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Base theme by DesignModo & ported to Powered by Vanilla by Chris Ireland, modified by the "theFB" team.
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Cut the plastic jumper blocks off the wires, solder the wires to the pins as close as possible to the bobbins, and use hot-melt glue to thoroughly cover the joints and support the wires on the bobbin so they can't flex and break the fine coil wires - which is what kills the tanks. It's always the return end which goes because the wires are finer, but I prefer to do both ends just to be sure.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
The irony is that Belton tanks also used to be made properly, but when Belton bought Accutronics they carried on with the Accutronics design and not the better Belton one.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
The TAD reverb may indeed be deeper and lusher sounding than the accutronics but also substantially increases background hum - it's clearly audible on 3.
The ECC803s's really don't like the amp either. In V1 and V2 they make the volumes behave weirdly (minimum still audible, then going through a bizarre phase shift almost like a harmonic trem effect as you turn them up).
In V4 it just increases reverb hum without deepening the effect.
Thankfully it turns out V1,2 and 4 were actually JJ ECC83's that are only a couple of years old and haven't been thrashed.
So I guess I'll get a replacement TAD and hope this one was just duff, and also find out if I can exchange the 803's for summat else... standard set of JJ 83's and 81's maybe.
It sounds like your V1 and V2 have bad crosstalk, that causes the odd phasing thing because the two halves are in series with a phase reversal.
Personally I would just avoid JJ preamp valves! I've never liked them, although their power valves are good. A JJ 12AT7 might be worth having for the reverb driver (V3) since it's not actually in the signal path and it is run quite hard, essentially as an output valve.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
I did also try swapping the 12AT7's round which didn't make any appreciable difference- though they are both fender branded so probably stock 10+ years old. Might a more sensitive tank show up noise problems from a worn out reverb driver?
The one thing I didn't try actually is reversing the RCA connections - I just did red/red, white/white.
I haven't yet tried putting new 12AT7's in - looks like I can get some NOS JAN Phillips ones for only a couple of quid more than new production JJs so might be worth a try.
Would the V1/V2 crosstalk thing be caused by the valves or the circuit?
Make sure you have the right ends connected. The easiest way to be certain is to disconnect the RCA cables at the tank end, then with the amp on and the reverb turned up a bit, touch the tips of the plugs. The one that buzzes is the return and should be connected to the tank output regardless of the colour coding.
It's also possible that the grounding in the new tank is different from the original, even if it's supposedly the same spec. From memory the return is grounded to the casing but the send isn't. If this is reversed, or if both ends are grounded, it may hum.
These are the best 12AT7s ever made, easily worth the difference.
Mostly the valves I think - although on older amps, bad grounding at the cathode connection can do it as well. I'd be surprised if that would apply to a reissue.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
I'll try swapping the RCA connections tonight - presumably if the tank is grounded differently (is there a way to tell?) then it's a non starter?
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Much more controllable at 3-6 on the dial, less metallic overtones and far less susceptible to vibration from the amp. Still quite a surfy, bright reverb obviously, but definitely more pleasant and controllable.