Tube Change fun with Classic 30

[jtees4]

I had an unfortunate accident and broke a box of old tubes I had lying
around. I found one 12au7 still intact and decided to give it a try in
my Peavey Classic 30. I don't know how old or how used the tube is.
Here are my findings with a Strat....with two older stacked humbuckers
that sound very Stratty to me. One SD, One Dimarzio.

In V1: It was like the 30 watt amp became a10- 15 watt amp. It
basically made the amp into a straight ahead bedroom amp....clean
channel volume needed to go up to 4-5 before it became normal playing
volume where it was loud at 2 previously. For those of you who want to
lower the volume of your amp for house use....you should consider this
change. Would not be loud enough for gigging this way though. Gain
channel sounded about the same, just lower in volume.

IN V2: Does not affect clean channel. Gain channel sounded very clean
with gain up to about 8-9. Gain all the way up added just a bit of
dirt. Very much like the clean channel turned all the way up. Would
really work well as a boost channel for clean channel and use a
distortion pedal for general distortion sounds as necessary. Sounded
very nice and seemed like something that can be useful.

IN V3: Made the cleans a bit cleaner, and a bit lower in volume...not
by much...but sounded very nice. On gain channel it seemed to make the
distortion a bit harsher, maybe a bit more trebly...not bad just
different. Volume was just a bit lower.

I have to get some more tube types to really play around with
it....but the AU7 being the lowest gain of all is a good starting
point.

Anyone want to sell me an assortment of tubes cheap?...don't need
many...just a few different types.

[Grinner]

LOL.
you can become the resident tube testing guy.
how are you gonna get on when they send you a set and want to know if the
biases are matched ... on a classic 30?

[the_cat]

A Strat with buckers ain't strattie... IMO. e

[jtees4]

On Thu, 9 Feb 2012 16:42:06 +0000 (UTC), Grinner <gri...@nowhere.com>
wrote:

DOH!...and I thought I had it all figured out ;-)

[jtees4]

On Thu, 9 Feb 2012 09:18:31 -0800 (PST), the_cat <esha...@yahoo.com>
wrote:

I know and I even tend to agree...BUT. I put these pickups in myself
and know what it sounded like before. Exactly the same? No, can't say
that....but seriously....it still sounds like a Strat. These older
stacked buckers tend to sound more like quiet single coils to me than
the newer double rail types. One is a Dimarzio HS1 and the other is an
old Seymour Duncan...no model number on it. But I get your point. Now
my Lotus Strat project has a single full size humbucker in it...that
does not sound Stratty at all!

[the_cat]

On Feb 9, 11:39 am, jtees4 <jte...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> On Thu, 9 Feb 2012 09:18:31 -0800 (PST), the_cat <esham...@yahoo.com>

> does not sound Stratty at all!- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

Well, my Tele has buckers so there ya go , it's not very Tele though
even in single coil postion ( push pull single/bucker) .( it's OK just
play the thing how you like it...) it's a FMT HH Tele (korean
Fender).. very nice by the way.. My Strat is MAI stock.. ed

[Les Cargill]

jtees4 wrote:
> I had an unfortunate accident and broke a box of old tubes I had lying
> around. I found one 12au7 still intact and decided to give it a try in
> my Peavey Classic 30. I don't know how old or how used the tube is.
> Here are my findings with a Strat....with two older stacked humbuckers
> that sound very Stratty to me. One SD, One Dimarzio.
>

<snip>

The C30 has a series F/X loop ( SFAIK ) so a lees disruptive
approach is to simply add a "clean" stompbox with a gain control
in the F/X loop. I use a DoD FX-80 compressor for this on a Blues
Deluxe. I drop the "compression" knob all the way down, and use
the output knob to change the volume.

--
Les Cargill

[Flasherly]

Mine is - rails as the middle bucker, regular full-sized Duncan bucker
in the neck, regular bridge tele. Both mid/neck toggle for single/
double coils. Has some grit to both rails selected, one rail and it's
a slightly mid-accented combined with the bridge, in a reinforced tele
or strat-ish sound. Duncan is flatout bass ballsy but not so bad for
cleaning up. 5-way selector is off, though. Either alone, 1 or 3 (mid
rails or bridge only) are great. I just put in a new tele bridge PU,
though. Not hot, especially. In position 2 (mid rails and bridge
combined) something's screwed and the sound goes too thin. Hopefully
bridge PU polarity is wired wrong. I like most playing rails and neck
together. Sort of a 2 x 1/2 HH setup, just spaced differently. The
new bridge also came with a neck lipstick, both for a package $20 deal
from a failed production run, so have neck PU options if I want to buy
a faceplate off ebay, pull the Duncan and mess w/chime. Looks close
to a Nashville tele.

[jtees4]

I don't currently have a Tele...but my favorites have always been full
bucker in the neck and regular Tele bridge....I always felt it just
gave the widest spectrum of sounds from full out distorted rock to
Telly Twang. Not that I'd disown a regular Tele, they are great too. I
am starting to think I need a Tele again....damn GAS.

[Flasherly]

I've got four - 2 stock (SS) and 2 in various humbucker or Nashville
configs. Two Fender, three that are OK for working on, one that's
still a cherry Fender setup in candy-apple red. A halfway decent
bridge tele PUs nice, almost easy to get a piece of cleaner sounds,
close enough for traditional blues and rock. With a decent amp, like
a Classic 30 which has a great reputation among better amps for that
sound and beyond.

You want? Ok, want no more. . .

http://www.guitarfetish.com/Matched-Pair-Telecaster-vintage-Style-Pickps-BLOWOUT_p_474.html

(No Ebay surprise curves. Said w/out having yet wired in the neck,
but no problems w/ the bridge other than on another mention of
Nashville complexities, getting mid hotrails in better sync;- either
alone, w/out pushing gain on the amp and the rails in a single-coil
throw, they're close indeed, almost to the point of redundancy.) So,
easy 'nuf now for finding a destitute tele with that faraway look in
her eyes. . .

[the_cat]

> am starting to think I need a Tele again....damn GAS.- Hide quoted text -

>
> - Show quoted text -

Glad we could help - this is mine.. meow.
http://www.fender.com/products/search.php?partno=0262000561

[boardjunkie1]

On Feb 10, 9:09 am, Flasherly <Flashe...@live.com> wrote:

> You want?  Ok, want no more. . .
>

> http://www.guitarfetish.com/Matched-Pair-Telecaster-vintage-Style-Pic...
>

Those p-ups are ceramic junk.

You'd want something along the lines of these:
http://www.guitarfetish.com/Repro-1950S-Telecaster-Alnico-Boutique-Bridge-Pickup_p_653.html
http://www.guitarfetish.com/Repro-Vintage-Alnico-Tele-Neck-Pickup-Our-Best_p_659.html

Ceramic p-ups are for weenies....

[jtees4]

Thanks....I tried that but didn't really like it, did very little
actually. Maybe the C30 is just too clean because it did little no
matter how much I turned the channel volume up and the compressor
down.
See my previous thread: "Does this thing work"...we talked about
exactly this + a few other things.

[Les Cargill]

Bizarre. For the record, the opposite is true of the BD. You
can dial in some distortion this way.

> See my previous thread: "Does this thing work"...we talked about
> exactly this + a few other things.

--
Les Cargill

[Jim]

On 2/9/2012 5:43 AM, jtees4 wrote:

>
> I have to get some more tube types to really play around with
> it....but the AU7 being the lowest gain of all is a good starting
> point.

I've sub'ed a 12AU7 in for a 12AX7 of quite a few amps, if they are too
buzzy in stock dress. Sometimes it'll change "hornet in a Folger's can"
to "smooth and bluesy."

>
> Anyone want to sell me an assortment of tubes cheap?...don't need
> many...just a few different types.

I'm a hoarder. If you were local, I'd let you try out as many as you
wanted.

[Flasherly]

On Feb 10, 3:08 pm, boardjunkie1 <boardjunk...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Ceramic p-ups are for weenies....

Mixed into a Duncan hotrail, adds to the highs. Problem is together, I
think, I've an impedance mismatch;- another ceramic (deeper make and
route), maybe a Squire tele-type Fender manufactures a little hotter.
And, yet another, tele bridge PU, regular Alnico. Should be more in
line with the GFS or various custom pole-sizing and winds linked aside
those vintage 50s & 60s. It's not going anywhere, though. At least
not in a "Route 101" tele. Thing is 101's Duncan hotrail paired with a
bridge single coil. Say with that vintage blue-taped PU, it would be
cleaner tones -- though the Duncan already has balls mounted mid-
position and I'm just sweetening its mids with a little tele bridge
action. I'll maybe dick with the Squire ceramic, route a little
deeper into the 101...see what it'll do, or, maybe sooner than
expected, be back for mo' pickup shopping. Had in mind pretty much
what I wanted out of the ceramic. . .trying to squeeze by w/
(mis)matched PU impedances, I didn't.

[jtees4]

Thanks....I'll come acrooss some tubes cheap or trade for a bunch
locally, The only thing is, at least in my experience...with the 12au7
in V1 the amp was not loud enough to be used normally. BUT my tube may
have been old and mostly used up, I do not know how much life was
still in it.
Seems folks are always looking at ways to lower the volume of their
amp for home use....and this seems like an easy one that most people
overlook.

[boardjunkie1]

Impedance ain't the issue....its phase that needs to be matched. If 2
pickups are on at the same time and the tone gets thin and
nasally....one of the 2 must be reverse connected. Guitar wiring
101...

[Flasherly]

Got you. Just measured both ceramics, side by side, and it's not
really;- they're both coming in around 7kohms. So that's not it. Not
convinced there's more going on here, though. . . .Check this -- the
Squire and Guitar Fetish's tele bridges. Ok. Now either then has got
to hinge off the Duncan hotrail in a mid-tele or Nashville/Eric Burdon
$2.5K Custom (whatever or something along what I like) config. The GF
flatout isn't going to work in conjuction with the Duncan HotRail,
whereas no problemento with the Squire-type (put it in getting a
little Mexican radio - fix that with grounding). Plays great (sans
the ceramic tonality) alongside the Duncan. And --- I've soldered the
GF both ways, at the PU's wire leads, effectively reversing polarity.
Tried it, knew and been there, but it just ain't happening.

So -- empirically, for all I know, I could have bought a premium
aluminum/nickel/cobalt and raised a glass to that (beside the Duncan
HR), too. Hell's Bells, a toast for 3-way switches, lipstick on the
bridge of three barrels, and beautiful women with filthy thoughts.