I got a bit intrigued by you discussion of tube testers - the new ones are quite expensive (almost the price of a DIY amp  ) and the old ones on ebay are quite expensive too.

It must be possible to build one yourself - either a complete unit or  just a test setup with a sine generator for which you use your standard multimeter to measure output.

Any experience with that ??

Agree with ya'll

Break in period is very important with these amps - and also when/if you change tubes, it takes a little play time to get it broken in.

The Celestion 12G65 are pretty hard to beat with these amps.

I have a few other cabinets with greenbacks, EV, Fane, ToneTubby, but my grab and go cabinet is a 1x12 with a 12G65 that I bought on ebay a couple of years ago. I asume the weber you mention as well as the WSG sound the same as the Cel 12G65.

Looks really good! Maestro!

Point taken.

I honestly think it would be nice if new forumites would take some time and effort and read through the posts in this forum and on the ampgarage. Why ask questions that have been answered a number of times by me or forumites??

This is my opinion I sincerely hope you can respect that.

The plop sound is usually due to a capacitor being unloaded... On many pedal effects (like e.g Dynacomp) you see a 4m7 resistor from input to ground and from output to ground, in order to unload the input/output capacitors.

Make sure you are grounding the input of the OD when using the amp in clean mode.

He could use the search bottom or google.........................

..

It quite easy to convert a #183 to a BM and vise versa, so you can always try both platforms. My guess is you're gonna want one of each :-)

OK, If you want to hear the difference between your current HRM setup and the #183, all you have to do is the following (reference being amde to attached layout:)

Quick and dirty (point 1-3)
1. Unsolder the two wired from the HRM-board
2. Remove the 0.002 cap and replace with a 0.015 (15nF) instead
3. Bridge the 470k + 47p cap witha piece of wire - and set the trimmer to 20k (middle pin-to- ground)

Minor importance:
4: Put in 25p snubbers - but ou wont really hear any difference in sound (you need appx. min. 220p in order to hear any difference)
5: change caps to 22n - reduces the low end a tiny bit in order to compensate for the 15n in the OD.

And off course switch off the LNFB on V1b

If you decide that the #183 is 'better' for your plaing and taste, you might want to change the
6. OD master to a 250k pot and rewire the OD relay
7. the 47p on the master is needed if you use a Dumbleator - in order to compensate for the cables to/from the cumbleator. - If you Dont' use a D-lator, yet, unsoler one of the 47p legs.

Good luck (I wont mention lethal voltages - or you'll bite my head off  - again) - have fun and looking forward to hearing you opinion about the #183 - ups, almost forgot...put in some NOS GE 12X7 JAN if you can get some...if not go with JJ ECC83S in V1 and V2. I get fine results in my Dumble clone amps with the latter.

I have recently build a #183, sourcing the parts myself, and using a set of tranformers from an old 72', EL34 equipped Laney Supergroup, which was a Marshall Plexi knockoff, but with much better transformers from Partridge in England.

The amp is not that different from a standard Non Hrm High plate or even the #102 (=Ceriatone FM). However, Dogears aka Scott Lerner (super forumite at ampgarage) also knows TAG and has played his amp a number of times, claims that the V1 and V2 preamp tubes, GE 12AX7 short plate, were an essential part of the original #183 amps tone. So I'm gonna chase some of those in order to get the TAG sound.

TAG is a humbucker player (like yourself? you mention, that you 'came' from the PRSforum), I mainly play strats therefore, I have found that I need a 100k slope resistor and a 47n mid cap. - like on the TWOROCK OPAL, as discussed on the AMPG forum.

If you want to convert your own HRM to #183, its actually not that hard, you only need to change four caps - or something like that. You could try that and see if the #183 is 'better' than your present amp. If you decide that you need both a HRM and a #183 you can easily convert the HRM amp back to its present setup.

IMO, the OD on the #183 is quite bright so you might want to up the snubber cap on V2B from 25p to appx. 270p +/- 50p.

One tip regarding all the Dumble amps is to use a dumblelator (=C-lator) in order to get a more 3D sounding tone out the amps.

Another finding is that the HRM (+Bluesmaster) amps are more all reound amps, whereas the NON HRM (Standard, #102, #124 and #183) are more soloist amps.

This off course is just my experience - your mileage may very, as they say 'over there' :-)

Hi Soundperf,

Since you already got a HRM amp, you really need a NON-HRM like the #183, as you mention, or a #102 (Ceriatone FM50). The latter nails the Robben Ford tones perfectly.

(BTW, you much nicer at this forum, than on Amgarage, where you and I seem to debate a lot about midcaps and slope resistors  )

Agree with pickmaster about the FANE AXIOM STUDIO 12L. 200 w - Sensitivity: 102 dB - a classic speaker, that has been on the market in 20-30 years. Very similar to the EV12L, but without the icepick frequencies that the EV has.

Another fine speaker for Dumble amps is the old Eminence Kappa pro, which is also quite similar to the EV, but again without the (IMO) annoying frequencies that the EV seem to suffer from if you use it at home at lower volumes. It's way better when you play louder, IMO.

I use a TL806 type bas-reflex cabinet for these above mentioned speaker units.

My preferred speaker  - I must admit, is a Cel 12G65 in an open back cabinet - its portable and loud.

So I guess my 'hall of fame' or canon for Dumble amps would be:

1) Celestion 12G65 (either 1x12 or 2x12 in open back)
2) Fane Studio 12L (In ported TL806 cabinet)
3) Eminence Kappa Pro (In ported TL806 cabinet)
4) EV12L (In ported TL806 cabinet) - for live use (not bedroom practice)

Havent tried other 'open cabinet' speakers, but I'm sure a lot of the new'er Eminence speakers are god choices as well, such as the Emi tonker , tonker lite, swamp thing and cannabis rex.

Have heard a lot of positive things about the warehouse WGS speakers.

I live in Europe - and that's exactly what I did.
Bought the kit without tubes and trannies and bought these in EU to save import duties and freight cost.

The questions you ask are very common for 'new' users of Dumble style amps.

98% of all users have the switches set like this: Bright: Off, Mid Off, Rock/Jazz: Rock
Some people (me included) have put the mid boost functionality on a relay, so it can foot switched - I never use it.

As you know there's a lot of difference between playing at home situation, where you can experiment with all kinds of settings - and really hear every small difference in tone. However, at rehearsal with a band or playing gigs, take my word for it, you have more than enough options with OD and PAB footswitch. Dumble knew what he did - and his amps are designed for studio or live use. These are the situations where this amp shines - not home use.

Have fun with your amp!

BTW, the PAB sound really strange at home, but but but when you play with a band, its a different story...it actually help focus your lead tone and works fine for Blues, Rock and fusion.