It is currently Mon Mar 16, 2020 5:52 pm

All times are UTC - 7 hours



Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 12 posts ] 
Author Message
Post subject: '74 Twin Reverb long story, wanna hear it?
Posted: Fri Apr 26, 2013 11:15 pm
Offline
Hobbyist
Hobbyist

Joined: Sat Apr 20, 2013 9:14 pm
Posts: 11
Hi Fender fans, first off I'm new to the site. I joined because I recently purchased my first tube amp, and I'm pretty pumped about it.

I found a 1974 Silverface Twin Reverb on ebay. Shipped from California to SK Canada, I paid about $1000 total. Not bad, I think seeing that Blackface amps are going for $2500. I also paid about $50 for a new footswitch for the rev/vib.
It's definitely seen it's share of gigs, but still shows pretty decent. It came with Celestion Vintage 30 speakers. Also 10 Groove tubes. The 6L6 tubes are "6" rating.

As I waited for my amp to arrive, I started researching and found all kinds of interesting things out. Goodies and Mods. So, I jumped the gun and ordered a blackface kit, matched resistors for the output tubes and a re-cap kit (I have electronic experience).

I got it. I've been playing guitar for 11 years. I use a '96 Jag-stang and an '07 Strat. I have all solid state amps. Marshall MG 10w, '75 Traynor Group Two 100w head w/matching 312 cabinet(odd and LOUD!) and a Vox VT50(too much stuff). And now my Twin. As soon as I plugged in and strummed the first few chords, I instantly got what the tube amp hype was all about. It sounded like it came from the heavens. I can never go back to SS.

Stil waiting for parts, I decided to have a peek at the filter caps. Layed it down, got the cover off to find it had new looking Sprague Atoms. Set it back up, went to play it, nothing but an awful screeching sound. I checked if tubes were loose, no. I pulled the chassis out to look for anything obvious, nothing. I did happen to notice almost the entire amp had been re-capped with sprage atoms. Even the CH2 tone caps were Orange Drops. I panicked and took it to a good amp guy.
He found it was just a cold solder joint had come loose... Whew!! But to make some $, he also told me 3 of my pre-amp tubes were bad and replaced them with JJ's. He also told me 2 of my 6L6's are microphonic. I got it home, working again. I was happy. Kind of. I had all these parts coming I didn't really need.

So, I decided to go ahead and do the blackface mod. All but the two resistors by the filter caps as suggested to try first. It sounded AWFUL! I thought I ruined my amp. I changed those and it was good again. Not sure if I like the mod better or not. It's awesome both ways. I also left in the disc cap on the reverb jack, tried without, liked the reverb sound better with the cap in place. After going that far i figured, what the hell... I replaced the filter caps with the F&T ones I bought. Then I replaced the orange drop caps in CH2 with the Jupiter Vintage tone ones I bought. The CH1 caps were stock, so I put the orange drops in there.
After all this, it sounds pretty awesome I think. Then I get into tubes...

I checked the bias using the 1 ohm resistor method. My GT's were nowhere near a matched set. I ordered a matched quad of Groove Tubes 6L6GE "7" rating. I like how my amp sounds and I like the clean headroom as I use pedals for distortion. I got them, and there was only THREE in the box! WTF!? Of course, he had no more... So, I sent 'em back. Gave up on the Groove tubes and ordered a cryo-treated matched quad of TAD 6L6GC's. Hopefully I get 4. In the meantime, I got a bunch of pre-amp tubes coming. Telefunkens, Tung-sol, JAN Phillips, Ei, ect. Today a 1948 GE 12ax7 and some matched Mullards showed up. I put the GE in V1. The Mullards sound GREAT in V2 and V4. I'm just gonna mix n match till I find my sound. TOO much fun!

Bottom line, I love this Twin, I hope it's the last amp I ever buy.
Feel free to comment, ask questions.
Thanks for reading.


Top
Profile
Fender Play Winter Sale 2020
Post subject: Re: '74 Twin Reverb long story, wanna hear it?
Posted: Sat Apr 27, 2013 2:06 am
Offline
Rock Icon
Rock Icon
User avatar

Joined: Fri Feb 05, 2010 4:31 am
Posts: 14049
Location: Province de Québec, Canada
Dingz wrote:

Bottom line, I love this Twin, I hope it's the last amp I ever buy.
.


Never say that ; last amp ah ah !


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: '74 Twin Reverb long story, wanna hear it?
Posted: Sat Apr 27, 2013 3:54 am
Offline
Rock Star
Rock Star
User avatar

Joined: Sat Jul 03, 2010 2:18 pm
Posts: 6544
" 1948 GE 12ax7 "

Do these tubes have tilted square getters loops and long black plates --- With 12AX7 in a "stop sign" on the tube? I ask because Sylvania was the first to make the 12AX7, in 1947. And I don't believe that RCA or GE started making this tube until 1949 or 1950.

In any event, if that GE is quiet and strong testing --- this era 12AX7 (1947-1952) is one of the finest 12AX7 ever made. I bought 10 sleeves of 1947 JAN-JHS Sylvania 12AX7 a billion years ago (don't ask the price --- it'll make you sick). These tubes rivaled any Telefunken, Raytheon, Bugle Boy/Mullard, TMBP 5751, etc.

By the time I finished off the last of the 9th sleeve of these puppies, they cost ~$80 to $125 each, for guaranteed non-microphonic tube.

The Sylvania of this era was one of the few tubes with absolutely matched triodes and testing way over 2000 mHohms per plate. Awesome tubes.


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: '74 Twin Reverb long story, wanna hear it?
Posted: Sat Apr 27, 2013 6:19 am
Offline
Hobbyist
Hobbyist

Joined: Sat Apr 20, 2013 9:14 pm
Posts: 11
BMW2002Ti wrote:
" 1948 GE 12ax7 "

Do these tubes have tilted square getters loops and long black plates --- With 12AX7 in a "stop sign" on the tube? I ask because Sylvania was the first to make the 12AX7, in 1947. And I don't believe that RCA or GE started making this tube until 1949 or 1950.

In any event, if that GE is quiet and strong testing --- this era 12AX7 (1947-1952) is one of the finest 12AX7 ever made. I bought 10 sleeves of 1947 JAN-JHS Sylvania 12AX7 a billion years ago (don't ask the price --- it'll make you sick). These tubes rivaled any Telefunken, Raytheon, Bugle Boy/Mullard, TMBP 5751, etc.

By the time I finished off the last of the 9th sleeve of these puppies, they cost ~$80 to $125 each, for guaranteed non-microphonic tube.

General Electric 12AX7 vacuum tube. This tube has dual long darker grayish ladder plates with dual rivets and dual holes on each side, and a U getter with double bars opposite the post.

"From what I have read, the 12AX7 tube was first introduced commercially by RCA in late 1947, and picked up by other manufacturers starting in 1948. GE was one of those that started production in 1948.

While the date code printing is a little rubbed off, as you can see from the photos the first number of the date code appears to be a “4”, with the last two digits clearly “43”. While the second number is not clear, based upon the shape and time period the only reasonable conclusion is that it is an “8”, making the date code of 48-43 (43rd week of 1948). This tube would, therefore, seem to be from very early GE manufacture (it also has the 188 RETMA code), although I cannot absolutely say for certain. Please, therefore, take this into account when bidding.

I tested this tube for Gm on my Weston 981-3, where the reject point (65%) is 1040. This tube tested at 1100/1150. The tube was clean for shorts/leakage

The Sylvania of this era was one of the few tubes with absolutely matched triodes and testing way over 2000 mHohms per plate. Awesome tubes.
"

I cut and pasted that from the page where I bought the GE tube. I only paid $6 for that tube... Haha! Not the sound I'm looking for in CH2, but sounds great in CH1.


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: '74 Twin Reverb long story, wanna hear it?
Posted: Sat Apr 27, 2013 9:37 am
Offline
Rock Star
Rock Star
User avatar

Joined: Tue Mar 01, 2011 3:10 pm
Posts: 5646
Location: Gateway to the West
First off welcome to the forum! Now I got to let you know...we have a unwritten rule here, and that is post pics or it didn't happen. We call it amp porn...show us some.

T2

_________________
-----------------------------------------------------------
What time is it? It's Fender Time.


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: '74 Twin Reverb long story, wanna hear it?
Posted: Sun Apr 28, 2013 6:25 pm
Offline
Professional Musician
Professional Musician
User avatar

Joined: Thu Oct 14, 2010 8:54 am
Posts: 1179
Location: Florida
Dingz wrote:
Bottom line, I love this Twin, I hope it's the last amp I ever buy.


You need two. Would hate to see you at a gig without a backup. Even if it's a different model. Super Reverb, Vibrolux, Deluxe, etc...

Photos!!!

Art


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: '74 Twin Reverb long story, wanna hear it?
Posted: Sun Apr 28, 2013 7:59 pm
Offline
Hobbyist
Hobbyist
User avatar

Joined: Wed Mar 07, 2012 10:23 pm
Posts: 94
Location: Denver, Colorado
What kind of speakers did the amp have originally?

_________________
Fender American Series Stratocaster
Marshall JTM612
Marshall JTMC12
Gibson Vintage Reissue strings
DiMarzio pickups
Souldier guitar strap
Spectraflex cables


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: '74 Twin Reverb long story, wanna hear it?
Posted: Mon Apr 29, 2013 5:55 pm
Offline
Hobbyist
Hobbyist

Joined: Sat Apr 20, 2013 9:14 pm
Posts: 11
artisan4 wrote:
What kind of speakers did the amp have originally?

Not sure. The Celestions were in it when I got it.


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: '74 Twin Reverb long story, wanna hear it?
Posted: Mon Apr 29, 2013 6:02 pm
Offline
Hobbyist
Hobbyist

Joined: Sat Apr 20, 2013 9:14 pm
Posts: 11
I can't figure out how to post pics!


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: '74 Twin Reverb long story, wanna hear it?
Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2013 5:20 am
Offline
Rock Star
Rock Star
User avatar

Joined: Sat Jul 03, 2010 2:18 pm
Posts: 6544
Dingz,

To post photos, you need to upload to a photo sharing site. Like PhotoBucket.

Then, copy & paste the IMG code:

Where this:

{URL=http://s1191.photobucket.com/user/BMW2002Ti/media/5814a_zpsfd2684f5.jpg.html}{img}http://i1191.photobucket.com/albums/z461/BMW2002Ti/5814a_zpsfd2684f5.jpg{/img}{/URL}

Becomes this. With the { } replace by [ ]

Image


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: '74 Twin Reverb long story, wanna hear it?
Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2013 6:39 am
Offline
Hobbyist
Hobbyist

Joined: Sat Apr 20, 2013 9:14 pm
Posts: 11
BMW2002Ti wrote:
Dingz,

To post photos, you need to upload to a photo sharing site. Like PhotoBucket.

Then, copy & paste the IMG code:

[/img][/url]

Yeah, that seems overly complicated and difficult. I wanna post pics, but hate dealing with cpu BS. It would be a lot cooler if I could just upload them right form my pictures, like most websites.


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: '74 Twin Reverb long story, wanna hear it?
Posted: Wed May 01, 2013 7:03 am
Offline
Aspiring Musician
Aspiring Musician
User avatar

Joined: Sun Apr 14, 2013 4:41 pm
Posts: 764
Location: Sydney. Australia
Dingz wrote:
BMW2002Ti wrote:
Dingz,

To post photos, you need to upload to a photo sharing site. Like PhotoBucket.

Then, copy & paste the IMG code:

[/img][/url]

Yeah, that seems overly complicated and difficult. I wanna post pics, but hate dealing with cpu BS. It would be a lot cooler if I could just upload them right form my pictures, like most websites.



+1, its always annoying doing it via photobusket, etc.


Top
Profile
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 12 posts ] 

All times are UTC - 7 hours

Fender Play Winter Sale 2020

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum

Search for:
Jump to: