Blown 6CA7...HELP!

bluefuzzguitar · Post by **bluefuzzguitar** » Tue Nov 01, 2005 6:32 am

Since my band plays a kind of SRV meets Bad Company these days, our motto has become: if it doesn't swing, it swings! There's something about that heavy-handed attack that makes up for swing in its own special way. My favorite Scotty Moore moment is his solo in Too Much where he gets totally lost on the guitar both note and timing wise and just barely makes it thru to the end. Great stuff! Ain't it good to be a hack!

Mike

Billy Batz · Post by **Billy Batz** » Tue Nov 01, 2005 7:33 am

That is funny. Its not just out of time its out of time going out of the solo into the I. Somehow it still sounds cool though. Maybe its all the room sound.

bluefuzzguitar · Post by **bluefuzzguitar** » Tue Nov 01, 2005 8:10 am

I love the way he manages to throw in a kind of turnaround just in the nick of time.

Mike

Billy Batz · Post by **Billy Batz** » Tue Nov 01, 2005 9:06 am

A narrow escape.

bluefuzzguitar · Post by **bluefuzzguitar** » Tue Nov 01, 2005 10:03 am

I love the way this thread has traveled from talking about a blown 6CA7 to strats and Super Basses to fuzz face copies to British blues and rock to Scotty Moore with Elvis. Cool!

Mike

Billy Batz · Post by **Billy Batz** » Tue Nov 01, 2005 10:09 am

It takes on a life of its own

bluefuzzguitar · Post by **bluefuzzguitar** » Tue Nov 01, 2005 10:35 am

Remember, it's about the journey, not the destination...

Mike

SB Monster · Post by **SB Monster** » Tue Nov 01, 2005 11:09 am

I'm on the bus!

bluefuzzguitar · Post by **bluefuzzguitar** » Sun Nov 13, 2005 6:39 pm

And the next stop is... John Suhr strat pickups! Paul, just like I got you interested in Van Zandt pups I've become increasingly interested in the Suhr V60's. Could you give me as accurate a description as possible of the sound of these pickups? For example, are they transparent or 'flat', i.e. no added mid, low or high emphasis?

Mike

SB Monster · Post by **SB Monster** » Mon Nov 14, 2005 9:07 am

Mike, don't know whether the suhrs will suit you from what I assume you're looking for ( or found already

). I had a set of the V60LP's in for a short while and whilst they are great pups, after trying to get on with them in the heat of battle, I changed back to the fralins. They are very open and detailed and very very sweet sounding. After couple of gigs, I started to find them lacking in that edgy grit and honesty that a good vintage style pup has to have IMO. The best way I can describe it is that they sound just too darn nice. I've been having a few chats via email with Brian at acme guitars, he tried them at the same time as I did, loved them, and decided that they were too "warm sounding" for him as well. Don't get me wrong they are great pups, I reckon more of a soul/funk rhythm pup than what you or I would be after. They sound too safe.
The best way I can put it is that they sounded almost like kinmans or fender noisless, they had a kind of processed nuance, very even sweet clean tones but an annoying top end prescence that was really apparent when playing dirtier tones, so this gets me to thinking that they're not for you.

Paul

bluefuzzguitar · Post by **bluefuzzguitar** » Tue Nov 15, 2005 7:42 am

Paul,

I think you're right. Pickups that are too sweet are not for me. You want that twangy treble bite, particularly from the bridge pickup. On the other hand, pickups shouldn't be too dirty either. They should sound open, with even, 'flat' frequencies, something we associate with 'transparancy'. Which brings us back to the subject of tubes such as the 6CA7. I look for exactly the same qualities in a tube.

The VZ Vintage Plus pickups are my pickups of choice. They have all these qualities. Besides the rock pickups, I have also tried VZ's blues pups. The blues pups sound too compressed with an added midhump. Not for me. I think I should count myself lucky with V+ pups. I can relate to the Kinman reference as well. I've heard these babies and don't like them at all. To my ears they sounded cold and stiff, not 'alive' at all.

Okay, you satisfied my curiosity about the Suhr V60's. I guess for strat it's either Van Zandts or Fralins!

Mike

bluefuzzguitar · Post by **bluefuzzguitar** » Tue Nov 15, 2005 7:45 am

Paul,

You missed my response in the Dr Z Airbrake thread. Since this thread is all over the place I might as well post it here. This was about the plexi switch of my Super Ultimate Attenuator:

Paul, I think I understand what you're saying about the plexi switch's shrillness. I tried going just into just the high treble channel with the SUA's plexi switch on and it's waaaaaaayyy too trebly then. I also tried both channels using a stereo pedal. Again, too much treble with the switch on. I then went back to my old setup of jumpering the channels the old-fashioned way, i.e. plugging into the upper input of the treble channel and then going from the treble channel's lower input into the upper input of the normal channel using a small patch cable. With the plexi switch on it sounds perfect! The experiment also taught me that although you get slightly more compression using a patch cable to daisychain the two channels it gives you warmth back and just the right balance between lows and highs. So much warmth, in fact, that the plexi switch is almost a necessity to bring back some high-end definition lost in the attenuation process. This, of course, is no problem when going full blast but then the amp is louder than shit

.

I also experimented with a 5751 in V1 instead of a 12AX7/ECC83. I find I prefer the 5751. As I play very hard, my strategy has been the less pickup output the better and I could even do with slightly less preamp input. That way the amp sounds warmer, more open and more defined. So with the two channels using a short cable, a 5751 in first position and the SUA's plexi switch on I'm a happy camper!

Mike

SB Monster · Post by **SB Monster** » Tue Nov 15, 2005 9:18 am

Mike, you're right, this thread is all over the place.

Trust me the suhrs aren't for you but would be real useful for some things. I've got a set of VZ vintage plus, tried them briefly and they sound great but I'm holding off using them full time until I sort out all the valve/speaker changes and am happy with them which is pretty much the point I'm at now. I didn't want to mess around with too many things at once and find I'm going in completely the wrong direction. The V30's are really warming up and the depth and clarity I'm getting now is really enjoyable.

I got the KT66's biased at 35mA and wasn't sure, the amp still sounded too hot. Too compressed. So I took your advice and got them re biased @ 30 mA and find the amp really openned up, headroom and more bell like with that nice wide detailed mid range, I'm really happy with them. I thank you again.

The preamp valves that I put in, nos tungsram, have made a HUGE difference. I've heard guys on this forum talking about how the right nos tube can make your tone "bloom", well I guess this is what they must be talking about. I got a few nos ( more like used! ) preamp tubes from tubetramp and to be totally honest they didn't sound that good. The best one was an RCA but the others , brimar, telefunken and supposedly tungsram sounded harsh and crap basically, they just changed the tone so much, added so much gain and midhump that you'd have thought it was a different amp you were playing through. Put the standard issue marshall garbage in and the amp went limp and lifeless, so the tungsrams are for me.

Which brings me on to the plexi switch on the UA, Now that the V30's are not so tight and with the tungsram in v1, I finally get it! I suspect it's the tube rather than the speakers. I run my amp just the same as you with the two channels jumped just the same. Now I like the damn switch, I haven't had it on for an entire gig but when I had it sounded great, like extra prescence and a real sweet bite, a " metallic clang" as you well put it. Funny that

I would strongly reccomend trying those tungsrams, drummers have noticed

!!
I put a link to that guys ebay items that I got them from on the other thread, seems like he's got loads of stuff all the time. He was cool to deal with and the stuff arrived quickly and well packed.

Paul

bluefuzzguitar · Post by **bluefuzzguitar** » Tue Nov 15, 2005 10:09 am

Paul,

Glad to be of service! Looks like we have real similar taste in sound and style! I guess I should rename myself SB Monster NL

!

I'm also enjoying the sonic bliss of a good NOS tube in V1. Except mine isn't an ECC83 but a Philips JAN 5751. I love the sound of that tube! I got the idea from the days when I was still strictly Texas blues playing thru a Fender Super Reverb. I'd read this interview with Cesar Diaz, SRV's amp tech, where he mentioned Stevie used a 5751 in V2 (first position of the reverb channel). I tried it in my Super and loved it. Turns out it works equally great for a plexi! The way I understand it, a 5751 is basically the same design as an ECC83, only with a gain factor of 80 instead of 100. You get slightly less gain but the tone opens up, gets warmer and rounder. It's definitely a 'sweeter' tube but still ballsy enough, take it from me!

I wonder if there are any other forumites out there who use a 5751 in the first position of their Marshall. It 'Fenderizes' your Marshall somewhat. Play softly and your plexi sounds like a giant Bassman. Dig in and it becomes a very warm-sounding Marshall again. I love it!

Mike

Billy Batz · Post by **Billy Batz** » Tue Nov 15, 2005 1:15 pm

SBFuzzguitar

Bluefuzzmmonster

Monster fuzzguitar