beware. NEWBIE QUESTION ABOUT MODS

[tempest1226]

hey everyone. Ive looked and read as much as i could on all these different mods i hear about for amps/heads. What exactly are these mods for. I know there is a mod for a bias switch or something of the sort so that you dont have to use mesa tubes with your mesas and ive heard about changing pots of some sort but i have no idea. And i always here about mods that will change your tones and thsi and that. I just want to use my equiptment to its fullest and understand it. When i bought my mesa gear i had no idea about anything except to plug it in. What are the mods that you can get for amps. I know that might be a broad question but in general im trying to get an understanding of how to juice up an amp. example being my dual rec. Ive already learned ALOT about tubes and there posistions and what they do for the most part from this forum, but now im trying to venture mods. Any help would be awesome. lattterrrrrrrrr

 

[Elpelotero]

Theoretically, if you know how to solder and understand the circuitry behind tube amps, anyone can make almost any mod imaginable to any amp.

Common mods for rectos include:
-Voodoo amps--company that mods it for you
-Serial loop mod--changes the Parallel efx loop to Serial. This makes your Solo knob useless though on a 3ch
-Bias mod--I don't know of too many people doing this one...Most people just plug in and play w/e tubes sound good to them.
-Mercury Magnetics Output Transformer--Supposedly cleans up the tone a lot. You need them to wire it for you and install it (unless you know how).

However, you can bypass all of this and just get an early 2ch rectifier, since it has a serial loop, great transformers, and a clear tone. Most of the mods I described above are attempts to make a 3ch recto sound closer to a 2ch recto.

 

[chennie]

tjeeez ...what a noob...


No seriously, you say you want to use your amp to the fullest? A Mesa is just an excellent piece of work. Just some people have specific needs and sort, that's were certain mods come in. Now, mods are only usefull for those people and can be done within the limits of the amp itself.

Is there anything you're not satisfied with, then you can look for ways to change it. If it aint't broke, don't fix it. Don't get obsessed with mods.

 

[tempest1226]

o yea for sure. im def not going to get obsessed with changing my amp all around with mods. I just wanted to know out of curiousity. But let me ask you this. What do i need to do if i wanna change my stock tubes and start hooking my dual rec up with some nicer tubes from dougs or eurotubes. I know and have read that dual recs run really cold and you can gain alot of tonal change for the better if you upgrade to nicer tubes but have to do something with the bias in order to do this?

 

[recto-robbie]

no you dont have to rebias a boogie when changing preamp or even powertubes. I just got off the phone with doug a couple hours ago because I wanted to try the kt77's and the TAD 6l6's.. I will use these in my ROV along with others I currently have at home.
You dont need to do anything special at all when changing preamp tubes,,,,,,,plug and play.
Call doug or eurotubes and tell them what sound or whatever your after and these guys will set you up right,,,what they do is set you up with tubes that are matched and have the same characteristics as any mesa boogie tubes you would buy,,so they run just fine in your amp.
Spend some time reading this forum to get some ideas of good tubes to try,,,,,,try some preamps first I find they change the sound most. My ROV and I believe you had the dual recto both offer a switch on the back that you can select a bias of either 6l6 or el34,,,I found this to be a really nice feature to get totally different sounds from the amp..
I also have read that boogies are biased quite cold but other than that Ive got no idea,,,its never really bothered me at all. I have plenty of awsome sounds I can achieve from my recto with the different tubes I own.. I figure even if I add a bias adjuster/trim pot I will still find myself looking into different tubes anyways... Buy some tubes and mess around and enjoy your boogies simple/nice fixed bias,,,,,,good luck

 

[tempest1226]

what is a bias adjuster/trim pot? I hear that alot

 

[Russ]

That is a mod that allows you to adjust how hot or cold your amp is. This allows the use of various tubes without having to have them spec'd for your amp.