I was just wondering at what are the signs your amp needs a re valve?
I bought my cornford roadhouse 50 2x12 combo second hand about 6-7 years ago. It was just used in the house initially but over the last 4 years has been gigged once a month with a weekly rehearsal. I think it sounds nice but in a band situation it seems to lack some punch and disappears into the mix a bit. I set it up pretty bright, gain 11 o'clock, bass 10 o'clock, mids full and treble 3 o'clock. EL34s, vintage 30 speakers. I also have a treble booster on all the time as I like the way it enables me to go from sparkly clean to classic rock overdrive between 8 and 10 on the guitar volume. I also have a really nice buffer on my board - the fuzzdog clone of the Cornish buffer.
On it's own it sounds lovely, with a nice sparkle. But just disappears in the mix as bit and lacks some punch. It's naturally a very dark amp, particularly as the cabinet is bigger than most other 2x12s I have come across.
I think it might just be the natural sound of the amp but would a re valve help? Any other ideas? I love the punch of old Marshall Plexi style amps, maybe trying to get that out of the Cornford is foolish and I should sell up and just get a Plexi style amp!
The other guiatrist has a suhr bager 35, through a 1x12 V30 combo, sets all eq to noon and sounds full, present and punches out of the mix beautifully!
I never really get the master up above 2-3 in the band. Could it be I'm just not cranking it enough to get that punch?
Comments
Try turning it up!
It's all relative, if the amp all sounds well tonally outside of the band-mix, don't forgot it's kinda the job of 1x12's (well, quality 1x12's) to be more focussed and to punch out of the mix - 2x12's sometimes won't subjectively feel as punchy by comparison (especially if there's only a 20w power difference between the two). Could be inherent amp differences right enough, but I get the same experience in similiar situations, so maybe sommat to consider?
If you’re trying to brighten a dark amp and improve presence and cut in a mix, avoid JJ and Sovtek preamp valves - they’re both dark and slightly muddy-sounding. JJ power valves are fine though. EH, Tung-Sol, and any Chinese-made preamp valves are brighter sounding. Both Karltone and TAD sell a good range of them.
"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
They have an entirely different internal construction:
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... and they do also sound very different.
"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