Music&Chaos
Well-known member
Hello all,
My buddy handwired (First time!) a little 5w Fender tweed amp. He is an older guy who is experienced in electronics repair and all of that jazz. The amp has 2 inputs and a volume control. THAT'S IT. He hand built a little cabinet for it and, very heavily influenced by myself, and outside of his normal nature, he covered it with an 'iridescent snake skin' tolex. It looks wonderful. Very 'Custom' looking. Onward to the events:
I have been a ton of tube rolling in my Rivera Cliubster Royale Recording (Basically a Modded Balckface Fender type). I found so many different results and had so much fun. There are some old threads here about it. This relates because I have a large selection on hand and understand how the different types shape the eq and sound stage of the amp(s) they were to be tested in.
He is into a lot of clean playing and blues. He has a light touch and doesn't use a lot of drive overall.
Cabinet was an oversized 1x12 with a WGS American Vintage speaker.
The amp had a JJ 12ax7 in the front and a JJ 6v6S as well as a JJ rectifier.
The sound was good. The lows were a bit muddy and the high end could have a hardshness to it. Not a lot of harmonics or anything, definitely needs to run a reverb to fill out the sound. Not super loud but sizeable, it is a 5w amp.
I popped a RCA BlackPlate in the front end and WHOA did the muddiness clean up. WAY bigger sound stage, much more 3-D. There is more 'room' for the effects like Delay to have space. He was astounded. He didn't realize how much better it would sound. Not only was it louder, more 3D and cleaner, but also sweeter with a larger but more controlled low end.
I told him to just wait til i popped in the output tube i had brought for him.....an Old Ken Rad. Black Glass. MINT.
The lows and highs were incredible. Shaking through your legs and enveloping you. It was like swapping on Surround sound! He was just shocked. I was just smiling because I KNEW exactly what that combo would do. He just kept saying how much he couldn't believe it.
We swapped back and forth over and over and there is not even a comparison.
The amp sounds PERFECT. Not even a need for a pedal to fill it out at all. The NOS tubes made it! He told me before he didn't believe me but now he has been texting me all day about how shoocking it is. That amp sounds mASSIVE now Btw.
Anyway,
I gave him the preamp tube and linked him with my tube guy
I love spreading the love. Spread the tone all you can!!!
My buddy handwired (First time!) a little 5w Fender tweed amp. He is an older guy who is experienced in electronics repair and all of that jazz. The amp has 2 inputs and a volume control. THAT'S IT. He hand built a little cabinet for it and, very heavily influenced by myself, and outside of his normal nature, he covered it with an 'iridescent snake skin' tolex. It looks wonderful. Very 'Custom' looking. Onward to the events:
I have been a ton of tube rolling in my Rivera Cliubster Royale Recording (Basically a Modded Balckface Fender type). I found so many different results and had so much fun. There are some old threads here about it. This relates because I have a large selection on hand and understand how the different types shape the eq and sound stage of the amp(s) they were to be tested in.
He is into a lot of clean playing and blues. He has a light touch and doesn't use a lot of drive overall.
Cabinet was an oversized 1x12 with a WGS American Vintage speaker.
The amp had a JJ 12ax7 in the front and a JJ 6v6S as well as a JJ rectifier.
The sound was good. The lows were a bit muddy and the high end could have a hardshness to it. Not a lot of harmonics or anything, definitely needs to run a reverb to fill out the sound. Not super loud but sizeable, it is a 5w amp.
I popped a RCA BlackPlate in the front end and WHOA did the muddiness clean up. WAY bigger sound stage, much more 3-D. There is more 'room' for the effects like Delay to have space. He was astounded. He didn't realize how much better it would sound. Not only was it louder, more 3D and cleaner, but also sweeter with a larger but more controlled low end.
I told him to just wait til i popped in the output tube i had brought for him.....an Old Ken Rad. Black Glass. MINT.
The lows and highs were incredible. Shaking through your legs and enveloping you. It was like swapping on Surround sound! He was just shocked. I was just smiling because I KNEW exactly what that combo would do. He just kept saying how much he couldn't believe it.
We swapped back and forth over and over and there is not even a comparison.
The amp sounds PERFECT. Not even a need for a pedal to fill it out at all. The NOS tubes made it! He told me before he didn't believe me but now he has been texting me all day about how shoocking it is. That amp sounds mASSIVE now Btw.
Anyway,
I gave him the preamp tube and linked him with my tube guy
I love spreading the love. Spread the tone all you can!!!
