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I finally picked up my Showman head from the tech yesterday and got to try
it out. He worked on it quite a while and was stumped for a long time. He
finally found a short in a capacitor that was the main culprit. The Showman
was loaded up with new JJ tubes and rebiased, power supply filter caps
replaced, several misc caps and resistors replaced, and a new 3 prong power
cord installed.
I was very relieved when I fired it up. It was no longer the weak sounding
old man from 3 weeks ago. I had to crank it to see what it could do and I
may have made some enemies of my neighbors. I was thrilled.
I put my 2x12" Hot Rod DeVille right next to it and I did some A/B tests. I
played both amps through my reissue reverb unit (6-6-6) and my AV Jaguar.
Please keep in mind I have limited experience with guitars and amps in
general (I'm just a basement player), but here is what I noticed.
Here is a quick reminder...its a bit of apple to oranges comparison, but
here you go. The 1966 black face Dual Showman is 85 Watts, with a closed
back cabinet containing 2x15" speakers: one a JBL D130F (with 2 small rips)
and a JBL D140F. The HRDV is a late 90's Fender model, 60 Watt tube amp with
2x12" Fender labeled (but really Eminence?) speakers in an open back combo
amp.
Tone-wise it was actually pretty close! The HRDV however was a bit shriller,
and slightly more harsh sounding on comparable tone settings. But not a lot.
The Showman sounded more rounder and fuller...it seemed to be more
3-dimensional. The bigger speakers?
The tone dials on the Showman had a much more dramatic effect on its tone
than the HRDV. You can really hear the changes when twiddling the knobs on
the Showman. You can dial in more types of tone on the Showman.
Conversely, the HRDV has a "Drive" and a "More Drive" channel which dirty up
the sound. The Showman of course, being a vintage amp does not. These
channels are really nothing to write home about, and the "More Drive"
channel is so obscene I would never use it unless I joined a Death Metal
band. A pedal in front of the Showman would probably work just as well. So
these 2 channels on the HRDV don't really have any weight with me for the
type of music I listen to.
The Showman has a wonderful vibrato (actually tremolo) feature however which
is useful. It has a broad range from really slow to really fast and the
intensity knob allows you to blend it in to the primary signal (although
below 3 its doesn't do much). It beats the pants off of my Voodoo Labs
tremolo pedal. Cool.
As far as pure knock down power and high volume craziness, the Showman wins
that one easily. It really is just like Dano said, it feels like you are
getting your chest cavity kicked in with those 2x15"s. The air is sucked out
of the room. This test was a bit unfair to my HRDV because it currently has
some tube rattle problems. So when I apply moderate volume to my HRDV it
creaks and rattles like a tank going down the street. The Showman retains
the clean, mean tone when loud, but the HRDV gets harsher as well as louder.
But I can't go too loud with the Showman now or the speaker rips start to
come into play.
The Showman is physically very big though, and this is starting to sink in.
I will definitely have to keep a smaller amp around for practicing (my
brothers Blues Deluxe fits this bill nicely as long as he doesn't want it
back!) and buy a cart or dolly if I wanna take it anywhere. Has anyone put
wheels or casters on theirs? Better start working out.
The Showman also puts out a lot of heat! I could heat a small room with it.
Its not hot to the touch, but still. Wow.
I now need to get at least that one JBL repaired, and I may just send them
both into WeberVST for checkout/repair. I also hope to do some A/B tests
where I run the HRDV into the Showman cabinet and vice versa. If I try this
out I'll report back (while I was waiting for the Showman head I was playing
the HRDV into the Showman cabinet and it did sound pretty good).
I'd love to hear any comments on the above treatise or any of your own
experiences with the Showman family.
BN
PS. The guitar store that the tech works in had one of those new Vibroverb
reissues with the Cesar Diaz mods. It was $2000 and some change. The Diaz
mods were all on the back panel and were enabled with 2 toggle switches.
They also had some new Vox amps: the AC-30 reissue and the new Vox amps that
have the digital modelling junk in them. Does every amp manufacturer now
have a digital modelling amp? They must be popular.
Brian,
Congrats, Now you know you'll never go back. unless practicing like
you said. Definetly get those/the speaker repaired. I talked to
Armond Frank Sax Player for Dick Dale, and He used a Showman with
D140's to play his Sax through. But I would say that the D130's
are the better choice for guitar. Just wouldn't want to play bass
through a D130. Actually I did, when I was in a band for a short
time. I don't know if I was in danger of blowing the speakers or
just not used to standing right in front of a cabnite.But they were
woofing(pun intended)pretty hard.
Don't put casters on the Cabnite. Use a hand cart or floor dolly.
Jeff(bigtikidude)
--- In , "Brian Neal" <bneal@z...> wrote:
> I finally picked up my Showman head from the tech yesterday and got
to try
> it out. He worked on it quite a while and was stumped for a long
time. He
> finally found a short in a capacitor that was the main culprit. The
Showman
> was loaded up with new JJ tubes and rebiased, power supply filter
caps
> replaced, several misc caps and resistors replaced, and a new 3
prong power
> cord installed.
>
> I was very relieved when I fired it up. It was no longer the weak
sounding
> old man from 3 weeks ago. I had to crank it to see what it could do
and I
> may have made some enemies of my neighbors. I was thrilled.
>
> I put my 2x12" Hot Rod DeVille right next to it and I did some A/B
tests. I
> played both amps through my reissue reverb unit (6-6-6) and my AV
Jaguar.
> Please keep in mind I have limited experience with guitars and amps
in
> general (I'm just a basement player), but here is what I noticed.
>
> Here is a quick reminder...its a bit of apple to oranges
comparison, but
> here you go. The 1966 black face Dual Showman is 85 Watts, with a
closed
> back cabinet containing 2x15" speakers: one a JBL D130F (with 2
small rips)
> and a JBL D140F. The HRDV is a late 90's Fender model, 60 Watt tube
amp with
> 2x12" Fender labeled (but really Eminence?) speakers in an open
back combo
> amp.
>
> Tone-wise it was actually pretty close! The HRDV however was a bit
shriller,
> and slightly more harsh sounding on comparable tone settings. But
not a lot.
> The Showman sounded more rounder and fuller...it seemed to be more
> 3-dimensional. The bigger speakers?
>
> The tone dials on the Showman had a much more dramatic effect on
its tone
> than the HRDV. You can really hear the changes when twiddling the
knobs on
> the Showman. You can dial in more types of tone on the Showman.
>
> Conversely, the HRDV has a "Drive" and a "More Drive" channel which
dirty up
> the sound. The Showman of course, being a vintage amp does not.
These
> channels are really nothing to write home about, and the "More
Drive"
> channel is so obscene I would never use it unless I joined a Death
Metal
> band. A pedal in front of the Showman would probably work just as
well. So
> these 2 channels on the HRDV don't really have any weight with me
for the
> type of music I listen to.
>
> The Showman has a wonderful vibrato (actually tremolo) feature
however which
> is useful. It has a broad range from really slow to really fast and
the
> intensity knob allows you to blend it in to the primary signal
(although
> below 3 its doesn't do much). It beats the pants off of my Voodoo
Labs
> tremolo pedal. Cool.
>
> As far as pure knock down power and high volume craziness, the
Showman wins
> that one easily. It really is just like Dano said, it feels like
you are
> getting your chest cavity kicked in with those 2x15"s. The air is
sucked out
> of the room. This test was a bit unfair to my HRDV because it
currently has
> some tube rattle problems. So when I apply moderate volume to my
HRDV it
> creaks and rattles like a tank going down the street. The Showman
retains
> the clean, mean tone when loud, but the HRDV gets harsher as well
as louder.
> But I can't go too loud with the Showman now or the speaker rips
start to
> come into play.
>
> The Showman is physically very big though, and this is starting to
sink in.
> I will definitely have to keep a smaller amp around for practicing
(my
> brothers Blues Deluxe fits this bill nicely as long as he doesn't
want it
> back!) and buy a cart or dolly if I wanna take it anywhere. Has
anyone put
> wheels or casters on theirs? Better start working out.
>
> The Showman also puts out a lot of heat! I could heat a small room
with it.
> Its not hot to the touch, but still. Wow.
>
> I now need to get at least that one JBL repaired, and I may just
send them
> both into WeberVST for checkout/repair. I also hope to do some A/B
tests
> where I run the HRDV into the Showman cabinet and vice versa. If I
try this
> out I'll report back (while I was waiting for the Showman head I
was playing
> the HRDV into the Showman cabinet and it did sound pretty good).
>
> I'd love to hear any comments on the above treatise or any of your
own
> experiences with the Showman family.
>
> BN
>
> PS. The guitar store that the tech works in had one of those new
Vibroverb
> reissues with the Cesar Diaz mods. It was $2000 and some change.
The Diaz
> mods were all on the back panel and were enabled with 2 toggle
switches.
> They also had some new Vox amps: the AC-30 reissue and the new Vox
amps that
> have the digital modelling junk in them. Does every amp
manufacturer now
> have a digital modelling amp? They must be popular.
