new amp or change speakers, tubes and/or head?
El_Kabong
Posts: 4,141
This will be hard because I'm not really unhappy with my amps sound (PeavyUltra 120) but I just feel like there's a better sound I could be getting. And also I can't exactly explain what I'd want to sound different. I like the amp alot but it just doesn't seem perfect...
standin above the crowd
he had a voice that was strong and loud and
i swallowed his facade cos i'm so
eager to identify with
someone above the crowd
someone who seemed to feel the same
someone prepared to lead the way
he had a voice that was strong and loud and
i swallowed his facade cos i'm so
eager to identify with
someone above the crowd
someone who seemed to feel the same
someone prepared to lead the way
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Someone on here is bound to be able to help you though.
Eat your pork and beans
I eat more chicken
Than any man ever seen
could you be more vague
Yeah... Is this just another case of "The grass is always greener"?
From what I've been able to find out, their speaker cabs aren't the greatest. If you have a chance to plug into a Marshall cab loaded with good Celestion speakers, give that a shot... see if it cleans up the sound, gives you what you want. What speakers are in the cab you have? Is it a Peavey cabinet? Sheffield speakers? I assume a 4 x 12" cabinet, right? What kind of tubes? Have the tubes been replaced recently? What guitar and what FX do you use? Whose tone are you trying to copy?
Answer some questions, and we can help you out... otherwise, we'll be stabbing in the dark.
I have no idea what tubes or speakers are in it. I bought it from a roommate almost 2 years ago for $200. He said he brought it into a shop and they said the tubes could be replaced but are fine. So I'm assuming it's all whatever comes stock. I'll take a look later.
My setup is here:
http://forums.pearljam.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=17488
That has a link to pictures of them, too.
As for whose tone (I'm really not trying to 'copy' but I know you didn't mean it like that, just felt the need to clarify that) Anyway here's some bands that I really dig their sounds: Pink Floyd (especially early 70's live Meddle/AHM era), Radiohead (love, love, LOVE their clean spacey tones), Godspeed You Black Emperor!, Pearl Jam but Mike's kinda all over the place so that's not too helpful, a little Sigur Ros...I really like spacey type sounds but then Hendrix on Hey Baby (Land of the New Rising Sun)/In From the Storm is a great tone, too.
Is any of the helpful?
he had a voice that was strong and loud and
i swallowed his facade cos i'm so
eager to identify with
someone above the crowd
someone who seemed to feel the same
someone prepared to lead the way
Amplifier: Fender Deville 212
Guitar: Fender '62 Reissue Telecaster
Effects: Crybaby 535Q wah, line6 PODxt pro
With all of that, i can get any sound that i could possibly want. If you're one of the types who loves different sounds of amplifiers, try out a POD, they're the coolest thing in the entire world. I love heavy distortion and all sorts of effects, but i just didn't have the money for all the different pedals, so i got the PODxt, and i can honestly say that i have never been more satisfied in a purchase. Seriously man, you gotta check out those PODs.
PS- the deville cranks, it's 60 watt all tube. i played in front of my high school of 3800 kids in the main gymnasium, and i didn't have to turn it above 5ish. It's awesome, great reverb, and an effects loop! Huzzah!
To any god or government.
Seriously I know those are good amps.
I haven't thought about a pod...I heard the LIne 6 xx-4 (forgot and don't feel like looking it up now, am-4 I think?) sucked so I never bothered looking into any other ones...thanks tho that's a good idea.
For another question what kind of tubes do you all use? How good are yellowjackets?
ouch I just looked that up, $699.99!!
he had a voice that was strong and loud and
i swallowed his facade cos i'm so
eager to identify with
someone above the crowd
someone who seemed to feel the same
someone prepared to lead the way
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2580278509&category=38077
he had a voice that was strong and loud and
i swallowed his facade cos i'm so
eager to identify with
someone above the crowd
someone who seemed to feel the same
someone prepared to lead the way
Okay, from scratch...
After looking over your back-story, it seems to me that tubes are the primary concern. They may not provide the tone you search for, but if it's been over two years since you re-tubed the amp, then it's past due. I recommend replacing power tubes every one to two years, depending on how often you play. Preamp tubes can last longer, even decades, but I recommend replacing them with every other set of power tubes. I would start by replacing all of them, since you're unsure of their age. Be sure to replace power tubes in matched sets, like duets for two power tubes, or quartets for four power tubes. Be sure to replace any tube with the exact same type of tube (not brand, necessarily, but the same part number). So, if you have EL34 power tubes, you want to replace them with EL34 power tubes.
After you learn more about the tone you want, you might want to switch the tube type (like from EL34's to 5881's, or similar) but you'll need to have the amp re-biased for that switch. I prefer Electro-Harmonix, Groove Tubes, Ruby Tubes, and Sovtek in that order for tubes. They're all actually made by Sovtek, but they vary greatly in quality. Power tubes run roughly $15-30 apiece, and preamp tubes run roughly $8-20 apiece. Like I said, buy the power tubes in matched sets, it will greatly extend tube and overall amp life. If your amp has a tube rectifier (I doubt it, it's probably a solid-state recto) then replace the rectifier with every set of power tubes.
After you re-tube the amp, speakers might be a great next step. I like Celestion speakers for 4 x 12" cabinets. It looks like your cab has Scorpion speakers (age approximate) which have a really thin, tinny metal sound. You can replace the speakers in your cab, with like Celestion Greenbacks (my fav!), Classic 30's, or G12T-75's. They all run about $100 apiece, so it would cost $400 to get new speakers... not cheap, but well worth it if you care enough. You could try to find them used, but if you do, get them with matched impedance to the speakers you're replacing. It should say what impedance (ohms) the cab is rated... each of the four speakers will be the same impedance as the cabinet's total impedance. So if it's an 8-ohm cabinet, then it has four 8-ohm speakers in series-parallel wiring (parallel wiring cuts the impedance in half, and series wiring doubles impedance, so you end up with the same impedance in series-parallel). Ditto 4-ohm or 16-ohm, whatever the cabinet says.
You can also try to get a used Marshall cabinet with good speakers. All of Marshall's 1960 cabs (series number, not date code!) have Celestion speakers of some sort, and they're all pretty good. Plus, they look like Rock n Roll! You can spec out the cabinets here:
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/sid=031210114353150131025216229425/g=guitar/search/c=6276/c=6277/c=6278/c=6279
eBay usually has used speakers and used cabinets at reasonable prices. If you do the used speakers themselves, you'll probably be buying one at a time, or maybe two at a time... if you're lucky, you might find a quartet... but remember to double-check the impedance! Ask the seller before bidding if it's not listed. Check the cabs for the same thing, make sure your amp will match the impedance of the cabinet (some amps can output at different impedance levels).
Last point... you seem to have a lot of effects. Are they battery-operated? Battery-operated stomp boxes have a tendancy to suck a lot of tone out of your system, especially if they aren't true-bypass. You could get one of exhausted's AB boxes with FX loop... that might clean it up... a power supply for any battery-operated pedals would help. But from your influences, I can see why you need so many toys. It's more of an observation than a solution...
Anyways, good luck!
I love the DeVille amps... is yours a Hot Rod DeVille or a Blues DeVille? I prefer the Blues DeVille 410, of all of them. Especially with a tubescreamer, they just fit perfectly together! The reverb is heavenly... and they certainly are loud!
As for your question about my effects and batteris or adaptors...I've never really had everything set up at the same time. Those pics I took are the first time I had everything out together. I've been playing with the ones that use an adaptor more than the ones with batteries but I've been meaning to get some sort of power supply or something like the godyke daisy chain or the voodoo lab power all.
danke
he had a voice that was strong and loud and
i swallowed his facade cos i'm so
eager to identify with
someone above the crowd
someone who seemed to feel the same
someone prepared to lead the way
I was able to get some info from the Peavey web site. Apparently, your amp can put out 4, 8, or 16 ohms. So you could use any of those three impedance ratings on your speakers. That's a plus. Also, your amp has four power tubes, and they are 6L6 tubes (specifically 6L6GC, but the "GC" part isn't too important). You have four preamp tubes, all of them are 12AX7 tubes. It draws 400 watts, and has an output rating of 120 watts (the rest is heat and inefficiency, and output wattage is rated before distortion, so you can actually put out like 200 watts dimed). If you have Adobe Acrobat, you can get the owner's manual here:
http://www.peavey.com/media/pdf/manuals/80301360.pdf
Hope that helps...
There are plenty of attenuators on Ebay. Hotplates, Airbrakes, etc.
The tube change recommendation was more for maintenance than for tone... but you knew that...
yeah as without having been looked at the pre amps might need to be examined as well. Tube amps are like children they need to see the doctor once in awhile but they don't really harbor diesease which is good. Never hurts for them to be serviced to make sure everything is biased right. Age does funny things to components. It's only what like 10 years old so the filter caps and tube sockets are probably still great not like the 40 year old tube amps. I'd run it at 60 watts personally with an attenuator.
I detest that ultra channel but the clean and crunch are nice. Personally the only company that has uber gain down right is Mesa Boogie.
I've been impressed with peavy's relative quality though. They build some cool stuff.
You might look into Peavy's version of the deville EK. The Classic 50 4x10. You could probably trade in the Ultra for it or at least get 300 for it. and the Classic 50's used shouldn't be more than say 600. They are cool amps too.
esta aqui
http://www.samash.com/catalog/showitem.asp?ItemID=27871&TempID=12&Method=3&CategoryID=132&BrandID=1689&PriceRangeID=0&PageNum=1&DepartmentID=0&DepartmentKeeper=&pagesize=10&SortMethod=6&Word1=&Contains=&Search_Type=SEARCH&GroupCode=nonetodaythanks
Glad you posted this, what a mess and is that your amp head sitting on the fulton?
Forgot what I said but to sum it up:
Mucho Gracias! I'm glad I decided to check my email before moving the amp, unplugging and looking at the tubes.
No it wasn't my amp head on the futon...let me think I believe it was (from left to right) Yamaha Analog Delay, Roland Digital delay (on bottom) ART multi effects processor (on top of the roland)
he had a voice that was strong and loud and
i swallowed his facade cos i'm so
eager to identify with
someone above the crowd
someone who seemed to feel the same
someone prepared to lead the way
If you wanna know the truth the strings on the Jag-Stang are NEW!!! Well a few months...they were put on when I brought it into a shop to have the pup selector switch put in. Horrible place. When I first went to pick it up only the neck pickup would work! When it was in the middle and bridge position it was dead. Took them forever to fix that but as there doesn't seem to be any decent guitar shops around me....
he had a voice that was strong and loud and
i swallowed his facade cos i'm so
eager to identify with
someone above the crowd
someone who seemed to feel the same
someone prepared to lead the way
that sucks. wish i could help with the shops but of course, i'm not from around there and i'm doing most thing by myself now anyway.
I've narrowed my tone quest down a bit...altho many may not even know what I mean but Pink Floyd's Radio 1 performance of Green is the COlour/Careful with that axe, Eugene from '70 and the KQED performance of Atom Heart Mother from '71 I believe, could be 72.
I like Floyd and GYBE more where the guitarist/s just come in and out rather than being the main driving force ALL the time like Hendrix
he had a voice that was strong and loud and
i swallowed his facade cos i'm so
eager to identify with
someone above the crowd
someone who seemed to feel the same
someone prepared to lead the way
yeah I really need to learn my shit so I don't have to worry about them anymore :(
he had a voice that was strong and loud and
i swallowed his facade cos i'm so
eager to identify with
someone above the crowd
someone who seemed to feel the same
someone prepared to lead the way
it's tricky. i probably didn't do a great job with my jazzmaster wiring. a pro would rip it apart i'm sure. i think i did ok on my treble bleeds and switch installations on my fenders though. and we'll see how the pup swap in my tele goes.
Yes, spinal tap is a great movie, but the Hot Rod Deville...actually goes to 12, no joke!
To any god or government.