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Post subject: Re: Solid State Amp/Combos
Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2013 12:51 pm
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Retroverbial wrote:
Tubes age and wear out based partly on the integrity of the seal between the glass envelope and the phenolic base, just as with an incandescent light bulb. Once the vacuum is lost, air -- loaded with ambient impurities -- enters the bottle and begins to taint and corrode the elements. And repeated heating and cooling of the glass -- as with powering them up and down -- accelerates the process. And there's no guarantee whatsoever that a bonafide NOS tube stored for five decades will hold its vacuum any better than if it had been installed in a piece of equipment and used.

Arjay


True, but the question was, "Do tubes have a shelf life?" and the answer is not, "It's complicated." In general, unused tubes last a long time.


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Post subject: Re: Solid State Amp/Combos
Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2013 4:13 pm
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Have it your way, cowboy.

:lol:

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: Solid State Amp/Combos
Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2013 4:43 pm
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Retroverbial wrote:
Have it your way, cowboy.

:lol:

Arjay


+1

There is no way to predict the performance or life span of a 50 year old NOS tube other than by testing it and running it in an amp. Making a generalized statement that NOS tubes will have a long life is about as false as saying all modern tubes are junk. I've had expensive NOS tubes fail after a short time under actual use and there are some very good new manufactured tubes available.

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Post subject: Re: Solid State Amp/Combos
Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2013 5:22 pm
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I would even venture to say that there were a great many failures of those tubes 50 years ago as well, but there wasn't an internet to let everyone know about it. :wink:

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Post subject: Re: Solid State Amp/Combos
Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2013 5:26 pm
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OP wrote:
Going off-topic a little and regarding preamp and power tubes (obviously in tube models), is there a general shelf life for tubes even if the equipment is not used that much. Or do the tubes only require changing relative to actual hours worth of play time they've been through?


It is a simple question. The answer is (b).


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Post subject: Re: Solid State Amp/Combos
Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2013 8:41 pm
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Wayne2 wrote:
OP wrote:
Going off-topic a little and regarding preamp and power tubes (obviously in tube models), is there a general shelf life for tubes even if the equipment is not used that much. Or do the tubes only require changing relative to actual hours worth of play time they've been through?


It is a simple question. The answer is (b).


Assuming the tube worked the first time it was installed, which is not guaranteed.

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Post subject: Re: Solid State Amp/Combos
Posted: Fri Sep 27, 2013 4:13 pm
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Thanks for all your advice folks - on amps and tubes too.

This has been a great help for me. :D

Cheers

Loakky


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Post subject: Re: Solid State Amp/Combos
Posted: Fri Sep 27, 2013 4:31 pm
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BMW-KTM recommended the now-OOP Dyna-Touch series of amps and I heartily concur. I owned one and gigged it professionally for a number of problem-free years. They can now be bought on the secondary market for a song and they're built much more ruggedly than contemporary models. Most featured Celestion speakers as OEM equipment and sonically, they'll perform any required task.

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: Solid State Amp/Combos
Posted: Sat Sep 28, 2013 3:18 am
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Retroverbial wrote:
BMW-KTM recommended the now-OOP Dyna-Touch series of amps and I heartily concur. I owned one and gigged it professionally for a number of problem-free years. They can now be bought on the secondary market for a song and they're built much more ruggedly than contemporary models. Most featured Celestion speakers as OEM equipment and sonically, they'll perform any required task.

Arjay


Thanks Arjay

I've been looking into the Dynatouch combos but can only see DSP models - which I was advised to steer clear of. Hopefully one will show eventually up though.

Loakky


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Post subject: Re: Solid State Amp/Combos
Posted: Sat Sep 28, 2013 8:41 am
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There's nothing fundamentally wrong with the DSP models (mine was a Stage 100DSP) but these amps were long ago discontinued, as well as many model-specific replacement parts including the DSP modules. Thus, repairing one has become problematic. OTOH, the non-DSP versions use mostly off-the-shelf components which are generally still available. This issue also plagues the various chorus-equipped solid-state Fender amps produced during this era. Panasonic manufactured the IC's used to create this effect and there are no more spares to be had. I dumped my DSP based solely on this consideration -- I didn't want to end up with an unsupportable-and-unrepairable orphan in the event that some failure occurred.

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: Solid State Amp/Combos
Posted: Sun Sep 29, 2013 4:47 am
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I was 15 in 1973 and had just seen Bowie Live in London - I wanted to sound like Mick Ronson! So I got what I could afford and that was on the local music shop wall. An AVON SG copy and a Woolworths TEISCO Checkmate 21 trannie amp (branded Audition in UK). I still have that amp! Demo here on Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZGlonmYizE

It Sounded OK thrashing out rocky-type chords with my half cocked WAH for extra distortion - until I got a 73 Fender Strat and grew my hair!

BUT I lived with my Teisco Germanium trannie amp until '86 when got a superb solid state amp - a SESSION Rockette 30 - reason? Eric Clapton had just used 2x Rockettes to record the August Album... I still have it and it sounds superb! The company is still around and recently came back in market with their BLUESBABY - a solid state chassis you drop into a Blues Jr cab and, well, it sounds amazing!

Here is one played live in Pub gig

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=p ... nQXUg#t=12

FBook:

facebook.com/pages/Session-Amps-Cleartone-Custom-Cables/140525222690086?id=140525222690086&sk=photos_stream

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