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So, I just took my first step in the reissue world. A friend of mine
was unloading a reissue reverb unit and I decided to take it off
his hands. Took it home, plugged it in and it sounded pretty darn
good.
I know everyone talks about doing the mod to them, and I had a
few 6K6's around so I popped one in (an old RCA). Still sounded
pretty darned good, but I couldn't tell what I really gained. The
next step would be the cap change.
My question is, what is the benefit of the cap change? What
difference would I expect?
Rick
Halibuts/Deoras
Rick,
The cap change is more noticeable. I followed Dick Messick's idea
and used a 500pF cap which it took some of the harshness off the
treble. I A/B 'ed this with the cap that came with the reissue on a
DPDT switch and you can notice the difference. It wasn't mind-blowing
but overall the sound became a bit softer with these mods (tube and
cap). JWL
--- In , "halibutrick"
<halibutrick@y...> wrote:
> So, I just took my first step in the reissue world. A friend of
mine
> was unloading a reissue reverb unit and I decided to take it off
> his hands. Took it home, plugged it in and it sounded pretty darn
> good.
>
> I know everyone talks about doing the mod to them, and I had a
> few 6K6's around so I popped one in (an old RCA). Still sounded
> pretty darned good, but I couldn't tell what I really gained. The
> next step would be the cap change.
>
> My question is, what is the benefit of the cap change? What
> difference would I expect?
>
> Rick
> Halibuts/Deoras
Rick,
The 6K6 and cap change don't make much difference unless you've got the
settings up high. That's when the reissues go into "ice pick" mode, and
have an unpleasant harshness. The lower gain tube (you can also swap a
12AT7 for the 12AX7) and the cap take a bit of the edge off. It's a subtle
change, but anyone in direct line of fire of the speakers will be happier.
If you're not playing in the ice pick zone, you may not notice much of a
difference.
Mel
-----Original Message-----
From: halibutrick [mailto:]
Sent: Monday, June 30, 2003 6:11 PM
To:
Subject: [SurfGuitar101] reissue reverb
So, I just took my first step in the reissue world. A friend of mine
was unloading a reissue reverb unit and I decided to take it off
his hands. Took it home, plugged it in and it sounded pretty darn
good.
I know everyone talks about doing the mod to them, and I had a
few 6K6's around so I popped one in (an old RCA). Still sounded
pretty darned good, but I couldn't tell what I really gained. The
next step would be the cap change.
My question is, what is the benefit of the cap change? What
difference would I expect?
Rick
Halibuts/Deoras
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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Mel hit the issues (or re-issues? - sorry, bad pun . . . ) nicely.
I tend to run with at least a 6-6-6 setting or higher, so I'm
generally in the "ice pick zone". The 6K6 and the cap mod really do
their magic in that area. I also swap a 12AT7 for the 12AX7, as Mel
suggests - that takes the edge off as well.
My understanding is that the higher cap value lets more reverb
signal through, especially in the lower frequency range. The first
attribution I've seen for this cap mod is a Guitar Player article
written by Terry Buddingh several years ago. I think he suggests a
390pF silver mica, but on my site I used a 500pF mainly because
that's what I had lying around.
BTW, thanks to corporate merger activity (Comcast snatches up AT&T
Internet), my cap mod site now has a new address: (you can still use the link on
the SurfGuitar 101 page to get there, too). Same show, just a
different channel - good luck!
-Dick
--- In , "Mel Waldorf" <mwaldorf@p...>
wrote:
> Rick,
> The 6K6 and cap change don't make much difference unless you've
got the
> settings up high. That's when the reissues go into "ice pick"
mode, and
> have an unpleasant harshness. The lower gain tube (you can also
swap a
> 12AT7 for the 12AX7) and the cap take a bit of the edge off. It's
a subtle
> change, but anyone in direct line of fire of the speakers will be
happier.
> If you're not playing in the ice pick zone, you may not notice
much of a
> difference.
> Mel
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: halibutrick [mailto:halibutrick@y...]
> Sent: Monday, June 30, 2003 6:11 PM
> To:
> Subject: [SurfGuitar101] reissue reverb
>
>
> So, I just took my first step in the reissue world. A friend of
mine
> was unloading a reissue reverb unit and I decided to take it off
> his hands. Took it home, plugged it in and it sounded pretty darn
> good.
>
> I know everyone talks about doing the mod to them, and I had a
> few 6K6's around so I popped one in (an old RCA). Still sounded
> pretty darned good, but I couldn't tell what I really gained.
The
> next step would be the cap change.
>
> My question is, what is the benefit of the cap change? What
> difference would I expect?
>
> Rick
> Halibuts/Deoras
>
>
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