Pro Reverb please help!!!!!!

Thoughts on BF Pro Reverb

I own a 65/6 Pro Reverb. While I like the sound I'm getting, I'm sure there's room for improvement. Does anyone out there know any tubes/tricks/mods that help/change the tone W/O trashing the amp's resale value. I hear that swapping the transformer from a Bassman or the like, tightens up the lows and extends clean headroom...true? Also, the amp has got a couple of speakers in it that I know can't be original. They sound alright, but I'm curious, what speakers did Pros come with and what are some good options for replacement?

 

The amp sounds pretty good. My problem: Sometimes on stage with my 335, it gets a little mushy. Not always in a bad way though. What I'm talking about is probably just the amp doing it's thing, the power section clipping a bit... and it works sometimes, or perhaps, I'm hearing it get hot and tired.

Granted, onstage with everyone, isn't really the best place for analysis, but due to my NYC locale, cranking it up isn't an option at home.

I think all the caps are solid, and have had the amp gone though and inspected by a few guys. The irony is that I got the Pro because I knew my Dlx wasn't going to keep up with my drummer and here I am having this problem. It's pretty close, but lacks a little low end clarity in critical situations, especially, when I start stacking up the gain. I think it's doing what they (BF Fenders) typically would do under these circumstances, but, that said, I wish it was a little more together in terms of the low end girth/muscle, without sacrificing the sweetnes, slight overdrive, spongy sag and compression thing that happens at gig volume.

Usually I have it set up to be just about to break-up. About 4&1/2. Just on the verge of OD so that my pedals do as little work as possible, and basically just drive the amp a little harder, with the exception of some Fuzz etc...

As far as tubes go...I haven't really sweated that detail too much. It looks like the tubes are a GT 5ar4 (although the diagram on the inside says it should be a GZ34) in the rectifier. The 6l6's I think are Ruby Tubes, they say made in Russia on them, and have a C inside a circle as the logo. I used to like the Sylvania tubes in my old Twin that I sold to get the Pro, but I really stopped with the whole NOS thing when I got into my Dlx, don't know why. Pre-amp stuff left to right is as follows: GT 12at7, GT 12ax7, GT 12ax7, GT 12at7, GT ax7& another GT ax7. This differs from the diagram as well, who knows? Apparently, nothing fancy going tube wise.

Is it a speaker issue? I can't suss out the origin of the speakers. They are black and have a small siver circle on the back, and in yellow they're stamped 7407:2090 and then below that they say 575430. When I shine a flashlight through the grillcloth I see (yikes) shiny silver in the center (JBL?) but they have pretty reasonable weight and magnet size. ???????? Help!!!

 

Nobody liked talking about my little sick Pro. They're all to busy trying to be Robben Ford. Ugh!!!

 

Yes and yes- case closed

Peace-

JD