It is currently Tue Mar 17, 2020 3:50 am

All times are UTC - 7 hours



Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 9 posts ] 
Author Message
Post subject: BDRI Tube Upgrade
Posted: Fri Aug 20, 2010 8:53 am
Offline
Rock Star
Rock Star

Joined: Mon Apr 05, 2010 2:37 pm
Posts: 8708
Location: Natural Bridge, Virginia
Well, the new tubes from Eurotubes for my Blues Deluxe Reissue showed up yesterday. The set that I purchased was this one:

"Fender Blues Deluxe-Deville Blues Option

Description: A hotter matched pair of the JJ 6L6GC's for the reissue or the original fixed bias 90's Blues Deluxe or Deville for a big warm tone along with a standard ECC83S for V1, an ECC81 for V2 to drop the gain with one balanced ECC83S for the phase inverter in V3. These will reduce the preamp gain for players wanting less gain."

As soon as I got home from work I plopped the amp on my workbench and had at it. Gotta say, that thing is either getting heavier or I am getting weaker as I grow older. :lol: Anyway, I opened her up and proceeded to pull the old Groove Tubes out (old is realative since I bought the amp new in a box at GC's July 4 sale). I then popped the new JJs in (nice tight fit) and fired her up.

I let her sit for about 15 minutes before I rebiased the new tubes (it was still sitting at 70 mV that the GTs were set to last). I set the bias to about 80 mV +/- 1 mV and plugged in my guitar to play a few chords and such. Sounded really nice. Looking at the Weber bias charts, I decided to set the bias at 60 % dissipation (I like a nice, clean sound and use my Monte Allums H2O+ modified Blues Driver for dirt). This worked out to be about 86 mV at a measured plate voltage of 405 - 410 VDC. I set the bias to about 85 mV and took my two Golden Retrievers out for their evening walk.

Upon returning home about 45 minutes later, I rechecked the bias and found it had drifted up a little to about 88 mV. I reset it again to 85, took my shower, had dinner, and watched a little of the Cream 2005 Royal Albert Hall reunion concert. I checked the bias again about 1.5 hours later and found it had settled around 85 - 86 mV. Time to button her up and play a little.

Sounds really good. Much improved over the factory GTs. I can actually sit in front of the amp vice off to the side and not kill my ears while using the bridge pup (Fender SCNs all around) on my MIM Standard Strat. Overall, the sound was really nice with a great improvement in the bass. Much tighter and less farty. But I still thought she could sound better, so I dropped the bias back down to 80 +/- 1 mV.

BINGO!

That was the trick. She sings now! I love the tone. The clean channel is fantastic. The Drive channel is still not great, but noticably improved over stock, and I use the Blues Driver in the Clean channel for the most part anyway. Bass is phenominal. Not overpowering, but tight and clean. Mids and highs are very sweet. My srings sound new again. I can now turn the Presence knob to where I like it and not scar my eardrums with the bridge pup. Bright switch is still a bit much, but less so than before. The pick attack sound is sharp and clear. To say that I am in love with the new sound is an understatement. Heck, even the stock speaker sounds much better now. I gotta say, this is the best thing to do to improve the sound of these amps (which is not bad to begin with by no means). And it cost me less than $90.00 (including shipping and 3 of Eurotubes orange tube dampers for the preamp tubes.). Way to go, Eurotubes!

Some observations:

When I started after work, it was still quite hot out (I live in Northern Virginia) and the AC was running full out. When I wrapped up for the night several hours later it had cooled down and the AC was running less. In that time I found that the bias voltage increased about 2 mV (and the plate voltage went up a couple of volts also) from start to finish. So I set the final bias to about 81 mV which should then vary between about 79 and 81 mV during the course of the evening. Naturally, I will monitor the bias over the next week or so as things settle.

I can't wait to get home tonight and play! :D :D :D :D

_________________
Bill

Image


Top
Profile
Fender Play Winter Sale 2020
Post subject:
Posted: Fri Aug 20, 2010 2:42 pm
Offline
Roadie
Roadie

Joined: Sat Mar 21, 2009 8:02 am
Posts: 293
house voltage will do that to an amp and any other electronic device. get use to it or get a power conditioner. i have a bdri and love it. did some upgrades to mine as well it realy improved. here's an observation...the damn thing should have a tube rectifier not a solidstate one. period. the only way to get the sweet blues sound we all like is to compress the amp. you can achieve this with a compressor pedal run through the effects loop and it does work very well ( think 57 deluxe sound...sort of) it does control the volume problem. instead of getting loud when you turn up the guitar it will compress and breakup.smoothly. you can turn the guitar down and it cleans up but remains at the amps set volume. i personaly want this effect in my amp not from a pedal. i don't have the cash for a 57 deluxe or clone so i make do. sorry man just had to vent. glad you like the amp.


Last edited by blackstrat71 on Fri Aug 20, 2010 3:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Top
Profile
Post subject: BDRI tubes
Posted: Fri Aug 20, 2010 2:43 pm
Offline
Rock Icon
Rock Icon
User avatar

Joined: Tue Jun 29, 2010 1:20 pm
Posts: 9640
Location: Indiana
That rocks Bill! You are a better man than I, for I would've taken a sick day so I could keep playing. :lol: Nothing like the satisfaction of doing it yourself, eh? :D

_________________
---> "The amp should be SWITCHED OFF AND UNPLUGGED before you do this!" <---

Por favor, disculpe mi español, no se llega a la práctica con mucha frecuencia.


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: BDRI tubes
Posted: Fri Aug 20, 2010 3:30 pm
Offline
Rock Star
Rock Star

Joined: Mon Apr 05, 2010 2:37 pm
Posts: 8708
Location: Natural Bridge, Virginia
shimmilou wrote:
That rocks Bill! You are a better man than I, for I would've taken a sick day so I could keep playing. :lol: Nothing like the satisfaction of doing it yourself, eh? :D


Gonna go plug in NOW! Bye.

_________________
Bill

Image


Top
Profile
Post subject:
Posted: Fri Aug 20, 2010 3:33 pm
Offline
Rock Star
Rock Star

Joined: Mon Apr 05, 2010 2:37 pm
Posts: 8708
Location: Natural Bridge, Virginia
blackstrat71 wrote:
house voltage will do that to an amp and any other electronic device. get use to it or get a power conditioner. i have a bdri and love it. did some upgrades to mine as well it realy improved. here's an observation...the damn thing should have a tube rectifier not a solidstate one. period. the only way to get the sweet blues sound we all like is to compress the amp. you can achieve this with a compressor pedal run through the effects loop and it does work very well ( think 57 deluxe sound...sort of) it does control the volume problem. instead of getting loud when you turn up the guitar it will compress and breakup.smoothly. you can turn the guitar down and it cleans up but remains at the amps set volume. i personaly want this effect in my amp not from a pedal. i don't have the cash for a 57 deluxe or clone so i make do. sorry man just had to vent. glad you like the amp.


Yes, I understand about the power fluctuations. I have a EE degree.

I have been thinking about a compressor, but it's not in the budget.

Ok. NOW I am going to go plug in! :lol:

_________________
Bill

Image


Top
Profile
Post subject:
Posted: Fri Aug 20, 2010 3:51 pm
Offline
Aspiring Musician
Aspiring Musician
User avatar

Joined: Sat May 08, 2010 4:31 am
Posts: 411
Location: France
Variation of idle current is normal on new valve due to beam emissivity that increases in the beginning of the valve life. After a couple of hours, it is stable and start to decrease slowly (1K to 10K hours depending of the valve and the setting, hot-short life and cold-long life)

JJ seem to be a good choice, SED "winged C" also.

_________________
Tissan '52 Tele RI & Washburn Hawk 1980, Epiphone Casino MIK, Blues Deluxe RI & VOX ...


Top
Profile
Post subject:
Posted: Fri Aug 20, 2010 4:27 pm
Offline
Aspiring Musician
Aspiring Musician
User avatar

Joined: Mon Apr 21, 2008 1:37 am
Posts: 597
Location: Australia
I told you that you wouldn't be dissapointed with the JJ's Bill.

They sound great don't they.

Enjoy my friend and let us know how you get on with the amp.

Cheers :D


Top
Profile
Post subject:
Posted: Fri Aug 20, 2010 4:49 pm
Offline
Rock Star
Rock Star

Joined: Mon Apr 05, 2010 2:37 pm
Posts: 8708
Location: Natural Bridge, Virginia
Tissan wrote:
Variation of idle current is normal on new valve due to beam emissivity that increases in the beginning of the valve life. After a couple of hours, it is stable and start to decrease slowly (1K to 10K hours depending of the valve and the setting, hot-short life and cold-long life)

JJ seem to be a good choice, SED "winged C" also.


Just finished playing for about an hour and rechecked it. Was sitting at about 79.6 mV so I nudged it up a bit to 80.3. I'll check it a few more times over the next several days and then not worry about it for a while.

_________________
Bill

Image


Top
Profile
Post subject:
Posted: Fri Aug 20, 2010 4:53 pm
Offline
Rock Star
Rock Star

Joined: Mon Apr 05, 2010 2:37 pm
Posts: 8708
Location: Natural Bridge, Virginia
kineman karma wrote:
I told you that you wouldn't be dissapointed with the JJ's Bill.

They sound great don't they.

Enjoy my friend and let us know how you get on with the amp.

Cheers :D


Yes, they do sound great.

I don't play professionally, just for myself. In fact, I am essentially relearning to play after not having done so for about 20 years. I played from the late 60's into the early 80's (after getting married in '76) and then quit. Now at age 56 I decided to pick it up all over again. I'm having a LOT of fun. :D

_________________
Bill

Image


Top
Profile
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 9 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: