Calzone
Gear Whore #1
- Local time
- 11:51 PM
- Joined
- Nov 11, 2008
- Messages
- 16,873
- Location
- The Gateway To The Hudson Highlands
Today the most critical part of tube rolling: the pre-amp. This tube can really shape the tone a lot, and some tubes have a 3-D special quality to them. They can also help tailor a sound.
Right now a NOS RCA 7025 is in place, a tube that came with the amp. A 7025 is a low noise variant of a 12AX7. One of the criticisms is that the design of the amp has a somewhat high noise threshold. Know that all amps kinda suffer from this low level hum at idle.
In practice when playing the noise threshold goes unnoticed, and my experience is that some Germain or Dutch made tubes are made to such tight tolerances that in effect they inherently are low noise.
The German Telefunkin tubes are my favorite, and even though expensive I think these are the best. The high cost I’m cool with because these tubes have a life expectancy of 10,000 hours.
If I play every day for 2-3 hours pretty much I’m one and done for decades. Pre amp tubes are not taxed heavily, but it would be a mistake to use one as a driver near the output section that kinda gets heavy duty use and pushes lots of current.
The final tweaking will likely happen today or over the next few days. Different tubes flavor the sound. To me the Telefunkin tubes are precisely detailed in a very German way, next are Amperex which could be Dutch or in England. These two are heavily favored for really costly use for crazy ribbon mikes used in the studio. Low noise and precision for supreme quality for vocals.
My Telefunkin’s are in use in my Matchless amps which are high gain amps, but I have some Bugle Boys which are Amperex. These tubes do very well with the trebles and present a clarity that is kinda wonderful. I also have a Mullard that tends to add a midrange voicing that might kill on this amp.
The goal of all this tweaking is for a smooth warm clean that is UBER articulat that offers a touch sensitivity. I think this is why I favor a rectifier that promotes sag and is less in your face. Pretty much I want a guitar to have a horn like quality As well as the range of a piano.
One feature is that the tone controls are only a treble and bass control with no mid control. I dial the bass to 8 and the treble to 7 1/2, and the way the controls interact together as they get turned up is to dial in more mids. The overall sound of this amp has a Fender 50’s tweed flavor, but with a surfy 1960’s lush and very wet reverb, and an interesting vibrato that sounds like a Univibe.
From Victoria this amp has been called one of its “Flagship” amps. Part of the marketing is that they say it is a bit of a cross between an old tweed Fender and a Valco amp. Perhaps an exaggeration because nothing grinds and distorts like an old Valco: think Jimmy Page on Led Zepplin 2.
For me I would describe it more as a Fender tweed on steroids with a huge envelope because the speaker is rated at 75 watts and it happens to have the 15 inch speaker that has a chime in the treble as well as the ability to create a tight bottom end. At 52 pounds some people see versatility in removing a power tube to drop down the power to bedroom levels. A huge and heavy amp, and since I already own a Valco for that for me impractical.
Also so people constantly tweak and experiment, but I think I will just dial in the amp and enjoy the amp using my mixed pair of 6V6 and 6L6 with the musical sag of a low power 5Y3 rectifier.
I kinda think that this amp for me is an ideal clean amp for Jazz, Jump Blues, and perhaps Rockabillie.
Originally there was a Weber 15 inch speaker offered, and maybe that speaker flavored the amp more towards a Valco. Reviews say that Weber was kinda dark sounding meaning lacking high end response. So in fairness I have the speaker that promotes the Fender sound and I am exploiting it.
Still early, but I think this is a mighty important amp for me. The build is point-to-point wiring and made in the USA. This company is known for it’s overbuilding and durability.
My tube chart provides forensics that my amp originally was a Regal 1 that utilized only one power tube, but it was upgraded into a Regal 2 that uses two output tubes. The white Tolex covering has permanent stains and the glue has loosened along one edge. I’ll dig in, but this amp shows some road wear.
I have some purple Tolex that was used on Marshall Plexiglass heads and cabinets made in the late 60’s if I ever decide to recover the amp or to make it “louder.” My friend Cris still has some of my stuff stored in bins/totes out in Long Island. Pretty much warehoused…
”Maggie” has a meeting in Washington DC, so I can do more field testing and not be confined to my basement which is a big mess.
Cal.
Right now a NOS RCA 7025 is in place, a tube that came with the amp. A 7025 is a low noise variant of a 12AX7. One of the criticisms is that the design of the amp has a somewhat high noise threshold. Know that all amps kinda suffer from this low level hum at idle.
In practice when playing the noise threshold goes unnoticed, and my experience is that some Germain or Dutch made tubes are made to such tight tolerances that in effect they inherently are low noise.
The German Telefunkin tubes are my favorite, and even though expensive I think these are the best. The high cost I’m cool with because these tubes have a life expectancy of 10,000 hours.
If I play every day for 2-3 hours pretty much I’m one and done for decades. Pre amp tubes are not taxed heavily, but it would be a mistake to use one as a driver near the output section that kinda gets heavy duty use and pushes lots of current.
The final tweaking will likely happen today or over the next few days. Different tubes flavor the sound. To me the Telefunkin tubes are precisely detailed in a very German way, next are Amperex which could be Dutch or in England. These two are heavily favored for really costly use for crazy ribbon mikes used in the studio. Low noise and precision for supreme quality for vocals.
My Telefunkin’s are in use in my Matchless amps which are high gain amps, but I have some Bugle Boys which are Amperex. These tubes do very well with the trebles and present a clarity that is kinda wonderful. I also have a Mullard that tends to add a midrange voicing that might kill on this amp.
The goal of all this tweaking is for a smooth warm clean that is UBER articulat that offers a touch sensitivity. I think this is why I favor a rectifier that promotes sag and is less in your face. Pretty much I want a guitar to have a horn like quality As well as the range of a piano.
One feature is that the tone controls are only a treble and bass control with no mid control. I dial the bass to 8 and the treble to 7 1/2, and the way the controls interact together as they get turned up is to dial in more mids. The overall sound of this amp has a Fender 50’s tweed flavor, but with a surfy 1960’s lush and very wet reverb, and an interesting vibrato that sounds like a Univibe.
From Victoria this amp has been called one of its “Flagship” amps. Part of the marketing is that they say it is a bit of a cross between an old tweed Fender and a Valco amp. Perhaps an exaggeration because nothing grinds and distorts like an old Valco: think Jimmy Page on Led Zepplin 2.
For me I would describe it more as a Fender tweed on steroids with a huge envelope because the speaker is rated at 75 watts and it happens to have the 15 inch speaker that has a chime in the treble as well as the ability to create a tight bottom end. At 52 pounds some people see versatility in removing a power tube to drop down the power to bedroom levels. A huge and heavy amp, and since I already own a Valco for that for me impractical.
Also so people constantly tweak and experiment, but I think I will just dial in the amp and enjoy the amp using my mixed pair of 6V6 and 6L6 with the musical sag of a low power 5Y3 rectifier.
I kinda think that this amp for me is an ideal clean amp for Jazz, Jump Blues, and perhaps Rockabillie.
Originally there was a Weber 15 inch speaker offered, and maybe that speaker flavored the amp more towards a Valco. Reviews say that Weber was kinda dark sounding meaning lacking high end response. So in fairness I have the speaker that promotes the Fender sound and I am exploiting it.
Still early, but I think this is a mighty important amp for me. The build is point-to-point wiring and made in the USA. This company is known for it’s overbuilding and durability.
My tube chart provides forensics that my amp originally was a Regal 1 that utilized only one power tube, but it was upgraded into a Regal 2 that uses two output tubes. The white Tolex covering has permanent stains and the glue has loosened along one edge. I’ll dig in, but this amp shows some road wear.
I have some purple Tolex that was used on Marshall Plexiglass heads and cabinets made in the late 60’s if I ever decide to recover the amp or to make it “louder.” My friend Cris still has some of my stuff stored in bins/totes out in Long Island. Pretty much warehoused…
”Maggie” has a meeting in Washington DC, so I can do more field testing and not be confined to my basement which is a big mess.
Cal.
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