straitouttahell
Well-known member
I recently got fed up about having a 6U rack and a 4x12 cab, so, after almost a year spent thinking about it, I decided to do it: I sold my Quad, my custom poweramp and my Recto 4x12 cab and bought a MkIV small combo.
After checking a few of them my choice fell on an old A version loaded with an EV speaker, S/N IV1840. It just sounded the way I wanted :roll:
That little box is just full with magic. The way it sounds (and the volumes it can reach too) is just amazing. Must try one to believe it
This afternoon I decided to remove the tubes to see what was inside my little monster. I found that the power tubes are a quartet of SED-Winged C 6L6s, while the preamp is a bit strange. V2,3 and 5 are ECG Philips 12AX7s, V4 is a Sovtek 12AX7 and V1 is a tube I've never heard of before. It's branded "Audio Classic" (possibly a company who buys tubes, select them and sells them with this brand?) and it says "Made In China".
I thought to myself "No way, I just can't have a chinese tube as V1" and just swapped V1 with V3. Fired the amp up. Turned up the volume on the guitar. Hey, wait, there's something wrong here. Lots of hum is coming out of the amp. I'd expect that, since the Philips are long plate, but this is way too much. Tried to play the amp, it just sounded like a POD: boomy and compressed, all its shiny trebles just disappeared. I waited for the tubes to cool down and put them in the original position. Played it again: sounded beautifully as it did when I first heard it.
Aren't tube amps just strange
That's it, I apologise for the long post, I just wanted to share with you my happiness about owning this little wonderful amp and tell you this little experience of mine. Maybe there's a tube guru out there who can give me a little understanding of what happened.
Sorry for my poor english too, I do my best at it but it's just not my mother language
After checking a few of them my choice fell on an old A version loaded with an EV speaker, S/N IV1840. It just sounded the way I wanted :roll:
That little box is just full with magic. The way it sounds (and the volumes it can reach too) is just amazing. Must try one to believe it
This afternoon I decided to remove the tubes to see what was inside my little monster. I found that the power tubes are a quartet of SED-Winged C 6L6s, while the preamp is a bit strange. V2,3 and 5 are ECG Philips 12AX7s, V4 is a Sovtek 12AX7 and V1 is a tube I've never heard of before. It's branded "Audio Classic" (possibly a company who buys tubes, select them and sells them with this brand?) and it says "Made In China".
I thought to myself "No way, I just can't have a chinese tube as V1" and just swapped V1 with V3. Fired the amp up. Turned up the volume on the guitar. Hey, wait, there's something wrong here. Lots of hum is coming out of the amp. I'd expect that, since the Philips are long plate, but this is way too much. Tried to play the amp, it just sounded like a POD: boomy and compressed, all its shiny trebles just disappeared. I waited for the tubes to cool down and put them in the original position. Played it again: sounded beautifully as it did when I first heard it.
Aren't tube amps just strange
That's it, I apologise for the long post, I just wanted to share with you my happiness about owning this little wonderful amp and tell you this little experience of mine. Maybe there's a tube guru out there who can give me a little understanding of what happened.
Sorry for my poor english too, I do my best at it but it's just not my mother language
