Tubes and leads.

Post by Bg » Wed Mar 23, 2005 10:32 pm

Groove Tubes bought a load of the original machinery and are manufacturing themselves now though I seem to recall...

goldtop0 · Post by **goldtop0** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 9:06 am

BG I seem to remember that GT do Western Electric tubes I think? with that machinery and so far as I know still rebrand other tubes for their line.
I've personally never been a fan never used Groove Tubes because of that rebranding same goes for Marshall, Fender and Boogie branded valves,always used original maker ones then you know what you're getting/using.

Bluesbird · Post by **Bluesbird** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 6:40 pm

goldtop0 wrote:BG I seem to remember that GT do Western Electric tubes I think?

I believe it was General Electric.

If anybody wants more info on tubes (and tube amps in general), http://www.guitaramplifierblueprinting.com is a great resource, with heaps of information and good advice.

TMG 03 · Post by **TMG 03** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 9:48 pm

Bluesbird wrote:
goldtop0 wrote:BG I seem to remember that GT do Western Electric tubes I think?
I believe it was General Electric.

If anybody wants more info on tubes (and tube amps in general), http://www.guitaramplifierblueprinting.com is a great resource, with heaps of information and good advice.

OK after spending a few hours at this place I need an Amp Tech to give mine a service. Where do we all go for such services

ant · Post by **ant** » Thu Mar 24, 2005 10:10 pm

What gives you that idea ?

Post by Bg » Fri Mar 25, 2005 12:42 am

clarry is excellent and good value too

TMG 03 · Post by **TMG 03** » Fri Mar 25, 2005 6:53 pm

Who is this Clarry ?

Post by Bg » Sat Mar 26, 2005 12:26 am

clarry scholum over at Mt Eden, I'll dig his address/phone/email out for you.

Tsuken · Post by **Tsuken** » Sun Mar 27, 2005 8:59 am

On the subject of tubes, what should I expect if the (single) preamp tube in my TubeFusion Laney is getting tired (it being a second-hand amp; at least a few years old, and probably not changed)? And correspondingly, what could I potentially expect if I replaced it with a new one?

artyone · Post by **artyone** » Tue May 17, 2005 1:25 am

Umm!,I haven't been around tubes long enough to really tell anything except your better off worrying about the output tranny and especially the speakers you're using.As for tubes I go for what evers cheap and easy to get hold of then spend time tuning up the circuit and getting the earths sorted.What I'm saying is you can have the best tubes in the world but it won't make much difference if you got bad speakers and cold solder joints and leaky caps.When I build an amp I like alnico magnets for the speakers, polystyrene caps for the pico range and metal film resistors.Oh,I do like Telefunkens 'cause they got neat pictures on them.

artyone · Post by **artyone** » Tue May 17, 2005 12:22 pm

Tsuken,preamp tubes last for a very long time.Theres usually only biased for a few milliamps which means the cathode coating of free electrons will keep firing them out under heating for a good long time to come.But if you have a bad tube with big tolerances and so wild capacitances between the various grids and you swap it out for something with closer tolerances then you might see some more clarity in you highs but whether or not the differences are that great,and thats unlikely,then differences will be small at best.But if you do wanna go for a sweety from the old days look in radio equipement on trade me and check out elequip from christchurch.That guys got some nice old stuff.Even got a few Amperex bugle boys he couldn't sell if I remember rightly.

Tsuken · Post by **Tsuken** » Tue May 17, 2005 4:38 pm

Cool, cheers for that. So what might I expect when its 'good long time' starts running out?

(I don't know exactly how old it is, so don't have an actual age to guide me).

Red Fred · Post by **Red Fred** » Tue May 17, 2005 5:20 pm

Say 10 years eh? That would make it 1985, Tsuken's prime so to speak!

ant · Post by **ant** » Tue May 17, 2005 6:23 pm

When they start dieing they usually drop in mutual conductance and current, so basically the gain reduces may or may not be that noticeable.

Unless the filament that heats the tube burns up before this happens
FWIW my friends ADA mp1 from the 80's still has what are I believe to be original groove tube chinese preamp valves, and he leaves it on sometimes for days in a row, no standby switch either I dun think.

stark · Post by **stark** » Wed May 18, 2005 9:45 am

All my amps have the power tubes that came with them when i bought them. Sylvanias in the 8fifty, Mullards in the Truvox, dunno what's in the Tremolux, the Vibrolux has chinese Groovetubes

which i will replace when the go - i've read that this will make a big diff to the sound.

cables? a coupla whirlwinds, but i usually use a pair of GeorgeLs as i only ever plug one box between guitar and amp, so 2 is enough.

hey amp techs, does the quality of cable matter for channel and reverb/tremolo switching? does the signal actually go down that cable at all?