F-50 q's

[Heavyzandt]

Hello, I'm new to this forum and have a few questions about my new (used) F-50. First off I tried lots of different tube amps and ended up coming home with this one after about a week of stressing my wife and family out. The person that owned it before me is a jazz teacher and wanted a jazz king and sold his F-50 to me. I played a brand new one several times and fell in love and was stoked when I got wind of this used one. It is in immaculate shape and "low hours" supposedly. But I have a couple questions and I am not that tube amp savvy...yet I hope. My first question is that the master on both channels doesn't seem to do much until about 9 o'clock. Then you start gettin some volume. The only reason this is slightly alarming is that the new one that I was trying out seemed to make some audible volume at around 7:30 or 8. Is this concerning? Another question is the 2nd channel seems a little flat. I'm not sure if it's cause I'm in my studio now (garage) or if this might be an indication of something else. The person that I bought it from said that he thought that one of the 12ax7 maybe starting to go and gave me a Fender 12ax7 to swap if needed. Is this a good one to w=swap with or should I stay with the same brand thats in there? The clean channel is very nice. The 2'nd channel is slightly flat as I said befor and the contour channel is nice and gainy and bright. Whoa, sorry this is becoming a long thread. If anybody has any insight to this I would appreciate it greatly!! Sure does feel nice to not plug in digital though! Thanks for your time!

 

[Brewski]

Hello Heavyzandt, I had bought a used F-50 as well. Channel 2 sounded weak and the gain was very uneven and grainy. I also had a tube that was microphonic and had a ringing sound to it. I ended up putting in a complete fresh set of tubes and it gave the amp a whole new life. I used JJ's that I purchased from Eurotubes.com. Bob was very helpful and gave me more insight to my amp. I since have purchased another tube kit from there for another amp that I own, with very good results. A general guideline for tube changes is about 1 to 1 1/2 years for power tubes and 2 to 3 years for pre amp tubes. Mileage may vary.

I wouldn't worry too much about the volume thing, and may be a very different amp with a fresh set of tubes. I usually am between 9 and 10 o'clock minimum on the volume and if needed I back off the volume on the guitar. This amp really comes to life at around 10 or 11 o'clock, although it may be louder than you want to play in the garage. The thing about tube amps is that you have to have some power running through the tubes to get that nice saturated sound. It's not necessarily linear.

I hope that this helps a little.

 

[Heavyzandt]

:lol: Thankyou very much. Seems like a pretty good forum with alot to offer. Maybe I'll try to do the tube swap thing and see what happens. Once again thanks for your input. Every little bit helps. :!:

 

[hal9000]

Heavyzandt, congrats on your F-50!

I've been using my F-100 2x12 combo for over three years now and it's been a great ride.

Come check out the F-series lounge on HCAF for more info: http://acapella.harmony-central.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=885856&pagenumber=1

 

[Axemandoo]

I just purchased a used F 50 with an extra 1x12 mesa cab not to long ago. This amp totally blows away any amp i've ever owned. I put it side by side at Guitar Center with several other high end amps. It was hands down the best overall. The only amp that even came close was the Vox ac30 but with that model your limited to one channel. Mesa Rocks

 

[Surfcaster]

Concerning the volume, most owners I've heard from report the same thing...you don't get much before 9:00 oclock...so it's more the nature of the amp. The one you test drove that worked at 7:30 or 8:00 is probably the odd one out, but maybe in a good way.

As for your tubes, you can easily put any 12ax7 in that you want whenever you want without hurting the amp...it's the power tubes that you need to be more careful with. So sure, try the Fender tube and see what happens...I'd start by putting it in the socket closest to the guitar input as that one will have the most impact on the tone...though if one is going bad it could easily be one of the others as well, so experiment around with it. Just don't swap out tubes with the amp on...you may be able to do it in standby mode (and maybe someone can confirm that, I can't remember right now) or you can be on the safe side and power the amp down completely.

BTW, I've had my F50 coming on 2 and a half years now and am still on my original tubes, but it doesn't get as much use as it used to...probably only a few hours a week (starting a family kind of limits loud amp playing and the F50 is NOT a quiet amp!). Having said that, I'm anxious to try a JJ replacement set from Eurotubes...but I've got other things to buy before then!

 

[Heavyzandt]

Hey. Thanks guys for the info for me and about yourselves. I'm pretty impressed with the eurotube guy (Bob). I gave him a call and I'll try their standard swap just to start fresh. I really appreciate the link you posted Hal9000. Seems like a lot of good stuff there. I'll try to listen to some clips tonight if I can get away from the guitar long enough. Surfcaster, I'll let you know about the JJ's since I'll be starting with a whole swap. I'm interested to see if my little woes will be alleviated. All in all I love this amp so far. Hopefully get to jam this weekend with the band. Thanks again guys! :!:

 

[j37nm]

heavyzandt,

congrats on the new (used) amp. The F50's clean's are super nice, as you can tell. I don't like cranking the F50's distortion channel, because it is way loud!!! But, it is a super sweet sound. I will be investing in a THD hotplate soon. I do have the THD yellow jackets with the EL 84. I didn't like the sound. I prefer the 6L6 tone.

If you want some bedroom levels, try investing in a distortion pedal. The clean tone is perfect for some pedals. An ibanez tube screamer will work well with this amp.

good luck

 

[Heavyzandt]

Hey thanks J37nm. My buddy just got a tube screamer this afternoon so I'm sure I'll be giving it a try thru the f- 50 later tonight since were gonna jam. I have a POD XT live so I've got the headphone gig going for me. Although I must say that the direct out on the F-50 sounds pretty darn good. Not as good as going through the speaker but still good. I laid some tracks down last night just to see how it was gonna record and was rather impressed by the sound coming straight from the amp. With a little tweaking and mastering I can see this sounding very nice. I might try to run the XTL thru it tonight but it depends on how productive the jam session is and of course quantity of beer that is consumed. Anyway thanks again.