It is currently Mon Mar 16, 2020 1:46 pm

All times are UTC - 7 hours



Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 277 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1 ... 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 ... 19  Next
Go to page Previous  1 ... 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 ... 19  Next
Author Message
Post subject: Re: Modifications To The Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue Amp
Posted: Sat Mar 09, 2013 7:59 am
Offline
Aspiring Musician
Aspiring Musician

Joined: Sun Jan 27, 2013 3:44 pm
Posts: 366
bluesky636,I have been checking out Tung-Sol's 6L6GC STR tubes as an alternative to Groove Tubes' tubes should I decide to use them instead,...if I were to use the "medium"
grade/rated tube that the BDRI amp calls for,would I still need to re-bias the amp even if I only change tube brands and not necessarily the grade/rating? Tung-Sol looks to be a very good brand of tube and I wouldn't hesitate to use them. When the time comes to do a re-tube,I would most likely run all Tung-Sol tubes,...even in the preamp stage with three
12AX7 tubes. Would Tung-Sol be superior to the stock GT tubes that come in the amp from the factory?

_________________
If it aint' broke,...don't fix it! I like to keep my amps and guitars factory original,...no mods necessary,...don't want them,...don't need them!

My gear as of now;
Standard Strat
Hot Rod Deluxe III amp
Champion 20 amp
'59 Bassman LTD Reissue


Top
Profile
Fender Play Winter Sale 2020
Post subject: Re: Modifications To The Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue Amp
Posted: Sat Mar 09, 2013 8:18 am
Offline
Rock Star
Rock Star

Joined: Mon Apr 05, 2010 2:37 pm
Posts: 8708
Location: Natural Bridge, Virginia
I know nothing about the Tung-Sol reissue tubes other than that they are part of the Electro-Harmonix brand and are made by New Sensor in Europe. I forget which country. They are no longer American made.

Different manufacturers grade tubes differently. The only way to know if they are operating at a proper bias level in your amp is to measure the bias. It's not that hard with the proper tools.

_________________
Bill

Image


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: Modifications To The Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue Amp
Posted: Sat Mar 09, 2013 4:03 pm
Offline
Rock Icon
Rock Icon
User avatar

Joined: Tue Jun 29, 2010 1:20 pm
Posts: 9640
Location: Indiana
I believe that Tung Sol are made at the Reflector plant in Russia, same place as the EH, and Sovtek are made. New Sensor is only the distributor, and I believe that they are an American company. All three of the above mentioned tubes are great, sound being subjective, but EH and Tung Sol sound fantastic to me, Sovtek being more general purpose, and all three brands are as tough as new production tubes come.

_________________
---> "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: Modifications To The Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue Amp
Posted: Sat Mar 09, 2013 4:16 pm
Offline
Rock Star
Rock Star

Joined: Mon Apr 05, 2010 2:37 pm
Posts: 8708
Location: Natural Bridge, Virginia
shimmilou wrote:
I believe that Tung Sol are made at the Reflector plant in Russia, same place as the EH, and Sovtek are made. New Sensor is only the distributor, and I believe that they are an American company. All three of the above mentioned tubes are great, sound being subjective, but EH and Tung Sol sound fantastic to me, Sovtek being more general purpose, and all three brands are as tough as new production tubes come.


That's why I stick with JJ tubes.

JJ owns the company.

JJ builds the tubes.

The tubes are branded "JJ".

Yes, I know JJ makes a few tubes for other companies but those are not branded as JJ tubes.

Buy a JJ branded tube and you know where it came from and who built it. :wink:

_________________
Bill

Image


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: Modifications To The Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue Amp
Posted: Sat Mar 09, 2013 9:07 pm
Offline
Rock Icon
Rock Icon
User avatar

Joined: Tue Jun 29, 2010 1:20 pm
Posts: 9640
Location: Indiana
Different strokes, I don't care for JJ tubes myself. :| JJ has distributors too. :wink:

_________________
---> "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: Modifications To The Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue Amp
Posted: Sat Mar 09, 2013 10:05 pm
Offline
Rock Star
Rock Star

Joined: Mon Apr 05, 2010 2:37 pm
Posts: 8708
Location: Natural Bridge, Virginia
shimmilou wrote:
Different strokes, I don't care for JJ tubes myself. :| JJ has distributors too. :wink:


Now, now. I didn't say anything about your tube choice.

I think New Sensor is more than just a distributor. Mike Matthews owns the whole shebang.

_________________
Bill

Image


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: Modifications To The Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue Amp
Posted: Sun Mar 10, 2013 6:22 am
Offline
Rock Icon
Rock Icon
User avatar

Joined: Tue Jun 29, 2010 1:20 pm
Posts: 9640
Location: Indiana
That's why I didn't send you GTs, I thought that you might just toss them. :lol:

_________________
---> "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: Modifications To The Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue Amp
Posted: Sun Mar 10, 2013 8:13 am
Offline
Rock Star
Rock Star

Joined: Mon Apr 05, 2010 2:37 pm
Posts: 8708
Location: Natural Bridge, Virginia
shimmilou wrote:
That's why I didn't send you GTs, I thought that you might just toss them. :lol:


Nah. I never turn down free stuff. :D

If I didn't like them I would have just used them to punch out donut holes. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

_________________
Bill

Image


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: Modifications To The Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue Amp
Posted: Sun Mar 10, 2013 1:37 pm
Offline
Rock Icon
Rock Icon
User avatar

Joined: Tue Jun 29, 2010 1:20 pm
Posts: 9640
Location: Indiana
:lol:

_________________
---> "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: Modifications To The Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue Amp
Posted: Sun Aug 18, 2013 6:21 pm
Offline
Rock Star
Rock Star

Joined: Mon Apr 05, 2010 2:37 pm
Posts: 8708
Location: Natural Bridge, Virginia
Most of the mods that I discussed in this thread were geared toward making the normal channel thicker sounding and easier to overdrive. I really didn't consider the drive channel that much. After building my Trainwreck Express clone (Wrecking Ball, Debbie viewtopic.php?f=13&t=83741&p=945479#p945479), I decided to see if anything from that build would be applicable to the drive channel of the BDRI.

The first thing I did was try a 1000 pF cap across the plate resistor of V2A, just prior to the PI tube.

Image

Sad to say, this mod was a complete failure, making the overdrive extremely muffled. I probably could have experimented with smaller bypass cap values, but since this amp isn't as high gain as the Wrecking Ball, I decided to just remove the cap and not bother.

However, one of the complaints against the Blues and Hot Rod series is that the overdrive sound is too brittle and sterile. So I decided to take a look at the OD coupling cap, C53.

Image

When the OD channel is engaged, C53 acts to filter out the bass some to keep it from getting flubby and muddy. However, if the bright switch is also engaged, the bass can become too thin. I decided to replace the 750 pF cap with one larger. Initially I tried a 2200 pFcap, but that made the bass too muddy.I decided to drop back to a 1000 pF cap. That was just right. It added a small amount of bass which helped fill things in when the bright switch is engaged, yet was not muddy if the bright switch was turned off. Note that this cap has zero effect on the tone of the amp when the normal channel is engaged, it only affects the drive channel. Setting both the drive and master volume to "8" gives a nice OD similar to, but not quite as wild as the Wrecking Ball.

I wonder what this amp would sound like using cathode bias for the power tubes and no negative feedback. Hmmmm. 8)

_________________
Bill

Image


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: Modifications To The Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue Amp
Posted: Mon Aug 19, 2013 2:50 pm
Offline
Hobbyist
Hobbyist

Joined: Thu Dec 20, 2012 4:51 pm
Posts: 93
the tung-sol 6l6str is a great sounding tube. just be sure to bias them correctly that includes plate voltage measurements. don't just turn the bias adjustment and think your tubes will work properly. take some time and check into bluesky's posts, he tells how to take the plate voltage readings and other stuff. bluesky maybe you should post the proper tube biasing procedure again (how to calculate the disapation, especially). i have a feeling that some new members could use the info. remember, be safe. just so you guys will know i changed the bass cap to .022uf 600v and the midrange resistor to 56k 1/2 watt and correctly biased the sovtek 5881, that came in the amp. it absolutely roars with my e.c. strat. the jensen p12n speaker helps too.


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: Modifications To The Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue Amp
Posted: Mon Aug 19, 2013 6:03 pm
Offline
Rock Icon
Rock Icon
User avatar

Joined: Tue Jun 29, 2010 1:20 pm
Posts: 9640
Location: Indiana
Good idea. A separate "Tube Bias" thread might be helpful, and make it easy to find for someone searching for biasing info. Although, I think that bluesky636, and others, have covered biasing in nearly every amp thread, so searching for biasing info should turn up plenty of good reading.

_________________
---> "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: Modifications To The Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue Amp
Posted: Mon Aug 19, 2013 8:20 pm
Offline
Rock Star
Rock Star

Joined: Mon Apr 05, 2010 2:37 pm
Posts: 8708
Location: Natural Bridge, Virginia
Done.

viewtopic.php?f=13&t=88475

_________________
Bill

Image


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: Modifications To The Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue Amp
Posted: Sun Sep 08, 2013 4:42 pm
Offline
Rock Star
Rock Star

Joined: Mon Apr 05, 2010 2:37 pm
Posts: 8708
Location: Natural Bridge, Virginia
I have been considering trying a set of 6V6 power tubes in my BDRI and shimmilou has convinced me to try a set of the E-H 6V6s. So I have ordered a pair (on sale) from the Tube Depot.

http://www.tubedepot.com/eh-6v6.html

I had to change the resistor in the bias power supply to be able to bias my JJ 6L6GCs where I like them, hopefully I won't have to change it again for the 6V6s.

Stay tuned. :D

_________________
Bill

Image


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: Modifications To The Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue Amp
Posted: Sun Sep 08, 2013 4:53 pm
Offline
Rock Star
Rock Star
User avatar

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

You might need to change either the dropping resistor or the inline resistor to ground, in the bias supply. What I do is either run a resistor in-parallel or series (depending on which resistor) --- then you can easily go back to 6L6GC parameters.


Top
Profile
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 277 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1 ... 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 ... 19  Next
Go to page Previous  1 ... 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 ... 19  Next

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: