RI Vibrolux, JBL D120F and Antiquities

Lee_M.

Lee_M.

Brockburst Toneologist
To all ~

Been a long time since I've posted, so I wanted to share a recent tonal discovery. A few weeks ago, I reworked the speaker configuration in my Reissue Vibrolux (two 10's) to accomodate my original cone JBL D120F and one of the stock 10" Jensens. The results are the following with my Ant I loaded Clapton Strat:

The Ant I's sound absolutely amazine. In previous posts I reported that the Antiquities sounded too dark and that I needed an A5 mag in the set. Well....I've come to realize that part of the issue was the lack of clean headroom in the Vibrolux. By installing the 12" D120F (rated at 60 Watts), the amp now has to work a lot harder to bloom into distortion. With the new speaker configuration, I now stay clean on the Bright Channel (Input I) until 5-6. Because I stay clean at higher volume levels, the amp has an opportunity to brighten itself up (I suppose). It could be the perceived EQ variance at higher volumes...who knows. Don't care! Now, I can get a true feel for the magnificent quality of the Ant I's. They are phenomenal pickups and have turned my Clapton into a true tone monster.

The neck pickup is my favorite followed by the in between bridge/middle combo. I get a nice SRV type from most positions and love how the bridge is less bright than the others - it works perfectly for my style music. Although I haven't had the opportunity to use my Landgraff, Klon or Tube Screamers with my revised setup, I can only imagine how nice the OD tones with be with this guitar.​

Conclusion: The Ant I's are extremely dynamic and complex pickups that represent the finest tones Seymour has to offer. I also wanted to share the fact that if you use a more efficient speaker with a Reissue Fender (such as the Vibrolux), you'll increase the clean headroom of the amp and get a better idea of Antiquities' capabilities under cleaner settings.

Hope all is well with the rest of you.

Very Best Regards
'Deadwood Toneologist' Lee Moore
 
Re: RI Vibrolux, JBL D120F and Antiquities

I've always wished Fender would use beefier sounding speakers that can handle bass better. Nothing worse than a farty E string, or rattling cabinet. I'd like to hear more Fenders with JBL or EV speakers, to hear the tubes really sizzling with a tighter low end.

I've always wanted to hear a Landgraff pedal. How does it differ from the Klon.
I love my Klon Centaur. The best single coil tones I've ever gotten were using strats and teles with Antiquities into the Klon, with either the Matchless Chieftain or Bassman LTD. 10 miles WIDE single coil tone!
 
Re: RI Vibrolux, JBL D120F and Antiquities

Yeah, my vibrolux's one weakness is it's bottom end response. I've learned to work with it, but I really should get hold of some other speakers. Unfortunately, New Zealand is not exactly brimming with replacement speakers.

I went the other way in my search for headroom by having a negative feedback loop installed and made switchable. That made for a noticeable jump in clean headroom.
 
Re: RI Vibrolux, JBL D120F and Antiquities

Sounds great! I'm psyched that you finally got that Strat where you want it!
 
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Re: RI Vibrolux, JBL D120F and Antiquities

That sounds like a great setup Lee! I really like the d120f for that Fender bell tone. That speaker has great full range response for guitars. With that amp and the antiquities, I am sure that it's tonal bliss with your strat :)
 
Re: RI Vibrolux, JBL D120F and Antiquities

How does it sound cranked? I'm thinking of throwing an EV 12 incher into my deluxe later on for a bit more juice before breakup.

Do you still get great speaker breakup, or does it hold up 100%?
 
Re: RI Vibrolux, JBL D120F and Antiquities

Thanks for the responses. It has been fun to play the Vibrolux with a nicer speaker....the additional headroom and bell-like tone is sweet with the amp.

Joneser, the Landgraff is in a class of its own. There isn't a more versatile OD/Distortion pedal on the planet that works better with Les Pauls and Strats (through nice tube amps). I highly recommend one. It's tone varies significantly from the Klon...so much that they are not even remotely close to being the same pedal or tone. The Landgraff is a transparent Distortion/OD pedal (depending on which toggle position you're in) that can do a 50W '69 Plexi or modern day overdrive. She really is sweet.

Quencho, I haven't had a chance to fully crank her. She is really loud and I need to have a day off before I can send her to 10. Will let you know the results once I get some extended time with her.

Matt, thanks for recognizing that it has taken 13 years to get this stupid Strat setup the way I want it. :smack: Who knew it could be so hard. Hope all is well with you. Drop me an IM and let me know how things are kickin' in Beantown.

Stevo, I think I can further enhance the tone by changing out the stock Grove Tubes for a pair of RCA 6L6GC's (Black Plates). I also need to swap out the first preamp tube in the Bright Channel...I have a nice NOS Mullard ECC83 (Short Plate) that should work nicely. Lastly, I ordered a replacement 10" from Weber (10F150). It should work much, much better than the stock Jensen. I'll give you an update when she arrives. I also have 2 more D120F's arriving in the next couple of weeks...one of which will go into my new 18W Reinhardt that is currently in production. That will be a sweet road warrior when she is done!

Hot Grits, I will have to check on what other mods I can do to my Vibrolux. I'm positive that the tone can be increased significantly with a few simple adjustments. They are great amps and simply need a little love to maximize their potential.

Very Best Regards,
Lee Moore
 
Re: RI Vibrolux, JBL D120F and Antiquities

Sounds terrific. Glad you got to where you wanted to be tone-wise.
 
Re: RI Vibrolux, JBL D120F and Antiquities

I thoroughly recommend the Mullard for the bright channel. I pu the new GT Mullard reissue in mine and it sounds superb.

By the way, there is a slightly tonal change in the NFL mod. With the loop in, the amp is a little tamer sounding than with it switched out. Not a bad thing, just different.
 
Re: RI Vibrolux, JBL D120F and Antiquities

Hot _Grits said:
I thoroughly recommend the Mullard for the bright channel. I pu the new GT Mullard reissue in mine and it sounds superb.

By the way, there is a slightly tonal change in the NFL mod. With the loop in, the amp is a little tamer sounding than with it switched out. Not a bad thing, just different.
Click to expand...

The NOS Mullard is definitely going in V2. I think it will make a nice difference in the tone. Thanks for the heads-up.
 
Re: RI Vibrolux, JBL D120F and Antiquities

Ok ~

Couple of things shaped up over the weekend. First, I accurately dated my Fenders and realized that my Clapton is an '89 vs. '92....how weird. I bought her in 1992 from an Atlanta dealer, so I always thought she came straight from the factory. I suppose she was NOS. My Tele Deluxe Plus is a '91 versus a '92. Anyway, I've attached the link for anyone that wants to date their Fenders; very helpful.

http://www.fender.com/support/dating/fender_us_dating.php

So, I installed a new set of JJ's/Tesla's on Saturday night (including the NOS Mullard) and achieved some great tone. The JJ's really brighted up the amp on the top end and helped clean up some buzzing in the amp....which leads me to believe I had a microphonic tube(s). The new ECC83's and 6L6's sound great and I am really digging my Strat tone, particularly in the neck position. Yummy. The biggest surprise was the change in the Reverb tone - it changed for the better, which I can't seem to explain. Perhaps V5 needed to be changed, too.

The last change to the amp is a 10" Weber to replace the stock Jensen (which breaks into distortion too quickly). I had them make a 50W F150 to be a bit closer to the JBL's capacity (60W). I think that the Vibrolux's clean tones are under-rated because it gets into distortion at 3-4. I can now stay clean until 6-7. Very cool.

Anyway, just wanted to provide an update. Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Regards,
Lee Moore
 
Re: RI Vibrolux, JBL D120F and Antiquities

To all ~

Wanted to add one more thing - I just received 2 extra D120Fs in the mail and swapped them around with my original cone D120F, which has developed a tear in the paper surround. They both sound really good and appear to be in really good shape. In the long run, they will hold up better than my current speaker.

Overall, the JBL's are some solid speakers and I really like them with the Vibrolux. I recommend them if you can find them cheap - a daunting task given their current popularity.

Very Best Regards,
Lee Moore
 
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