which 6v6's

musicegbdf

ICBM said:

Ah, that's totally different from the 8W one I tried - with that, the cabinet is closed-back with a panel over the speaker and the back of the amp section is a non-removable part of the chassis (I wish I was kidding!). To even change a valve, you have to remove the back panel from the speaker section, then either reach up really awkwardly around the speaker magnet - or if you want to get the chassis out to make it easier, you have to prise off the handle ends, remove the handle and a daft cover plate on the top, then undo the chassis bolts which are under it... if you can manage to do it without chewing up the cover plate, you get bonus points.

OMG , that sounds a nightmare. Mine is open back , with the back cover with 6 screws which when removed as you can see gives you good access to the valves. Though actually you can change the valves by reaching up via the open back if you want. You just unplug the speaker cable and two bolts in the top of the cab will drop the whole chassis out.

McToot

Back to the OP - are TAD valves any good - specifically the TAD 6V6s?

musicegbdf

Ok , got the JJ's from Karltone . What a difference. To be honest I was sceptical that I would hear a difference. I thought they would be made in the same factory and rebranded. They are very different . The JJ's are much bigger and I have got the sound I like back. The russions I got from Langrx were half the the price , but the difference is 15 quid .. I won't cheap out again. The russians were ok, but a bit too dirty and microphonic for me.
The JJ's are just right.
Note sure of the russian make as the the only marking on the box is "electrontube"

ICBM

Are they old stock ones with black paint on the inside of the glass? As Van_Hayden said, those are quite dirty-sounding and they do often tend to be microphonic.

musicegbdf

That's the ones and they are dirty and microphonic , not for me . The JJ 's are much more me..

Van_Hayden

You used to be able to buy em for about £1.50 10 years ago if you got enough if them...they're great for that kind of price. Now they can be as much as £5 each. We don't buy them now!

Yeah the Essex blond is a bit of a bitch to get out. It was the cheapest and smallest way to shove the head in a combo...

ICBM

Van_Hayden said:

Yeah the Essex blond is a bit of a bitch to get out. It was the cheapest and smallest way to shove the head in a combo...

It wouldn't have been anywhere near as bad without that damn stupid panel under the handle. I admit I didn't get off on a good footing with it... I broke two or three fingernails on the edge of it the first time I tried to pick the amp up... which given that I play fingers-only was more than a little annoying. As far as I could see the only purpose of it was to hide the two chassis bolts and make it necessary to take the handle off to get it out.

It did sound good though.

I actually like those black Russian 6V6s too, if you're trying to get a dirty vintage lo-fi overdriven sound out of something which is normally a bit too clean, like a Fender Deluxe Reverb reissue.

musicegbdf

Thankfully mine is the 15w that doesn't have those problems. I like clean that only breaks up a bit when I hit the strings hard. I do not even use distortion pedals often..

Van_Hayden

[quote="ICBM;51886". As far as I could see the only purpose of it was to hide the two chassis bolts[/quote]

Yep - something to do with "we don't want to look at bolts on the top"

The 15 is more like a King Street but with reverb not gain boost. The Chino/Model T if i remember right.

musicegbdf

My Ashdown has no Master volume (only single channel) or standby switch. It does have a gain pot , a reverb pot (Reverb is a Belton spring tank) , the usual Vol/Bass/Treble. It also has a switch that changes the tone , at the furthest points one sounds like a single coil , and the other like a full humbucker.If I recall it has 5 positions.
 It also has a Pentode/Triode switch...though the difference in volume between the two is not that perceptable .
It also has effects loop , and a DI/Record output .

Van_Hayden

If it's standard it's not a pentode triode switch but a switch that bypasses the cathode bypass caps...so you'll get tone change and a bit of volume change.

The voice switch is the same as found on a lot of Matamps, it's just a high pass filter that let's less of the bass through as you turn it.

Belton spring tank driven in parallel to one of the signal stages. The tank takes it's feed through a 741 chip but is recovered through a pair of triode stages.

musicegbdf

That all makes a lot of sense. The manual calls it a triode/pentode , but the switch actually says "bypass" . The 5 way switch does that , but I rarely us it.
And you are right about the reverb , as I had a power valve blow , which in turn blew the chip. Replaced for a few pence from maplin.
You know my amp really well sir !