Palomino Owners!!

[Rickfox]

Hey All! My first thread here! I first must confess I'm a recovered Marshall snob! Yes, my Marshalls are all gone and I bought a Crate! I don't believe it myself... Saw one on the GC website and got curious. Played one and
well, had to have it! It's a V32H with the matching cab.
Right now, I have Mullards in V1 and V2 and a Telefunken(RFT) in V3.
It sounds great clean and overdriven, but will JJ EL84's take it even higher? Or, have any of you found a tube that is better?
Thanks for your input!!
Rick
P.S. this is my first EL84 amp!!

[rockon1]

Welcome! I like the JJ's in mine. One of my favorite new production EL84's. Was running RCA's but one blew. The Palomino runs pretty hot so I'll probably stick with less expensive new stuff for now. Great amp! ,enjoy! Bob

[scott1568]

Congratulations!

Man, it seems like every week someone discovers the Palomino and want to shout to the heavens about their new epiphany.

It's great amp to be sure. Someone should start a forum.

[teleman55]

I like JJs in mine. My main amp's a Deluxe Reverb and i got a Pro when I need more oomph. My V32 is my "change of pace" amp and every bit as good in it's own way as the other two. It's so good I've been checking out tremolo pedals 'cause it don't have tremolo. Best thing is it's got it's own sound...not a clone of some other amp.

[LHanson]

Yeah, I threw a Mesa .50 cal + overboard for a V32 Palo. I can't get a bad tone out of this amp. Truly amazing. It's got me thinking about custom cabinet, new speaker, etc.

Ordered jj's this week. The stock tubes have some rattle, and are slightly microphonic.

[bosstone]

I have the V30, 3112, which is the single 12" combo version. It has JJs in it and sounds very good. I sold my 84 Boogie MKIIC+ for over $3.3K and picked the Crate, complete with JJs and the factory optional Tone Tubby speaker for $340.00. I am not saying that the Boogie didn't sound better than the Crate but it sure didn't sound 10 times better. I had to get real and overcome snob factor.

[bluescube]

Crate sure designed a winner in the V series. Too bad Loud Technologies is going to run Crate into the ground by closing the USA factories. I guess the USA Palominos and V series will hold their value.

[eyeball987]

I like the JJ's in mine also. To avoid tube rattle, I run my V3112 with a 4X12.

[LHanson]

Originally Posted by bluescube

Crate sure designed a winner in the V series. Too bad Loud Technologies is going to run Crate into the ground by closing the USA factories. I guess the USA Palominos and V series will hold their value.

I don't know, my Viet V32 sounds great. I do agree that losing factories is a bad thing.

[rivaeast]

I put JJ's in mine... ditto for the thing running Hot!!!

[soulohio]

i think that any improvement that you make will be in V1..not so much in V2 and I doubt any in V3. Now, my V16 has a bit of the willies when you dime the volume and better power tubes could help...i think NOS would make the amp quieter and impart that new old goodness...

[bosstone]

I think the running hot think is overblown. Every EL84 amp runs hot and this amp doesn't seem any different than other EL84 amps I have had.

[LHanson]

Originally Posted by bosstone

I think the running hot think is overblown. Every EL84 amp runs hot and this amp doesn't seem any different than other EL84 amps I have had.

Yeah, but the sockets being soldered directly to the PC has me jittery.

[rockon1]

Originally Posted by bosstone

I think the running hot think is overblown. Every EL84 amp runs hot and this amp doesn't seem any different than other EL84 amps I have had.

Well I know mine runs hot. It dissapates 13.5 watts at idle from a 12 watt tube. Being cathode biased it should be at 90-100 % at idle but not 113% like mine. Ive killed 2 different tubes in mine in the last 2 of years. Not "infant mortality" either. They had been in the amp for at least a couple of months and I imagine the high bias setting got to them. yeah it could have beejn a coincidence but concidering its set from the factory hot who knows. Ive only had two others tubes in all my other amps die this way.Usually they die of old age. One things for sure it runs the tubes HOT and its probably part of its mojo though. Bob

[Standard 64]

I put JJ tubes in my palomino U.S.A 1x12 combo.My vietnam palomino head and matching cab I so far have the STOCK tubes in it and it sounds real good.I run a fan on the tubes all the time.Have fun.