Signs that it is time to replace the tubes?

[Kazz]

Some of you know that I sold my old Classic 30 on Ebay right around Christmas. Some others know that for some reason the guy who bought it sent it back saying it was not as advertised. His initial complaint was that the amp was damaged. Paypal allowed him to return it to me without any real comment on my end. Damaged inside, Damaged outside is very hard to answer to without any additional comments or pictures.

When the amp returned it was in pristine condition just as it was when it left here.....I plugged my Les Paul into it and checked it out a little and put it away because there were other things to do. Well I put new strings on the Les Paul adjusted the pup heights and finally got around to installing the black trim rings that Muddy sent me a while back....plugged in and while playing clean it still sounds great but with any thing more than moderate distortion it sounds awful. Almost sounds like a blown speaker but I can crank it up on the clean channel and everything still sounds very sweet.

Does that sound like it is time for new tubes? Wish I had taken pictures of all of the tubes before it left...I have no idea if they were swapped out before it was returned to me.

 

[duhvoodooman]

Kinda sounds like just the distortion stage preamp tube is shot. I'd try putting a new 12AX7 in that position (V2, I believe).

Makes you wonder if that "buyer" didn't do some tube swapping on you....

 

[Gutmann]

You can easy try to swap the tubes to find out if one's bad.
The V2 should be the driver for the 2nd channel and is placed in the second socket close to the input.

Greetings Uli

 

[tunghaichuan]

Kinda sounds like just the distortion stage preamp tube is shot. I'd try putting a new 12AX7 in that position (V2, I believe).

Yeah, what DVM said. If it sounds okay clean, then your power tubes are probably OK.

See if DVM's advice fixes the problem. If not, the "buyer" may have damaged something in the preamp.

Makes you wonder if that "buyer" didn't do some tube swapping on you....

That's what I think too.

tung

 

[Robert]

If there is no glass in your tube, it's about time to replace it.
:rotflmao:
(Referring to the hilarious Craiglist ad that was recently posted).

 

[Kazz]

Another question for the amp gurus mainly Tung and Duh Voo Doo.....Is it possible to change the natural characteristics of this amp? Obviously I am not satisfied with it or I would never have tried to sell it anyway. To me this thing sounds too Fendery (don't shoot Fender Peeps)....I know that all of my Guitar Gods have played Marshall's.

Would it be possible with new tubes to make this thing more Marshally and less Fendery? Also can you tame that reverb on this thing....even all the way down it still has verb for days.

I know there was a company mentioned on here before that was highly recommended for tube changes something where you could call the guy and tell him what kind of "tone" you were searchin for and he could tell you what tubes to use for that scenario but I cannot remember who it was or put together much of a good search. I am going to start by replacing that 12AX7 and see if it brings the dirt channel back to life, but would love to see if I could make myself really dig this amp to the point to where I would not still be dying for the Vox AD30VT.....sure I know it would still end up as temporary beano because once you gas for something you have to have eventually or find a suitable replacement

 

[tunghaichuan]

Kazz,

I just downloaded the schematic and took a look at it. Personally, I don't think a simple tube swap is going to get the amp to sound the way you want it to. I could be wrong though, I'm not an engineer.

Part of the problem is the phase inverter/power amp section. The power tubes are driven by a cathodyne phase inverter, which was used in Fender's tweed amps. Marshall used the LTPI type in there amps. They are different circuits and sound different.

You might be able to make a few swaps in the preamp to get it more Marshally. It also might make a difference if you swapped out the output transformer for a Marshall style replacement.

Another way to go would be to set the amp up for a good clean tone and use a Marshall-flavored OD pedal to get your drive sound.

The easiest thing to do would be to email Bob at Eurotubes and see if there is a tube swap he recommends. This might get you close, but I have a feeling that the amp will sound pretty much like it was designed to and won't sound like a Marshall without extensive mods, or a gut and rebuild with a Marshall circuit.

The best advice I can give you is to sell it and buy a Marshall style circuit. It sucks that you got burned the first time around, though.

tung

Another question for the amp gurus mainly Tung and Duh Voo Doo.....Is it possible to change the natural characteristics of this amp? Obviously I am not satisfied with it or I would never have tried to sell it anyway. To me this thing sounds too Fendery (don't shoot Fender Peeps)....I know that all of my Guitar Gods have played Marshall's.

Would it be possible with new tubes to make this thing more Marshally and less Fendery? Also can you tame that reverb on this thing....even all the way down it still has verb for days.

I know there was a company mentioned on here before that was highly recommended for tube changes something where you could call the guy and tell him what kind of "tone" you were searchin for and he could tell you what tubes to use for that scenario but I cannot remember who it was or put together much of a good search. I am going to start by replacing that 12AX7 and see if it brings the dirt channel back to life, but would love to see if I could make myself really dig this amp to the point to where I would not still be dying for the Vox AD30VT.....sure I know it would still end up as temporary beano because once you gas for something you have to have eventually or find a suitable replacement

 

[schenkadere]

Some of you know that I sold my old Classic 30 on Ebay right around Christmas. Some others know that for some reason the guy who bought it sent it back saying it was not as advertised. His initial complaint was that the amp was damaged. Paypal allowed him to return it to me without any real comment on my end. Damaged inside, Damaged outside is very hard to answer to without any additional comments or pictures.

When the amp returned it was in pristine condition just as it was when it left here.....I plugged my Les Paul into it and checked it out a little and put it away because there were other things to do. Well I put new strings on the Les Paul adjusted the pup heights and finally got around to installing the black trim rings that Muddy sent me a while back....plugged in and while playing clean it still sounds great but with any thing more than moderate distortion it sounds awful. Almost sounds like a blown speaker but I can crank it up on the clean channel and everything still sounds very sweet.

Does that sound like it is time for new tubes? Wish I had taken pictures of all of the tubes before it left...I have no idea if they were swapped out before it was returned to me.

Man....that's a really bad eBay story...that sucks. I sell on eBay all the time...guitars, amps....I'm a major pedal flipper too...I've been very fortunate.

 

[Kazz]

Well I emailed Bob @ Eurotubes this morning so I guess I will see what he has to say and go from there....I did play with the amp a little over the weekend...and it sounded better....just not as warm as I would like I guess.

 

[ZMAN]

Since you shipped the amp out, I hope you made sure all the tubes were seated correctly when you got it back. A lot of jostling could have either damaged one or loosened one up. I had a pre amp tube go in my 65 deluxe and it sounded like shimmering glass when I hit a specific note. I changed the tube and on my techs recommendation went to a ruby tube. It changed the tone of the amp quite a bit from the stock groove tube. Bob will be able to give you a set of tubes that will shape the tone you are looking for. They do it all the time.
As far as the reverb goes. If the reverb is too much, use the clean channel and get a delay pedal. I have a dd20 and you can dial in any amount of reverb you want.