A New Amp or Tweak What You've Got?

[HamerPlyr]

I have a Rectoverb that I know inside and out and I'm starting to get irritated with it. The damned thing is boomy and I can't EQ it out. I have the bass rolled all the way off and it's still too boomy. I can change out the speaker and retube, I guess, but... It makes me wonder.

What makes you decide to give up on an amp instead of trying to tweak it? Where's the dividing line for you?

 

[D-EJ915]

Re: A New Amp or Tweak What You've Got?

Generally bigger capacitors give you more bass, at least in headphone amplifiers. Note, in Farads.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: A New Amp or Tweak What You've Got?

Your ears are probably just tired of it. There's no reason to stay sentimental with it.....at least it's worth good money, so you can just parlay the money into another decent amp. Amp shopping is exciting, because new tones force you to approach your playing a little different.

 

[FretFire]

Re: A New Amp or Tweak What You've Got?

What makes you decide to give up on an amp instead of trying to tweak it? Where's the dividing line for you?

I got rid of my Rectoverb after a month of enjoying the gain tones I was getting running my pedalboard through the clean channel more than the amp's gain. It always had this buzzy graininess to the tone that just could not be tweaked out, I couldn't get it as smooth as I wanted it to be. So I started shopping around, listed the amp for sale, and got a trade offer of the VHT Pitbull 45 I currently have. On a whim I tried it, and I'm glad I did!

The Rectoverb is great for a hard rock or metal amp, but the VHT and it's take on Marshall-meets-Vox nails the tones I wanted for my blues/rock style of playing.

 

[Nigel Tufnel]

Re: A New Amp or Tweak What You've Got?

I don't know if it's the clean channel or the OD channel that's really bugging you but if it's the OD you could try putting a boss SD-1 in front of it. You can roll back the gain on your amp a touch and use the SD-1 as a clean boost, set the level knob high, turn drive very low or off completley(that's where I like it) and adjust the tone knob to your liking. The SD-1 really cuts out some of those boomy low end frequecies, it can be just the thing to tighten up an amp thats got an out of control bottom end. And they're only $40 to $50 new, it might be worth a try before you shell out a lot on a new amp.

 

[Robert S.]

Re: A New Amp or Tweak What You've Got?

All Mesa amps have that somewhat buzzy, harsh top end thing going on and my Triaxis/2:90 rack had it. A set of JJs cured that. They tightened up the bottom end as well.

Loose the factory tubes and you'll be amazed at the difference in tone. I run my Mesa stuff through Mesa 112 3/4 back cabs and I thought the cabs might also be part of the problem but I haven't changed those out yet because the JJs improved my tone so much.

I'd still like to hear my rig through a pair of closed back 412s with V30s but that can wait for awhile now.

 

[FretFire]

Re: A New Amp or Tweak What You've Got?

All Mesa amps have that somewhat buzzy, harsh top end thing going on and my Triaxis/2:90 rack had it. A set of JJs cured that. They tightened up the bottom end as well.

Loose the factory tubes and you'll be amazed at the difference in tone. I run my Mesa stuff through Mesa 112 3/4 back cabs and I thought the cabs might also be part of the problem but I haven't changed those out yet because the JJs improved my tone so much.

I'd still like to hear my rig through a pair of closed back 412s with V30s but that can wait for awhile now.

My Recto had JJ power tubes, and a mix of JJ and Mullard reissue (in V1) preamp tubes.

 

[wixedmords]

Re: A New Amp or Tweak What You've Got?

If the amp is "close" to what you are seeking, then mods may get it there. Speakers and tubes can change alot. I will spend a year on an amp that is close trying different speakers and tubes.

The truth is that you will want/need to change tubes and/or speakers on every amp. You will want to change everything with time.

But if the amp is not really near the sound "in your head" move on.

 

[kevlar3000]

Re: A New Amp or Tweak What You've Got?

What makes you decide to give up on an amp instead of trying to tweak it? Where's the dividing line for you?

As far as guts go, it just depends on how hard it is to work on. I messed with my Laney Pro Tube with a circuit board and it was much more tedious/delicate work. PTP is much more fun for me to tear into.

Speakers and tubes ( esp cabs) can make a huge difference, you already know that stuff though.

 

[twoheadedboy]

Re: A New Amp or Tweak What You've Got?

What makes me want to give up on the amp? Usually it's if I don't like the fundamental character of tone it provides. At almost all settings, most amps usually have a certain character of tone. If I've tried different speakers and tubes, etc, and the part of the amp's character that I don't like is still there, I usually ditch it rather than go the expensive and time consuming modding route. It really depends on the amp though. You can turn a fender bassman into almost anything, so it pays off to be patient with those. I'm way less patient with circuit boards amps though. Usually if amps like that don't sound good out of the box, I'll ditch them because they aren't worth the hassle.

 

[Skarekrough]

Re: A New Amp or Tweak What You've Got?

What makes you decide to give up on an amp instead of trying to tweak it? Where's the dividing line for you?

There are a few.

The first is doing mods that are not reversible on amps that have potentially ventage value. I have no problems modding my Blues Junior because it will never be a collectible amp. I won't mod my Princeton Reverb II because it IS collectible.

If an amp doesn't get the sound you want it to and you know there are amps out there that will then get rid of it. Don't try to make something sound like something else....you only aggravate yourself in the long run because you never get it quite right no matter how hard you try short of gutting and using the cab as a shell to build on to.