Ceriatone Forum

Hello to all !!!!  First Post !!!! ;D

I'm one of the first owners of Nik's EF86 TMB (May 2006)....can't be any happier with any amp ;D

So, EF86 lovers of the world UNITE !!!!!

post some sound clips if you have them.
Congrats!!

I shall do.... ;D

Got one on order...will post thoughts on it after it arrives. Seems like a great amp, excited about it.

I bought one for one of my customers and am tweaking the TMB channel to his needs and building a head and speaker cab.  It should be finished and then it will be gone :( .  It's a nice amp.  I think if it were mine I would search around for a NOS ef86 to try out.

Have a TMB EF86 as well. Purchased from Nik complete with speaker and combo cab about 2 months ago. Loving it very much. My very first all tube amp after 13 years of playing. So far all tubes are stock. Will check out some NOS. Any good suggestions what and where to get for the el84s and preamps ?

Thanks.

What are you using now?  JJ's are good all around but I'm kind of digging Tesla Rosnov EL84s and have a mullard in V1 and a couple old Sylvania's in V2 and V3.  I also have some old Matsushita pre's that sound pretty good.

I think I have EHX 12ax7s and JJ el84s. Thanks. Might check out some of the NOS later.

Get ahold of Terry Kilgore....."Sargeant Overdrive" Great guy with great NOS stuff.  Tell him if he ever wants that "special Love Rock" from Chris in Japan....He better give you a good deal on some glass....lol

LOL...Thanks Chris. Will definitely check him out. He's pretty popular on 18 watt too. Might start with an EF86 replacement.

I tweaked the TMB channel to give me a bit more treble...and found that the better the phase inverter tube (V3) and the better V1, the better the TMB side sounds.  Also, don't skimp on the rectifier!  A good EZ81 will give out a stable and correct current down the line...I have JJs in the power section and the vintage EZ81 makes them sing!

Got my amp last Wednesday...great service, Nik! The amp seems like it really slams the power amp, so, on Steve Jaggers' advice, I'm going to try a 5751 in the phase inverter slot. I was used to and liked the gain of a Marshall 2061X that I had and am getting used to the higher gain of this amp. I want to hear the notes when I solo with a band, instead of over-distorted mush. Steve also reminded me to use my guitar's volume knob. I've been doing that...this amp cleans up great when you back the volume down. One suggestion I'd make for you other EF86 TMB owners is a NOS EF86 tube. I got a Dario Miniwatt EF86 from Mike at KOS New Old Stock Tubes and it's a great tube. A little more gain and a lot more chime than the EH EF86. Should last a lot longer, too. All in all, I really like the amp. Graet tone & value!

Update...put a 5751 tube in the phase inverter slot and really like the results. Now the amp has the "right" amount of breakup for my tastes. Still cleans up when turning down volume on the guitar.

Hey! Good to see you here. I'm glad the 5751 is working out for you. I will second that advice on the EF86. A good quality NOS tube will sound and perform better. You should get years of good service from it.

After playing the amp a while, I thought it still had too much gain. I was getting a lot of fizzy sounds out of my speaker. After talking to an amp tech friend of mine, I tried the following: (not counting EF86) V1:5751  V2:12AT7 V3:12AX7 This combo works well for me. The fizziness and weird ghost notes are gone. I might have the amp modded a little to take some of the gain out, but putting the lower gain tubes in the TMB channel helped a lot.

here is a stupid question. is v1-v2-v3 going left to right or right to left?
which slot is the phase inverter?

EF86 is Vo,, then V1......  Be careful,  the phase inverter is V2 in this layout where it is more commonly V3 in most other designs including the Trinity SIII 18 wattTMB.

Here are the three pics I snapped after unboxing my 36W TMB EF86 almost a year ago. Hard to believe it's been that long. The honeymoon is still not over! In it right now I have the JJ GZ34 rectifier, an NOS Sylvania 6267 in Vo, RI Tung Sol ECC803S in V1, Mullard CV4024 in V2, and JJ power tubes (better than the blackplate Sylvanias I bought for it actually) and it lives in a smallbox head cab I got from Anthony at Reason for $110 shipped. (He's great BTW!) I have a pic of that somewhere... hmmm.

http://www.geocities.com/monthlymixcd/images/36W_TMB_EF86_1.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/monthlymixcd/images/36W_TMB_EF86_2.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/monthlymixcd/images/36W_TMB_EF86_3.jpg

Yes. Those are Carbon Comps for plate resistors, and yes... they do make a difference.

RaWk oN!

Just got my 18W tmb EF86

What a wonnder in tone!


(http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a48/tryzell/Ceriatone/DSC_2918small.jpg)

what's the difference between the 18 watt models? different tubes and tmb controls? think its a silly question, but would appreciate some feedback..  ???

Not a silly question in the least.  I only have experience with Nik's 18 TMB and 18TMBEF86 but have built a number of other 18's based around other transformers.  For a thorough study I would spend a few hours sifting through the 18watt.com old posts.   Each circuit variation has it's own thing going on and all sound glorious. 
But, very simply...
The standard 18 watt has a normal and trem channel.  The 18 TMB has a TMB tone stack in place of the trem channel.  The 18ef86 has the TMB instead of trem and an ef86 with a 6 way tone selector as the "normal" channel. 

Can I come in?

I got a nice package from Ceriatone today :chairdance:

18 watt EF86 TMB. Didn't expect it to get here THAT fast, so I didn't buy the tubes yet. They are coming tomorrow. Already have some NOS mullard EL84's and 12AX7's, and I ordered an RFT EZ81 and EF86.

What tubes do you all have in your 18 watters?

Mullards or old Syl's in V1 and V3, JJ, Tung sol, or EH in V2.  I like the sets of Tesla Rosnov's I got from the sarge for EL84's but JJ's are fine, too.

Hi all,

Just took delivery of my very own 18watt TMB EF86 last week. I've got to say I didn't expect it so quick. Thanks to Nik for being so helpful and PROMPT!!!! Haven't had a chance to try it live yet as I'm having a box and seperate 2x12 built for me. But I have cranked it up and home, and like I was trying to explain to a friend of mine "it sounds like i always wanted/imagined my guitar to sound like". I was a little concerned before purchase with a few comments regarding the clean sound. Now bearing in mind I haven't tried it live yet i was impressed with how clean it gets just backing off the guitar volume. SWEEEEEEEEEEEET.

Cheers

Derek

Hello

if NOS EF86 is too pricey, I also like the Svetlana "EF86".

These are old tubes, made for the Russian military with 6j32p designation.

I am getting em from Russi direct, been stocking on em :)

Thanks!

Nik

Hey

I actually have some NOS phillips PF86 tubes, they are the same as the EF86 tube, but either a higher or lower plate voltage (can't remember)... Nik does these tube work in the 18 watter :)

René