I’m really glad Sweetwater took care of you.

quote:

Originally posted by mark123:
I’m really glad Sweetwater took care of you.

Thanks Mark, me too. I’ve got a good guy there assigned to me. To be true, I’ve spent a lot there. My son and daughter play instruments. But this was a solid. I should have dumped this humming hissy catastrophe months ago.

Maybe try a regular reissue 65 Deluxe Reverb or Princeton Reverb.

quote:

Originally posted by Oz_Shadow:
Maybe try a regular reissue 65 Deluxe Reverb or Princeton Reverb.

That's definitely a leading option. I am technically comfortable doing the few minor tweaks that Lyle recommends to "make this good amp a great amp". Not sure I want the hassle, but it might be worth it since I had an amp stand made by a Czech guy on Etsy that fits the Deluxe Reverb perfectly.

Coming back to this thread. Couple months ago I picked up an AC15 with alnico speaker. Haven’t had a chance to plug my Classic Vibe Tele into it and crank it yet but soon.

Try boutique amps. Spendy, but it may short circuit what could be a never ending search for a good amp. Consider Carr - very nice. But there are many good boutique makers.

Or vintage Fender. A Princeton Reverb or a Deluxe Reverb. Also spendy, but, again . . .

I built a 2204 clone from the Mojotone kit a few months ago and I dare say it sounds better than my real Marshall 4010. I cannot believe how well it turned out. And it was perfect the first time I fired it up. I biased it, of course, and then did some tube rolling. But man, I could not be happier with this amp.

I’m so tempted to do a build. I have the skills I think. Even some knowledge of AC/DC circuits. I’m weak on tubes. But it’s the time that’s at issue.

On the high end, I’m considering a Clark black face, or Carr Super Bee.

My brother has a Carr Skylark, and thinks it is the bee's knees. After he got it, they introduced the Super Bee, and he kind of wishes he had that one, but he loves the Skylark.

quote:

Originally posted by Rick Lee:
I built a 2204 clone from the Mojotone kit a few months ago and I dare say it sounds better than my real Marshall 4010. I cannot believe how well it turned out. And it was perfect the first time I fired it up. I biased it, of course, and then did some tube rolling. But man, I could not be happier with this amp.

What tubes did you end up with? JJ? something NOS?

quote:

Originally posted by BlackTalonJHP:

quote:

Originally posted by Rick Lee:
I built a 2204 clone from the Mojotone kit a few months ago and I dare say it sounds better than my real Marshall 4010. I cannot believe how well it turned out. And it was perfect the first time I fired it up. I biased it, of course, and then did some tube rolling. But man, I could not be happier with this amp.

What tubes did you end up with? JJ? something NOS?

JJ for power tubes, put a ANOS Mullard in V1 and it screams.

How were the components in the kit. Anything somewhat lower-end?, like caps, that you had to swap out for FMTs or whatever? Or that you may choose to go back to for reliability?

I was a little skeptical when the whole package only weighed 26 lbs. But that was all transformers and they really sound great. I think the components are fine, as it sounds fantastic. You can obviously tweak and tune for minimal additional cost with different component values. But I just wanted to get it running first and then see what else it needed. But it really needed nothing.

quote:

Originally posted by r0gue:
I’m so tempted to do a build. I have the skills I think. Even some knowledge of AC/DC circuits. I’m weak on tubes. But it’s the time that’s at issue.

On the high end, I’m considering a Clark black face, or Carr Super Bee.

Be very, very careful and read up on proper safety precautions if you start building or working on tube electronics.

Tube guitar amps typically have power transformers that put out 200-400 volt two-phase AC. That CAN kill you if you do something stupid or careless.

Tube guitar amps typically have beefy power supply capacitors that operate at 250-500 volts DC, and depending on the specific circuit design, those capacitors can stay charged for a while with the amp turned off and unplugged. Wires and components carrying hundreds of volts DC run all over the inside of an amp chassis. That CAN kill you if you do something stupid or careless.

That doesn't mean don't do it, I've built a number of amps without a problem, but make sure you understand the risks and the safety precautions and are comfortable with them.

100% agree. Strangely, 35 years ago, I started out with an A.S. in Electronic Technology. Right at the end of the school's teaching tube theory. I don't remember a ton about them, but I remember how to discharge without arcing, and how to keep one hand in my pocket.

In high school we built a vacuum tube oscilloscope. During testing I managed to ground my elbow to the metal chassis while having my fingers touching the voltmeter probe. 400 volts zapped down my arm. It made a suitable impression.

Oh geeze! Hadn't thought about the rogue elbow potential. If you built a tube o-scope in high school, I think we can infer the number of decades ago that this must have been. That memory was carved in stone!

quote:

Originally posted by r0gue:
Oh geeze! Hadn't thought about the rogue elbow potential. If you built a tube o-scope in high school, I think we can infer the number of decades ago that this must have been. That memory was carved in stone!

Nigh on 50 years ago!

Looking hard at the Carr amp product line. Any insights or experiences eager appreciated.

My brother loves his Carr. The cab is strong, solid and good looking. The amp is point to point and made with great components. The Skylark is more traditional in it's tone controls. The Super Bee has simpler tone controls with a switch that gives you three preset tone configurations. There are tone controls aside from the presets, but they are simpler Both have an attenuator which allows you to distort the amp at room volumes. I haven't played it, but I have heard it and it sounds great. If you like spring reverb, they have good one built in.