the key to TONE is purity in my opinion...

[SW33THAND5]

but then again. i love what are essentially "VINTAGE TONES"


TIP: "If you do not use the normal channel (like on multi channel blackface amps) you are wasting a tube. It will be on and using itself whether you use it or not. You may take that tube out (preamp tube) and use it as a spare. The vibrato and normal channels share small bits of circuitry. By removing one of these tubes, you will make the other channel more lively.

[John Phillips]

Pulling V1 rebiases V2 slightly hotter, that's all - because they share a common cathode resistor and cap. It doesn't somehow make the Vibrato channel more 'pure'.

If you want purity you should leave V1 in and play through the Normal channel instead - one less tube stage, and no reverb and tremolo to contaminate your sound.

[jezzzz2003]

I read this in The Tube Amp Book also, John, you're constantly suprising me with great knowledge, how the fook do you know all this stuff!

[John Phillips]

Easy, I read the Tube Amp Book twenty years ago, then became a professional amp tech .

Looking at a schematic makes a lot of things very obvious... tube amps are not complicated things .

[jezzzz2003]

LOL, I getcha

[Mitch T]

A true bypass box inside your amp, now that would purify things ! Or a buffer at the speaker out jack or wait.... how about only playing dreadnoughts with no amplification at all ?

[dkaplowitz]

Originally Posted by John Phillips

...play through the Normal channel instead - one less tube stage, and no reverb and tremolo to contaminate your sound.

My '65 Twin sounds REALLY good through the normal channel, much more bass. I'd never compromise that channel.

I haven't tried it yet, but I'm curious to know how it'll sound if I split my signal and play through both channels simultaneously.

[DejavuDave]

Originally Posted by Mitch T

A true bypass box inside your amp, now that would purify things ! Or a buffer at the speaker out jack or wait.... how about only playing dreadnoughts with no amplification at all ?

Rick at Vintage Sound Amps does a trem by-pass mod, switching the trem in and out of the circuit with the knob.

[John Phillips]

Originally Posted by dkaplowitz

My '65 Twin sounds REALLY good through the normal channel, much more bass. I'd never compromise that channel.

I haven't tried it yet, but I'm curious to know how it'll sound if I split my signal and play through both channels simultaneously.

Not great, because the two channels are out of phase with each other (due to the Vibrato channel having an extra tube stage).

But it will work well if you use the Normal channel for your 'actual' signal and the Vibrato channel just for reverb - you don't need a splitter, just connect a short cord from the #2 input of the Normal channel to the #1 input of the Vibrato channel, set the reverb much higher than you normally would, and use the Vibrato channel's volume and tone knobs to control it (with the volume much lower than on the Normal channel). That way you should get the tone of the Normal channel with separate reverb. Even more interesting, you then get tremolo only on the reverb, so the tremolo seems to come in as the notes decay.

[dkaplowitz]

Originally Posted by John Phillips

Not great, because the two channels are out of phase with each other (due to the Vibrato channel having an extra tube stage).

But it will work well if you use the Normal channel for your 'actual' signal and the Vibrato channel just for reverb - you don't need a splitter, just connect a short cord from the #2 input of the Normal channel to the #1 input of the Vibrato channel, set the reverb much higher than you normally would, and use the Vibrato channel's volume and tone knobs to control it (with the volume much lower than on the Normal channel). That way you should get the tone of the Normal channel with separate reverb. Even more interesting, you then get tremolo only on the reverb, so the tremolo seems to come in as the notes decay.

Cool tips, thanks!