Just traded my Subway Rocket for an F 30, but struggling with the Crunch channel

The Boogie Board

Help Support The Boogie Board:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

RCR

Member
Joined
Feb 17, 2024
Messages
5
Reaction score
2
Location
Birmingham Alabama
Had an F 30 Short head for a while and loved the cleans. Got a chance to trade my trusty Subway Rocket for an equally nice F 30 combo last week even. I'm really struggling now with the crunch side of the F 30 but love the cleans. Wonder if some of it is the stock Vin 30 in the F 30. I ran a pair of Tungsol 12AX 7's in V1 and 2 of my Short head, and it helped get it close to where I wanted it. Something in the mids I just can't seem to dial out on the crunch side on the F 30 combo. Thinking a speaker swap and tubes would help.
Had a WGS ET 10 in the Subway, and it killed so, thinking hard about a WGS ST 65 in the F 30. Have a Mesa 1/12 wide body and the F 30 sounds better with the cab and the Black Shadow 90, but is still not quite where I want to go. The Vin 30 just doesn't seem to be a good tonal match for this amp with that mid-spike.
The amp had a full set of JJ tubes when I got it and now has a fresh set of Mesa EL 84's in the power side and so far a set of Shunghang 12AX7s seem to sound the best in the pre of what I have on hand. It's much better now, but just can't get the mud and boxieness out of the crunch side
Any insight on this guys?
 
Mud is generally too much bass, and a boxy sound is generally too much mids. Small combo cabinets generally suffer from the latter and not commonly the former.

So... An eq pedal night fix that right away, and a lot cheaper than anything else.
 
Mud is generally too much bass, and a boxy sound is generally too much mids. Small combo cabinets generally suffer from the latter and not commonly the former.

So... An eq F 30 1/12 combo rememeber. pedal night fix that right away, and a lot cheaper than anything else.
I traded a smaller 1/10 combo in the Subway Rocket for the F 30 1/12 combo remember. The F 30 gives me much better cleans, plus a completely separate eq for both channels. However, the crunch has a lot more mud and a raspy mid character that the Subway didn't have on the crunch side. I got a much closer tones out of the F 30 head I had to the Subway than the combo. I have ordered a pair of the Tungsol 12 AX7's I had in V 1 and 2 of the F 30 head when I sold it so that may help some. I'm trying to get the crunch side a little closer to the Subway in tone.
The Subway has been my grab and so small gig amp for years, but the cleans were lacking and at times I need a little more punch when I am running unmiced than the 1/12 is why I did the trade.
Here is a clip with the Subway there is no PA at all here I'm running nothing but a little Verb and Delay in the loop of the Subway as it was an early one without reverb. I have several larger amps and cabs for bigger gigs but want to at least get close to this tone with the F 30. I could with the head, but so far am not there with this combo. I'm wondering if a lot of it is not the factory Vin 30 in the F 30. The Subway was running a WGS ET 10 here.
 
Last edited:
Bigger speaker = more bass = more 'mud'.

Different speaker in a different enclosure = different mids.

Tubes won't change the speaker or the enclosure, they'll just eliminate them as the issue. V30s have an upper mid thing I don't like to hear, maybe you're the same.

An EQ pedal could fix the mud and take out the boxiness, but if you want to spend money on other stuff that's cool too.
 
Back
Top