Power tube question......
Moderator: Shoshanah Marohn
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Jim Curtain
- Posts: 95
- Joined: 17 Feb 2012 8:54 am
- Location: Phoenix,Arizona, USA
Power tube question......
I use a crate v50-112 amp with 12au7 pre-amp tubes and 6l6gc power tubes, I'm happy with the tone, but any ideas for tone improvement? THank you for your time. JimC.
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Darrell Birtcher
Jim,
You'll probably get the biggest tone changes by trying various speakers. There's so many choices out there depending on the sound you're looking for. That's a fairly "Fender-ish" amp, and that character is generally brought out best by something JBL-ish. The new Telonics neo comes to mind. Eminence has a huge selection of voices and they're helpful via phone to narrow things down. Many other brands to choose from. Fender has actually been using some Celestions lately, with good results.
If you're looking for more gain in the front end you could go with a boost pedal rather than modifying the amp. The EP Booster is particularly sweet and retains a nice sparkle.
For circuit mods you can't go wrong with Gary Lowe over at Noteworks. He's a great tech and his integrity is impeccable.
You'll probably get the biggest tone changes by trying various speakers. There's so many choices out there depending on the sound you're looking for. That's a fairly "Fender-ish" amp, and that character is generally brought out best by something JBL-ish. The new Telonics neo comes to mind. Eminence has a huge selection of voices and they're helpful via phone to narrow things down. Many other brands to choose from. Fender has actually been using some Celestions lately, with good results.
If you're looking for more gain in the front end you could go with a boost pedal rather than modifying the amp. The EP Booster is particularly sweet and retains a nice sparkle.
For circuit mods you can't go wrong with Gary Lowe over at Noteworks. He's a great tech and his integrity is impeccable.
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Jim Curtain
- Posts: 95
- Joined: 17 Feb 2012 8:54 am
- Location: Phoenix,Arizona, USA
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Stephen Cowell
- Posts: 2875
- Joined: 6 Jan 2012 8:13 am
- Location: Round Rock, Texas, USA
http://www.crateamps.com/pdf/manuals/V50-112_OM.pdf
It shows here that your amp came with 12ax7 preamp tubes... not sure if you've changed them or what here.
Expensive tubes and speakers won't change your amp's limitations... but playing around with different brands of preamp tube is fun and easy, and you have lots of choices in the $15 range from new manufacture that will almost certainly be better than what's in there now (probably no-name Chinese). Tung-Sol, Mullard, JJ, are a few of the names to look for... Google will get you started, look for forums discussing your type of music i.e. country, metal, blues etc. The most important tube position is V1, the first tube your signal hits... normally it's the right-most one, looking in the back. Time to self-educate if you want to save money... don't blow a lot, your amp cost less than $200 new.
It shows here that your amp came with 12ax7 preamp tubes... not sure if you've changed them or what here.
Expensive tubes and speakers won't change your amp's limitations... but playing around with different brands of preamp tube is fun and easy, and you have lots of choices in the $15 range from new manufacture that will almost certainly be better than what's in there now (probably no-name Chinese). Tung-Sol, Mullard, JJ, are a few of the names to look for... Google will get you started, look for forums discussing your type of music i.e. country, metal, blues etc. The most important tube position is V1, the first tube your signal hits... normally it's the right-most one, looking in the back. Time to self-educate if you want to save money... don't blow a lot, your amp cost less than $200 new.
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Paul Arntson
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