Gig74
72 posts
Sep 03, 2011
8:45 AM
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Ok firstly sorry for posting about amps as there's heaps of threads already covering pretty much every aspect already.
but.... there always a but, I was wandering about some of the available 5w tube amps like the Epiphone valve junior, fender champ 600 and the like. There's alot of info about them getting modded for harp use, is it just to make them better or is it that they are actually just not good of the shelf for playing harp through.
I see Adam recommends the gretsch g5222, which seems to me to be pretty mutch the same as a fender champ but I don't see as much about that needing modded for harp, any reasons why as the tubes and the like I think are the same?
I see the Laney cub8 has a tone control, that would obviously take away a need to add one with a mod but would it need others to make it decent for playing harmonica?
So once again sorry for asking, but not sorry enough to stop me asking obviously. I'm just not the modding type, I have no doubt I'd break anything I tried to mod :o) of course there's always the Harp Gear 2 no work required there I would think.
cheers for your thoughts
Greg.
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Living the dream and learning the blues one little trouble at a time.
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Greg Heumann
1255 posts
Sep 03, 2011
8:51 AM
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Many (though not all) amps are set up with a LOT of gain- which helps guitar players get long sustain and Hendrix-like feedback if they want it. However harp mics have higher output than guitar pickups, and couple to the sound waves coming from the amp much more efficiently than guitar strings and pickups. So feedback can be a problem. With amps like the Valve Jr or the VHT Special 6, a simple swap of the preamp tube to a lower-gain tube (from a 12AX7 to a 12AT7 or 12AY7, for example) can make the amp much more harp-friendly.
All the other mods tend to be voicing/tone control related and are more subtle but can also make them better for harp.
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/Greg
Last Edited by on Sep 03, 2011 8:52 AM
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Gig74
76 posts
Sep 04, 2011
11:53 AM
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Thanks Greg that helps explain why, you do make it sound so simple. I guess it's just a case of popping the old one out and swapping the new one in, with solder?
I've not soldered anything in about 20 years since tech class, I don't know if I could risk buying an amp and then torturing it with hot metal :o)
Greg.
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Living the dream and learning the blues one little trouble at a time.
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5F6H
831 posts
Sep 04, 2011
12:25 PM
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Tubes simply plug in & out of their sockets, allow adequate time for them to cool after turning the amp off, say 10 minutes. You will probably need to remove the metal cage that covers the tubes to make substitutions (these were not fitted to amps until the "elf'n'safety" nerds stuck their oar in in the late 90's, most folk already know that touching things that glow hot is a bad idea).
The amps you mention above are "cathode biased" & power tubes (EL84/6V6) can be swapped for tubes of the same type without any adjustment to the circuit in these amps. Preamp tubes (12A#7) can also be swapped without any worries in these amps.
Even if you did need to do any soldering...well, that's how they were made in the first place & a tech hand soldering is likely to do a better job than the factory flow soldering anyway (many flow soldered PCB amps come from the factory with hand replaced parts where original solder did not take). Any amp much over 20yrs old has had parts replaced and is normally no less reliable for it.
As to the "risk" with a new amp, well if I bought an amp & it didn't sound how I wanted, I'd rather have it "right" than be stuck with an amp I didn't like. The amps you mention are principally designed to be cheap...if you like the sound straight off the bat, then great, but the amps in question were not designed to be paragons of tone, whatever instrument it is that you want to plug in to them.
Amps are like any other mass produced items, there are production tolerances at work from amp to amp, to make a dozen amps of the same model sound the same would mean modifying, or blueprinting them.
Last Edited by on Sep 04, 2011 12:26 PM
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Gig74
77 posts
Sep 04, 2011
1:29 PM
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@5F6H thanks. I like the idea of just plugging in.
And so true I'd hate to buy something and not be satisfied and perhaps if it is something as simple as switching in a different tube I'd consider making a purchase at some point, I have a pignose and a little vox mini3 at the moment but a tube amps always a bit of a temptation.
edit: now just looked at youtube videos and done some quick research on prices, doesn't seem scary nearly as much.
thanks
Greg.
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Living the dream and learning the blues one little trouble at a time.
Last Edited by on Sep 04, 2011 1:37 PM
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Rockerduck
25 posts
Sep 04, 2011
4:21 PM
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I'm not into modding anything. I just plug in to whatever amp, and make it work. I've picked cheap solid states over the years that sounded pretty good. The best amp going right now is the Fender Mustang series and using the 59 bassman setting. $99 gets you a Mustang 1.
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lor
13 posts
Sep 11, 2011
9:35 PM
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I have just put mods from billmaudio.com great guy onto a Fender Blues Jr and the dang thing is so versatile I can hardly believe it. I was able to tune in Adam's tone in less than five minutes. Then again I can get dang near any sound I can think of out of it. Including loud clean. Which I don't really want for the harp. I like my harp to sound more like a sax than an accordian, and I can with those mods. Of course you need to know how to tweak electronic gear with a wire clipper and soldering iron. Or Bill M can do it for you. I swear, no sh!t. Most powerful of his mods are the "basic", "tone stack" and the "presence". Together they give you the juice. Other mods give finesse.
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