Is a OT upgrade worth it. ?

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Dyllheaven88

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I have a old mm OT laying around wondering if I should upgrade the og in a rockerverb mk1
 
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Dyllheaven88 said:
I have a old mm pt laying around wondering if I should upgrade the og in a rockerverb mk1
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I don't think the PT will do much unless your stock PT is a low voltage PT, and the MM is a much higher voltage PT. The OT is where you'll hear a noticeable difference.
 
Dyllheaven88 said:
Just went back and checked it is a OT haha 🤣
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If I were you, I'd find out what that OT exactly is....contact MM and they'll tell you what it's designed to 'sound like' ie is it a Marshall clone, or a hi fi type like a VHT, or other...then think about what difference it's gonna make with the Orange.....and, do you want that difference?
Of course, you can just do it and see...can always change back
 
Dollars spent vs awesomeness experienced, I would soy NO. But if you already have it, wire that bitch in there..
Is the Primary Impedance the same? If it's different, it will skew your experience, impeding a true comparison..
 
Racerxrated said:
If I were you, I'd find out what that OT exactly is....contact MM and they'll tell you what it's designed to 'sound like' ie is it a Marshall clone, or a hi fi type like a VHT, or other...then think about what difference it's gonna make with the Orange.....and, do you want that difference?
Of course, you can just do it and see...can always change back
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I know it’s from an old wizard I got for a clone I wanted to get built but never happened now I’m like hmm maybe I toss it in and see what happens
 
glpg80 said:
If you’re not able to crank your amp they will take forever to break in to see the true benefit. They aren’t normally plug and play amazing right out of the box - they take some burn in time to settle.
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Does the burn in time count for every transformer or only for the MM ones?
 
OT has it's blemishes and problems and some interesting characters but I don't think "upgrades" sound very good. I like that section the way it is tbh so let's just leave it alone.
 
glpg80 said:
Some are faster to settle than others. I only purchase/use MM for my builds or for others.
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I don't usually buy new amps, but in the case of the Naylor SD60 I got 2 yrs ago, break in was definitely a thing. The amp sounded like the other 1995 version I had, but the feel wasn't there. But, after 5-6 months there it was.
 
Racerxrated said:
I don't usually buy new amps, but in the case of the Naylor SD60 I got 2 yrs ago, break in was definitely a thing. The amp sounded like the other 1995 version I had, but the feel wasn't there. But, after 5-6 months there it was.
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How many hours of playing time did it approx. need?
 
BesaMoogie said:
How many hours of playing time did it approx. need?
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If I remember right, what I did was turn it on every night after work, for a few hrs then shut off before bed. I didn't always play through it though...but after the feel wasn't quite the same as the 1995 version, I thought I'd do that similar to speaker break in. Might have been more like 4 months actually. It wasn't every day that I did this, but during the work week. So If I had to guess a number, maybe 240? But, a lot of that was with the amp on standby, if it matters.
 
I had done the MM “upgrade” to a Marshall DSL100 JCM2000. It definitely was not an upgrade in my opinion, made it sound a lot cleaner and gave the amp this best way I can describe it is a sliver wire type tone. It was probably more the spec of the OT that I was hearing… I later put a Heyboer Marstran c1998 OT in that amp and became so awesome. The mids and highs were sweeter and more natural and feel was great.
 
glpg80 said:
If you’re not able to crank your amp they will take forever to break in to see the true benefit. They aren’t normally plug and play amazing right out of the box - they take some burn in time to settle.
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From an electrical engineering standpoint how is this possible or explained? I'm not doubting this happens or being a dick just honestly curious why and how this happens.
 
jasonP said:
From an electrical engineering standpoint how is this possible or explained? I'm not doubting this happens or being a dick just honestly curious why and how this happens.
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Heat from the high current combined with the skin effect causes the enamel coating to reform slightly on the wiring which changes the parasitic capacitance per unit length. The cores are also dipped and isolated (ones high voltage low current the other is high current low voltage). Nothing is melting but things do move around microscopic amounts and given the length of wire on the primary you’re going to hear it in the high end.
 
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I've built a couple dozen amps and honestly I couldn't tell a night and Dat difference between mercury, classic tone, ceriatone, and Hammond and I couldn't tell you which was which. I think the biggest concern us the durability
 
I bought a used Stiff 90-AD 2 channel amp head off of Reverb. It was advertised by the seller as a 50 watt amp. When I got the amp, it worked, but it wasn't loud, played it at my cover band shows as it was, and I couldn't figure out why. The amp head chassis was originally a 100 watt amp chassis, but was wired up for only 2 power tubes. I took it to my local amp tech. Someone had apparently installed a 20 watt Vox output transformer into the amp when I got the amp. I had my local amp tech install a Pacific Audio 50 watt Marshall output transformer in my Stiff 90-AD amp head. It improved the tone and I got the 50 watt output that the amp should have had.
 
Racerxrated said:
If I remember right, what I did was turn it on every night after work, for a few hrs then shut off before bed. I didn't always play through it though...but after the feel wasn't quite the same as the 1995 version, I thought I'd do that similar to speaker break in. Might have been more like 4 months actually. It wasn't every day that I did this, but during the work week. So If I had to guess a number, maybe 240? But, a lot of that was with the amp on standby, if it matters.
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Thanks.
I heard different stuff about transformer break-in.
Some say about 100h of loud playing. Other say, the transformer should go through as many heating/cooling cycles as possible.

Somewhere I red, that an boutique amp builder puts his transformers in the fridge (not freezer!) and afterwards outside on the sun so the materials go through a shrinking/expanding process. Eventually, this results in decreasing any tension of the windings in a new transformer.
 
BesaMoogie said:
Thanks.
I heard different stuff about transformer break-in.
Some say about 100h of loud playing. Other say, the transformer should go through as many heating/cooling cycles as possible.

Somewhere I red, that an boutique amp builder puts his transformers in the fridge (not freezer!) and afterwards outside on the sun so the materials go through a shrinking/expanding process. Eventually, this results in decreasing any tension of the windings in a new transformer.
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That kinda reminds me of the Adam Jones story; of him storing his Superbass in a chest freezer when he's not touring
 
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