low volume from rebel 20

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pinkmarkos

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hello- just a quick troubleshooting question about the rebel- i was trying out some new preamp tubes today and i am now getting just a very low volume output from the amp. i am getting low gain/high gain signal, the volume is just extremely low even when at master is at 10 and at wattage pot at 20 watts, and with the power tubes blended or just by themselves. i tried my guitar through another amp, and i tried the rebel through another cabinet, so i think the problem is with the head itself. the tubes aren't glowing red, and i am not getting excessive hum. i switched out both sets of power tubes, and they biased up correctly both times. any ideas? is the warranty void by just trying out new tubes? i'd appreciate any help. thanks.
 
Gotta eliminate the pre amp tubes......all of them. Swap them out one at a time with known good one's.

I fired up my Egnater class build head yesterday......no volume, no nothin'. Checked the pre's and V1 was shot.
 
Buckeyedog":17szpp1i said:
Gotta eliminate the pre amp tubes......all of them. Swap them out one at a time with known good one's.

I fired up my Egnater class build head yesterday......no volume, no nothin'. Checked the pre's and V1 was shot.
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Same thing happened in my VX module a couple days ago. No volume on Channel 2, turned out to be a shot Tung-Sol 12AX7. :gethim:
 
thanks guys- a shot sovtek gold pin 12ax7a was the problem (and i just bought it about 3 weeks ago). ironic thing is that the rebel sounded smoooth with the gold pins in v1 and v2 and any old matched 12ax7 in v3. haven't been able to try any good telefunken, mullard, etc- too much $$$$. i know this is probably topic for another thread but anybody have any other success with other pre or power amp types in the rebel?
 
pinkmarkos":2w7cfvdf said:
thanks guys- a shot sovtek gold pin 12ax7a was the problem (and i just bought it about 3 weeks ago). ironic thing is that the rebel sounded smoooth with the gold pins in v1 and v2 and any old matched 12ax7 in v3. haven't been able to try any good telefunken, mullard, etc- too much $$$$. i know this is probably topic for another thread but anybody have any other success with other pre or power amp types in the rebel?
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Great question. I'm a new Rebel owner and new to tube amps as well. Naturally I must begin by changing the tubes. ;) I have been browsing a lot of amp sites lately, and a lot of people like JJ's. I found this site with some reviews of the various brands:

http://thetubestore.com/tubereviews.html

This guy likes the Tung-Sol reissues a little better than the JJ's or Mullard reissues, but I am also looking at the "long plate" ECC803S listed at the Eurotube site, mainly because he talks about the smooth high end of this tube, which is what I am looking for.

https://ssl.eurotubes.com/cart/index.ph ... egory_id=2

Now I'll just hang back and let the experts tell me what I should use ...

John W.
 
I'd be a little careful about tubestore.com. I once bought some tubes for my old Mesa from them and was not very happy with the results.
 
I have been to Bobs home/basement (Eurotubes) a few times. Nice Guy.
I have been told by more than one amp maker that he likes to put stuff in there that it is not made to use. Not bad but well not sound the way it should. A matter of taste. Like putting KT88/6V6 in a Mesa Rectifier.

Both of them have a good name with most people.

I have not changed any tubes in my Rebel so......
 
Len Rabinowitz":1lktklxf said:
I'd be a little careful about tubestore.com. I once bought some tubes for my old Mesa from them and was not very happy with the results.
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Tubestore.com is just one of many on-line tube vendors I found. What sort of problem did you have, bad tubes or bad service?

Where do people on this group buy from? My only local source is GC.

Thanx,
John W.
 
jwdubois":219xd9yo said:
Len Rabinowitz":219xd9yo said:
I'd be a little careful about tubestore.com. I once bought some tubes for my old Mesa from them and was not very happy with the results.
Click to expand...

Tubestore.com is just one of many on-line tube vendors I found. What sort of problem did you have, bad tubes or bad service?

Where do people on this group buy from? My only local source is GC.

Thanx,
John W.
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I've had great success with Tubestore and now recently Dougstubes.Dougs was much faster shipping :D
 
As I am sure you know, tubes for a Mesa amp have to be specifically biased for that amp. They claimed that they were, but it just seemd like they didn't sound as good, and some didn't work at all. A part of the amp blew out that I think was caused by one of those tubes. I am no expert in tubes for sure, but I ended up staying with Mesa tubes that I would get at GC or a few other vendors in MA.

My 4212 is new so tubes have not been an issue.

Can I replace tubes in that by myself? Mesa always said "Do it your self. Do not send it to us or take it to a repair shop for something like this." The Eggie manual says it should be done by an authorized repair person, but that seems a little strange. It was easy on the Mesa.
 
I use dougstubes.com or kcanostubes.com for any tube purchases. These guys are really good and have great customer service. Bob at eurotubes.com also has good customer service, but he only sells JJ's.

In regards to tube swaps, that's the fun of these amps. Just try different combinations to find something that you like.
 
thanks for the input- with the rebel, i am getting tones that i like from the preamp section by using a new high gain chinese or sovtek 12ax7 in v1 and an old RCA in v2 to smooth it out. the rca really fills out the bottom and the new high gain tubes give a nice crispness on top- for distorted sounds. for clean sounds only, i have to have old stock american tubes in v1 and v2- with some old RCA 6v6s i get a pretty good fender sound. thats the great thing about this little amp- so many tubes so little time. as far as vendors go +1 for dougs tubes. the tube store is good too. ebay is there but i dont know how you guys feel about that. lots of tubes but quality is hit and miss.
 
Len Rabinowitz":3ub4rgz0 said:
As I am sure you know, tubes for a Mesa amp have to be specifically biased for that amp. They claimed that they were, but it just seemd like they didn't sound as good, and some didn't work at all. A part of the amp blew out that I think was caused by one of those tubes. I am no expert in tubes for sure, but I ended up staying with Mesa tubes that I would get at GC or a few other vendors in MA.

My 4212 is new so tubes have not been an issue.

Can I replace tubes in that by myself? Mesa always said "Do it your self. Do not send it to us or take it to a repair shop for something like this." The Eggie manual says it should be done by an authorized repair person, but that seems a little strange. It was easy on the Mesa.
Click to expand...

I've bought tubes from thetubestore.com for nearly 7-8 years, with 1 being sent bad. (A Jan Phillilps 5751 was broken upon delivery). He sent me a new one the next day. I've had 0 tubes be DOA, or crap out after 1-2 weeks from him. Maybe it was a "mesa thing" for you. But, I'd give thetubestore.com a BIG thumbs up. I have probably bought at least 200-250 tubes from him over the years (if not more).

Eric
 
Ive used the Tube Store and Dougs Tubes alot. Doug just always gets me the tubes the fastest so I generally use him more. For Chinese, I use boiaudioworks.com.
 
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