Tung Sol preamp, V30 speakers.

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thiswaythatway
thiswaythatway
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Just a few things from last night when i stayed up late and tried to record some stuff.

First, if you have a Tung Sol reissue preamp tube throw it straight into the garbage. Several people have told me they had trouble with these tubes. I FINALLY got my MarkIV back yesterday and it was sounding like a wind tunnel, even the Decimator had a hard time keeping it quiet. I swapped out the Tung Sol and problem solved.

2nd. I thought V30 speakers were easy to record. Soo many people told me just throw up a mic on the speaker and your done. Not the case. I found MC90's a million times easier to work with, either that or i just hate these speakers. And I'm getting almost too much low end even with the EQ turned off on the MarkIV. THe low end is mushy to my ears and there is something in the high end that bugs me. I really need to get some Greenbacks again. V30's are back on my shitlist with 75's.
 
Thanks for the heads up on the Tung Sol Reissues, I was going to get some from my Vox AC30CC1. I wish EI could make a consistent preamp tube, those were great. I found once again I dislike JJ preamp tubes in most amps. I am running out of preamp options, maybe I will stick with my tried and true EH or shell out the big bucks for some NOS GE's or RCA's....

The MC90 is a good match with the Mark IV as is the classic lead 80. I will say though when you mix the V30 with a MC90 or Classic Lead 80 on a mark IV, its a nice mix.
 
I did have a Tung Sol go bad but in general I really liked the way they sounded in my Mk IV. I did some swapping in V1 and V2. Liked the Tung Sol the best????
 
I bought two tung sols from Dougs tubes and they work and sound great in my Boogie and my Blackmore.
 
I've gotten 4 Tung-Sols and they're perfectly fine. I also disagree w/ your statement about V30s being hard to record with.
 
I've had good luck with the TungSol tubes in my Blackmore. I'm currently using this config:

V1 - TungSol 12ax7
V2 - Sovtek LPS
V3 - Sovtek WB
V4 - TungSol 12ax7

But, I did have the same "wind tunnel" experience with Shuguang 12ax7 tubes in the Blackmore though...

Just curious....have you tried Eminence Governor speakers in place of the V30's?? I read some good reviews on them..

:)
 
I'm becoming annoyed with my Mesa built v30's in an oversized recto cab. Once I hit over about 5 on the Master Volume, I have to roll the bass all the way down plus turn the VoodooAMPS global control all the way towards the high-mid range.

Basically there is just too much low mid grind. The bottom end at high volumes becomes not as tight as I want. Also its hard balancing the treble with 'cutting' without either cutting your head off or having dull tone.

ARRG.

At lower volumes they sound great but im not into the ultra modern low-mid distortion tones.
 
I don't care for Tung-Sols and I hate V30's (in the room). But I do believe they are easy to get a good recorded sound from. However, I like GT-75's :D

The Tung-Sols just seemed to rob alot of the saturation from the Blackmore's high gain channel.
 
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troublehead":35e1b said:
The Tung-Sols just seemed to rob alot of the saturation from the Blackmore's high gain channel.
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I've used them in V-1 and it sounded good, but when I started using NOS RFT's and NOS Teslas the results were a lot more pleasing to my ears.
 
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redrol":acaf3 said:
I'm becoming annoyed with my Mesa built v30's in an oversized recto cab. Once I hit over about 5 on the Master Volume, I have to roll the bass all the way down plus turn the VoodooAMPS global control all the way towards the high-mid range.

Basically there is just too much low mid grind. The bottom end at high volumes becomes not as tight as I want. Also its hard balancing the treble with 'cutting' without either cutting your head off or having dull tone.

ARRG.

At lower volumes they sound great but im not into the ultra modern low-mid distortion tones.
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I used one of those oversized cabs at a gig once with my 2 channel dual rectifier and also had to turn the bass to zero, I hated that cab, it was just to whoofy and farty. My cab with Celestion g-12-80's sounded 1000x better.
 
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scottcrud":59c14 said:
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I used one of those oversized cabs at a gig once with my 2 channel dual rectifier and also had to turn the bass to zero, I hated that cab, it was just to whoofy and farty. My cab with Celestion g-12-80's sounded 1000x better.
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Those oversized cabs sound sound too boomy, bassy, and farty. And soo far i find MC90 speakers a lot easier to work with than V30's. But i have to play around some more i guess.
 
What was wrong with the mark IV???

Im interrested in two vintage 30 speakers if your looking to sell em?
 
I do not like V30s sam I am.....I do not playing through them here or there......I do not like them anywhere.
 
I tried several Tung-sol preamp tubes in my MKIV and they would not work for some reason. It gave me that same wind tunnel sound that you had. Doug over at Dougs tubes was nice enough to give me a replacement tube and the same thing happened. I did not want to bug him again so I bought 3 more online and same thing. I wont use them in a MKIV but Im sure they would work in another amp.
 
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BOOGIE444":157ea said:
What was wrong with the mark IV???

Im interrested in two vintage 30 speakers if your looking to sell em?
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They couldn't find anything wrong with it. They had the amp since December and gave me a bunch of possible issues and they finally told me they wanted to swap out the tubes and rebias it, and charge me $300. I told them to stop, put it back together, and be done with it. I told them i already swapped the tubes and it cost me only $100. So i had to pay them $40 for basically nothing. Although the issue isn't as bad as it was, i was playing it and i heard the treble go down a little bit as if someone was lowering the 6600 slider.
It's still not an amp i would take to a gig and feel comfortable with.
 
danyeo, how about just sending it to Mike B? He'll fix it no problem.
 
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Glimpse":f1535 said:
Greenbacks > all speakers
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I think i like the MC90 Black Shadows as much as Greenbacks, for me, they recorded a little bit easier.


V30's are wierd. I know they sound great in the Uberkab and if they sounded like crap why would Bogner, Diezel, Bogner, Marshall, Engl, etc. put them in their speaker cabs? They do sound good in the traditional Boogie cab. For me, it could be also that I'm just not into the sound of a 2x12. And i don't care what anyone says, the OS Bogner 2x12 does NOT sound like a 4x12. And they didn't record as easy as i thought they would. They might be easier to work with than Greenbacks or H30's, but i found the 90's easier to record with.

I had a hard time getting Greenbacks to record how i wanted them to, but it was just a matter of moving the mic around and adjusting the amp. But with V30's , I'm getting soo much WHOOF and a lot of top end. Where's all the sweet mids?
 
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danyeo":0f3f4 said:
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I think i like the MC90 Black Shadows as much as Greenbacks, for me, they recorded a little bit easier.


V30's are wierd. I know they sound great in the Uberkab and if they sounded like crap why would Bogner, Diezel, Bogner, Marshall, Engl, etc. put them in their speaker cabs? They do sound good in the traditional Boogie cab. For me, it could be also that I'm just not into the sound of a 2x12. And i don't care what anyone says, the OS Bogner 2x12 does NOT sound like a 4x12. And they didn't record as easy as i thought they would. They might be easier to work with than Greenbacks or H30's, but i found the 90's easier to record with.

I had a hard time getting Greenbacks to record how i wanted them to, but it was just a matter of moving the mic around and adjusting the amp. But with V30's , I'm getting soo much WHOOF and a lot of top end. Where's all the sweet mids?
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That's weird, a lot of WHOOF and top end? SOunds like the T75 to me, which I hate in the room. My experience has been the opposite, lots of mids, spiked almost. I've never played an Uberkab, but I could see how that speaker combo could work really well for a modern cab.

I love Greenies, all my favorite guitar tones are Greenies, and for me they are just a pleasurable speaker. Nice all around sound, no spiking, no ice pick in the brain like the T75. Now my delima is that I want a 2X12, but with the power rating of the Greenback I'm scared I'm gonna blow em. Which would suck, lol. I wish I could find some MC90s to hear/play.
 
Hey danyeo, do you have an opinion on the new G12-65? According to Celestion:

A forerunner to the G12T-75, the G12-65 was originally created as a higher-power handling version of the G12M Greenback. Recognised as the voice of 1980s rock and blues, the speaker was particularly popular in 4x12 cabinets and is considered by many to be the finest speaker ever produced for use in this classic configuration.

Like the original G12-65, the Heritage Series re-creation of this legendary Celestion guitar loudspeaker has a tone that’s best described as sitting somewhere between the G12M and the Classic Lead 80, with plenty of definition for high-gain playing styles without being too bright or aggressive. By adhering precisely to the initial design notes, specifications, materials and construction techniques, the Heritage Series G12-65 dishes up the cherished guitar tones of the ’80s with almost unnerving accuracy.

Sounds cool... anyone have experiences with these?
 
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