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Location: Tennessee | Hey Brian ... I don't mean to butt in, but I've heard some real mixed reviews about the Pignose G40 and G60 amps. They are made in China and the quality is not that great. Plus, they are fixed biased ... which I understand poses a big problem when you need to replace the tubes (which come from Russia and getting identical replacements might be a big challenge). My knowledgable friends tell me that it is basically a throwaway amp ... once you've cooked the tubes you need to buy a new amp.
For what its worth, you can pick up a really nice Fender Champ 12 on ebay for under $250 bucks ... the 12 has the distortion channel in addition to the clean classic Fender channel. And it'll last a lifetime.
I've heard the Pignose, and it's a great sounding little amp ... I almost bought one, but was warned off by my buddies who are tube amp enthusiasts. Maybe they're just Class A snobs, but ... they also live and breathe this stuff.
Just my two cents ...
//0~0\\ |
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Location: Boston MA | Stonebobbo and Bailey Thanks info was very helpfull. 2 cents is all ways wanted!!! I was all so looking at the fender blues JR can you replace the tubes on that one? I LOVE THIS SITE YOU ARE ALL A GREAT HELP!!!!! Brian |
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Location: Scotland | Tube bias is a fairly sophisticated area, it's also another topic bandied about as tube voodoo by those allegedly "in the know" Bias controls the way tubes "idle" and correct bias will mean the tubes will last longer & probably sound better, note the proviso "probably" you may like the way a wrongly biased amp behaves. But just because an amp can't be rebiased doesn't mean it has to be junked. Some of the Chinese, Slavic & Russian output tubes are so cheap you can buy a dozen for the cost of a couple of "matched" name-brand tubes (more Voodoo, they buy them from the Eastern-bloc, "match" them, stick on a fancy logo & charge a premium price )You can then swap 'em around till you get what you're listening for, & still have a bunch of spares left over.
The Fender Blues Jr & Pro Jr are also fixed bias amps. Fixed bias actually means the amps are designed to "tolerate" most output tubes of a certain type, it's hardly the purist's approach but it's the payoff for an affordable tube amp. I've had a Pro Jr in my studio for about 7 years, it's packed up a few times but has been easily & cheaply repaired, I've re-valved it(oops, Brit-speak. I meant replaced the tubes)
3 or 4 times, it sounds killer. As for Fender Champs the ones to have, which are still affordable, are the 70's single channel silver-face Vibro-Champs. Forget a distortion channel, just turn one of these suckers up to 10 & turn down the guitar volume for a clean tone, massive sounding amps, especially for recording distorted tones without huge volume.
[ August 18, 2002: Message edited by: Paul Templeman ] |
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Location: Boston MA | So does that mean that Fender blues JRs tubes can be replaced with a differnt kind of tube other than what it comes with to change the sound. Or should you replace them with org... Thanks for the info. Brian
[where do you get the tubes Russian or not]
[ August 18, 2002: Message edited by: Brian ] |
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Location: Scotland | The Blues Jr uses 2 12AX7 tubes in the preamp &, unusually for a US Amp, 2 EL84's in the output stage, I think the US code for the EL84 is 6BQ5, but I may be wrong about that. You need to replace the tubes with these only. The amp will be happy with just about any tubes of this type, Russian, Chinese, Slavic, whatever, your ears should tell you anything else. In my experience Chinese 12AX7's sound very thin & have a tendency to be noisy and/or microphonic. The Russian tubes are generaly fine. Sovtek & Svetlana are brands that I've found to be consistent, sound good and are reasonably priced. You should be able to find these easily but if not this UK company will export. Their prices are good & they also have a lot of esoteric tubes & new old-stock classics.
http://www.watfordvalves.com/mainindex.htm
or in the USA
http://www.vacuumtube.com/tubes.htm
Try a google search on Svetlana or Sovtek
Paul
[ August 18, 2002: Message edited by: Paul Templeman ] |
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Location: Boston MA | Thanks Paul,now if I get a tube amp I know where to get new ones. Found a nice blues jr for 280 with all the tags and warranty just used a few times I just might grab it well thanks Brian |
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Location: NJ | Paul
I have to disagree with you. The chinese 12ax7 tubes are better than the russian ones. In fact since they shut down their factory they have been demanding stupid high prices. I prefer NOS USA or European tubes but in the occasion I had to use russian power tubes I went with the svetlana which can handle high plate voltages such as an ampeg svt.
IMHO NOTHING can match the old telefunken 12ax7 tubes I rob them out of old hi fi sets and put them in all my amps but they are not for everyone and even though they are sometimes 40 years old I have never pulled one that was dead.
I have a ton of tubes laying around I am obsessed with them. |
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Location: Scotland | Al, I use nothing but new old-stock British Mullard, Phillips & GEC valves in my own amps & am fortunate enought to have a small stockpile which should last the rest of my playing life, which is just as well, the prices of new old-stock tubes are getting silly. None of the current Eastern-bloc tubes can compare with USA or UK produced versions but Svetlana come the closest. Sovtek are fantastic value. Cheap tubes tend to be inconsistent and I have always had better results with Russian or Slavic preamp tubes than Chinese. Chinese output tubes are fine for the dough and it's unlikely that anyone buying an entry-level amp would want to spend more than the cost of the amp re-tubing with NOS tubes
[ August 19, 2002: Message edited by: Paul Templeman ] |
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Location: NJ | Paul I have Genelex kt 88's in my Harmom Kardon citation II amp and my Paragon has mullard 12ax7'so no complaints from me. I just got back into tube hi fi a few years ago and never looked back. I just hope those kt 88's last me forever because I don't know how I would ever replace them |
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Location: Scotland | Al, Watford Valves have NOS GEC KT88's in stock, but they're not cheap. They also have some new-prodution equivalents. They recommend the Svetlana version quite highly
www.watfordvalves.com
Paul |
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Location: Boston MA | ALL this talk of tubes has just made me get a new amp for my US STRAT just had to have the Fender blues jr. Got it new from Daddys junky mucic in the great city of Boston the store is right across the street fro Berkliy school of music all kinds of mucians all over! Jump on the subway two trains later and IM there. Home on the subway now that was fun!! Any way going to open the box so thanks for the info :D
BRIAN |
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Location: Las Cruces, NM | What a GREAT discussion of tube amps, I want one. To answer the criticism of the Pignose, my son has already replaced the tubes with military spec Russian tubes, so obviously it is not an amp where the tubes can't be replaced. It has one of the toughest speakers I've ever seen and sounds awesome, we all love gossip but we shouldn't knock equipment that we haven't played or heard. If gossip is the criteria, maybe we should all junk our Ovation stuff because the Fender and Gibson players don't love them. Technically, we should speak of what we know from experience, not what we have heard in the gossip mill, a lot of gossip has a commercial source, because destroying a competitor might cause success in the dog eat dog world of instrument sales.
Bailey
My brother and I had a TV repair business in the early 80's and we were replacing all these now esoteric tubes in TV sets every day for $15 a set in the motels. Leave it to a guitar player to worship a 6L6. |
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Location: Boston MA | Just love my new tube amp! Have a pickup for my acustic and it sounds great better with my strat,the new Ovation Elite will sound great IM sure. My reason for the Fender over the pignose was for the Fender name had a feeling that the pignose tubes could be replaced. Had to have the fender I guess. Any way when at the store I played the new Tangant did not like it. Has any one seen or tryed this one? BRIAN |
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Location: Las Cruces, NM | Glad to hear you like your Fender Jr., sounds like we have a choice here in tube amps. I've heard that it is a super good tube amp at a pretty reasonable cost. I don't think anybody has mentioned, for the record, that there aren't any US made tubes (valves) anymore, that's why we are talking Chinese, Russian etc.. Sometimes the farther ahead we get the more we fall behind. (I almost typed "the more behind we get" until I realized that anyone who is logging on from a penitentiary might take that wrong and lie in wait for any of us who might end up in the slammer.
Bailey |
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Location: Pennsylvania | The guitar didn't sell again! It got up to 406.00, and didn't get any last minute bids. Sigh.
I'm still in debt and cant afford to keep listing it.
I guess I'll have to trade it somewhere on something worthwhile. My brother's into acoustic and really wants an ovation (he's real good but only has an old epi), so maybe I can trade it on a guitar for him.
[ August 23, 2002: Message edited by: snowlock ] |
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My Elite didn't sell--I'm so in debt!
