Got a package from Doug today!

[camsna]

Got a round o' tubes! The improvement so far is great! I have been running all JJs from Eurotubes so far. KT77s, 6L6s, 12AX7s (1st 3 high gain). Always ran Eurotubes sets in my DR, too. Both sounded kind of - - well - - sterile, lifeless, etc. Not TOO bad. And Bob certainly sells a good product! But it's really hard to describe. It kind of sounded like the amp could never keep up with itself. Like a baby who cries faster than he/she can breathe.

ANYHOW!

I got a whole new set from our homey Doug. He was great to deal with, by the by. So here's what I've done:

V1 - Tung-Sol Reissue 12AX7
V2 - High Gain JJ ECC83
V3 - RFT ECC83
V4 - Doesn't matter - it's the reverb driver and the 'verb is disconnected...
V5 - Sovtek 12AX7 LPS

Wow. I didn't know what I was missing. That thing that was tough to describe - whatever it was - is gone. So is the harsh top end. I could never set a balance where my neck and bridge pickups both sounded great. I'd dial it in for the neck and the bridge would be harsh and painful. Totally unusable. Dial it in for the bridge pup and the neck would be soft and mushy. Totally unusable!

No more, my friends. The pickups have their own character for sure - but now BOTH sound great! Plus - all those high gain JJs were making the amp so much louder! I never realized! Now the tone is nice and smooth and creamy and chunky. Oh baby!

I also bought some =C= 6L6GCs to replace the JJ 6L6GCs. Hope that'll make it even better! BUT! I gotta send this amp off to the Monsta of Tone so he can work his voodoo on it. I seriously can't WAIT to hear it repaired, modded, and with the new =C= tubes!

Now I just gotta figure out how to pack and ship this thing...sigh...

 

[Fxrs]

I'm waiting on a pair of SED's and a a couple of Tung-Sol r/i 12AX7's for my DC-5. My pre's are fine, I've been wanting to see it the TS's will give a noticeable improvement in tone. Oh yeah, I got high headroom SED's this time, last time I got mediums and they're fine, I just wanted something a little different.

 

[GIG4FUN]

haha. this is so cool to read. It really is **** hard to put music tone into words. I have been dealing with Bob for years! Maybe you shoudl have sent it off to Bob to figure out what was wrong with it! (take this as a joke, I'm in a great mood!)

I have heard of "Doug" but have no idea where/what/who he is. I wanna try out his stuff to? Can you post or PM me a linky? I'm in. I always experiment.

I'm glad you are happy for some reason... perhaps lots of people in the audience will live now... (a running YouTube j/k)

 

[trem]

www.dougstubes.com

 

[GIG4FUN]

www.dougstubes.com

thank you

 

[camsna]

Yeah, man. Bob is a good fella! Wonderful to deal with. But I've NEVER used anything in my Mesas apart from JJ tubes. I know - shame on me for not experimenting. But that's the way it goes when you're BROKE! And I was never 100% pleased. But I figured I never would be. And I' still not sure if I am. HA! But I spent a couple months amassing some cool tubes and gave them a whirl!

We'll see how I feel after Monsta finishes with it. I can hardly wait! But I bought my Mk III used after it had been sitting for almost 20 years in a closet. So it needs caps and an LDR or 2 and a general check up. So I don't want to mess with it TOO much now since it'll be a different beast when I get it back. BUT! I did want to sort of work out where I wanted tubes to go. So I did. And it's great. Then, in the next 6 months or so, I'm going to finish my rig and get it wired up by the pros at L.A. Sound Design. Plus they're going to install a variable control that affects the distance of the Moon from the Earth. Should be sweet!

 

[GIG4FUN]

you crack me up! It sounds like a lot to look forward to! lucky fella

BTW Bob=JJ's

off to bed for this guy! ( I get up at 3:45 am)