Rebel 30 - new owner looking for a tone

[JIH22]

Hi All

I just picked up a Rebel 30 - Love the features that this amp offers - it's exactly what I need (although would rather a parallel effects loop) and an incredible engineering/design job. I struggling to find a funk tone though.

I have set up a very clean tone - messed around with bright & tight, bass and treb, watts, tubes reverb etc. However - I cannot quite find a sparkle in the tone. I am looking for a bit of organic complexity to develop after the initial hit - but it seems that there is just a start & stop fundamental. Sorry for the poor explanation. I want this tone to be in the amp but I am struggling to dig it out. (Using a Fender strat with maple neck, SD PUP's and PRS Custom 22).

Also finding a bit of upper mid harshness on channel 2 and a lot of hiss on channel 1. I see from the forum that the channel one hiss is due to the open volume which I understand. But I am not keen on the upper mid harshness.

Could the problem be biasing of tubes.
Could it be better tubes required (any suggestions would be great - I am most concerned about the clean tone here though).
Could it be EQ and settings.
Or could it be that the amp is not voiced for a funk tone?

I want it to be there - any help will be very gratefully received as I don't want to change this amp.

All the best

Joe

 

[Steedee]

Hi All

I just picked up a Rebel 30 - Love the features that this amp offers - it's exactly what I need (although would rather a parallel effects loop) and an incredible engineering/design job. I struggling to find a funk tone though.

I have set up a very clean tone - messed around with bright & tight, bass and treb, watts, tubes reverb etc. However - I cannot quite find a sparkle in the tone. I am looking for a bit of organic complexity to develop after the initial hit - but it seems that there is just a start & stop fundamental. Sorry for the poor explanation. I want this tone to be in the amp but I am struggling to dig it out. (Using a Fender strat with maple neck, SD PUP's and PRS Custom 22).

Also finding a bit of upper mid harshness on channel 2 and a lot of hiss on channel 1. I see from the forum that the channel one hiss is due to the open volume which I understand. But I am not keen on the upper mid harshness.

Could the problem be biasing of tubes.
Could it be better tubes required (any suggestions would be great - I am most concerned about the clean tone here though).
Could it be EQ and settings.
Or could it be that the amp is not voiced for a funk tone?

I want it to be there - any help will be very gratefully received as I don't want to change this amp.

All the best

Joe

Probably your best bet is to check out some different speaker.
Personally I want more upper mids, and less lower mids (ala Vox) that my R30 is offering but I'm sticking with the stock speakers.
Also, it seems the bright switch on channel 2 has a less dramatic effect than channel 1. So you might want to try getting the funk tone on channel 1 with a slight overdrive in the front. They are definitely voiced differently, that's for sure.

 

[the4thlast1]

Change all of the tubes. Believe me when I tell you it will make a big difference. If it came with Ruby power tubes then change them to JJ's. Finda a mix of pre tubes you like.

The JJ EL84's and 6v6's sound really good in the Rebel30. I did not like the Rubys that they have been using. Originally Egnater was using the JJ's but had some reliability and rattling issues so they switched. At the very least I would change the preamp tubes to see if the noise goes away. You will have to bias the amp if you change the power tubes. Very easy to bias the Rebel30 though, there are bias test points inside.