Rebel 30 head Channel 2 Revoiced

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thickwood

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:) I Tried a 12au7 in V2 position as this is the gain stack for the Channel 2 and it a very high gain design.
I wanted less distortion , so i ran the gain normally at 5.5 -6 for my style.
What a pleasant surprize,i had too crank the way gain up 8-9 to get the same volume and it was crunching hard but awesome.
I think if you have a few 12au7 tubes roll thru these and see if one works for you too.

It effectively revoiced the channel 2 into a clean or rock&roll with blues in between using the gain control .
My Channel 2 had a paper tearing distortion i didnt take too, but now its another channel that rocks or clean !
I use HB size P-90 pickups on a Schecter C1 classic diamond series guitar for reference.

Amazing like a new amp , it sounds real good too folks.
I used a old vintage 12au7 with long shinny plates , the grey plate tubes 3 i tried didnt have a even tone.
Im 58yrs old and not the super high gain type of player anyway.

I think i found you rebel 30 owners a good option , or its been discovered allready by you no who Bruces nephew lol
I hope there is no warranty issues involved for anyone,mine is over but trouble free !

I bet other 12au7 tubes could be even better in v4 than mine .
 
Sorry it was V2 position.
Mondays are not my favorite day for sure.
Both sides of the tube are used as a gain boost + one side of v1 feeding the clean signal.
I can say its a totally natural and nice tube breakup but the gain on 8, but on 10 its more OD harder rock.
Ive not tried the SG with humbuckers yet, tonight when i get home i will try that !

Its totally clean with the gain on 5 !
Its like i have another amp , damn nice breakup !
 
My room mate played my schecter c-1 classic with the p-90 pups and just shook his head and said what a great sound.
Listening i felt the breakup was smoother than 12ax7 tubes produce, getting less gritty harsh chords and notes were rich .
I think i will search out a couple more of those shiney long black plate 12au7 tubes and see if there is room for improvement.

Its so good now,i wonder if i just need a back up tube down the road ?
I didnt get to the SG custom test with the SD sh-2 & SH-4 humbuckers, which a JB and Jazz set. :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
 
thickwood":3chtf8yc said:
:) I Tried a 12au7 in V2 position as this is the gain stack for the Channel 2 and it a very high gain design.
I wanted less distortion , so i ran the gain normally at 5.5 -6 for my style.
What a pleasant surprize,i had too crank the way gain up 8-9 to get the same volume and it was crunching hard but awesome.
I think if you have a few 12au7 tubes roll thru these and see if one works for you too.

It effectively revoiced the channel 2 into a clean or rock&roll with blues in between using the gain control .
My Channel 2 had a paper tearing distortion i didnt take too, but now its another channel that rocks or clean !
I use HB size P-90 pickups on a Schecter C1 classic diamond series guitar for reference.

Amazing like a new amp , it sounds real good too folks.
I used a old vintage 12au7 with long shinny plates , the grey plate tubes 3 i tried didnt have a even tone.
Im 58yrs old and not the super high gain type of player anyway.

I think i found you rebel 30 owners a good option , or its been discovered allready by you no who Bruces nephew lol
I hope there is no warranty issues involved for anyone,mine is over but trouble free !

I bet other 12au7 tubes could be even better in v4 than mine .
Click to expand...

Glad it suits you but the last thing I'll do to my R30 head is reduce available gain :D
 
I usually gain up the clean channel with pedals .
I could not find the modern high gain distortion to my liking , but a powerful force channel 2 is !
Yeah its a blues rock when it breaks up, and starts at gain 6.
 
The not so obvious sacrifice of lowering gain is the attack intensity is not the dynamic in your face sound.
I luv the sound but perhaps i may try a special tube, its half a 12ax7 and half 12au7 and called i believe the 12dw7 ?
The 12ay7 is 45% of a 12ax7, i found some for $2.50 apiece and will wait for those to arrive.

So if you like the rebel 30 channel 2 as is, thats good.
If i can get a more natural breakup insted of high gain distortion it would be nirvana for me.
I may have lost to much intensity of attack but it sure is bluesy now !
 
A 12av7 tube in V2 put the gain back up and now i was running the gain on channel 2 on 9-10 without going into mush!
Its more 12ax7 sounding,but not as brite as a 12ax7 tube, im using NOS GE side getter tubes.
The dynamics are real good and no harshness at all.
The OD is under control but not real high gain at all,nice breakup also.

I didnt push the power tubes enough with the 12au7 but those RCA tubes sounded awesome,smooth distortion unlike i have ever heard !
If you want a cleanish ch 2 put a jj tesla ecc 823 which is a backwards 12dw7 tube.
 
I went thru 12au7 in v2 OD ch 2 and 12ay7 & 12az7 + nos 5751 and NOS 12ax7.

After all the different types im perplexed that a 12ax7 sounds most excelent and the harshness is gone !
Others didnt seem to have the harsh spikes in the high mids like i did!
Now im not getting anything but very good OD, i dont know that a channel needs breaking in but its changed to great !

I never liked channel 2 until i ran it messing about for 2 weeks, my pedals havent been used now for 2 weeks cool !

Its all rocking on both channels now, awesome clean !
 
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