need some help on this. i currently have nos rca 12ax7a's in all preamp slots. and either nos sylvania 6l6, or jan phillips 7581a's, that i switch between. i was wondering is there any way to get more gain out of the 2nd channel without messing with the tone that i am getting with the clean channels tone because i really like the way the clean channel sounds. the 2nd channel sounds fantastik too but just want more gain. is this possible? also i have the amp biased at 64m. so 32m per tube. thanks in advance for any suggestions. thanks, chris
watupchreese, Have you adjusted the internal trimpot yet? There's 2 of them inside. I think it's the lower one. The other pot affects the clean channel. Check w/Joe or Bill to be sure. Sherman
no i have not played with the internal trimpots i did not even know there was such a thing. thanks for the heads up, and i will give the guys over at two rock to check on that once again thanks for the help. chris
Chris, No problem. Please report back and tell me what Joe/Bill tell you. I can never seem to remember what pot does what. TIA, Sherm
update... i called the tr guys and spoke to bill and this is what he told me. with the amp chasis out and the front face of the amp facing towards you between the bass and middle knobs is where you will see a board with a blue trimpot on it then there is another board just under that one also with a blue trimpot. these two trimpots are what affects the lead channels amount of gain. from the factory bill said that they set the gain up for a robben ford type of gain. he said that turning the trimpot counter clockwise will increase the gain, he also said that both trim pots need to be rotated so i guess just rotate both counter clockwise until you find the combination that works for you. fwiw, i tried increasing the gain and found that i did not like it so i returned the pots back to the stock settings. i did this by marking it with a sharpie pen before screwing around with it. what i found was that although it added more gain it was not the sound that i was looking for, it kind of sounded harsh, whereas the stock settings are more smoother. thanks, chris
Chris, you probably already tried this, but in case you haven't, I found that the setting of the presence control is important to smooth out the higher gain settings, i.e., when you increase the gain, the presence needs to be dialed back a little. Another thing you might try is putting in the stock NOS Chinese preamp tubes; you've got some pretty smooth sounding preamp tubes in there. Lastly, there's always the tried and true boost or OD pedal route.
I really don't want to mess with my trim pots inside my Onyx because I'm afraid I'd wreck a good thing. One thing I do experiment with is my effects unit and the various levels for headroom and overall transparency when using the effects loop. I make it a point to not damage the base sound at all if possible. I think the next month will really tell which effects will be tied into the Onyx for the long run.
Strange, I get almost too Much Gain on mine and not enough Clean Headroom. Maybe I need to Try Other Speakers.
That and I found that the Onyx's can vary from one to the other. I have owned 4 and each one was different. All sounded good but they did vary from one to another. Especially in the clean channel. Chuck
With the 2 TR amps I've owned (Amethyst Special; LTD) I've noticed on both that V1 and V3 (clean preamp and lead preamp) work best with the standard Chinese 12ax7's. I have Boogie SPAX7's in my LTD. The added gain from these gives the amp its characteristic Two Rock touch-sensitivity and responsiveness. NOS 12ax7's will be smoother, but you lose that touch-sensitivity.
Just an FYI, the Onyx will overdrive 5881s more easily than big bottle 6L6s. This is especially noticeable on the gain channel, but note that it will also mean that the clean channel will more easily get those elusive "edge of distortion" sounds. This change to the clean channel may or may not appeal to you. I like it, but then, I like to push my cleans a little.
