Gr8Scott
Wookieologist
I walked into TheOdie's place with two amps (a new Peavey XXX and a Marshall Studio 15). I walked out with neither. Brisk wants the Marshall studio 15 and TheOdie offered to shelter the XXX until tomorrow to save me from having to pack and unpack it twice.
We tried all kinds of pre-amp tubes in the XXX and we also gave the speaker cabs a real run for their money. I'm gonna get some real Vintage 30 speakers instead of the Sheffields. They are close, but the Vintage 30's just have more balls and are more beautiful to hear. The best high gain pre-amp tubes were the Sovtek's TheOdie told me to try out. Two in the gain stages gave the amp a real clear but highly distorted thump.
I don't like the EL-34's we tried in the output stage. They lack bass and turn the mids into cutting searing affairs. Much better to my ears with 6L6GC's. I wonder if I can get away with throwing KT-66 tubes in it?
The ECC82 (12AU7) Greatly reduced the gain, but the amp still had comparable gain to the JCM-900. It was crisp and much less compressed. Very controllable and enjoyable to play. Sovtek's were clear and slightly compressed sounding, but it had a more midrangey sound that compliments this amp well. The Sovtek's had a little less gain than the EH tubes that currently reside in the V2 and V3 slots, but still had enough to do everything I can think of. JJ's were terrible and mushy. Not good for high gain stuff.
Now I'm two amps shy! I'll let Brisk keep the Marshall 15 until I can drop by and take his Rivera off his hands.
We tried all kinds of pre-amp tubes in the XXX and we also gave the speaker cabs a real run for their money. I'm gonna get some real Vintage 30 speakers instead of the Sheffields. They are close, but the Vintage 30's just have more balls and are more beautiful to hear. The best high gain pre-amp tubes were the Sovtek's TheOdie told me to try out. Two in the gain stages gave the amp a real clear but highly distorted thump.
I don't like the EL-34's we tried in the output stage. They lack bass and turn the mids into cutting searing affairs. Much better to my ears with 6L6GC's. I wonder if I can get away with throwing KT-66 tubes in it?
The ECC82 (12AU7) Greatly reduced the gain, but the amp still had comparable gain to the JCM-900. It was crisp and much less compressed. Very controllable and enjoyable to play. Sovtek's were clear and slightly compressed sounding, but it had a more midrangey sound that compliments this amp well. The Sovtek's had a little less gain than the EH tubes that currently reside in the V2 and V3 slots, but still had enough to do everything I can think of. JJ's were terrible and mushy. Not good for high gain stuff.
Now I'm two amps shy! I'll let Brisk keep the Marshall 15 until I can drop by and take his Rivera off his hands.
