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previous: John De Luca Hi,I own a Peavey Classic 50 4x... -- 9/23/1997 10:21 AM

Re: EL84 amps

9/26/1997 6:45 PM
Aaron	Re: EL84 amps I have a Classic 50 head myself. It DEFINITELY sounds better through a Celestion-loaded 4X12. As for the tone, you need to get some new EL84s. The stock Sovteks distort easy, and have a softer quality. Supposedly, Sovtek EL84M's are harder sounding, and may add a little sparkle to the amp (personally, I like the dirtier sound!). Another option could be to get a set of Groove Tubes with a high hardness rating. Either of these should get you a little more sparkle (but recognize that NO EL84 will sound as sparkly a 6L6). As for the lead channel, how are you setting it? Mine has a Pre AND a Post knob; the "Pre" controls the amount of distortion, and the "Post" controls the preamp volume (while the "Volume" serves as the master). If you're not getting enough volume out of the amp on the dirty channel, make sure the "Post" knob is up high enough (sorry if this is already obvious). You should be able to roll back the "pre" knob to smooth out the distortion, but with the "post" cranked and the "volume" set, you should be plenty loud. Some guitar magazine a while back called this a "loud 50 watts"...if you're not getting enough volume out of the lead channel, something's wrong. I also have 2 Sylvania 12AX7's, in the input and driver sockets. They're smooth and bright sounding. I left a Chinese tube in the middle socket, because I like the upper midrange snarliness it gives, but I don't think you'd like it. I'll bet you'd like the sound of 3 NOS American tubes. Not only would the clean channel sparkle a little more, they'll smooth out the dirty sound. Good luck - if you do any of this stuff, drop me a line...

9/26/1997 6:45 PM

Aaron

Re: EL84 amps

I have a Classic 50 head myself. It DEFINITELY sounds better through a Celestion-loaded 4X12. As for the tone, you need to get some new EL84s. The stock Sovteks distort easy, and have a softer quality. Supposedly, Sovtek EL84M's are harder sounding, and may add a little sparkle to the amp (personally, I like the dirtier sound!). Another option could be to get a set of Groove Tubes with a high hardness rating. Either of these should get you a little more sparkle (but recognize that NO EL84 will sound as sparkly a 6L6).

As for the lead channel, how are you setting it? Mine has a Pre AND a Post knob; the "Pre" controls the amount of distortion, and the "Post" controls the preamp volume (while the "Volume" serves as the master). If you're not getting enough volume out of the amp on the dirty channel, make sure the "Post" knob is up high enough (sorry if this is already obvious). You should be able to roll back the "pre" knob to smooth out the distortion, but with the "post" cranked and the "volume" set, you should be plenty loud. Some guitar magazine a while back called this a "loud 50 watts"...if you're not getting enough volume out of the lead channel, something's wrong.

I also have 2 Sylvania 12AX7's, in the input and driver sockets. They're smooth and bright sounding. I left a Chinese tube in the middle socket, because I like the upper midrange snarliness it gives, but I don't think you'd like it. I'll bet you'd like the sound of 3 NOS American tubes. Not only would the clean channel sparkle a little more, they'll smooth out the dirty sound.

Good luck - if you do any of this stuff, drop me a line...