I have come to the conclusion that I hate

[Ascension]

Re: I have come to the conclusion that I hate

Bingo. I had to tweak a bunch of power-stage stuff to get mine sounding right. To thicken it up while maintaining tightness, I had to install a depth mod, which ABSOLUTELY should have been there in the first place. Secondly, I had to put a 12AU7 in the PI position, which made a giant difference in the feel and the tightness and the clarity without dropping much gain. Finally, I had to add a cap in the feedback section to cut off some of the excessive high frequencies. Then it was a matter of tweaking the bias around to get the sound right.

I have a slight lack of clarity, but I think it's due to the extra bypass cap I added in the preamp. I'm about to mod it to SLO100 preamp specs, and that ought to fix things.

I wonder how many folks have sold these amps because they never knew about them biasing like a normal amp? Most of the 20 water I have played are not well biased out of the box. Mine was running so hot it was frying the power tubes.
Only reason I sold mine was I had 3 rigs and the Jet City stayed at my old home Church on stage. When I left that gig I really did not need all 3 so it was between the 2 low wattage amps and the Zinky wasn't going anywhere. Have to admit though already I miss that little Jet City at times and will likely grab a 50 watt JC head at some point.

 

[Scott_F]

Re: I have come to the conclusion that I hate

EL84s.

No matter what kind of preamp they are matched with. Vox and derivatives. Marshall class 5 or 18/20 watters, Orange's newer tinys and low watt amps, Tubemeisters,even Fender Blues Jr.s and Peavey Classics.

Its kinda like P90s for me. I really enjoy the sound of them on records, or when other people play them, but when its me plugged into them, I just cannot jive. I do not like the chime/glassy topend or breakup/pushed sound of 84s. And there is no way to stifle that chime, or get the wooliness out.. some brands of el84s are better than others, but they all have it.


And thus, I am needing to sell my current two amps, and to be moving on to better things.

I love P90's the most and I normally dig EL84 amps!

 

[Scott_F]

Re: I have come to the conclusion that I hate

EL84s.

No matter what kind of preamp they are matched with. Vox and derivatives. Marshall class 5 or 18/20 watters, Orange's newer tinys and low watt amps, Tubemeisters,even Fender Blues Jr.s and Peavey Classics.

Its kinda like P90s for me. I really enjoy the sound of them on records, or when other people play them, but when its me plugged into them, I just cannot jive. I do not like the chime/glassy topend or breakup/pushed sound of 84s. And there is no way to stifle that chime, or get the wooliness out.. some brands of el84s are better than others, but they all have it.


And thus, I am needing to sell my current two amps, and to be moving on to better things.

I love P90's the most and I normally dig EL84 amps!

 

[guitfiddle]

Re: I have come to the conclusion that I hate

Bingo. I had to tweak a bunch of power-stage stuff to get mine sounding right. To thicken it up while maintaining tightness, I had to install a depth mod, which ABSOLUTELY should have been there in the first place. Secondly, I had to put a 12AU7 in the PI position, which made a giant difference in the feel and the tightness and the clarity without dropping much gain. Finally, I had to add a cap in the feedback section to cut off some of the excessive high frequencies. Then it was a matter of tweaking the bias around to get the sound right.

I have a slight lack of clarity, but I think it's due to the extra bypass cap I added in the preamp. I'm about to mod it to SLO100 preamp specs, and that ought to fix things.

I wonder how many folks have sold these amps because they never knew about them biasing like a normal amp? Most of the 20 water I have played are not well biased out of the box. Mine was running so hot it was frying the power tubes.
Only reason I sold mine was I had 3 rigs and the Jet City stayed at my old home Church on stage. When I left that gig I really did not need all 3 so it was between the 2 low wattage amps and the Zinky wasn't going anywhere. Have to admit though already I miss that little Jet City at times and will likely grab a 50 watt JC head at some point.

I must be one of the only guys around who thoroughly digs the JCA 20 the way it came from the factory, with regards to mods. A tube change was in order, but I find that it does exactly what I would expect a little 800 style amp to do. I dig the brightness, cause I can get rid of it with my tone control, and I'd rather have treble I can get rid of than no treble when I need it. They clean up well, and really do have fantastic touch sensitivity. Horses for courses, ya know.

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: I have come to the conclusion that I hate

JB, have you seen this yet? It may tick a few of your boxes ...

 

[beaubrummels]

Re: I have come to the conclusion that I hate

I wish more companies would start using 1 fullsize octal tube, with an auto biasing feature. Lunchbox type amps would be so much better if you could switch between EL-34, 6L6, KT-88 etc.

This is precisely why I have an Emery Sound Super Baby. When part of a matched quartet goes out on one of my big amps, I can use the surviving tubes as singles in the Emery at 12 watts and get the exact same tone. I also got his "Mad Scientist" tube set. I can't begin to express how much fun it is switching from EL-34 to KT-77 to 6V6 to KT66 to anything you can name all in the same night in the same amp; just power down, wait for things to cool and swap to the next. So awesome.

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: I have come to the conclusion that I hate

^ the Superbaby and Microbaby both look mad cool!

 

[JeffB]

Re: I have come to the conclusion that I hate

JB, have you seen this yet? It may tick a few of your boxes ...

Interesting idea. Wish they had demoed some different sounds out of it. Everything sounded the same. Cost(2G converted) plus shipping is pretty high too. For that kind of cash I would probably grab a fargen mini, or rivera, avatar, or any number of amps...maybe even a used 65 empire

 

[GilmourD]

Re: I have come to the conclusion that I hate

I wish more companies would start using 1 fullsize octal tube, with an auto biasing feature. Lunchbox type amps would be so much better if you could switch between EL-34, 6L6, KT-88 etc.

You mean like the now-discontinued Jet City Picovalve or the THD Univalve it was based on?

Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk

 

[Demanic]

Re: I have come to the conclusion that I hate

The Jet City Picovalve is based on the Univalve but much less expensive. Plus there are several mods available for it. But really, the ability to run any octal based tube in the power stage? Good size transformers in it too. I put one through a 103.1 db rated Emminence Cannibis Rex and it is loud enough to keep up with a drummer in a practice setting. Mike it if you want more. I'm currently running a JJ's KT-88 in my with two JJ's ECC83's in the front.

 

[allbutromeo]

Re: I have come to the conclusion that I hate

I wish more companies would start using 1 fullsize octal tube, with an auto biasing feature. Lunchbox type amps would be so much better if you could switch between EL-34, 6L6, KT-88 etc.

That's what I love about the Marshall Sl-5, while its not autobiasing, the 5w El-34 circuit sounds great

 

[Jeffrec]

Re: I have come to the conclusion that I hate

I have El84's in both my amps. The thing I found, is that if you push the preamp, but not so much that it gets buzzy, and then crank the volume, it sounds good.

 

[jeremy]

Re: I have come to the conclusion that I hate

where is there a 103db crex? they are all around 102 as far as i knew

 

[Wattage]

Re: I have come to the conclusion that I hate

Loves me the 84's

My Dual Terror is the bomb-diggity! Looking to score an AC30 in the near future as well. There is a grind to them that just suits me perfectly.

 

[Jeffrec]

Re: I have come to the conclusion that I hate

Loves me the 84's

My Dual Terror is the bomb-diggity! Looking to score an AC30 in the near future as well. There is a grind to them that just suits me perfectly.

+1

 

[JeffB]

Re: I have come to the conclusion that I hate

Even nearly a year later (not sure why this was bumped, but )

I still don't like em. I still own 2 el84 amps, but they drive me nuts. The midrange and chime are just grating on my ears, but that's just me. I have improved the amps tone with some OS tubes, and a EP Booster, but after the first of the year I hope to be making a major upgrade.

 

[allbutromeo]

Re: I have come to the conclusion that I hate

I do not expect everyone to feel the same, I was just venting. Do not take anything as a personal insult, folks. Its JMO. :bigthumb:

As for a proper AC30, does a model from the 1960s count? Along with a similarily aged AC15? I have played both.

This is not a tirade against low wattage or lunchbox heads either. Simply the inherent tone characteristics of the EL84 tube.

I wish there were more 6v6 options in low wattage heads or single EL34/6L6. That new Fender Ramparte uses a single 6l6.

Splawn Super Sport
Plexi-Hot Rod 800 sounds 6v6 power

 

[jimijames]

Re: I have come to the conclusion that I hate

I have a 6v6 handwired amp that's supposed to be like a 2-channel marshall plexi combo... And an 18w SS-rectified 1974x copy that uses 2xel84.

For clean sounds, the 18w through a V30 sounds as good as any amp I've played. Maybe it doesn't have that 'give' you get from tube rectification, but for rich warm and detailed cleans I'm blown away every time I play it. BUT I also have a NOS JAN 5751 in v1 and a JJ 12ay7 in v2... There isn't any breakup until about 2-3 o'clock on the volume. Plus those NOS 5751s are the best sounding preamp tube I've encountered so that certainly has something to do with it.

I love how it sounds distorted but after reading this thread I'm beginning to think that's because the preamp is much lower gain than normal. Even fully cranked it isn't very saturated. With a les paul or humbucker equipped guitar it sounds like zz top or ac/dc. Just gobs of attitude and grind. It won't do allman brothers so well though... It isn't the smoothest amp so if you want santana/trucks/allman singing leads you really have to cajole the amp.

Just my .02 anyway

 

[JeffB]

Re: I have come to the conclusion that I hate

Splawn Super Sport
Plexi-Hot Rod 800 sounds 6v6 power

Yup. Thats on the short list along with some Hiwatt clones.

 

[Little Pigbacon]

Re: I have come to the conclusion that I hate

I used to have a Mesa Rocket 44, which used a quartet of these much-maligned little fire-bottles. I loved that thing, actually. It was kind of Marshall-y, but with a little twist here and there. Alas, I had to sell it to buy a crisp, mint-green pantsuit for a regional book tour. (My agent and I still argue over whether the paisley scarf was an appropriate choice.)