Rocks Blues Guitars, Tube Amps and More...

Crate V18 Tube Amp

rocks — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 18:19:31 +0000

I have an unmodded circiut V18. I have replaced the reverb pan with a new accutronics which is the only mod I’ve made. I’ve swapped a few tubes around but its back to stock now. I just got my hands on a set of real nice vintage RCA 12AX7A’s that I pulled from an old Lowrey organ. The tubes are marked 61-22 274. My question is has anyone tried replacing the stock tubes with vintage RCA’s without doing any other mods? I am curious as to what difference you got with just the tube swap. I’m going to try the swap myself, but I won’t be able to get to it for a couple days so I figured I’d ask and see what others know.

While I’m at it I’m also going to try an old Sound City By Sylvania 12AU7 that is marked H6V 713 and an old RCA 12AT7 that I can’t read any markings on other than Made in USA.

To compare them I’m going to first record the amp with stock tubes. The I’ll swap out something, and record again with the same guitar, same settings on the amp, etc. This way I’ll get an idea of how it sounds while I am playing, plus I can refer back to recordings to compare.

From the tubes I’ve mentioned, which would be your first choices to try? Of course I know the first things you’ll all ask is what kind of sound am I looking for. I play blues, rock and some metal (when I feel like letting out some frustration ) I play mostly at low volume and I like anything from a sweet clean to heavy OD/distortion. I do have pedals I use at times for low volume playing, a Bad Monkey and a Marshall Guv’nor.

I do have the speaker broken in pretty good and it sounds much better now. Also because of the volumes I play at I don’t really have issues with overwhelming bass or boxy tones. I can dial in pretty good tone with it stock at the volumes I play. Of course pretty good means there is room for improvment. I’m staying away from circiut mods for right now so I don’t void the warrenty so soon. I guess if I was playing at louder volumes more mods might be needed, but at the volume I play I can easily get all the clean I want.

Ideas for modding my Fender Telecaster?

rocks — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 18:17:46 +0000

I have a 2004 MIM tele that is all stock. I don’t want to get crazy buying the most expensive parts since I only play at home, but I do want to do some upgrades. I’m looking at the Wilikenson 3 brass saddle compensated bridge. But I also want to upgrade the pickups and do some wiring mods. I’m thinking about going to a 5 position switch and removing the tone circuit. I am thinking of doing something similar to the esquires where certain positions on the switch are set for specific tones, and also have positions where the pickups go straight to the jack with no tone circuit in between. I also very rarely use my tone pot, so I am thinking of two volume pots instead. I never use the tone pot on the neck pickup, so this one might just get wired with no tone circuit at all. this would leave me with 4 more positions. One with the bridge pickup straight through, one with both pickups and then two with set value caps. What do you think?

My goal is to get really nice clear, ringing clean tone with plenty of definition and sustain. I can always add more dirt when I want it, but I can’t add clean. I’m considering going with the GFS fatbody pups, or possibly one of their rail sets. They have all the other parts I’m looking at so I can do everything in one order. I’m also looking at this preamp they have, but not sure about it yet. They mention that with it and a 50k pot you can make it a low impedance guitar and they say that it makes a big difference, anyone know anything about that?

I never use the tone control on the neck pickup, and very rarely use it on the bridge pickup. if I want more bottom and a fuller tone I switch to the neck pickup, more treble and bite, the bridge. So at most for some things I’d want to take a little treble off the bridge pickup, without it sounding muffled. I don’t need a pot to do this a cap would do the job perfect and hit the same tone every time without fiddling with a knob. I also don’t think the stock neck pickup is clear enough, its not bad, but its not great. The bridge pickup is pretty decent, but could be better.

Vintage RCA 6V6GT’s and 12AX7A’s

rocks — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 18:11:37 +0000

For any of you that know me by my posts here, you know I have a ‘73 vibro champ that I love. Last week I was asking some questions about tubes I pulled from an old Lowrey organ. The tubes turned out to be RCA’s that were branded as Lowrey.

There were two 6V6GT’s: On the side they say:

Made in USA
61-22
274

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and three 12AX7A’s also marked:
Made in USA
61-22
274

Anyhow, just for fun, I decided to try them in my Vibro Champ. To do the test I first played the VC with the stock tubes (yes mine still has the original tubes) I played for about 30 minutes on my tele using all three pup swtich settings. I then let the amp cool a bit and changed the preamp and power amp tubes to the "new-old" Lowrey stamped RCA’s. Once again, I fired up the amp and played with the exact same amp settings. The tele was full up on both volume and tone for both sets of tubes. Now mind you, I thought the amp sounded pretty darn good before - but I was blown away by the difference! The RCA’s from the organ sounded incredible! I think the orignal tubes were also RCA’s but all the writing was rubbed off and all I can see is what looks like some where letters once were, the same color ink I see on other old RCA tubes.

The new tone from the amp sounded even more open and alive. More clean headroom and even sweeter tone. Since the old tubes still work fine, I put them on the side in my tube box along with my new "spares" from what was left over from the organ, one 6V6GT and two 12AX7A’s. Not only did I find my tone, but I have extras of the tubes that made it happen.

More guitar Equipment

rocks — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 07:49:09 +0000

I recently added to my collection of tube amps and effects. I snatched up one of the Crate V18 112 amps on sale. I’ve done a few monite mods to it like upgrading the reverb tank to a new accutronics. I also played around with some new tubes and it sounds killer now. One day at a local music store I spotted a great deal on a used Hartke bass amp, I snagged it up to. The Hartke sounds incredible, it’s a single 15" combo and the tone is sweet, my Guild bass loves it!

For effects I added a Digitech Bad Monkey Overdrive, an excellent pedal! Sweet bluesy and clasic rock tones and all my tube amps love it. I also picked up a cheap chorus, I don’t use them much so I just grabbed one of the cheap danoelectro pedals. While I was at it I also grabbed one of thier echo pedals, just t play with it. I’ve heard there are real easy mods for these pedals that make them much better, I’ll have to do some research and then I’ll probablly mod them.

Playing Guitar - How to play your best!

rocks — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 03:59:40 +0000

I started as a bass player about 30 years ago. I played quite a few live gigs and spent many hours jamming in basements. Over the last few years I decided to start playing guitar. I started with electrics and quite a few effects, my favorite was a rack mount effect made by Rocktron called the Voodu Valve. After a few years I realized I wasn’t really getting much better, sure I learned some new things but I wasn’t improving as fast as I wanted. Then I learned something that really changed everything for me.

I got my hands on an old acoustic, I’m talking over 50 years old, a true vintage acoustic just like many of the old blues players used. The tone isn’t sparkling and clean like on a Martin acoustic, it was raw like you hear on old blues records from the pioneers of blues. The action isn’t super low, and it takes some effort to do bends, yet this guitar has improved my playing more than any guitar costing thousands of dollars. The neck is slightly wider than most of my guitars, the action a little higher and the tone much less forgiving. You can’t hide mistakes on this guitar like you can on an electric using effects and distortion. You have to play it right or it sounds like crap. Once you can make it sound good on this guitar you can make it sound incredible on any guitar. I now play this old warhorse at least one hour a day and its made more improvemts in my playing than any other thing I’ve tried.

Finding great deals on guitars, amps and effects

rocks — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 20:02:58 +0000

Many people playing guitar can’t afford to get all the gear they would like to have. I’ve managed to find great buys and incredible values on guitar equipment just by knowing where to look. For one thing, I’m not a brand name snob, if it plays good and sounds good, it is good. A great example is Squire guitars, they are low priced Fender guitars. If you take the time to look and play a few you’ll find many of them play as good and sometimes even better than the higher priced Fender guitars. On the lower priced Squire guitars they normally skimp on the electronics, cheaper volume and tone controls, cheaper switches and tuners. Even though some of the parts are cheaper, they are still quite functional and easily upgraded for a few bucks.

I also eagerly shop garage sales, pawn shops and used sections of local music stores. Many times music stores have no idea what they really have and mislable guitars with prices that are much lower than what they are really worth. A good example is a vintage Made in Japan Fender Stratocaster I found at a Guitar Center. One glance and I knew it was one of the vintage reissue models and they had it for sale used for $225, I snapped it right up, played it for about a month and then sold it on ebay for more than twice what I paid for it! I would have kept it but I didn’t like the vintage frets.

Here is just a few of the deals I’ve found:

1964 Gibson Kalamazoo Model Two Guitar amp - I paid $5 for it at a garage sale and it only needed about $5 worth of parts to get it working perfect again. This sweet old tube amp has an 6AQ5 power amp tube and a 12AX7 preamp. This amp screams when plugged into a 4×12’s speaker cabinet. It is easy to work with, simply turn the amp up to full volume and then dial in the amount for overdrive you want with the volume knob on your guitar. This is nice because you can control it right from your guitar without having to go anwywhere near the amp. If you want clean guitar tones simply turn down the volume on the guitar. if you want crunch and overdrive, just turn up the guitar volume. This amp is all hand wired, point to point wiring, no circuit boards. This makes the amp very easy to work on and very reliable. Great for blues and rock music.

1973 Fender Vibro Champ. Another vintage tube amp I picked up cheap, $75 at a flea market. This amp is mint! Incredible tone in a small package. Its another amp that really shines when pushing a 4×12’s speaker cabinet. It has lots of clean headroom, very sweet tone and doesn’t start breaking up until I hit about 7 on the volume. This is another tube amp that I turn up to full volume and adjust it using the volume knob on the guitar. This amp is also great for blues and rock music, but its also good for country and even jazz.

50’s or 60’s SIlvertone Tube Amp. I got this amp out of an old silvertone organ that I got for free from a garage sale. I pulled the tube amp out and modified it slightly for guitar. This amp is an EL84 (6BQ5) based amp with a 12AX7 preamp tube. It has a second 12AX7 that was being used for the vibrato circuit but I’m having it modified to remove the vibrato and add more gain stages. this tube amp is another very sweet sounding amp. Its also another hand wired amp with point to point wiring.

Indiana Scout Acoustic Guitar - Very pretty guitar in a blue burst finish. I got it for $20 at a garage sale with a gigbag. The guitar was mint and appeared to have been played a couple times and kept in the gigbag ever since. They sell new for about $100-$150, so its not a top quality guitar. However the fit and finish was flawless and once I lowered the action a bit it plays incredible. It doesn’t sound like a Martin Acoustic, but it does have a very nice balanced tone and its fun to play. It stays in tune great and the neck feels really nice. I considered selling it but realized I’d probably only get about $50 for it and there was no way I could find a better acoustic for $50 to replace it quickly. So I’m keeping it until I find a better one and even then I may not sell it. $20 for a good playing guitar makes it perfect to take with me camping, to the park or just to pick on the porch on summer evenings.

Early "50’s Oscar Schmidt Parlor Guitar. I picked it up for $2 at a garage sale, It didn’t have strings, a bridge or tuners. But one look and I knew it was worth fixing up. it has a very nice vintage sunburst finish that is very similar to the Gibson Heritage Cherry Sunburst used on some Les Pauls. It looked like it had been played a lot by a previous owner and then left to sit in a closet for probably about 50 years. I put a decent set of open back tuners on it, a floating rosewood bridge and a new set of Martin Acoustic Guitar strings on her and then spent the next day or so making adjustments and cleaning her up. She now plays very well with nice low action and no fret buzz anywhere on the guitar neck. She has a nice "old school" blues sound just like what you hear on vintage blues records. Many of the original bluesmen played on guitars just like this because they were inexpensive and easy to get. Its a great guitar for playing on the front porch or even while watching TV. The smaller body size make it very comfortable to play too.

Fender Squire Butterscotch Blonde Telecaster. I piad $99 for it new because it had a couple chips in the finish.The fit and finish on it was perfect (other than the chips) the neck was nice and tight in the pocket and has realy nice wood grain on the maple fretboard. The neck feels great and the frets were well done right from the factory. I did some minor adjustments on it and replaced the pickups with some real nice AlNiCo magnet pickups from GFS. This guitar is now one of my favorite players and has incredible tone.

Fender Squire ‘51 Moddified Telecaster - Musicians Friend was blowing these out on sale for $99! I got one in a nice vintage sunburst. this guitar comes with a tele style neck on a strat style body. It has one single coil pickup in the neck and a nice hot humbucker in the bridge position. The humbucker was already a great sounding pickup so I only replaced the neck pickup with a vintage AlNiCo strat pickup. This guitar rocks! It is a great playing guitar and It can easily play anything from country to heavy metal and anything in between. I play mostly blues and rock on it and its a real workhorse with great tone and a great feel. A very fun guitar to play!

If you look at everything I have you’ll see I spent about $300 and got three tube amps, two acoustic guitars and two electric guitars! I play all of them almost every day. I’d say it was $300 well spent and the best part is some of the pieces will continue to go up in value! The old fender amps are going up and up in price, so are the old Gibsons and Silvertones - A great investment in guitars and amps!

Vintage Fender Blackface Bassman Tube Amp

rocks — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 17:44:38 +0000

Fender made the blackface bassman amp between 1964-1967. The bassman was designed as a bass amp but very quickly became a favorite of many guitar players. I’ve read that the original Marshall amps were designed based on the Fender Bassman circuit. The Blackface bassman was designed as a piggy back setup with a seperate head and speaker cabinet. Fender used three different circuits in the bassman depending on the year it was made, they are the AA864, AA165 and AB165.

Specifications:
Control Panel: Black forward facing w/ white labels
Front Conrol Layout:Bass: In, In, Deep Sw, Vol, Treb, Bass - Normal: In, In, Bright Sw, Vol, Treb, Bass - Pilot Lamp
Rear Conrol Layout: AC Outlet, Ground Sw, Fuse (2A), Power Sw, Standby Sw, Speaker, Ex. Speaker
Knobs: Black skirted w/ chrome center, numbered 1 - 10
Head: 8" x 22¼" x 9" (20.3 x 56.5 x 22.9 cm)
Head Hardware: Black strap handle, 4½" chassis straps, corner protectors, cab hooks
Cabinet: 64-67: 21" x 32" x 11½" (53.3 x 81.3 x 29.2 cm) Late 67: 40" x 29½" x 11½" (101.6 x 74.9 x 29.2 cm)
Cab Hardware: 64-67: Black strap handle, 16" tilt-back legs, corner protectors, knurled studs, glides. Late 67: 3 black strap handles, corner protectors, knurled studs, casters
Head/Cab Covering: Black Tolex
Head/Cab Grille: Silver sparkle grille cloth
Logo: Grille mounted, raised, chrome & black, script "Fender" (head and cab)
Weight: Head: 30 lbs. (14.5 Kg) Cab: 52 lbs. (23.6 Kg)
Speakers/Load: 2 x 12"/4 ohms total (8 ohms each in parallel)
Speaker Model: Jensen C12N, Oxford 12T6 or Utah ceramic 12"
Effects: None
Output: 50 Watts
Preamp: Bass: 2 x 7025, Normal: 7025
Power: 2 x 6L6GC
Bias: Fixed Bias, adjustment pot (AA864) or balance pot (AB165)
Rectifier:
Phase Inverter: 12AT7 (long tailed)
Comments: Fender bassmans are well known for incredible guitar tones. They overdrive perfectly for rock and blues and original blackface bassmans command top dollar even in poor condition.

Fender `59 Bassman Reissue Tube Amp

rocks — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 04:22:53 +0000

The Fender Bassman has been a long time favorite for guitar players as well as bass players. It was designed as a bass amp but very soon guitar players realized that it was an even better guitar amp. The ‘59 Bassman reissue is an incredible sounding amp, best suited for rock and blues. The Fender ‘50 Bassman reissue is a combo style tube amp.

Specifications:
Control Panel: Chrome top facing w/ white screened labels, controls numbered 1-12
Conrol Layout: Ground Sw, Fuse (3A), Power Sw, Standby Sw, Pilot Lamp, Presense, Mid, Bass, Treb, Vol Bright, Vol Normal, Bright Hi-Gain In, Bright Lo-Gain In, Normal Hi-Gain In, Normal Lo-Gain In
Knobs: Black pointer
Cabinet: Narrow panel style, 22½" x 23½" x 10½" (57.2 x 59.7 x 26.7 cm)
Cab Covering: Diagonal tweed
Cab Hardware: Brown plastic "Fender" handle, glides
Grille: brown grille cloth
Logo:Cabinet mounted, Script "Fender Bassman" on rectangular tag
Weight: 53 lbs. (24 Kg)
Speakers/Load: 4 x 10"/2 ohms (8 ohms each in parallel)
Speaker Model: Eminence AlNiCo
Effects: None
Output: 45 Watts
Preamp: 2 x 12AX7
Power: 2 x 6L6GC
Bias: Fixed bias
Rectifier: SS (see comments)
Phase Inverter: 12AX7 (long-tailed)
Comments: The solid state rectifier is fitted into an octal socket to allow easy replacement with a tube rectifier. (5U4 or GZ34/5AR4)

Fender Hot Rod Deluxe Tube Amp

rocks — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 04:17:01 +0000

The Fender Hot Rod Deluxe was first introduced in 1996 and is still currently in production. The Hot Rod Deluxe is a combo style tube amp and is a favorite of many guitarists.

Specifications:
Control Panel:Grey top facing w/ white screened labels, controls numbered 1-12
Conrol Layout: In, Norm/Bright Sw, Vol, More Drive Sw, Drive, ? Sw, Treb, Bass, Mid, Channel Sw, Master Vol, Reverb, Presence, Preamp Out, Power Amp In, Footswitch, Pilot Lamp, Power Sw, Standby Sw
Knobs:Black pointer
Cabinet: Narrow panel, 18½" x 23½" x 10½" (47 x 59.7 x 26.7 cm)
Cab Covering: Black Tolex or Diagonal tweed
Cab Hardware: Black plastic handle, glides
Grille: Brown or silver sparkle grille cloth
Logo:Cabinet mounted, Script "Fender - Deluxe" on a black rectangular tag
Weight: 45 lbs. (20.4 Kg)
Speakers/Load: 1 x 12"/8 ohms
Speaker Model: Eminance
Effects:Reverb
Output: 40 Watts
Preamp: 12AX7 and ½ 12AX7
Power: 2 x 6L6
Bias:Fixed
Rectifier: Solid State
Phase Inverter: 12AX7
Reverb Driver: Solid State
Reverb Recovery: Solid State
Comments: The Fender Hot Rod Deluxe is a smoking 40 watts and sounds incredible when pushing larger cabinets like a good 4×12" speaker cabinet.

Fender Blues Junior Tube Guitar Amp

rocks — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 04:08:13 +0000

The fender blues Jr. was first made in 1995 and are still in production today. The Blues Jr. uses the PR295 circiut and is a combo style tube amp. The Fender Blues Jr.is a favorite of many players and has quite a few people doing their own mods to make it an even better tube amp.

Specifications:

Control Panel: Chrome top facing w/ white screened labels, controls numbered 1-12
Conrol Layout: Power Sw, Pilot Lamp, Reverb, Master Vol, Mid, Bass, Treb, Fat Sw, Vol, In
Knobs: Black pointer
Cabinet: Narrow panel style, 16" x 18" x 9 3/16" (40.6 x 45.7 x 23.3 cm)
Cab Covering: Diagonal tweed or black Tolex
Cab Hardware:Black strap Handle, glides
Grille:Brown, maroon, or silver sparkle grille cloth
Logo:Cabinet mounted, Script "Fender" on rectangular tag
Weight:31 lbs. (14.1 Kg)
Speakers/Load: 1 x 12"/8 ohms
Speaker Model: Eminance
Effects: Reverb
Output: 15 Watts
Preamp 1½ x 12AX7 (½ 12AX7 left unused)
Power: 2 x 6BQ5 (EL84)
Bias: Fixed, nonadjustable
Rectifier:Solid State
Phase Inverter: 12AX7 (longtailed)
Reverb Driver: Solid State
Reverb Recovery: Solid State
Comments: The Fender Blues Jr. is a great amp for small gigs and works well for larger gigs if you mic it. Many people have been upgrading the speaker for even better tone and there is also quite a few mods that can be done to tweak them even further.