I did the corners, should have been done in the first place. Just watch the radius of the corner to the cab.
The original fender and the ones I bought have recessed screw holes, you will need to countersink the holes for these.
A little persuasion with a rubber mallet is also needed.

I'm going to do the front cover too. Doesn't look to hard.

Nick

that quote was from "ceriatone Nik" when I was inquiring about the overtones.
Nick

from Nik
"We do not use the normal 1/2 power switch holes with the LED. The 1/2 power that we do is the pentode/triode mode."

I'll expand a little.
I have a collection of 10" speakers that I went through when finding speakers for my vibrolux. So I intended to use a set of these.
 
I based my 1x12 cab on the  HAD/stringdriver cab and http://www.hermidaaudio.com/products.html with the Idea that the 1x12 and the 2x10 are the same size.

I have a 1x12 baffle, a 2X10 baffle, a 1x12 ported baffle. Closed back and open backs. I had a large sheet of ply so I thought I'd experiment..

Speakers I've tried so far are:
Old Eminence Alnico (music man) 2x10"s
Jensen 2xC10q
Jensen 2xP10r
2 x old 50watt 10" celestions
single 12"  Jensen Blackbird
single 12" old Eminence Alnico (music man).


Out of these both 12"s sounded better with the OTS . The 10"s sounded better with the vibrolux.   But that is subjective   The bottom end didn't seem quite right with the 10" and  tops were a little harsher.
I also tried the OTS into the 2x10 Vibrolux cab.
All this surprised me a little. as I thought I could get one of these sets of 10's to sond right.

I'm still interested in the Celestion 65, and on another note an altec (817C?) that went on ebay here for $165..

I settled on the Jensen Jet with a 1x12 open back cab. It weighs 11kg with speaker.
I must note that I wanted to run just one cab and it to be light and small.

Jimmyd
How is your amp coming along?

Nick

Yep.
I have a 2x10 64 vibrolux and I like 10's. My initial intent was to use 2x10's for the OTS but it just didn't sound as good as 1x12....
Give it a go, but I think the amp is voiced for 12's.
Nick

The rake I used had el34s, don't know if that made a difference, I'm not sure what the speaker was. It was a nice amp but this particular amp didn't have the ots sparkle......Tubes and Speakers maybe? But would your assessment be they are of a similar family.



BIAS...being extra careful.

Turn the amp OFF. Both standby and Power.
Make sure you have a speaker plugged in.

Connect your multimeter to the red and black sockets. You are measuring one tube at a time. So you will need to check both sides.

(If need get some banana plugs leads, that fit the bias points and plug into you multimeter)

Set the multimeter to millivolts.

Turn the amp to On. Look at the multimeter it should read near nothing. Let the amp warm up.

Turn the standby to play. You should see a reading on the multimeter. That is your bias on that tube you are aiming for around 35 millivolts. (This is not set in stone and each tube will read differently)

Turn the amp off. If you want to be Extra,extra careful. Unplug the amp and then turn it on and to play unplugged. Swap the multimeter red lead to the other tube.

Now...

Do the same for the other tube. (note the difference)


In between both power tubes is a pot. This is your bias adjustment.
turning it one way will increase the bias other way decrease.

You can repeat the steps above so you get an average between both tubes.

eg. one tube 40 millivolts one tube 30 millivolts volts. you should not see a difference this big but you may.

if you turn the bias to high you may make the tube glow read, to low the amp will sound weak. 35 millivolts is a ball park.

Let me know if you need more than this.
And other please feel free to correct me.
Nick

Any idea was the changes in the transformers are between the models?
I assume the power is the same but the output is different.
Nick

To expand the idea more.
I think there is only so much you can expect from a passive tone stack.
When you engage the PAB you are hearing your signal flat out. Most amps don't do this. unless you run all you tones on 10.  Everything is subtracted from your signal.
You will find in the Jazz mode with all the  switches off thats where you get most from the controls. Bypass certain frequencies with the switches and there is nowhere to go. the control  is already flat out....thats why HAD would tailor the amps for the users.

hope that makes some sense.
Nick

They are very interactive.  You'll find that in a live or recording situation they work well to move your tone into the sweet spot.

For Bias, A cheap digital multimeter will do the job.
The little Black and Red sockets next to the power tubes are what you use, have a look. Measure the millivolts across them. You are only checking a small voltage going to ground across a resistor.  It's very simple and allot safer than opening up the amp and poking around.


As for speakers the blackbird was at a very good price, same as what used EVM12L go for here.

I have used this amp on only 4 or 5 gigs so far, and I'm still getting use to it.  It's sounding great and very versatile. But I'm finding the overdrive a little too grainy.A matter of finding the right V2 tube and setting the trimmer.

On a side note. I used a Riviera Rake the other day on some shows (this was not just a walk on) the amp was on lone to me while I was interstate and although similar, OTS was far more to my liking.
So bearing in mind the cost of a OTS and a maybe a little tinkering involved you can have it all and eat cake.
Nick

Another vote for the "winged c" 6l6 I have been using the old Svetlana 's for years, they are a good balance on reliability and sound.

I'm not sorted on the preamps, sovtek LPS have sounded good in my vox and fenders, I'm not sure if it sounds good in the V2 and old EI did. I think the V2 needs a lower gain tube.

As far as I know the OTS can run EL34's just need to Re-bias.
You can do this without taking the amp apart and a simple multimeter.

Speakers what about something more US, sounding like a jensen or eminence.
I have a Jensen Blackbird, it works well.
Nick

Don't the snubber caps on V2 only effect the dirty channel? this will not change your cleans.

Speakers would be a good starting point. Try it through  a couple of different cabs. If possible take your head down to a shop?
 A Jensen or (Eminence style one) might be a better starting point...If you are chasing smoother cleans. I'm personally not a big fan of the 25w celestions for fender/vox chime. They don't sound very good in the open back cabs like Vox or Marshall Blues breaker. But in a 50watt Marshall and Quad they are a different story.

I have noticed that different valves play a role too.
Sovtek LPS are quite bright and have allot of gain (they do sound good though), an EH 12ax7 is a bit softer sounding and the standard Sovtek is quite flat(if you want to tame the amp). I don't think you need to go NOS to pull a good sound. There are plenty of options round and at $15 or less a pop it's as cheap as changing strings.

I noticed a fair bit of difference between a old EI and the LPS in the V2 (dirty channel) too.

Power valves ..."Winged C" work the best for me, also check your Bias that effects the tone too. Remember you can also run EL34 too.

Nick

further investigation

It looks like my options are.

Build a tube *umblator

Buy a prebuilt one $$$$$

Niks Klein unit

Ironsounds loop.

any onions/experience  on the ironsound loop? or Klein vs a tube unit.
before I plop the money down for a Klein

Nick

Looks like i need a buffered  loop.
The chandler unit is a very good delay, comparable to an echoplex the delays are that smooth. The digitech units they are not up to the job for me.  The other things I need to run are a tremolo unit in the loop. The rest can go into the front end.
Thanks Nick

seems allot of circuitry to get the fx loop working.  I was wondering if there was a quick hack.