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Post subject: A Few Questions About The DRRI
Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2010 12:12 am
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Hi,

I recently purchased a Deluxe Reverb Reissue and I have a few questions about it.

1. Is it true that you can connect the first channel to the second? What does this do? Can this be done with a regular cable?

2. What does removing the V1 tube do?

3. How would I get the amp to break up at a lower volume?

Thanks in advance!

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Post subject:
Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2010 4:45 am
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Heya,
congratulations on your DRRI, it's a classic amp that should give you years of fun. I can part answer your Qs and I'm sure someone else will fill in the rest.

1. Yes you can 'jump' the first channel to the second with a regular guitar cable, but it doesn't give you a better sound. Because channel 1 doesn't go through the reverb and trem it is what's called 'out of phase' with channel 2. This means that if you play them together they will cancel each other out to some extent. So you can have your guitar in 1 with the volume on 3, let's say, then run a guitar cable from the second input of channel 1 to the first input of channel 2 - and as you turn channel 2 up to volume 3 the sound gets quieter! Yep, try it, it gets quieter until you reach the point where one channel is just louder than the other and is 'winning'. There are mods to let you link the two channels, and to have rev and trem on channel 1, or you could by something like a Lehle passive split pedal with a phase reverse switch that lets you correct the out of phase prob. If that's what you want.

2. V1 is the first gain tube for channel 1, so removing it disables channel 1 firstly, and because it frees up a little voltage it allows channel 2 to draw more power and be a little more gainey. Not much tho. If you end up only playing through channel 2 then you can use V1 as a spare tube if one of the other 12AX7s gives you trouble.

3. To get the amp to break up at lower volume you could do a couple of things. Buy a hotter rated tube to put in V1 and/or V2 depending which channel you want to break up, or both. Plenty of places have 12AX7s that are made for more gain and earlier break up. Easy, fun solution. You can also get hotter rated power tubes, the 6V6s, and have the amp biased to break up earlier by your friendly local tube amp tech.
The other thing you could do is use a clean boost pedal to goose the first stage of your amp by making the guitar signal hit that first tube with a lot more gain. This pushes the whole circuit harder, not just the pre-amp, and can give a cool sustained power-tube tube of early saturation - particularly on the DRRI with it's tube rectifier. Of course this makes your amp louder, but you can still get more gain without being super loud. This is one of the oldest tricks in the book, because it always works.

There are lots of potential mods but these are some non-destructive suggestions to start with.
Happy flying!

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Post subject:
Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2010 11:29 am
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Nickbeatnik, thank you for the very detailed answer! I might have to start shopping around for some new tubes.

How would I go about "taming" the reverb? I find the reverb becomes too saturated when I turn it up past two. I would like it to sound warmer and engage a lot slower and smoother. Is there a certain tube that would help the amp achieve this?

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2012 Fender American Standard Stratocaster HSS
2011 Gibson SG Standard
Budda Superdrive 30 combo (Pre-Peavey)
MXR Carbon Copy Delay
Modtone Vintage Wah
Korg Pitchblack Tuner
GFS Liquid Tremolo Classic
GFS Pro Chorus Classic


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Post subject:
Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2010 1:49 pm
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Ah, the age old Fender Rev Question...
What you have is really THE typical blackface reverb, and the DRRI has one of the most loved examples of it. But, most players find they want the reverb somewhere in the range between 2 and 2 1/2, where it comes on suddenly. People complain about the volume controls on Fender amps too, nothing nothing then suddenly too much. This is a function of the Audio Taper pots used on these amps since forever and really the easiest way to change it is to get a Linear Taper pot of the same value changed in there. That's a mod, it needs a tech and will take them about an hour because they have to take the amp out of the chassis, and work on the PCB which is fiddly.
Audio taper pots do not increase volume in a straight line, they're 'tuned' to work more like we hear things, I wont go into a long electronics explanation here.... and Linear pots increase in a straight line, so the first part is more gradual, you get a smoother transition between nothing and 'just a little rev'. Most people are happy with this mod. If you really want more control over the Reverb, including tone and saturation, then you should think about saving your pennies and buying the Fender tube reverb unit - check them out on the Fender site, they give you a lot more tweak-ability, but essentially the same reverb. Or if you really want to you could buy a Holy Grail pedal or such. But man, you'd be probably the first DRRI owner in history using a reverb pedal! Whatever gives you the sound you want tho.

There's no simple tube change for the rev, it uses a lower gain 12AT7 to feed it, and needs a normal gain 12AX7 to recover the signal, otherwise it doesn't sound as good and gets noisy IMO.

I'd recommend persisting with the standard Fender rev for a while, see if you can find a spot around 2 1/2 that works for you, see if you grow to love it. This is a vintage circuit and it's simplicity is part of its beauty, yes you have less control than a modern amp, but there can be a freedom in just relaxing about that and finding how your playing and the new voice of your amp interact.

I sold my DRRI to get my 64 Custom Vibroverb, but I got a lot of good sounds and played a lot of shows with that little amp first. The only mod I did to mine was to clip the bright cap, to reduce the fizziness when I used my dirt box in it. That's a very common and easy mod many players do, because the DRRI unlike it's bigger silverface brothers comes with a hard-wired bright switch permanently on basically. Depends on what kind of player you are tho whether that would work for you. If you work with mostly the amp sound you do lose some sparkle and air, if you use a stomp box a lot it can cut the harsh fizziness that some people don't like. A matter of taste, I'm not a bright switch kinda guy.

BTW man I love the OCD, never leave home without mine!

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