Drake 1202-84 OT with EL34's

[Ralle]

Hi everyone.
Question; How would it sound with a 1202-84 drake OT together with a set of EL34's?
Would that eaven work, regarding the higher primary impedance?

[Roe]

no prob at all unless you put 560v on the screens

[Brian Wallace]

The 84 sounds great with EL34's. just run it at lower voltages like Roe said.

[Ralle]

Thanx... What kind of sound differences is expected compared to a 132 ot?

[Ted B]

FWIW, I've observed that raising the primary impedance (such as in this case) makes for a smoother, less aggressive sound that leans more toward the Hi-Fi direction.

[Ralle]

Is it possible that Marshall introduced the EL34's while the -84 OT still was in the amp... like a transistion period? Or would that be a technical error?

[Coot Boy]

So would you have to mismatch your impedances then if using EL34s?

[Ralle]

Not to the speaker... I mean the primary impedance... The -84 is at 4k ( Ithink ) and EL-34's want 1.7k... I'm curious on how it sounds... The effect lowers, that affects the tone... cleaner lows with kept highs... theoreticly... but how does it sounds?

[Coot Boy]

So just keep the amp at 16 going into a 16 cab then? I have a 45/100 with the 84 OT, might have to drop in some 34s n see how it sounds?

[Ralle]

So just keep the amp at 16 going into a 16 cab then? I have a 45/100 with the 84 OT, might have to drop in some 34s n see how it sounds?

That's exactly what I'm hoping someone would do... Please could you do that, and get back to me?
It's that whole thing about having a higher primary impedance to EL 34's I'm looking for, and how it sounds...
The question is just how high...

[Coot Boy]

No worries, I'll get around to it in the next few days, will need to stuff around with the bias resistor so it's not as easy as just swapping the tubes otherwise I'd do it pronto. I'll get back with tone report. Cheers.

[Ralle]

Looking forwoard to it... Thanx man...

[Coot Boy]

Looking forwoard to it... Thanx man...

Well I'm not sure I can be of any real help mate, seeing as I had the chassis out to do the bias I decided to mod the whole thing to 68 spec, it's just a clone, the plate V is about 470V, V1b is 820/.68 V2a .0022, filtering is pretty close but to say how the EL34s sound, well it's impossible to be able to compare seeing as the amp is now completely different. All I can say for sure is the amp is a lot more fun to play now, much more lively, more gain but also has a lot more character than when it was a 45/100. Anyway, I did a rough wank with the strat loaded with single coils, this is the bridge pickup through a modded Boss CS3 compressor to add a slight boost, works great with the singles. Sorry but humbuckers don't seem to like me. I'm so impressed with the amp that I will also convert one of my 50W clones to the same spec but with the right OT for EL34s, probably still won't be a good comparison. Dunno if you can get anything from the clip except that there is a good deal of yee haa goin on

[chrisom]

That sounds kick-ass, both tone-wise and playing-wise...!

[Ralle]

Thanx Cooter Boy...
I like what I hear... it's like you said, it's kinda hard to hear the differences, but what I was looking for is how the 4k -84 Ot behaved with EL34's... I have to ask you, did you experience any lack of lows? And what about the highs?
I think you can compare pretty much with the JTM to what you have now... unless you didn't do any drastic changes with the filterings...
I'm really greatfull that you did this... To bad you didn't have a paf pu of some kind... the single coil adds some highs that sounds like what I expected from the ot, so it's kinda hard to hear wich is wich...