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There's a lot that can go wrong with tubes, especially the cheap
Chinese stuff. I wonder if you're hearing a tube start to go
microphonic and ring at a high frequency when excited by vibration or
even just by the signal itself. I've experienced this in several
pieces of tube equipment including my 1996 reissue reverb.
Everything cleared up when I replaced the factory tubes with new-old-
stock RCA tubes (12AT7 and 7025/12AX7A from the 1970's, and a JAN
6V6 "RCA Victor" from the early 50's). That setup has lasted for
hundreds of rehearsals and gigs without any problems at all, and I
haven't done any other modifications.
Try tapping lightly on the tubes, and if you hear a ringing sound
through the amp, that tube could be the culprit.
Tone setting at 7 sounds kinda high, too--- I usually run about 4.5;
anything much above 5 starts to get pretty bright (plus, it would
also emphasize any ringing coming off a bad tube).
There's my 2 cents,
Rob
Detonators
--- In , "red_thundr" <red_thundr@y...>
wrote:
>
> Hey y'all...
>
> I have a question about surf tone. I'm pretty disappointed in
my '63
> Reissue reverb tank. I'm wondering if I've got my rig set up right
in
> order to make this thing really work for me. There's plenty of
> reverb, but there is also this accompanying high-pitched harmonic
> ring/whistle that I sure don't like. I get this even at low
volumes.
> My typical knob settings are Dwell/Mix/Tone all set around 7.
> Rolling the tone back on the tank helps to kill the harmonic ring,
but
> it also kills the 'spank'/'spit'. My main surf guitar is a '97
> American Fender Strat, with the standard single-coils. Rolling the
> tone back on the Strat cuts the high twang and still doesn't help
much
> with reducing that annoying ring.
>
> I think I could love this tank, if the high-pitched feed-backy ring
> was somehow suppressed. It doesn't sound like feedback as much as
it
> sounds like... the reverb springs have caught some harmonic and
that's
> pushing through. Is this a typical attribute of the reissue? Are
> there certain tubes that are susceptible to bringing out ugly
> harmonics, and can I get some recommendations on good swap-outs? To
> my knowledge (I bought the tank used, in excellent condition), it
does
> not have the re-cap mod. Are there recommendations on tubes to use
> with this thing also?
>
> What are other people running before the tank to thicken things up?
> I'm going straight to the tank, then to my Fender amp, no
shenanigans
> in-between, but I have a variety of overdrives, preamps,
compressors,
> and fuzzes that I could stick in there if necessary to shape things
a
> little.
>
> The tone I'm really looking to capture is the thickly reverbed sound
> that the VaraTones get. Suggestions are welcome... plus, I'd love
to
> know what FX chains and setups everyone else is using...
>
> Much thanks...
