Smallbox Issue?

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guitarded_1

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So I recently purchased a smallbox through GC online and had it delivered to my local GC. The good part about this whole thing is that I have a 30 day return window. Having said that, I feel like something is not quite right here. On Ch1, the amp goes from glassy clean with the gain low to warm clean with the gain maxed – zero AC/DC crunch that people speak of on that channel. As for Ch2, with gain knob maxed, it goes to up to AC/DC crunch – maybe just a hair beyond. Let's put it this way, I tried the Dirty Shirley as well, and it has WAY more gain. I know that the SB is not a high gain amp per say, but the gain levels seem remarkably low. Does it sound like something isn’t quite right here, or do I need to adjust my expectations a bit?
 
How loud are you playing it? I just had mine at noon on the volume yesterday and it just rips. Turn your amp up!
 
My smallbox has boatloads of 80s gain and sustain on the BE channel. Even at mouse-fart volumes. The Plexi channel gets a sweet crunch.
 
It's not as gainy as lets say a 5150 III but the tone and the feel are miles ahead that's for sure.
 
I think a lot depends on the speakers. I was using my smallbox with an open back suhr cab with G12-65s and recently started playing it through a bogner OS 2x12 with vintage 30s and I think the vintage 30s sound more rock. Still, the smallbox isn't very high gain. I had to temper my expectations a bit as well, but the amp is a tone machine.
 
The OP said the dirty shirley he tried has WAY more gain than the smallbox.
Theres got to be something wrong. Bad preamp tubes maybe?
 
Well I poked around under the hood a bit. The power tubes were actually biased hot at 38mA, so I backed them down around to around 32/33mA. They were only 2mA off from each other and looked to be in good condition, so I'm not sure that they were the culprit. I replaced the stock chinese preamp tubes with some good sounding NOS stuff, and it definitely sounds a lot better (I expected the stock chinese tubes to sound best). However, I'm in a condo building with thin walls, so I really won't be able to tell what's up until I get it cranked at rehearsal. I'm not in a metal band - just heavy rock - and I'm I'm fine with needing to step on a pedal for saturated leads, but if it turns out that I need to step on a pedal on the BE channel for heavy rock rhythm sounds, that would be a deal breaker. I'm not a super high gain kind of guy, either.

One other question - there seems to be quite a bit of hum from this amp - more than I would expect. Is that normal?
 
Not much hum at all from mine. I have a Smallbox and Dirty Shirley, the amount of gain is pretty comparable with the SB on the BE channel. The plexi channel should definitely have some crunch with the gain maxed but I do wish it had a hair more.
 
That does not sound right to me and my Smallbox is pretty quiet too. I have a noise suppressor on my board and never really use it. Once you start turning the amp up a little you should have plenty of gain if everything is working right. take it to a qualified service tech for a check up. My Smallox is already my all-time favorite amp.
 
guitarded_1":2znm26x9 said:
So I recently purchased a smallbox through GC online and had it delivered to my local GC. The good part about this whole thing is that I have a 30 day return window. Having said that, I feel like something is not quite right here. On Ch1, the amp goes from glassy clean with the gain low to warm clean with the gain maxed – zero AC/DC crunch that people speak of on that channel. As for Ch2, with gain knob maxed, it goes to up to AC/DC crunch – maybe just a hair beyond. Let's put it this way, I tried the Dirty Shirley as well, and it has WAY more gain. I know that the SB is not a high gain amp per say, but the gain levels seem remarkably low. Does it sound like something isn’t quite right here, or do I need to adjust my expectations a bit?
Click to expand...

So I'm guessing you've tried different guitars, cabs and cables, etc.?? Learned years ago to always start checking everything BUT the amplifier (especially brand new amp) before I start checking tubes and electrical readings like bias and plate voltage.
 
What guitars are you using? When you say hum do you mean with the guitar not plugged in? Because that is how you judge if the amp hums. As far as gain goes if what you say I'd true, it does not sound right. I could look at it for you.
 
RACKSYSTEMS":2ugblbt1 said:
Did you replace all the preamp tubes?
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Thanks for your response, Dave. I did indeed replace all preamp tubes and I think that solved my problems. The gain is there, and the amp pretty much slayed at my last rehearsal. It's a super punchy beast. I'll post my honeymoon impressions in a separate thread.

One interesting observation - while the JJ EL34s in the amp bias fine to 32mA, I tried putting in a set of Ruby EL34BSTRs and a set of Winged C EL34s, and neither will bias to less than around 55mA. I have reached out to Valve Queen in hopes that she can sell me a set of EL34BSTRs that will bias to 32mA.
 
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