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previous: Steve A. Bjorn: &... -- 11/20/1999 9:17 AM

Re: Help with Vibro Champ -67

11/21/1999 8:14 PM
Bjorn	Re: Help with Vibro Champ -67 Steve, I’ve tried several combinations of tubes and I don’t think that is the problem with this amp. The rectifier is a RCA 5Y3 GT, the power tube is a RCA JAN CRC 6V6. I’ve also tried several preamp tubes (mostly new) such as: Ruby, Tesla, Sovtec and an old Telefunken and a 7025. Maybe the speaker is old and tired, but I’m reluctant to change it sonce like to keep the amp as original as possible. Maybe I put in a cap with a wrong value somewhere (not that there are so many)? I’ve read so much good about this little amp and I’m a bit sad that mine doesn’t sound that good at all. Any way, my question was more: This muddiness and lack of treble/presence - Is this a common feature with the Camps? If not, this amp is probably not tweaked the right way. I really like the size of this amp (compared to my SR . I would like it to sound good too. Something quite different: I’m in a state of shock. I’ve spent a lot of time and money to find the right Gibson guitar. I bought my dream guitar some years ago, a LP standard. After owning it a year I had to confess to myself (it was hard) that the LP was not IT, so I sold it and bought a Nighthawk (with two humbuckers) after trying several others, including a 335. I changed the small humbucker to a PAF and had the bridge PU rewind to a PAF. It sounded real good. Somewhere along the way I also bought a Jap Stratocaster from 1981 (-62 RI, very cheap). I never cared much for the Fender since I never really liked them. Fender to me is (was) a mass produced thing and a Gibson a real instrument. I spent the weekend in a studio with my band and brought the two guitars with me (you never know, maybe a Strat will come in handy somewhere). I ended up playing only on the Strat since everyone (band members, technicians and me) thought it had a killer tone. It did! Emotionally, I still have a problem with confessing that the Strat sounded better than the Gibson, but there it is – no doubt! I will probably carry both guitars to the next gig but only play the Strat. I think the big difference this time was that I did not have to adjust the volume of the SR to the rest of the band (which also means using stomp boxes) but played the SR on volume 4-5 with no pedals in between. When a clean sound was needed I only adjusted the volume on the Strat. A truly remarkable difference. A thought clings to my mind - how come I did not get this earlier? Bjorn

11/21/1999 8:14 PM

Bjorn

Re: Help with Vibro Champ -67

Steve,
I’ve tried several combinations of tubes and I don’t think that is the problem with this amp. The rectifier is a RCA 5Y3 GT, the power tube is a RCA JAN CRC 6V6. I’ve also tried several preamp tubes (mostly new) such as: Ruby, Tesla, Sovtec and an old Telefunken and a 7025.
Maybe the speaker is old and tired, but I’m reluctant to change it sonce like to keep the amp as original as possible. Maybe I put in a cap with a wrong value somewhere (not that there are so many)? I’ve read so much good about this little amp and I’m a bit sad that mine doesn’t sound that good at all.
Any way, my question was more: This muddiness and lack of treble/presence - Is this a common feature with the Camps? If not, this amp is probably not tweaked the right way. I really like the size of this amp (compared to my SR :-)

. I would like it to sound good too.

Something quite different:
I’m in a state of shock.
I’ve spent a lot of time and money to find the right Gibson guitar. I bought my dream guitar some years ago, a LP standard. After owning it a year I had to confess to myself (it was hard) that the LP was not IT, so I sold it and bought a Nighthawk (with two humbuckers) after trying several others, including a 335. I changed the small humbucker to a PAF and had the bridge PU rewind to a PAF. It sounded real good.
Somewhere along the way I also bought a Jap Stratocaster from 1981 (-62 RI, very cheap). I never cared much for the Fender since I never really liked them. Fender to me is (was) a mass produced thing and a Gibson a real instrument.
I spent the weekend in a studio with my band and brought the two guitars with me (you never know, maybe a Strat will come in handy somewhere). I ended up playing only on the Strat since everyone (band members, technicians and me) thought it had a killer tone. It did! Emotionally, I still have a problem with confessing that the Strat sounded better than the Gibson, but there it is – no doubt! I will probably carry both guitars to the next gig but only play the Strat.
I think the big difference this time was that I did not have to adjust the volume of the SR to the rest of the band (which also means using stomp boxes) but played the SR on volume 4-5 with no pedals in between. When a clean sound was needed I only adjusted the volume on the Strat. A truly remarkable difference.
A thought clings to my mind - how come I did not get this earlier?

Bjorn

Replies:

Steve A. Bjorn: &... -- 11/22/1999 8:29 AM