Do you keep the back panel on your amps? Possibly embarrassing...

  • Thread starter Thread starter dead-pan
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dead-pan

dead-pan

Well-known member
I end rolling tubes so much in the amps I don't generally put the back on after removing it.

Do you keep yours on or off?

This is the result currently:

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All of mine are off too. And most of the chassis’ have only one bolt holding them in and three bolts laying in the vent.
 
I leave all mine on, but I do have a Budda Superdrive 45 that's missing its back cover, I never got it. So, if you have a Budda Superdrive back cover, send it my way lol
 
My guitar cellar looks like that about once or twice a year. I go OCD and I am convinced that the glass in amp 'A' would really sound better in amp 'B' and vice-versa. Last time around, I went at tube rolling for several days and I think I am still happy with everything, so I snugged all the chassis in place and put the rear panels back. We'll see how long that lasts!

I will share one thought - after I bought a nice meter to set bias and a quality variac to steady my wall voltage, I find I can get more noticeable tonal variation out of each amp by incrementally adjusting the voltage within a reasonable / safe range than I did swapping and re-biasing power tubes.
 
Matt300ZXT said:
I leave all mine on, but I do have a Budda Superdrive 45 that's missing its back cover, I never got it. So, if you have a Budda Superdrive back cover, send it my way lol
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Have one for a Sd30ii combo. But I also have the amp.

I guess the one thing that makes this better is I do own all the amps.
 
I used to keep my chassis out, but for sure the first thing i do with an amp is get the back panel off. I hate them
 
OFF


I like to walk behind my amps periodically to fuck with things :lol:

If you have the right gloves, you can actually swap preamp tubes while the amp is on. I don't do it often and I don't recommend it necessarily.



0jt9P2Y.jpg


Love the OP pic :lol:
 
I often will keep the back covers off if I'm rolling tubes fairly frequently, but if I am happy with it I'll put it back on.

Preamp tube covers are a waste of time. They stay off
 
Considering the tonal qualities of my amps (and/or my ability to perceive them) change daily, hour by hour, I'm really curious how objective these tube rolling tests really are.
 
SonVolt said:
Considering the tonal qualities of my amps (and/or my ability to perceive them) change daily, hour by hour, I'm really curious how objective these tube rolling tests really are.
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It can be marginal and tough to perceive through a microphone but there are definitely differences.

To me it is definitely worth it. But it's not every tube that makes a difference. There are some special ones.

It takes time to know what you like and how you perceive it. Even turning your head changes what we perceive. It's quite complex but in the end what I look for is how the amp interacts with my pick to my ears and the satisfaction of the harmonics provided.
 
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SonVolt said:
Considering the tonal qualities of my amps (and/or my ability to perceive them) change daily, hour by hour, I'm really curious how objective these tube rolling tests really are.
Click to expand...

For me its more so "the amp has a developed a hum, let me swap a couple tubes and see if I can eliminate that" rather than trying to fine tune the tone. The more I turn the amp up the more the differences fade away if its just trying to nitpick the tone.
 
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