jimmarchi1's forum posts 8022

don't build an amp if I have to answer these questions for you! you will get electrocuted. This is not a kit in the sense you are imagining.

okay, every 12__7 tube is a dual triode right? hat means its two triode tubes in one bottle with shared heaters. There is no rule that says foom the plant those two triodes will be twins, okay? A balanced triode has been tested for matched headroom, transconductance etc and the two triodes are virtually identical to be used in a hifi amp where there is maybe a parallel input driven by a 12ax7 gain stage before it hits the phase inverters of the stereo power amps (though generally you see pentodes in this driver application for tube hifi.... also the matched triodes are ideal as a phase inverter in a non-balancing long-tailed pair arrangement. In a guitar amp it doesn't really matter, the circuit balances itself well enough for our purposes (though a balanced dual triode wil virtually eliminate audible crossover distortion if that's what you want). In any amp with a paraphrase inverter or cathodyne? totally pointless as these arrangements only use one half of the tube and the other half is usually used as a gain stage or cathode follower elsewhere in the circuit.

I am so close to pulling the trigger on a '68 traynor PA head that appears to be knocked off a Hiwatt C504 AKA Sound City L50. I dunno what I'll do with all that power at home, but I love Live at Leeds and looking at both the Traynor and Hiwatt schematics the only differences are a few component values and a presence control on the traynor that only later Hiwatt circuits had (though the presence circuit was there on pete's, just fixed). I know I shouldn't buy this, but........

a superlead, hiwatt, sunn, ampeg V series, orange OR series, fender twin or showman? They are ridiculous loud amps. Even for a band a superlead peels the paint off most walls. I cannot stress how LOUD my superleads were at less that 1 on the volume dial. A 50 watt JCM800 2204, while having all the power of the 50 watt non-master amps, is designed for some of tis gain to be pre-master volume preamp gain and its very manageable. It may not sound its best at neighbor friendly volumes, but it doesn't sound bad. Gigging in small "pubs" the 800 is a better call. It sounds VERY good and while its tone is not divorced from volume level you can still generate copious amounts of OD without setting plexi to stun.

nah, the JTM45 is past BOTH of our skill levels, tube electronics are more complicated than discrete transistors which in turn are a lot trickier than ICs and passive guitar electronics. There's a lot to this, respect it and take one step at a time. Buy a good, Fluke multimeter and a decent weller iron, build a cathode biased single ended amp like the champ and get the basics, then try a tweed deluxe before getting into fixed bias push pull circuits with complex tone networks like the JTM45.

Also, you may not like the 45, its loud and pretty darnned clean (although its a nice, round clean sound, not like a Twin Reverb loud and clean, dirtier than that, but not dirty by modern standards) and its more of a growler than a cruncher. The 50 watt 'black flag' plexi circuit may be more to your liking. The 45 has a slightly hotter preamp than a tweed bassman and the 50 watt plexi with split cathodes in the pre is hotter still though its got considerably more output. Bridging the channels on a 50 watt is also more interesting as the channels are a lot different in voicing and gain structure versus the bassman/jtm45 where the only difference is the bright cap. In tweed-based circuits over 15 watts I am more of a tweed super/pro/bandmaster guy (these are all the same basic amp with different output impedances) and in Marshalls I am really partial to the 50 watt plexis, JMPs and 800s although the extra power from a superlead is fun if you can use it.

If I were going to build a JTM45 for modern use I would make it a "JTM25" using a pair of 6V6es run really hard with huge deluxe reverb plate voltages and then I would have the circuit rectified by a 5V4 or EZ81 rectifier to introduce a little sag at 10 that the GZ34 would not be likely to give when powering a mere 25 watts. I would also add a post-phase inverter master volume using a dual-ganged pot strapped to the outputs of the 2 sides of the long-tailed pair. I would also dump the 1st 12ax7 in favor of a small pentode like the EF86 or 5879 to get more gain, compression and bandwidth right out front and then add a bright switch so you could revoice the input to be normal or bright depending on what guitar you are using since blending channels on a bluesbreaker is lame and underwhelming. But you would want to build AND play more tube amps before coming up with your own ideas.

build a champ kit and fix some larger AB amps before going any further... as a guy who burnt a push-pull pot out just wiring an LP up I would suggest you try a pedal or two first as practice and see how that goes. Personally I have worked on repairing and restoring amps and I have built some fuzzes but I have yet to tackle even a champ from scratch. Apart from requiring a lot of knowledge and skill the process is also dangerous involving high voltage. If you plan to do it make sure that when you are ready to fire her up your children ARE NOT home but that your wife is so that someone can save you if you accidentally ground out an improperly built circuit with your body.

welcome... I am a meat popsicle

Oh! wait, the worst guitar I ever bought was a black LP studio that I think was made in '99. Awful guitar. Muddy plugged in, bad acoustic tone. I didn't know about Les Pauls at the time and just wanted one and bought the cheapest actual Gibson I could find. I never got that guitar sounding good. It had a version of the slim-taper neck that didn't feel good in my hand at all. I thought it was cool because it was the only slim necked Gibson in the store under a grand that day and I wanted a slim neck back then. But once I had it home I was really put out by it and she didn't last long. She was STUPID heavy even for an LP too. That studio and the 80s standard I owned were just overly heavy chunks of mahogany (the studio was an old style studio with a mahogany cap, not new style with maple... she may have had a maple neck too like some studios of the era.... not sure, there was a lot of glossy black finish over every inch of that guitar)... that guitar, my standard and TV special DC were learning experiences for me when it came to Gibsons. They really taught me how to select good set-necks from a pile of similar new and used models in a big store. My studio and special were both very new guitars when I got them (the studio was a year old, used and the special was brand new off the rack) and both had common issues later related to the wood drying and glue expanding as the guitars aged as did my 88 standard when I got it (but that guitar fell in my lap as opposed to the other 2 where I shoulda been more cautious and less eager to leave the store with a guitar THAT DAY).

So yeah, the Jackson V, Floral Tele, 99 Les Paul Studio and to a certain extent the 88 LP Standard were all bad guitar buying decisions for me in one way or another. Oh the folly of youth!!! I didn't take a huge bath on any of those guitars, but I didn't turn a profit on any of them either.

I knew I was getting called a dick by SOMEone on that response and I made it anyways.

Anyway, can the OP borrow a nice little Marshall (15 watts to 50 would do it) from a family member or friendly older player he knows?

Is the Cort made in Korea or China. If its made in Korea stick with the Cort over a new Epi LP. Those Korean Cort guitars are nice little instruments believe it or not.

Just stick with what y'all got an turn up LOUD!. I'm sure your Cube amp has a superlead model in its arsenal of digital amp simulations. Your instructions are to go into superlead mode on the cube (or brith rock, whatever the call their plexi model), turn all the virtual controls up except bass and presence, then open up your amp's master until you really push the speaker hard and your neighbors and parents are furious. If your guitar isn't vibrating against your belly you are not loud enough. If you follow my advice and it sounds good go with it.

Raw volume always works. Oldsters like Peter Greene and Gary Moore have more (pun intended) speaker breakup going than you would thing. A big component of old school guitar crunch tone is the speakers giving up and distorting.

the current Chinese epiphones are just awful though... why does everyone think that's how a guitar is supposed to feel in your hand?

Worst guitar I've ever paid for? hmmm.... the worst one for me was a Jackson V that was actually a very nice guitar, FOR SOMEONE ELSE. Jackson USA has always done a bang up job, but the guitar was so wrong for me.

I think the worst guitar for craftsmanship I have ever owned was an MIJ floral Tele. She looked the part, but something about her felt off. Sh ewas definitely not up to Fender Japan's usual snuff and could not hold a candle to the MIJ Aerodyne Tele I acquired around the same time for playability and acoustic sustain. That said, she was not a bad a guitar by anyone's standard. Just not special.

That Jackson and Tele were the only guitars I recall feeling buyer's remorse about. I felt a little abivalent towards the Yamaha I sold too. The 80s 335ish one in Natural. But in generaly I liked her too.... she was a pretty good guitar. I don't think I have owned any really bad guitars. Ever.

the best day of your life will be when your son is born.... this is just some music shit, its not even something for your own band. You won't even remember this day by the time you are 25.

didn't Gary Moore play Peter Greene's 'burst Les Paul through a marshall back when he was still relevant? well there ya go! break out your 59 Les Paul and maybe a '68 superlead, plug into the bright input, turn everything but the bass. presence and normal channel volume to 10... if you don't have a vintage plexi then maybe you have a mid-70s metal face Marshall that could get you close or failing that you could go my route and fire up on of your Vox AC30s.... no?

just take whatever you've got then, it will be fine. Be really loud. Amps sound good when they throw serious SPL.

tung sol branded Russian dual triodes are built with large plates in oversized bottles. They may not fit will in every tube socket depending on how the shield mounts on it. They are a tight squeeze in my Matchless and I usually only jam 1 in the critical first stage of the top boost channel in that amp. The 12ax7 has a full, hot sounding rock n roll sound and will give even a hiwatt or BF fender a more compressed clean sound. This can be good or bad. I personally like them in amps I plan to play overdriven. The Tung Sols sound really good when you slam them with a boost and they pass on a wide-bandwidth but nicely compressed signal to the nexy stage. They sound very 'gainy'....

they are built well, but like most Russian tubes other than the ones from St Petersburg (Svetlana, winged C, etc) they are not put on the vacuum machine long enough to get all of the gas out of the bottle on every tube, so they have a shorter-than-vintage lifespan and a high failure rate out of the box. Buy from a company like Tubestore.com and get tested ones and you will be fine. Even tested ones will have half the lifespan of a JJ. I get about a year of hard use from a Tung Sol gold pin. JJs last about 2 under similar conditions and old dual triodes will often run in excess of 5 years even with heavy use before sounding dull.

I particularly like the tung sol 12ax7 in Marshalls as they remind me a lot of the old AMperex Holland 'bugle boy' tubes I used to put in my plexis before they became scarce. They are a little more bassy, but the bright Marshall circuit can handle it.

jj 12ax7s are all on the dark side to varying degrees depending on the plate structure and could be perceived as less gainy than some dual triodes.... they are robust, well-made tubes overall. Dunno what make the platinums so platinum....

JJ el84s are literally the best current production 84 overall for sonics and longevity... the TAD EL84STR is pretty cool sounding too in a cleaner, fuller 6V6ish way.... for my buck I prefer the JJ, its voxier in my voxes... JJ also makes a low headroom 84 designed to break up at 20% less wattage for a good 1 or 2dB cut in SPL when overloading your power amp. I ordered some recently but haven't tried them yet. I am excited.

They don't have the rabid following of the ac30 because they are very low gain and high headroom like a hiwatt. Loud amps that don&t want to break up at a reasonable level. It limits the market a bit. They are stillvaluable. They make great pedal amps. Also, the beatles worshippers seem to think the ac30 is the beatles sound when in reality every album between meet the beatles and help was recorded with ac50 mk1 or 2 rigs and by revolver they had vox hybrid amps, fender dual showmans and paul's amps, a blonde bassman (same model brian setzer uses) and a selmer 50 watter.

you are unlikely to see a JMI era ac50 at that price twice in one year, though I expect they are more common in the UK than the USA, they are still not readily available, there just weren't that many made.

the triple rec and 5150 are in so many ways the exact same amp... seriously, look at a schematic, if you take aaway all the bells and whistles that revoice the preamp and just go with all the odern settings, go with solid state rectifier mode and don't use raw mode the triple rec IS a 5150 with independent tonestacks across 3 channels.... the 5150II is even closer with the independent channels... both are poor man's Soldano Slo100s

The OD1 is what Ibanez knocked off for the tubescreamer. Its basically an SD1 without the tone control, but the best ones have a really crazy. discontinued opamp in them that collectors are all gaga about. Most commonly you see the 2nd gen OD1s used and they just have the rc4558 type opamp like an MIJ SD1, TS808 and 80s TS909. I keep thinking about building a BYOC kit with the old, oddball opamp to see what all the hype is. I've enver played an early OD1, but its fans are rabidly loyal even though a lot of the electronics guys say that there should be little to no difference in tone between the 2 versions. Everyone seems to hate the OD2 and if I recall the OD3 is very similar to a BD2 blues driver with a fet boost stage driving a TS9 style OD circuit. The BD2 has symmetrical clipping and lower gain from the opamp/diodes-in-feedback-loop section whereas I believe the OD3 is higher gain in the opamp driven clipping circuit as well as having assymetrical clipping via a silicon diode in series with a germanium diode back to back with a solo silicon diode like the OD1 and SD1. Not sure whatthe story is with the OD2, just that its universally hated ever since I was a kid.

The full tone is a carefully voiced OD250 type of circuit with an added tone control, assymetrical clipping via a mix of diode-wired mosfets and a germanium diode thata re wired to the bias potential of the first op amp stage instead of to ground to yield a more dynamic, pick responsive clipping. Fulltone lifted the idea off of an obscure 90s voodoo lab OD that predated their sparkled drive (the sparkle drive being a ts9 with a clean blend control, kinda like the dual ganged dain pot on the Klon that acts as a clean blend as well as gain so the lower your OD the more clean signal you hear added). I have kinda had it in my head to build a Klon and use the OCD diode-to-bias-potential arrangement to make it even more dynamic as the Kon circuit sounds more musical and maintains your guitar/amp character better overall but once you let enough grit in via the gain pot the actual drive is a little stff and unresponsive. And the Klon suffers from major bass-suck, t could use a post clipping bass boost knob like n the green rhino mk2 and mxr m77 custom badass OD to reshape the lows when you try to let more treble through for added crunch and kazing.

you are probably thinking of the OD1, SD1, or BD2 blues driver... those are the boss ODs with a large and rabid following, the OD3 is a love it or hate it cult pedal with a very mixed rep.... I don't know if I have ever tried one so I won't give an opinion.

I think EHX's OD Glove vastly outperforms the fulltone OCD at a fraction of the price. It has everything that's good about the OCD with none of the harsh upper mid-spike.... if this is your sort of OD then get the Glove. Plus its great to see Mike Matthews, one of the first pedal maufacturers and an all around cool guy, school a mouthy upstart like mike fuller and totally fuck him over. He ripped the muthafuckuh off and ran to the bank with the profits all the while providing boutique tone to working guitarists for less than a carton of smokes. The design for an OCD is just a modified voodoo lab pedal that was discontinued in the 90s (which itself was just a modified OD250). Fuller loves to pretend he's not as derivitaive as every other OD huckster, but EHX showed his sorry ass (can you tell I have had negative social and business interactions with Fuller?)....

there's nothing of value in ANY OD circuits, paying more than 100 bucks for one is utter madness.

as far as I know the jag single coils are weird amongst fender singles due to how the wires are hooked up (which is not a big deal in any way) and also because of the 'claw baseplate' that adds a little tele bridge tone and the corners of the cover but underneath are just a strat bobbin with a square top and in vintage examples would be a strat's bottom flatwork and a squared-off top piece of flatwork, same amterial as a strat of the period... if your jag has pickups that don't basically look like this:

http://www.jimshine.com/jaguar/67%20JAGUAR%20LEAD%20PICKUP.jpg

then figure out what it does have, it shouldn't be hard... fender single coil pickups come in like 5 standard sizes regardless of year of manufacture or country of origin. There's tele bridge, tele neck, strat/mustang/duosonic/musicmaster (the only difference is that the short scales are flatpoles with no magnet cut outs on the covers, but same bobbin size and construction and are interchangeable in the pickguard cutout and mounting holes), jazzmaster AND jaguar (and the jaguar is 90% a strat... note in the picture that a jag pckup even has the same stagger to the poles as a strat does, they are only different because of the claw, the top of the bobbin, the cover and the way the wires terminate from the coil... manly cosmetic differences).

That's that.

I would do a similar basic list but i would get a 50 watt plexi to save myself attenuating too much. Superleads are impractical studio amps. I tracked a whole record with a trio of them and a couple showmans. They kick out so much spl it is hard to capture the tone without attenuating because they need to be isolated in a booth when tracking as a band. A pushed super)ead and 100 logo 4x12 need a big room to 'bloom'. If you think you aren't going to record entirely as layers of overdubs on every session the supers are way extra. 50 watt marshalls are balls out loud by any standard but still a whisker more manageable and have a smoother sound that lends itself better to close micing when you need to isolate them.

I would also buy a 60s fender super or pro reverb and tweed deluxe or small tweed gibson for a commercial facility. Maybe a slo100 or evh5150iii for high gain over the 6505. Maybe a herbert over a vh4. Or an engl model.

But i am not opening a studio. Been there, done that. It sucks. I buy gear for my own needs and amusement these days.

Mesa Mark III and up: jack of most trades, master of none (the Marks will not do a Marshally overdrive), they are total maintenance whores. Marks and Triple wrecks have so many options that you spend all night finding the one magic setting out a million possibilities, most of which sound outright bad. If you are playing mid-period metallica though, the Mesa Mark sound is the thing for it. I can't dial a Mark IV or V in to save my life, and I have seen guys ons tage fiddling with their controls every song during an actual show while I looked at my reliable old plexi and thought "well it only does one thing no matter how I set the tone knobs, Marshall Plexi, and the plexi thing is only achievable at radioactive volume levels.... BUT it does it better than any other amp and the controls are so unresponsive I cannot screw it up..."

A heads up if you are seeking a Mark V, packing that many features into a fender bandmaster sized head is a recipe for disaster. The Mark IV and Mark V go down a lot because of how many miniature components were used in order to get all those switches and pull pots onto such a tiny board. The chassis was designed to contain a much simapler amp but Randall Smith just keeps adding and adding.

and also

channel switching is for girls.... oh, that was sexist.... I meant to say channel switching is for quadrapelegic, metrosexual teddy bears.

I am more of a 2 tone and tweed gibson guy. The ga15 and 20 or the 60s are interesting amps though. I had a minuteman and the epu version of the 60s ga15. Very similar. Weird sounding el84 amps. My favorite Gibson amp i had was a 59 tweed ga14 titan. I cannot remember what possessed me to sell that amp now... What year's that fwbder combo? I bumped into the 800 shopping for bandmasters because i miss the 65 i sold a few years ago... been feeling down about it the whole time. With the market in the toilet it feels like a good time to buy another one or maybe a tremolux head.

I am a bastard. Not literally though. If MY 65 yearold dad reads this (while squinting thru hus bifolcals) he might not take kindly to getting cut out of my picture...

I wasn't that serioys about putting your gear up fir hock to buy an 800 from the swamplands if north Florida... But someone on here should get it.

Paul McCartney is the man by the way. If rusty anderson quits his band i will be banging paul's door down to play in the world's greatest beatles tribute act.

I have a 62 ac30, current ac30hw2, matchless hc30 and a vox ac4hw1 (for knocking around the house). I mostly have the new ac30 so i can baby the valuable old one. The new one gets close and has a few of its own tricks. The matchless is ac30ish but has the tight, punchy response of a marshall. Its its own thing really though it can do convincing ac30 and plexi impressions when set right. Its gainier and the power section has a more hifi response. You have heard hc30s allover the radio, particularly in country music since the 90s.

I have owned various marshalls (including a couple nice superleads and a seeet 50 watt vertical input 800) and a laney gh50l. A suproand other vintage cheapies. Tweed fenders and gibsons. And ofcourse lots of blackface fenders. I always come back to vox and fender. But i was forced to sell my bandmaster and miss having an old fender head to get my 6L6 tone on... The tremolux is the most restrained wattage 6l6 black fender at about 30 watts.a bandmaster is 35 to 40, a bassman 45 plus. Those few watts change the sweet spot for ideal clean tone by a few critical dB. The bandmaster and tremolux share a small output tranformer that eats some power and tightens the bass and mids compared to the black bassman or huge 80watt twin and showman. The tremolux is further toned down by a tube rectifier that limits the transient response due tovoltage sag giving a pleasing compression when set above 3. Bad for you as a bassist,but thats why fender made the bassman for bass OR guitar. For me it might be ideal as a deluxe reverb doesn't have enough headroom for me at 22 watts and tje bandmaster is a little loud for a lot of applications. I find the bassman to be boomy with some guitars i own and they are a crapshoot as people used to mod them in the 70s and they often are not completely originaleven when they look it.

Dude, sell your soludstate stuff and buy this. Its totally your sound.

must..... score.... 6L6.... fender.... amp.... or I will....... DIE!

preferably 40 watts or less, in a head, blackface, manufactured while Leo was still in charge of operations.... man does not live by Vox alone as it turns out.... I totally miss having a fender and its KILLING ME!

5 is a good number.... 3 was way too few! good work. Bass deficit narrowly averted, Boom.

I am torn between a 10th guitar and 5th tube amp. I can't really afford both and I can abrely rationalize getting one or the other... barely, but I am rationalizing it :-(

Check this, GC in Tallahasse FL has an '88 JCM800 2204 50 watt head for under a grand:

http://www.guitarcenter.com/Used/Marshall/Vintage-1988-JCM800-2204-50W-Tube-Guitar-Amp-Head-111821739.gc

its missing the handle and is the less desireable horizontal input version, but the board-mounted inputs don't effect the tone in any way. You just need to treat them more carefully than you would vertical inputs! This is a deal in today's money and if I wanted a good Marshall sound for medium stages I would scoop this up.

Someone on EB needs to buy this. They will ship it to your local Guitar Center for you free of charge. Usually horizontal input 2204s trade for $1200 or more. Mine did 5 years ago! Even if she needs maintenance it wills till be a steal.

SOMEone buy this so I am not tempted to! I don't really want it, but its such a deal.

I am really digging this speaker mixed with a greenback. WOW. Sounds good with my ac4, but really slays with my Matchless dialed in to sound more marshally than voxy, channels jumped and some master volume dialed back to really bring the phase inverter crunch 'n grind. Ooh....

So the digital doohickey I was bidding on went outta the price range I will pay for an effects unit so I am putting it off for awhile. I did pick up a spare Brimar EF86 for the preamp of my Matchless. I want to save my spare Mullard mesh plates for when the supply dries up. No one makes a good EF86 anymore, such a shame... but that only cost me $25, so I need to make a decision.

I could roll my ebay loot into an old es339 type of semi-hollow from the 70s/80s site unseen and hope I love her or for $100 more dollars I could buy my friends mid-60s Blackfaced Fender Tremolux head. For those not in the know the Tremolux of this era is a glorious mutant, kinda like a Bandmaster with a 5U4 rectifier tube instead of the diode bridge rectification. She puts out a reputable 30 watts versus the bandmaster's 40 to 45 and has nice compression on the clean tone that puts her a little more in the small blackface and tweed camp. Less thump, but still with the signature blackface Fender mid-scoop. Maybe I should buy her as a replacement for the Bandmaster I sold to fund the ex-wife's dental needs? Thoughts?

EDIT: schnapp... I was looking at bandmasters online and there's a store near me selling a cherry 65 like the one I sold for a scant 600 bucks... it doesn't have the cab but I am so over that shit. I got $1200 for my mint head and matching cab, 600 is a steal even if that's what I paid for the head and the empty cab 5 years ago.... I am 90% ready to buy this thing and have a bandmaster again.... still my favorite BF for punchy clean tone without too much thump!

Eh... I think we barely scratched the OD question. Speak on young pedal aficionado!

acid and... echo--echo---echo------echo

I teied to vote but it was snarky with my phone. Maybe later from my pc... Good luck.

mine too! Lucian is always taking cables in and out of my AC30s. I broke out the 1/4" patch bay from my disassembled home studios et up and now he plays with it all the time... he still finds XLRs to be frustrating because of the button but he'll get it. Then I'll have a junior studio assistant. Kids and pro music gear are so funny.

Syd Barret or that guy Rocky from the 13th floor elevators?

If you're not sure then you need to do more psychotropic chemicals. Not that I am supporting that behavior.

here's a mk1:

http://www.voxshowroom.com/ct/amp/uk/ac50sb/AC-50_chassis_dual_input_rear_12.jpg

mk2 (note that most mark 2 50 waters do NOT have a third octal tube for rectification and instead have diode bridge rectification like a mark 3, but the early mk2 amps are really 2 channel, production model mk1's... the mk1 was built to order, initial for the Beatles and later for other bands and anyone who ordered one, the mk2 was the first ac50 that was a catalog item as far as I know):

http://www.voxshowroom.com/ct/amp/uk/ac50bb/AC50TR_chassis_top_12.jpg

a mk3:

http://www.voxshowroom.com/ct/amp/uk/ac50bb/AC50DR_chassis_rear_12.jpg

notice the HUGENESS... they should be good and crusty like this, its rare to see them all clean at your pricepoint. There are guys like Victor Mason at Plexi Palace who do full, like-new restorations with cleanings on vintage Vox and Marshall amps, but the amps that guys like that work on go for top dollar (OR POUND).

the AC50 is the ULTIMATE chimey vox clean. It is very low gain but chimes for days and still ha some magic vox mids going. Its very high headroom but gets marshally when pinned. I rather want one. I almost bought a broken one off a riend but chickened out at the last minute. The Beatles sound is from the 1 channel ac50 mk1 or the 2 channel mk2. Mk3 and later are a little less clean. These amps are super sparkly with fabulous mids. Top boost channels only though. Until the Mk4 they are stock with 12au7 low gain, hifi dual triodes in V1 which make them really spanky and dynamic but keep the gain really low. They are vox's best pedal platform. They do get VERY HOT because they use a weird cathode/fixed bias scheme on the EL34 tubes. You will want a robust set of power tubes like JJ teslas. Do not get anything Russian or Chinese even if it sounds better. The amp will devour anything less robust like the GT EL34M, new sensor/EHX stuff, and Svetlana winged Cs. A 1965 is either a Mk2 or Mk3, not sure though. They are a little different but both good in their own way. You may wanna have her modded to have a standby switch eventually. I'll explain more if you buy her....

Check youtube for an ac50 demo. There are a few done by stores that capture the real sound of the amp, though you can't experience the punchy feel without actually trying it for yourself.

The price on this AC50 is very good for an original, working example. In the USA mid 60s ac50s regularly trade for well over a grand. MAKE SURE IT HAS THE ORIGINAL OUTPUT TRANSFORMER, don't tke the dude's word for it. If you need me to get pics of the original trannies for you I will. They do not make transformers up to the snuff of the old british iron by radiospares, haddon, woden and partridge anymore unless you wanna pay top dollar (or pound). An ac50 puts out in excess of 60 watts RMS, so a puny modern 50 watt transformer like the drakes in 90s or later marshalls will not handle it. A 50 watt drake of that type was used in the 90s, Marshall built AC30/6TB reissues to handle the lower wattage of that model safely. Okay?

If everything is legit with this amp you should beg borrow and steal to get it before someone else does. If possible see it and try it in person. This is an investment piece that will not only serve your needs, but will ALSO continually rise in value as long as you take care of her. AC50s sound really good thru a quad of 25 watt G12M celestions or a weber 30 watt blue dog mixed with his 30 watt silver bell (both alnico) for a really vintage tone but with safe power handling (old AC50s regularly blew up their 2xG12 blue w/midax horn setup which is why original AC50 cabs are so rare these days)... do not pair the AC50 with a vintage 30, it willg et harsh. If you must go ceramic in a 2x12 try a G12H30 style speaker, preferably with the 55hz bass cone to smooth the vox chime out a smidge. These amps also love hemp cones in ceramic or alnico...

if you can beg around the family and pawn more gear you should go play this amp with cash in hand ASAP. Someone wills coop her up. They are very desireable. Not as much as a JMI 15 or 30, but more desireable than ANY OTHER VOX, even a JMI AC10 in good condition (except maybe the AC10 super-reverb-twin head, which is its own beast and truly awesome even though JMI reverb sucks a dick).

I have bid on an hd500x as mentioned in another thread. If it stays under 300 bucks total i am entering the modern world at last. If not maybe the buy-in for new tech is just too steepfor me. It will mainly be an effects platform and midnite silent oractice/demo solution so i refuse to pay top dollar. If i really believed a kemper, axe fx or pod could replavmce an ac30 completely, then maybe. But i doubt that... Hearing could bebelieving though.

for full bore, thick distortion I really have to say that my number 1 pedal pick is the MI audio tube zone (which contains no tubes) followed by the Catalinbread SCOD which goes from from light OD to a fat, saturated fuzzy distortion at 10... 2rdpick would be the Way Huge Red Llama which is very similar to the SCOD but is a little more American sounding and ODish but is still syrupy thck.... if you must have razorblade high on tap as well as gooey thick mids and lows I am not sure. Personally my favorite straight up distortion thru an ac30/15 type amp is the venerable proco rat (maybe you could use the extra gain of a turbo rat, but a rat and ac30 with a set of PAFs was Dave Grohl's secret recipe in the studio for MANY Foo albums) and guys also love the old Crowther Hot Cake to get an ac30 set for rock 'n roll cleans into alterna-rock/punk mean. The AC30 is a naturally thick amp once you get enough signal into the power tubes. It has full, round bass and THICK midrange even at 2 or 3. Almost any distortion will take on a lot of girth thru a ragin' EL84 amp. The Marshall 18 and 20 watt circuits have some thick, chewey mids too, though much more controlled bass and a tighter alla round sound than something in the vox camp. You get the idea though. You are already venturing into thick midrange territory. There is a saturated quality to even a dual EL84 CLEAN sound played at proper band volume. It is SO the opposite of fender clean.

I want tap tempo, so once you go for tap delay you are looking at digital unless you wanna spring for a Diamond Memory lane or the new tappable TRex tape echo. I might as well digitize all my effects and make the modulations tap tempo too plus get a million zillion other features, esoteric effects like synths and shimmer verb and dumb shit only the Edge would think of using PLUS preset capability and a built in expression pedal. Might as well be ALL OUT digital or completely old school.

I've only seen the heat gun and scraper work okay on a VERY THICK finish. I Still kick out some fumes though. Not a kid friendly project.

That's about 450USD... sounds okay to me.

I have been cleaning up divesting myself of spare junk on the 'bay and reverb too... I have too much stuff. I am streamlining. I think the net result here will be a functional live rig for a cover band or gig where I need to reproduce effects laden album sounds with an effects board that doubles as a headphone practice solution as well as a USB interface for quick demoing and maybe a new guitar too... and also a LOT more walk-in closet space!

I am ready for an all in one preset setup when I want effects. If I bond with the POD HD I will probably roll over into a Helix when they start turning up used. Or there's always the fractal stuff. But maybe I will be dead happy with the HD500X. I remember being knocked out by the direct recorded sounds in the original premiere guitar review. I am just not sure how 'real' she will sound interfaced with my massive amp rig. I am hoping to be blown away and spurred on to be creative with effects for a change. And to be able to preset album tones before going to audition for bands with very specific needs instead of expecting them to adapt to my very dry, vintage british sound. I think its great, but hey... I get it. I guess its kinda like nly eating traditional hot fudge sundays, vanilla with chocolate, whipped cream and a cherry is simple, classic and reliably great (and should meet everyone's icecream sunday needs in my opinion), but some folks will prefer a banana split or maybe a cone full of rocky road. Or if you are the edge you might want a table full of different sundays and flavors and want to dip your spoon in 2 to 4 before having a bite, and who could picture U2 without all those flavors? Its not me and its not needed, but it might help me find a band to play in for a weekly "sanity" day... I do not want to do any original music because guys get too serious trying to "make it." But I DO want to deal with people who are serious about being good live and getting paid to play shows... and that generally involves reproducing album sounds where I live.

I hope that if I invest some time into integrating this 1 floor unit and create some killer, subtle patches with all these FX I will be pretty ready for anything. I am really envisioning myself doing a monthly cover band gig in the future so I don't lose my mind (or better still, a wedding band! that's some easy money)... and cover bands can be so picky about album sounds in the states.

Nice! how many basses have you got now?

She has no idea how much backbreaking labor and stinky, semi-toxic dust and/or fumes she's in for stripping a polyesther or polyurethane finish... that's cute she wants to do that, but your 2 options are sanding and toxic chemicals like aircraft paint stripper.... if she wants to paint a strat body, just buy an unfinished one from one of the billion guys on ebay making them. It'll be cheaper, safer and easier than stripping the one you have.

why don't you just get an amp and play some shows plugged straight in and then make up your mind... or at least see what kinda sounds you need and can't get while you are working on tunes at band rehearsal... yeah, I just bid on a POD, but I am thinking of having it for side-man and cover band work so I can make presets for paying gigs (also I keep getting invited to audition for the house band for a certain NBC program modelled on star search/American idol and I will need to be able to produce a wider, more modern palette of sounds particularly with delay if I show up to audition for next season)... but if I were thinking of gigging with my own original music again I would not add anything to my rig. When I am not gigging I do not want a ton of stuff hooked up, I just want to play. And for gigging purposes, the simpler the better! More stuff is more potential malfunctions. Plus the POD will be a good headphone solution to practice while Lucian is asleep, even when he sleeps in my bed (sometimes its nice having a snuggle toddler next to you, but when he goes down at a normal Toddler hour it kinda sucks being pinned to the bed with him, being extra quiet, until its MY bed time). I can just toss some cans on and keep an eye on him, the pod glows so I can even have all the light out.

Do less shopping, play more gigs! You are a father of 2, but you are NOT a single Dad like me. The courts cut my ex out in th short term unless she comes and visits Lucian in county and she won't do that, nor does she pay child support so I am literally the sole parent, breadwinner, etc. If I had a wife in the picture I would have a designated band day every weekend. As it stands I am already pimping my folks and aunts and unces to babysit while I'm working some of the week and Lucian really wants to spend time with me on the weekend to boot. but if things were a little different, Liam... there would be a Daddy Rock 'n Roll day to play with a band. It sounds like you have a little more leeway! Get gigging, UK Dad. Gigging. Gear is about gigs and making records. Never forget that.

and maybe a POD HD500X if no one outbids me (and they probably will, I will not pay a lot for digital technology, ever)....

I am so done with indicidual pedals other than my 1 OD I got back recently for solo boosts if I wanna go that route.... I put a bid on a POD HD500X again. I was cheap about it, but if I win I am getting everything integrated in my rig thru that with presets. Unless its ounds shitty, but my understanding is that it sounds very good, particularly if you are not leaning on the amp and cab models.