Tube Amp Archive

Finished my Express cabinet and have wrapped up this project. It was a great learning experience, I had a lot of fun, and I've got a great amp out of the process. Thanks to everyone's hard work and research that made this possible. [img:400:300]http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-A69K0afU9IU/UETKWUzxY...

Well, ever since I fixed the pin 1 grounding issue I had a month or so back, I've really had a chance to listen to the overdrive characteristics of my amp. There was something in there that I was not liking - noise and a slight fizz - that was not musical. I took out the diode string and the noise i...

Interesting thread... I do like the Ingrid mod on my Express clone. I have never really cared for the presence and I keep a NOS Phillips 5751 in V1. I keep the volume around 9:30/10:00 for most of my playing too - I don't need all of that saturation for my playing. It is fun to have it there though!...

Mark, in his eloquence, said what I was trying to say in an inarticulate way...

Don't Dumble designs use a lot of metal film? Yet they are warm amps, IMO. It all depends on the design. Design carries a lot of weight in my mind - a good example is how Mike Zaite can make 6v6s sound like EL34s in his Remedy amp. I have to admit, I'm not the skilled builder that a lot of these guy...

I'd say for EL 34s, if you can't go NOS (Siemens I think), then your best bet would probably be Winged C tubes =C=. My opinion only though.

I certainly would spring for a NOS treasure for V1 - the amp is pretty sensitive to what is in V1. FWIW, I've got a NOS 5751 in my V1.

Hi Martin,
That very well could have been what the issue was. I did re-touch all of the solder joints on the pin lugs yesterday, although I did not re-touch the ground lug that 1 and 8 go to.

John

Hi Everyone, Well, the credit must go to Passfan. I tied 1 into 8 and then to ground through the 1 ohm resistor and the amp sounds great now. No crackles anymore. In fact, the amp sounds incredible. Thank you so much Passfan and to everyone who has spoken up to help - you've saved me countless hours...

Hi Rooster, Yes, it is bad. My knobs were: Volume: 10:00 Treble, Mid, Bass were at noon Presence was completely off. Passfan, I have been concerned about my arrangement of pin 1 and pin 8 from the moment I wired up the power tube sockets as I was not following the layout and going out on my own. I f...

Okay, here is my followup and my work. 1) I re-touched up every pin on the output tube sockets with my soldering iron. No luck. 2) I took off the diodes - no luck. 3) I did the hammer test... it did not reveal any popping/issues. 4) I traced back and re-touched all of the main B+ solder points to in...

Thanks for everyone's thoughts and help. I'll go through and re-check all of the solder joints and look at lead dress issues as well. I had read your post, Randy, about your problems with the diodes. I'll try with and without when I get home. I didn't have the amp on the speaker cab in any of these ...

Thanks all for the quick responses. I'll check into these suggestions. I really appreciate the help as I prefer the EL34s. Yes indeed, the crackle becomes more apparent when I turn up the volume. Plays better at lower volumes - sometimes there is a small crackle on bassy clean double stopped notes, ...

Just an update. I received another pair of Tung Sol EL34s and installed. I encountered the same issue. The crackle distortion really shows up when the tubes are biased at 65% (~40ma) or higher. If I bias them much cooler, say around 28 ma, the crackle goes away. I also notice that it is bass notes f...

The rock clip sounds a bit muffled to me compared to what I was hearing live. So, what mic, and placed where? I like to record demos with a Shure SM57 on the grille, slightly off center, so everyone has a point of reference to this "standard" recording technique. Sorry forgot to add that part... I ...

Here are a few clips from my Express clone. For this recording, I'm using: V1 and V2 - NOS 5751 V3 - JJ ECC83 V4 and V5 - EH 6v6 I just got this recording gear and am figuring it all out. The rock clip sounds a bit muffled to me compared to what I was hearing live. Just playing around with all this ...