First gig with Dyne

[elvis]

OK, the real test. I played an outdoor festival. The Dyne was awesome. It had no problem being too loud on the 45W setting, and the tone did not wash even though it was an outdoor stage. That thing is crazy nice.

Also, it gets REALLY HOT on a 96-degree day when playing outside. Really really.

Still, no problems at all.

 

[elvis]

And the 4x10 was beautiful. Punchy, lots of mids and bass, no mush. Mic'd well for the PA, too.

 

[J.J]

Good to hear it all went well for you. No surprise there

Almost all the guys that move on from the ED don't have serious complaints, they just want something else. A lot of the guys that come to the ED do so because they are looking for great tone.

A big reason I was not happy with my last amp (the Express 5:25) was because the tone goes South at higher volume. Generally everyone thinks that tube amp tone improves with increased volume, but not for me. I think there are a good number of tube amps that do, but the only amps I have owned that do are the ED and my JCM800.

I'd love to play a 4x10 with the ED. Your positive comments are really making me think about 10" speakers again. I have been wanting to get a 2x12 Stiletto, but there is just something wrong about a single Stiletto cab sitting so low and away from ear height that is holding me back. A 4x12 would be great, but just to big so I'm thinking the 410 could be just right in terms is size portability and ergonomics as well as tone.

As for heat, yes they do run hot. I have installed a pair of fans on the top of the tube cage on mine and that makes a great difference. Before the fans after a few hours even the front pannel was nearly to hot to touch. I don't think the heat is a problem to normal operation, but long term problems could set in many years down the track. I plan to keep the ED for good which is why I added the fans. Interestingly Mesa have put a fan power supply on the main board, but never added the fan :roll:

 

[elvis]

The fans are a great idea. What did you use? How are they mounted? Did you use the internal fan supply?

The 4x10 is great. It is smaller and MUCH lighter than a 4x12, and it sits a lot higher than a 2x12 (It's about 25" tall). I can JUST get it in and out of the back seat of my G35, which is a tight squeeze to say the least. It is super light to carry. It's nicely power matched to the Dyne as well, in that it's 100W. I also run the Dyne through a 1x12 recto cab, but the V30 is only a 60W speaker, so I am a bit uncomfortable with that.

The only issue I have is cosmetic - the Dyne long head is wider than the 4x10, so it doesn't look perfect. One day I may remedy that. Or not.

I agree with you on the 5:25. The EL84 output just can't keep up. The 5:50 and F50 do a lot better loud. I had a 20/20 and it was useless (for my taste). Way too saturated. No low end at high volume.

 

[J.J]

I used two 80mm x 10mm fans which have been screwed to the tube cage though the existing holes. They are powered from the internal fan supply of the ED head. the fans are fairly low speed and fairly quiet, but I added a resistor in series to slow them down a little more to reduce noise. They are quite enough not to bother me even when playing at the lowest volume level.

My ED is the short version, so it would probably look right at home on a 4x10" cab. I've been using a single V30 a lot lately, you would have to crank the ED pretty hard to hurt one. What I do notice though is that once you get to a moderate volume the clean tone losses its crystall quality. That natural cone breakup can sound very nice at the volumes I usually play at, but the clean tone does go down hill if pushed to much. If I need more volume then I'm sure adding more speakers would sound better, its just interesting that you can get a pushed sound at lower volume with less speakers.

So I'm not alone with disliking EL84's. So many people seem to love them.

 

[elvis]

How (and where) did you find the fan supply on the board? Do you know how much current it's designed for?

 

[J.J]

Its clearly marked "fan" on the board and from memory it is down the output transformer end. I have some pictures somewhere. I'll put one up if I can find them.

The connector has not been installed, so you have to add one or solder wires directly to the board which is what I did.

I don't know what the exact current rating which is partly why I choose low output fans. My total current draw is less than 200mA and has been running for at least 6 months like that. I checked for extra heat being generated around that area of the board and found none so I am very confident of long term reliability.

I had thought about running an external supply, but decided that solution was not neat enough for me.

 

[elvis]

Thanks for the details! That sounds like a great idea.

 

[jeffp]

Elvis ;tell us what kind of music you play and how you had your ED settings for the gig. Also do you like the 90watt AB+extended A ?What guitar(pickups) do youlike with the ED?
I never realized it but it does not come with fan. I may look into that also. Mine is at the shop now for a clean volume issue(about =50% of LO/Hi volume while full up on the level trim).

 

[elvis]

We play mostly classic rock in this band. On my own I play everything from Adult Contemporary (Windham Hill type stuff) to Metal. I have not found this to be a very good metal amp, but I think it has the best clean sound of any amp I've ever played (even better than my '65 Deluxe Reverb), and Vintage LO is good for any kind of blues or rock. I usually switch to HI for leads, and have a clean volume boost in the loop as well (was using a GE-7, just got a micro amp). For metal I have an F50 and a Triaxis.

I generally play 7 string guitars with 0.010-0.059 strings. The pickups I am using are Dimarzio: Evo-7 and Blaze-7.

I prefer the tightness of the 90W setting, but usually play 45W because 90W is too loud. For sure the clean sounds better at 90W (I wish I could set the amp for 90W in clean mode and 45W in HI/LO).

Master 9:30
Presence 12:00
Bass 11:30
Mid 11:00
Treble 1:30
Volume 2:00 - 2:30

Reverb ON, 9:00
Clean Level BYPASS
Gain Trim CLEAN (I love this feature, keeps clean from getting pushed)

This gets me decent tone and good level match on all modes. Definitely good enough for live. At home I tweek the settings for each mode, and tend to use the videos on the mesa site as starting points.

I only got this as a practice amp because my triaxis rack is a huge pain to move. But I wound up using the Dyne live because it sounds SO NICE. For more contemporary rock I would probably use the Triaxis, but I haven't decided yet. I could always go Dyne + Metal Zone...

 

[jeffp]

That`s very interesting info. I have a GE-7 in a loop also as a clean boost to get the clean volume up to and = with the Lo/Hi volume. And that`s with the clean level trim BYPASSED. That`s when i realized something was wrong. It was the only way i could get close to a volume balance. And then it seemed to get worse(or so it seems) after the first couple of weeks! After studying the manual and then talking to MB this should not be nescessary and the more you turn up the Master, the more you should have to DECREASE clean volume using the clean level trim adjustment so it dosen`t overpower the Lo/Hi gain volume. Mine is in the shop...one month old. I can only imagine how nice it will be to setup when i get it back after the fix. I think the tone is awesome on the Lo/Hi! I WAIT!
BTW; Do you ever have to turn down the clean level to match volumes?

 

[elvis]

I wish you luck with the repair!

No, I have never had to turn down the clean level. HOWEVER, I run the gain trim on clean (effectively turns the input volume down on the clean mode by about 30%), and I don't run the master above 10:00. If either of these changed, I might have to adjust the clean volume.

 

[jeffp]

i understand about running on Clean trim. My clean volume is about 30% down below LO/HI volume in the normal position. Thanks. I really appreciate the feedback. And I`m very happy that quite a few of you guys Love this amp! I still think i did make the right decision on the tone,just got dealt a couple of bad units( The first would not switch modes).
Most people won`t go up that high on Master(somewhere between 10 and up) and would probably never have to decrease clean. I assume i wouldn`t have to either if mine worked properly. Let us know how the next gigs go!

 

[YellowJacket]

I had this thing out playing an outdoor gig today. I got to hear another guitar play it He was an R&B / Gospel kind of player and he was just raving about it afterwords. It really sits well in the mix and doesn't overpower anything at all.

When I got up, I played with his settings and almost blew myself off of the stage. Master at 9:00 on 90 watts was insanely loud, especially on vintage lo / hi. I had to turn down substantially because I couldn't hear anything on stage. =-o

 

[elvis]

What were his settings? Also, why was it so much louder for you?

 

[screamingdaisy]

What were his settings? Also, why was it so much louder for you?

I think it's because YellowJacket normally uses 45w mode.


On that note, I just "experienced" 90w mode for the first time today. I've used 90w before, but once I hit a certain volume the combo cab sounds like it's trying to rip itself apart, so I generally stick with 45w mode... which I like the feel of. However, I've been kind of iffy about how it would hold up with a band... the amp is so warm and isn't super bright I didn't know how well it would cut despite all the praise it's received so far.

However, today I stacked my Recto 4x12 on top of the 2x12 and plugged the ED into both. 90w, around 9:00 on output knob. I've had religious experiences playing guitar before and this was one of them. There's something cool that happens when your guitar stops feeling like a guitar and starts feeling like an electrified force of nature. I've have/had had a number of high powered amps, and this one is easily competing for top dog. It's not only the amount of power that it can output, but the clarity and smoothness it achieves in the process. The only amp that's on par with it is my old Electric Amp 120w head, which had the ability to run wide open with me standing a few feet in front of a V30 fullstack and it would sound so smooth that my ears never got rung once. In fact, during the time I ran the Electric my hearing actually improved (I get tested every few years). The ED is on that same level of fullness/smoothness. It's the kind of tone that people want you to turn up instead of telling you that you're too loud.

 

[YellowJacket]

What were his settings? Also, why was it so much louder for you?

Vintage single coil pickups in a Strat vs Modern Humbuckers in my Godin LG. I also think my band isn't quite so loud on stage and I usually run the 'dyne in 45 watt mode. At 90 watts, the sheer power was incredible. Definitely a force of nature.

I just installed RS Guitarworks superpot, push pull tone pot, and a PIO cap in my Godin LG. It sounds so warm now and the coil tap tones work well with that guitar. Just trying to ferret out a noise issue right now. (My pet peeve while working with electronics. I think the soldering pencil just isn't hot enough)