg Pitchblack which has true bypass...
so right now your guitar is running through the entire length of the tuner and the danecho circuit whether engaged or not. You have sinned by capacitance loading and
attenuating your guitar's high end.

ps. being serious, do you hear a significant difference in your performing volume if you
take those offenders out of your signal chain?

I really don't, but that could be the effect of twenty-five years of gigging with loud drummers (you know, the guitar's never loud )

I realize a difference if i play alone and try some new stuff.
With the band in a small club, bad monitoring, singing-talking people, the difference become smaller.

For Rockabilly i use a small effect chain: Guitar-Burriest Booster/Overdrive-Korg Tuner. All true bypass.
Echo is in the effect way/Poweramp in/out. (Fender Blues Deluxe)

For Rock: TC Major send in/send return, (Marshall DSL Top)
Guitar-MXR Overdrive-Tuner-Wahwah Crybaby. Thats it.

I try to use good cable also.

I really don't, but that could be the effect of twenty-five years of gigging with loud drummers (you know, the guitar's never loud )[/quote]

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yep, it's ALWAYS the DRUMMER'S fault!!!!!!

Quote :

I really don't, but that could be the effect of twenty-five years of gigging with loud drummers (you know, the guitar's

That's spot on!

Once you're out at a gig at stage volume with the drummer and rest of the band joining in the mix, those little subtleties you heard at home or in the studio are gone out the window!!

Pistol Pete wrote:

I
Yep, it's ALWAYS the DRUMMER'S fault!!!!!!

Who else?

shaker wrote:

Quote :

I really don't, but that could be the effect of twenty-five years of gigging with loud drummers (you know, the guitar's

That's spot on!

Once you're out at a gig at stage volume with the drummer and rest of the band joining in the mix, those little subtleties you heard at home or in the studio are gone out the window!!

I dont agree, I build rigs to have the subtleties at stage volume.. I have no use for helping the bedroom warrior shine his magnifying glass, I work for performing musicians
since thats what I've been myself for decades.
I do agree that no one in the audience (especially beer laden) cares about any of the stuff we talk about/impliment here BUT..
There is no way in hell I am using shite guitar cables and pedals after spending so much
hard work and money on fixin a vintage point to point fullerton built amp,


and half ass jap. gretsch SSU that I fully rebuilt with the best american parts.
This rig is a performance rig for big loud rockabilly music with class.

some of us are nut jobs and some are just nuts

btw.. whats the difference between a drummer and a pizza?
a pizza feeds a family of four............badabing!!