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Post subject: New DRRI '65 in the house
Posted: Tue May 05, 2015 2:46 pm
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Finally picked one up. I hesitated for some years as I didn't want to have to put it on my bench straight out of the box as so many of the DRRI has issues straight from get go. Got mine, and indeed, problems. There was a crazy nasty high pitching buzzing noise every time I played an A or a Bflat on the guitar. Checked tubes - not the cause. I noticed it was in the reverb circuit. Opened the reverb pan and yup, one of the springs were broken in the middle... I carefully fixed it with a tweezer and tightened the hooks together with a bit of solder. Then I notice a loud buzz in the vibrato channel when the volume is up to 5... Bad 12ax7 that came with the amp. Man, I feel for the non-tech players who get one of these. Check bias and was a little too hot to my taste. pV of 418 and iK of 24ma. I like it down at 20ma soundwise.

Absolutely love the sound though. Where are these amps made now? In California these days or in Mexico.


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Post subject: Re: New DRRI '65 in the house
Posted: Tue May 05, 2015 4:02 pm
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Joined: Wed Mar 31, 2010 12:48 am
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Your situation is by no means unique.

Thankfully, you had the skills needed to perform the necessary corrective action. Most player/owners are not so fortunate......

Rawk on!

8)

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY


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Post subject: Re: New DRRI '65 in the house
Posted: Tue May 05, 2015 6:05 pm
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Joined: Tue Jun 29, 2010 1:20 pm
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Congrats on the new amp jazzgene. I believe the DRRI are still US made.

I did a little tube swapping in my combo and head, output tubes changed to GT EH (both amps), a Mullard RI in V1 for the combo, a "Preferred Series" 12AX7 in V1 for the head, and a TAD 7025WA in V2 (both amps). I like the bias set to around 23-24 mA for both amps.

With this tube combination, the stock Jensen speaker sounds pretty sweet and no plans on changing. 8)

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Post subject: Re: New DRRI '65 in the house
Posted: Tue May 05, 2015 7:48 pm
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The reverb pan was due to negligence on the part of the pan manufacturer. One of the springs was not properly put together. Fender can sure use better tubes for the $1100.00 I paid for the amp. Really, for the price tag, the amp needs to have no issues out of the box. But gotta love the Fender tone and sound...


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Post subject: Re: New DRRI '65 in the house
Posted: Tue May 05, 2015 8:54 pm
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I don't know about "better" tubes, all brands have their duds from time to time, and considering taste, many like to swap anyway. As for the reverb pan spring, frankly I'm surprised that any of them survive rough shipping/handling. I have only seen a very few new amps that have a foam pad in the reverb tank, to prevent movement during transit, that must be removed before use. As delicate as the tanks and springs are, all pans should have something to prevent movement until first use. And yes, I still blame rough handling during shipping for SOME/MANY of the problems with new amps. In no way have I ever said that all problems are caused during shipping, but my contention is that a very large portion of problems can be blamed on uncaring UPS handlers. :x

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Post subject: Re: New DRRI '65 in the house
Posted: Wed May 06, 2015 2:43 am
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I have also had problems with my DRRI "Fudge Brownie" bought a couple of months ago. One of the reasons I bought a '65 instead of a '68 was because I had read that the quality of the MIM amps did not match that of the USA made amps.

I have been using JJ pre-amp tubes in my Peavey Classics for many years and never had any problems yet the GT branded JJs that came with my DRRI have been appalling. V4 was microphonic and V1 and V2 were very noisy, like an old radio being tuned. All have now been replaced. I also had problems with the reverb which had a mind of it's own cutting out at random. Not sure where the problem was but it seems to have been fixed after spraying the footswitch with cleaner and re-seating the RCA cable at both ends.

Having said all that, it is an amazing amp with a tone to die for.

DRRI + USA Standard Strat = Match made in heaven!


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Post subject: Re: New DRRI '65 in the house
Posted: Wed May 06, 2015 8:42 am
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The GT branded JJ tubes. Ya know, I thought Fender finally capitulated when I first saw them. They look almost identical, but on closer inspection, I thought they were a knockoff.
I compared them to a genuine JJ and the plate overlap was opposite to the real thing.
Now this tube design isn't JJ original. I saw some old preamp tubes from the 50s with the same design. I think they were 6DJ8/ECC88 from an old Navy oscilloscope.
Take a closer look at your GT. Whaddya think?


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Post subject: Re: New DRRI '65 in the house
Posted: Wed May 06, 2015 9:03 am
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Well, I checked and you are correct. The GT tubes that were in my DRRI are labelled GT-ECC83-S "Premium". V4 was microphonic when I bought the amp and luckily the shop had some "old" GT stock and they replaced it for me with a GT tube labelled GT-ECC83S (12AX7/7025). The 12AX7/7025 looks the same as my JJs but the GT-ECC83-S "Premium" is different. I don't know the technical name but the bit that the halo is attached to is on the opposite side. So not a real JJ!

Could it be that the "old" tube given to me by the shop is a pre-Fender Groove Tube made by JJ or some other manufacturer? I didn't know that the JJ ECC83S was 7025 spec.


Last edited by fifty4 on Wed May 06, 2015 2:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post subject: Re: New DRRI '65 in the house
Posted: Wed May 06, 2015 9:08 am
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Yeah, I agree. Rough shipping has a lot to do with it. Especially with the reverb. The way Fender boxed the amp, I think leaves it vulnerable to poor handling by the shipping company. My amp came by Fedex. Haven't had good luck with them. UPS seems to be a bit better around in my neighborhood. USPS is scary. They've lost 50% of my media mail orders (6 out of 12) never arrived.


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Post subject: Re: New DRRI '65 in the house
Posted: Wed May 06, 2015 3:50 pm
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As many people already know, GT doesn't make tubes, they buy from many manufacturers and test and label/relabel those tubes. Some GT tubes are made by the manufacturers exclusively for GT. JJ is one manufacturer that makes some of their tubes just for GT, not just JJ tubes that are tested and labeled by GT, but made just for GT. So, these tubes are made by JJ and it's not surprising that they are just a little different from other JJ made tubes. Another example is the GT GE reissue, now made in China, exclusively for GT, although I have seen other similar tubes labeled by TAD (maybe others) that appear to be the same, even though I haven't examined them closely to compare.

GT used American made tubes back when, and now they use EH, Sovtek, Mullard RI, JJ, Chinese and others, and as noted, some are exclusive.

The ending letter on GT tubes will identify where the tubes are made.
- S is JJ, Slovakia
- R is Sovetk and EH, Russia
- M is Mullard RI, Russia
- C is China
- GE started as US made, then production and equipment moved to China

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Post subject: Re: New DRRI '65 in the house
Posted: Thu May 07, 2015 2:13 am
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The GT-12AX7-M is an exclusive Mullard copy made in China for GT (I have 2 of them and the box clearly says made in China). It is supposedly an exact copy of the original Mullard made to GT specifications and is a completely different tube to the Mullard RI made in Russia.


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Post subject: Re: New DRRI '65 in the house
Posted: Thu May 07, 2015 3:18 am
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Hmmm...

I assumed that all Mullard RI were made in Russia at Reflector, especially considering the rights to the Mullard name. I'll have to compare the GT 12AX7-M to the Russian Mullard RI 12AX7. :idea:

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Post subject: Re: New DRRI '65 in the house
Posted: Thu May 07, 2015 3:48 am
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Those cunning people at Groove Tubes are careful not to call it a Mullard even though their literature clearly states that it is made to the original Mullard specs. It is only the "M" suffix in the model number that identifies it.


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Post subject: Re: New DRRI '65 in the house
Posted: Thu May 07, 2015 5:05 pm
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Tricky devils. :twisted:

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Post subject: Re: New DRRI '65 in the house
Posted: Thu May 07, 2015 6:56 pm
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Congrats on your amp jazzgene.


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