New Amps Day

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ThePearDream
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New Amps Day

Post by ThePearDream » Tue Feb 14, 2023 10:47 am

I picked up two amps today! I've really ignored building up my amp collection and had been wanting to add a loud clangy solid state amp and also some king of small, tweed-like, two knob, tube amp. I haven't had a real tube (or solid state) amp in years. I've mostly used digital-tube hybrids for 15+ years (Johnson Marquis, Vox AV, etc.), so I'm looking forward to diving in to these.

First, for the clangy solid state amp, is a Yamaha g50-112 II combo. Very loud, very nice clean, the gain channel isn't even too bad. Missing the Yamaha badge. Needs a new reverb pan, I think. I plan for this to be my main pedal amp now.

Then for the small tube amp, I picked up a VHT Special 6 combo. With the hand wired eyelet board, it seems like a really good, affordable option for learning how to do amp mods. I'm plannning to get a mod kit to turn it into a 5F2A Princeton. The amp plus a mod kit is way cheaper than buying even a small amp kit.

I still really want a Princeton Reverb and a Vox AC15, but I'm feeling a lot better about my amp collection now.

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Doug
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ThePearDream
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Re: New Amps Day

Post by ThePearDream » Tue Feb 14, 2023 3:09 pm

I think I see the problem with the reverb tank. Good thing I had them knock $50 off.

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marqueemoon
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Re: New Amps Day

Post by marqueemoon » Tue Feb 14, 2023 6:21 pm

Nice. I had a Special 6 head for a while. They are pretty fun.

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MrShake
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Re: New Amps Day

Post by MrShake » Wed Feb 15, 2023 5:11 am

Congrats, I bet those two are going to make a nice coplimentary pair!

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panoramic
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Re: New Amps Day

Post by panoramic » Wed Feb 15, 2023 7:17 am

those old yamahas are really quite nice.
I used to be cool, now I just complain about prices.

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ThePearDream
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Re: New Amps Day

Post by ThePearDream » Wed Feb 15, 2023 7:47 am

Thanks folks!

So, the reverb tank I pulled out is a non-original 4BB2D1D. There isn't a ton of info out there, but it seems like the original was maybe a 1AB2C1A. I don't know enough to know if the different input impedance or connector or mounting orientation codes allowed this tank to work correctly or not. Anyway, once I found out a suitable replacement for the original, I adjusted from there to get a longer pan and long decay and have ordered a MOD 9AB3C1B pan. Looking forward to hearing these really great clean tones with that big spring reverb pan. I also need to figure out footswitch for the reverb.

Also, the parametric EQ is clearly a really powerful tone sculpting function, I can't wait to explore this part more.
Doug
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BoringPostcards
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Re: New Amps Day

Post by BoringPostcards » Thu Feb 16, 2023 4:22 am

panoramic wrote:
Wed Feb 15, 2023 7:17 am
those old yamahas are really quite nice.
Yea, they really are. The guitarist in one of my old bands used one. He got great tones out of it in our noisy little band.
Det er mig der holder traeerne sammen.

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panoramic
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Re: New Amps Day

Post by panoramic » Thu Feb 16, 2023 8:03 am

BoringPostcards wrote:
Thu Feb 16, 2023 4:22 am
panoramic wrote:
Wed Feb 15, 2023 7:17 am
those old yamahas are really quite nice.
Yea, they really are. The guitarist in one of my old bands used one. He got great tones out of it in our noisy little band.
Fender stage 160 2x12 SS amps are also a good deal and similar in overall sound. I played both in the 90's and was happier with them than my peavey classic 4x10 combo. I gigged with a 50 watt jcm 800 then, i miss that thing.
I used to be cool, now I just complain about prices.

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ThePearDream
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Re: New Amps Day

Post by ThePearDream » Tue Feb 21, 2023 7:40 am

I got the new reverb pan installed yesterday. It sounds super sproingy now.

After consulting a circuit diagram for the amp, I bought a simple on/off footswitch from Saturnworks on Reverb. Works perfectly for the reverb or channel switching.

The mod kit for the VHT is on the way, as are a pair of NOS tubes.
Doug
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