I Accidentally Bought An Amp

So there I was.  It was a Saturday.  A nice Saturday.  The kind of Saturday where a person would decide to drive around and visit pawn shops.  I was visiting the last pawn shop of the day, Tampa Gun and Pawn.  It's kind of funny that it's called that since they don't sell guns anymore.

Parking was tight.  I couldn't pull in from the direction I wanted.  So I turned down a street and turned around.  I pulled in from the side street so I could pull forward and back in.  I did just that and parked.

When I walked in I recognized the owner of the pawn shop.  I said, "Hi," and he said, "You hit my sign."  I looked at him like he had four heads.  My first thought was, "Your sign is on the top of the building.  How did I hit that?"  So I looked outside and saw that he had placed brand new, "Tampa Gun and Pawn Parking Only" signs up in front of the individual parking spaces.  Since I backed in I looked at my side mirrors, but not my rear view mirror.

I looked at the sign and yelled, "Shit!"  I yelled it really loud too.  I had bent the sign, but I didn't break it.  The owner said, "Don't worry.  You're only the second guy to hit it today.  In fact, someone has hit it every day.  Don't worry about it."

I spent a minute calming myself down.  He calmly asked me "If I was looking for anything in particular?"  I said,  "I was just there looking at anything and everything."  He said to, "Look around and let me know if you have any questions."  So I looked around.

I was wandering around when I saw a guitar amplifier that I had never seen before.  When I looked at it I just saw this big logo that said MEGA.

As I looked closer I saw that it was a Mega Amp by a company called Megatone.  I pulled out my phone, and began searching the internet for any information I could find on it.  The only thing I could find is that it was a T60R model, and it was made by a company called Fame.

I had worked in an independent musical instrument store where we had two Fame branded Strat copies come through.  Those were made in the 1980's.  One customer we had from South America said that Fame instruments were sold down there.  I thought that made sense do to them copying famous models for markets that Fender didn't sell in.

What few reviews I found were from European owners.  One reviewer said that he paid 107 Euros for his amp back in 2007.  What reviews I could find were extremely positive.  They also cleared up some confusion.  If you notice the amp says, "Solo Tube Series" on it.  I thought, "Is it a tube amp?"  Well kind of.  It has one 12AX7 preamp tube in it.  So "one" meaning "solo" tube.

So I asked the owner of the pawn shop about it.  Specifically "What would be the price on something like that?"  He said he, "Never priced it because he couldn't find any information on it."  I told him about the one reviewer paying $107 Euros for it in 2007.  He said he, "Didn't know the exchange rate of the Euro."

He then proceeded to say, "Do you want to make me an offer I can't resist?"  I said, "I don't know.  I can be pretty cheap.  Also, I would need one of my guitars to check it out."  He then said something I didn't expect.  He said, "How about $50?  You can take it home, and if it doesn't work you can bring it back, and I'll give you your money back."

I thought about it.  Well, I didn't exactly want to pay for the sign.  So I thought, "Well, if I buy the amp he won't bug me about paying for the sign."  So I bought the amp.  But first I had to get it down.  His place was packed with things so I had to stand sideways on four ladders.  I then had to move a speaker off of it, get the amp down, and move the speaker back into the amp's place.

I found a tag on the amp that said 5-6-11.  I asked him "If it had been there since 2011?"  He said, "He was pretty sure it hadn't been sitting there that long.  Nothing in the shop had."

So I finally managed to get the amp down.  I paid $54 with tax for the amp.  I put it in my truck and brought it home.  I prayed that it worked since I didn't want to return the amp.  So I plugged it in, and was shocked.  Channel one sounded like a Fender Bassman.  And not just that, but it sounded like a dang good Fender Bassman.

Channel Two had a flat EQ, but if you turned down the treble and bass, then maxed out the mids, it sounded a lot like a 70's Marshall 2203.  (That's before they named it the JCM 800.)  What made both channels neat is that they have pre-amp controls.  They weren't just turn up the volume until your ears bleed, and then, and only then, you get great tone.  The pre-amp controls let me achieve some great tone at a lower volume.

What was neat was that if you set Channel Two at a flat EQ, you could get a great blues tone.  But you could also turn the gain up and really rock out.  I have to say it was a surprisingly great amp, especially for $50.  The EQ was extremely versatile.

So I had to open her up.  One problem I noticed was that even though it was only a supposed 60 watts, it was not as loud as it should be.  I thought maybe the tube was old, and burnt out.  So that was the first thing I checked.

As you can see it's an Electro-Harmonix 12AX7 tube.  When I inspected it, it was perfect.  There were no burn marks or damage.  I thought I was going to find a cheap Chinese tube in it.  I was going to replace that Chinese tube with... an Electro Harmonix tube.  So I put it back in.

The speaker was a generic speaker, but I have to say I thought it sounded great.  I wouldn't dare replace it unless it was broken.  A funny thing however, was that it was a 4 ohm speaker.  Usually single speakers are 8 ohms.  I'm guessing they wanted a 4 ohm speaker to push more power.

I sprayed the insides of the amp with electronics cleaner.  Since it had been sitting a while I thought it was the right thing to do.  I noticed the channel switching was a little sticky.  That cleared up once I sprayed down the insides.

I'm still not sure why the amp isn't as loud as I thought it should be.  I figure a few of the caps and other parts are burnt out or not working like they should.  I've found that usually when you fixed parts, the amp ends up sounding too clean, and loses the tone you love.  So I won't get this amp repaired until it finally dies on me.

I honestly can't wait to play it some more.  I didn't go to the pawn shop looking for another amp, but I'm glad I found this one.  I've spent more money buying a single guitar pickup.  The same with guitar pedals.  So I have to say this is one of my better buys.  Still, I don't plan on backing into any more signs, even if it lead me to a great deal.

Editor's Edit:  I found the webpage for this amplifier:

https://www.megaamps.com/t30r

Here's some more photos of the amp since there don't seem to be many on the net.

The Voodoo That You Do: Part 2

Two and a half years ago I wrote a blog post called, "The Voodoo That You Do."  It was about my Crate Blue Voodoo amplifier, and the changes I made to it.  It would help to read it first to understand this post a little better.

The Voodoo That You Do

In my previous post I made a few changes to the Blue Voodoo amplifier to help the gain stage.  Namely, so I could find a sweet spot between clean and angry bees.  Changing the preamp tubes did help that, but there were still other problems.

The Blue Voodoo is notorious for having an over the top treble with weak mids and bass.  I was searching online, and it seems there are mods you can do (or rather a professional) to help balance the amplifier.

I took these mods to the best amplifier technician in town, Pro Audio Electronics of Tampa (run by Mike Jay) along with my Crate Blue Voodoo BV120.  He looked them over, and said they were pretty neat, but reminded me that an amp will only be as good as whoever thought up the mods.  In other words, he could perform the mods, but he couldn't guarantee what they would sound like.

Here they are copy and pasted from the website I found.

Okay- for this thread we are talking specifically about the BV120H. Either version. 

There are slight differences between the preamps but they are slight. The potentiometers are constructed differently as well, the blue tolex are plastic shaft and low turning resistance. The black tolex ones are metal shaft and higher turning resistance. These shafts also have a tendency to pull out during removal of the knobs. Never install the knobs until EVERYTHING else is completed.

The tone stack will be simplified and reshaped. Parts will be replaced with different values components or removed altogether. Nothing more fancy than that. Also keep in mind the modifications are not set in stone- you can pick and chose which ones to do.

clip C8
clip C17 - it robs some of the high mids
clip R101 (the 47k in parallel with the mid pot and R26) - more range of mids
change C14 to 390pF - more high mids
change R28 to 1k - bigger range of bass, you can have less bass or more bass.
change C16 to .047uF - if you need more low mids
Change R24, to 100k more resistance will give you more highs and apparent tightness in the bass.
lower R25 if you think you need more highs. most tone stacks don't have R25, replaced with jumper.

Change treble to 250kA and mids to probably 100kA or 250kA.

After talking to Mike there were a few things mods I didn't have done.  First, since there were already enough highs, there was no need to change R24.  The same with R25.  There was no need to change or mod it since it already had enough highs.  

Also, it didn't need the pots changed.  Both treble pots were already 250KL.  So changing them to 250KA would only end up changing the taper.  Nothing else.

So the mods were performed, and now comes the question, "How does it sound?"  Well, it still has a bunch of treble.  The mids and bass were both brought up a lot more.  I still could have used more.  But I will say it has a much more balanced tone.  I will agree that it has a wider range of mids and bass.

The next question I'm sure is, "Enough with the talk!  I wanna see some video action!"  Well, I would too.  However, I can't seem to cut the video down enough that I can download it on here.  Honestly what Blogger wants me to do is download the video to YouTube, and then connect it over here.  

"So why don't you do that?"  Well, I don't want to put up with YouTube trolls.  On here I can control comments with greater control.  It's just become more trouble than I want to deal with for putting up a video.    

The final decision comes to this.  I wanted an edgier/ higher gain Fender American rock sound that would crunch at lower volumes.  The Blue Voodoo does this with all these mods.  But the question comes up, "How much did you (me) spend to achieve this sound?"  

I think I only bought the amp for $200 or less.  I may have paid $150 for it.

The power tubes came out of another amp that shouldn't have had 6L6 tubes in it.  So that was a good deal.  Especially considering they are Mesa Boogie tubes.

The preamp tubes were a bit pricey since I went with the not so standard, 12AY7 tubes.  I bought two of them for $17 a piece (including shipping.)  

I was also hit with a repair bill for the Blue Voodoo.  The heater supply wasn't working and there were a few intermittent connections.  So that added to the bill.

And finally, there was the cost of the mods.  

So if you add all that up it was north of $500.  Looking at the cost I might have been better off buying an "Evil" Twin Reverb.

You can find either the 1980's or 1990's version at around $500.  Now, I could have run into the same problem that if I bought an older Fender, it might need repairs just due to it's age.  There's always a chance it would need a complete re-tube, re-cap, and biasing.  

So, pricewise it's always a complete crapshoot when dealing with older equipment.  I always wanted a Crate Blue Voodoo and now I have one I really like.  I'm also happy to put the mods out there as they have worked for me and a host of other players.  Just remember, no matter what you play have fun with it.  

The Voodoo That You Do

Last year I wrote about putting wheels on one of my speaker cabinets.  It's the cabinet that I pair with my Crate Blue Voodoo.  Here's the link to it:

http://angjellockheart.blogspot.com/2015/02/the-wheels-on-cab-go-round-and-round.html

The Crate Blue Voodoo was the first 6L6 amp that I really liked.  I can hear the cork sniffing musicians yelling, "Then you must not have very good taste!"  I liked the Blue Voodoo for a different reason than a lot of players.  It was meant to be a metal amp, and was endorsed by punk and metal artists so that's what most people think of when they mentioned. 

I was looking for a Fender sound with bite.  Fender amps have that classic American rock sound, and I wanted that with an edge.  The Blue Voodoo can do that wonderfully, but only if you do a few things.  The first edition of the Blue Voodoo cabinet came with Celestion Vintage 30 speakers.  I'm not a fan of those speakers, but they were a great match for the Blue Voodoo.  The Blue Voodoo has a strong treble end, but lacks in mids and bass.  The Vintage 30 speakers have really fat mids so it filled out the sound. 

The big thing I keep reading on guitar forums is players asking if it sounds like a Marshall.  I wish I could yell at them, "NO!"  A majority of Marshalls use EL-34 tubes which are different than the 6L6 tubes.  Marshalls are known for the "British" sound, and 6L6 based tube amps (Fender) are known for the American rock sound. 

One of the biggest factors in adjusting the sound of a Blue Voodoo is pairing it with the right speakers.  Like I said, it has a lot of highs, but lacks mids and bass.  So I decided to pair it with an American sounding (Fender type) speaker instead of a Celestion (British) sounding speaker.  The American sounding speakers are smoother, balanced, not as bright, and have a medium breakup.  They would help me achieve my goal of having a "hot-rodded Fender" sound.

I found where Carvin was having a blow out sale on their "Vintage" speakers.  Their "Vintage" speakers were basically their version of Eminence "American" voiced speakers.  So it was exactly what I wanted.  I ordered four of them, and installed them in an old Laney cabinet.  I played a few different heads through the cabinet, and it sounded great immediately.  The Blue Voodoo paired awesomely with these speakers.  A lot of speakers need time to be broken in, but these were great right out of the box. 

But my sound wasn't perfect.  I had problems dialing in my sound.  Either the amp was too clean, and then it went straight into angry bee sound without any breakup in-between.  And that in-between is my sound.  I want it to sound like a "hot rodded" Fender.  I don't want to go into heavy metal territory.  If you ever heard Lynyrd Skynyrd live, that's the kind of sound I was going for. 

I was watching a YouTube video on things you could do to make your Fender amp sound better, and they talked about something I hadn't really heard before.  Pretty much all amps use 12AX7 pre-amp tubes.  They are the crunchiest pre-amp tubes available.  However, that doesn't mean they are musical. 

I was reading about other pre-amp tubes that could be used.  Namely, the 12AY7 had a lot less gain, and would allow a player to have a wider selection of gain.  It would also keep the amp from being too loud at lower settings.  Most players know what I mean.  On "1" the amp can barely be heard.  On "2" it's blowing out the windows.  The 12AY7 would still allow you to be loud.  You would just have to turn your amp volume up to "5" instead of "2." 

Most musicians know that feeling when the volume difference between "3" and "10" is nil.  It's annoying and doesn't help you at all.  By replacing the 12AX7s with 12AY7s you can have more useable gain and volume.  However, that's not the only benefit of the 12AY7.

The 12AY7 is also a more "musical" tube.  It has more warmth, and it's not as harsh as the 12AX7.  It's also has a "fatter" tone, something that my amp needs.  Again, since the Blue Voodoo has a lot of treble, but lacks in mids and bass, the 12AY7 is perfect.  It dials back the treble, and boosts the mids and bass.  In other words, it's balancing the amp out while helping to take out the fizziness and sterile sound that a lot of players complain about. 

So I decided to replace the tubes.  I won't go into the technical part of it, but the first pre-amp tube is the most important.  The gain comes from it while the other tubes "mirror" it.  However, the Blue Voodoo has four pre-amp tubes instead of three like most amps.  So I decided to replace the first two pre-amp tubes with 12AY7s. 

Luckily, the Blue Voodoo is easy to work on.  Just remove four screws, and the back comes off.

In go the pre-amp tubes.

Now I plug in and test her out.

I have to say, it took a bit to dial in "my tone."  On channel 2 (the gain channel,) I had to max out the bass since it was so weak.  I'm not a guy who usually uses much bass, but just to balance it I had to max it out.  I also had to boost the mids.  Luckily, I didn't have to boost them as much as I had before.  I dialed the treble back to four, and that seemed to be the right spot for it.  I put the presence knob right in the middle at 12 o'clock.  I could still get harmonics, but not be too bright.  Adjusting the EQ like that lead to a pretty balanced sound.

Next I adjusted the volume.  I could actually put it on "3" without it taking my head off due to the decibel level.  I played with the gain, and found I could get all sorts of rock n' roll sounds.  It just depended upon how crunchy I wanted it.  I have to say, I got it right where I wanted it.  I ended up playing it so much I drove everyone from the room. 

I then tested out channel 1 (the clean channel.)  The new tubes made a huge difference on the clean channel.  When you read reviews about how the Blue Voodoo is a "sterile sounding" amp, the clean channel is where you can really notice it.  However, the 12AY7's livened up the sound as well as helping with the warmth.  I think channel one was actually helped more than channel 2 by the tube change.

I'll admit, I am considering changing the other two pre-amp tubes to 12AY7s.  I don't know if it would change the sound much, but I'll admit I am a bit curious.  But I have to look at the big picture.  I am happy that I have been able to adjust the overall sound of the Blue Voodoo to "my sound."  Although I have to admit, I don't really know of any places you can really play a 100 watt head through a 4X12 cabinet anymore.  It's all coffee shops and small clubs.  Even if I can't play out with it, I can still have fun with it around the house.