| Author | Message | ||
| jx2638
Junior Username: jx2638 Post Number: 13 Registered: 2-2008 |
I just picked up an all-tube Blues Deluxe Reissue for use with my 2005 Tribute. I only use the clean channel...volume, low, mid, high and reverb....real simple. I found that when I started pushing the amp volume the sound quality began breaking up (kind of heavily/overly gained if you will)...and especially on the low 3 strings. So I dug into the cavity and decreased the gain on the neck pickup...which seemed to work but now I need the amp volume up on nine...and that's just at home let alone while playing out...I'd have no higher to go. Just wondering if anyone has suggestions??? Thanks so much!! | ||
| tdukes
Member Username: tdukes Post Number: 66 Registered: 4-2008 |
Not that it really helps you much, but I can tell you I don't really get that with my 2001 Tribute with an all tube Fender Twin Reverb 65 reissue. I just played it a little while turned up to 5. Pretty loud, pretty clean. I did notice that my neck pickup seems to hum more than the middle or bridge pickup. My gain knobs inside the cavity are between 1/4 and 1/3 of all the way up. The guitar is still a little louder than some of my others. I usually don't use the volume all the way up. Do you have another guitar to try with the amplifier? Maybe you have a bad tube. Even if it is new, if it set on the floor of the shop where you got it, it may have been turned on a lot. Todd. | ||
| jx2638
Junior Username: jx2638 Post Number: 14 Registered: 2-2008 |
Thanks Todd...never had a blown tube with years of fender and musicman amps...anyway to test the tube without the tech biasing meters? | ||
| tdukes
Member Username: tdukes Post Number: 67 Registered: 4-2008 |
I really have no idea. I have only had a tube problem once. It was different though. The amp just made intermittent staticy noises after it had warmed up. I replaced a tube and the problem went away. I don't even remember how I decided which tube to replace. I think it was on someones suggestion (probably the person selling me the tube). This was a long time ago, before I owned an Alembic, with a Fender Deluxe Reverb. Todd. | ||
| jx2638
Junior Username: jx2638 Post Number: 15 Registered: 2-2008 |
Thx Todd...Would love to hear if anyone has other suggestions or similar stories. Thanks!! | ||
| grateful
Advanced Member Username: grateful Post Number: 290 Registered: 12-2004 |
Jim: my Further overdrives the clean channel on a Fender Blues Deville (60 watts, 2 12 inch speakers) with the amp volume at 4. I suggest you reset the presets, then try your amp volume high and start with the Tribute volume low and slowly turn it up. At some point, you will start to overdrive the amp: but it should be creamy, not seriously distorted. If it is distorted, then Todd's right and you probably have a defective tube. Mark | ||
| jx2638
Junior Username: jx2638 Post Number: 16 Registered: 2-2008 |
Thanks Mark...you mean reset the pickup gains in the guitar? | ||
| jx2638
Junior Username: jx2638 Post Number: 17 Registered: 2-2008 |
If the tube is illuminated, is it still possible that it is defective? | ||
| grateful
Advanced Member Username: grateful Post Number: 291 Registered: 12-2004 |
Yeah: reset the pick-ups to their original levels (as near as you can). My Further is still at the Alembic preset level, and at full volume has a higher output than any passive guitar I've encountered. Mark | ||
| tdukes
Member Username: tdukes Post Number: 68 Registered: 4-2008 |
>If the tube is illuminated, is it still possible >that it is defective? I don't know a lot about tubes, but I think the answer here is yes. There are parts of the tube that can fail that are not responsible for it glowing. I would think if the tube didn't get hot enough to glow, you wouldn't hear any sound. Someone may correct me if I am wrong. Todd. | ||
| adriaan
Senior Member Username: adriaan Post Number: 2029 Registered: 6-2002 |
Distortion might also be caused by the battery going dead. | ||
| eardolin
Junior Username: eardolin Post Number: 47 Registered: 8-2006 |
Hey Jim- I run my Alembic through a Fender 'Twin Amp' (100W) and have a deafening amount of clean headroom. I've noticed that when I play through a lower powered amp like one of the Tweed Deluxes they have at the rehearsal space we sometimes book I have a difficult time keeping the signal clean past 4 or 5. This is a problem I have encountered with both active and passive guitars so I don't necessarily think it's accountable to Alembic electronics. I suppose it's possible that your particular amp (40W) doesn't really want to be clean past 5 and you may be over-driving your preamp tubes or power tubes (a trait of a lower powered amp). I believe this is one of the sought after characteristics of the circuitry found in your amp as well as a number of other vintage oriented amps: Low-Powered Twin, Vibrolux etc. It's also probably the reason that a company like Mesa Boogie makes a 20 Watt studio power amp (low volume power tube breakup). Even a Twin will eventually break up if you push it hard enough but at the point of breakup it would be extremely loud. One thing you might consider doing is trying your Tribute through a higher powered amp like a reissue Twin to see if you encounter the same problem. If it's the same then you may need to replace your battery or adjust your settings. If you experience more headroom than you may want to consider whats going on inside your amp. I've heard that some tube resellers will put together a set of tubes (both preamp and power) geared towards a cleaner signal but I have no idea how much credibility there is to this claim. Also you may consider replacing the speaker with something rated for higher power: JBL E-120, Beyma, EV. Speaker breakup is also a common attribute of a 'blues' tone so it may be something worth looking at. Hope this helps- -Ezra | ||
| gtrguy
Intermediate Member Username: gtrguy Post Number: 164 Registered: 9-2004 |
Yes, I'd consider a higher powered amp. You might try replacing the 1st preamp tube with a lower gain version, but you would lose some headroom and power at higher volume. Another speaker could help also, somethng that does not break up as easy. I think the early breakup is a selling point of these amps for most players. | ||
| jx2638
Junior Username: jx2638 Post Number: 18 Registered: 2-2008 |
First off...thanks for all the discussion and suggestions. I did replace the 9V battery as a first step. I also own a 100 watt Fender Twin Amp..."Evil Twin". I broke a power tube in it a while back and pulled a 2nd power tube which makes the max output 60 watt...I was never thrilled with the sound quality at the 60 watt ouyput. I think I'll revert back to the Twin...first to see if I experience a similar break-up and 2nd to replace tubes bringing back the 100 watts of power. The funny thing is...the sound I'm getting out of the Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue with the Tribute neck pickup gain set very low and the amp volume extremely high is outstanding. Maybe even worth mic'ing the amp for gigs...then the power issue wouldn't be as big of an issue???? | ||
| jx2638
Junior Username: jx2638 Post Number: 21 Registered: 2-2008 |
Anyone think string gauge would impact this?? I've always used 12's on the Tribute. | ||
| dfung60
Advanced Member Username: dfung60 Post Number: 368 Registered: 5-2002 |
Hey, I think you need to approach debugging this a little differently! First of all, grab (or borrow) a regular electric guitar with passive pickups. Plug that into your Blues Deluxe and see whether you can get a suitably loud clean sound (well, you should be able to get a ridiculously loud clean tone!). If you can't get a clean tone with a Strat, then there's something wrong with the amp. You would need to debug that starting with a known good 12AX7 preamp tube which you sub in with the current preamp tubes to find the bad one. Power tubes are more likely to fail in a guitar amp (they work harder), but less likely to fail the way you describe. If you can get a loud clean tone with a passive guitar, then mark down the knob settings that you got the good tone with. The active electronics in your Alembic can generate much higher output levels than a passive guitar, so your problem may be that the output of the guitar is overdriving the amp inputs. So, what you want to do now is to try matching the output level of your Alembic to roughly the level of the passive. It doesn't need to match dead on, but you want to try to get in the same ballpark. If you're a highly disciplined guy, you can do this with the guitar plugged in and the amp turned up. But for most people, you're much better off unplugging the guitar, setting the guitar's internal gain pot midway, then plugging it in and seeing whether it seems louder or softer. Unplug, and adjust the pot a little, the plug back in and test again, flipping back to the other guitar if you need to get a reference. The reason you want to do this unplugged is that if you slip off that tiny trimpot and touch anything else in the cavity you can deliver an amp-killing thump at the guitar's output, which you really don't want to do. Once you've matched the output level of the guitars, see whether you're having the distortion problem anymore. Different guitars just sound different - one may be bassy, another trebly - which will influence the output and overdrive of the amp. This may lead you to tweak a bit more. If you're at a point where the passive guitar sounds good (good tone and good volume) and your Alembic is still sounding distorted in a way that's not related to the tone, then there's probably something wrong with the internal electronics on the Alembic. From your description, it sounds like it's likely to be the internal gain adjustment. It was too high when you started which overloaded the amp input, then, when you turned it down all the way, it was too low, which is why you couldn't get any output level from the amp. If you adjust the Alembic to be at the same output level, then you'll be comparing the tone of the two guitars. Hope this helps, David Fung | ||
| jx2638
Junior Username: jx2638 Post Number: 25 Registered: 2-2008 |
Thanks to all for the input...will weigh back in after full review!! |
