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Post subject: Re: twin reverb mod
Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2018 6:12 am
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Professional Musician
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Location: Denver, CO, USA
I had an Evil Twin. It had a quarter-power switch that worked by lowering plate voltage.

The manual encouraged/endorsed pulling two power tubes.

With 2 tubes in quarter power mode, it was somewhere around 12.5 to 15 watts.

It was still incredibly loud. Loudest 15 watt amp I've ever heard. Louder than Blues Jrs or Orange Tiny Terrors. My theory is giant transformers and more than ample power supply give huge headroom that increases apparent/perceived volume.

Anyway, it's safe to pull 2 tubes and run one speaker. (That gives the correct impedance -- the output transformer will be perfectly happy.)

In fact, the transformer would be ok if you run two speakers. No more stress than adding an extension cab when running four tubes. That impedance mismatch will drop the power a bit -- might not be any louder than running just one speaker, while retaining the richness and fullness of 2x12 vs 1x12.

So go ahead and try it.

But at home you'll probably just barely notice a difference. Still crazy loud. (And as Tim said, it really just limits max volume, doesn't lower sensitivity -- the volume at "4" will be exactly the same.)

For band use, dropping a few dB's can be very significant. If the amp is just a little too loud.


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Post subject: Re: twin reverb mod
Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2018 6:31 am
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Location: Denver, CO, USA
Oh, and for home use a Pro Reverb isn't a better choice. Any grit/dirt would also be stupid loud. And the cleans aren't quite as rich and full as the Twin Reverb.

Lighter to carry around, and in a band the sweet spot might be the perfect volume. But since you didn't buy it to be your gigging amp, those advantages don't apply.

For home use, you got the perfect clean amp, and the benchmark pedal platform. And fulfilled a dream. Not at all a mistake.
-----------------
Maybe instead of trying to fight the nature of the beast by trying to make it quieter, embrace its spirit and unleash it?

Slap a pair of JBL D120F's in it, or a pair of EV alnico SRO's. Then you'll really have the ultimate clean combo.


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Post subject: Re: twin reverb mod
Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2018 9:19 am
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Joined: Thu Aug 07, 2014 3:25 pm
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A ten watt amp at 5 can be louder than a 100 watt amp at 5. This is the difference between volume and gain. It depends on the sensitivity of the amp and how much it multiplies the signal. This is critical for an amp to cut through a band or stay in the background.
If you look at a guitar note as an envelope of tone, it starts out very loud, decays quickly and then sustains. The gain structure of the amp determines how steep the peak to decay ratio of the envelope is. So a high gain lead amp will cut through the rhythm section and the low gain bass will dynamically stay in the background.
More than power ratings, this determines whether you have the right or wrong amp. Fender Twins have increased their gain through the generations. The old BF were the lowest, raising through the SF era. It peaked with the red knob evil twin and has now dropped back down to SF levels.


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Post subject: Re: twin reverb mod
Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2018 10:48 am
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Location: Tombstone Territory
strayedstrater wrote:
Slap a pair of JBL D120F's in it, or a pair of EV alnico SRO's. Then you'll really have the ultimate clean combo.

......And one of the most ballbustingly heavy combo amps on the planet.

:mrgreen:
Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY


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Post subject: Re: twin reverb mod
Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2018 3:49 pm
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Rock Star
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Location: ohio
thanks for the great responses guys. think i'll just leave well enough alone and enjoy it.

I like my accomplice and it works well for gigs, so I'm covered. special shout to arjay for telling it like it is, and steering me to good old handwired amps. as I said, I think I now have all I need. as far as guitars, well......


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Post subject: Re: twin reverb mod
Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2018 6:01 pm
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Aspiring Musician
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Joined: Thu Dec 12, 2013 2:54 pm
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When all is done and said, some things you buy with your heart, and not your head.

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"Where confusion abounds, there's money to be made."


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Post subject: Re: twin reverb mod
Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2018 6:40 pm
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vinyl wrote:
When all is done and said, some things you buy with your heart, and not your head.


True dat! About 100% with guitar purchases, maybe 75% with amps. And finding "that" woman?

But, I digress...
:lol:


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Post subject: Re: twin reverb mod
Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2018 7:18 pm
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BMW2002Ti wrote:
vinyl wrote:
When all is done and said, some things you buy with your heart, and not your head.


True dat! About 100% with guitar purchases, maybe 75% with amps. And finding "that" woman?

But, I digress...
:lol:

As long as we're digressing, I would never propose that you can buy (or even rent) a woman.
Well maybe you can, but that's not me.
:lol:

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"Where confusion abounds, there's money to be made."


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Post subject: Re: twin reverb mod
Posted: Wed Jul 04, 2018 4:57 pm
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Joined: Wed Jul 04, 2018 4:07 pm
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I have a 65 BF Champ w/mods for anyone to use in my studio. It’s one of a kind, but the point is, those 50’60’s practice amps are the new craving right now because of the reason you mentioned. Low volume breakup, reactive to dynamic players and circuits as simple as cake. With players micing their amps today, they are superior gigging amps (lightweight to transport and provide the best reactive tonal characteristics). Have to agree with wrong amp for the application, but the good news is someone who has an application for your amp may think it’s a good find (studio, live, house in the country etc...). With all the work your looking at putting into your amp, you could pick up a vintage Champ and build it to your liking. I had the output transformer replaced (old one was fried) with a larger output one (of the same year) to run 6L6 tubes with other bias upgrades etc... had to revearse that low hanging cap so I could squeeze a Jensen 10” in there with a new front mounting board. Changed the output to 8ohms and run a couple 25watt celestion Greenbacks 12’s. Killer setup. Starts to break up those 12’s at 5-6 on the volume knob and increases with gain from there. When switched back to the Jenson 10”, it makes a Telecaster chime away. I use it for about every project in one way or another cause players find it irresistable. Add a tube screamer with. Strat and you have that classic Fender sound. Run a Boiling Point or similar pedal and sounds like a Marshall. Truly versatile and unique. Sounds like what your looking for.
Got the amp for free cause it was dead, speaker blown, Output Trans blown. Modded by a vintage amp guy for $250.00.


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Post subject: Re: twin reverb mod
Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2018 4:06 am
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Location: ohio
update- decided to leave the amp as it is. I took it back to the builder. he payed around with it for a bit, and fixed the ticking tremolo issue. I am happy! since I don't do the picture thing yet, if you are curious, you can see pics of the blonde twinon his website, which is:

hardway.quantum-foam.com

thanks for the replies to my original question


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Post subject: Re: twin reverb mod
Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2018 12:24 am
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"Picture thing" will be nice, one day. Glad you have your amp working.

:)


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Post subject: Re: twin reverb mod
Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2018 2:27 pm
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Location: ʞɹo⅄ ʍǝN
phreddybee wrote:
you can see pics of the blonde twinon his website, which is:

hardway.quantum-foam.com


:lol:

Image


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