[Harp-L] Old Used Tubes in New Amps

[Wolf Kristiansen <wolfkristiansen@xxxxxxxx>]

I'm going to answer my question, posed on Wednesday, June 24th, since nobody responded on the public board. That's all right.  Music is first, always. Art is more important than the tools used to make the art, be they harmonicas or amplifiers. 

This message is about gear, from an unrepentant blues harp player who, like most blues players, is obsessed with tone and what one's amplifier contributes to that tone.  I know acoustic tone comes first.  I've got it. Moving on to the equipment-- gearheads, read on.  The rest, I will join you at a later time to talk about music.

Here's what I did to my '95 Blues Deluxe today:  I got rid of all the preamp tubes it came with, and substituted some old, used tubes.  I put an old 12AY7 I had lying around in V1 (furthest from the power tubes). No indication of the manufacturer but it's used and decades old.  Next to it a well used Philips 7025, and next to it, closest to the power tubes, a well used GE 7025. The last two came out of my '63 Concert, which had new JJ Tesla power and preamp tubes installed 4 years ago. 

The Concert still sounds good; my favorite harp amp, but too heavy for my old back and too loud for most of the rooms I now play in. It's still used in big rooms or outdoor shows.  Thank god I married my roadie; thanks for hefting my big amp around, honey.  But, I digress; back to the Blues Deluxe--

I'm glad I didn't go with my first instinct, to throw the old Concert tubes out after they were replaced. They've been sitting in a drawer for 4 years. They now have a new career in my Blues Deluxe.   

The sound-- finally, a sound that doesn't make me wince; better yet, it makes me smile.  Other tube configurations, using new tubes, were harsh and strident.  I had tried various combinations of 12AU7, 12AT7, 12AY7 and 12AX7; some were pretty good but none were quite there.  I wanted to like the amp because I told my wife I'd never want another amp if she let me get the Deluxe for Christmas...

The new sound is solid, thick, with a hint of distortion; just the way I like it.  It's not harsh, but it stands out.  I like a slightly cleaner sound than most blues players because it lets me play with more musical detail; i.e. you hear all the notes in the fast passages.  I don't like a buzzy sound, just SOME distortion. I never use the "drive" option, it's too buzzy for me.  

Gone is the unnatural emphasis on certain notes or frequencies that I was fighting in the other tube setups.  The amplification is smooth from lowest to highest notes on the harp, be it a low F harp or a high F#.  I don't know if this has ever been a problem for anyone, but I've often found that, as you're choosing the tone settings for particular rooms, certain amps will make some notes jump out, to the point that it's painful. No tone setting will fix it.  My Blues Deluxe was doing that.  Also, with earlier tube configurations some notes would be de-emphasized, forcing me to play them louder just to keep the sound balanced for the audience.  Those problems are GONE.

I can't, and won't, attribute all of the miraculous change in this amp to the preamp tube substitutions. The amp got closer to being harp friendly from the first change I made-- substituting two 10 inch speakers for the original 12 inch ceramic speaker.  That speaker never sounded quite right.  The new ones, actually old, were taken from a late '60s 4x10 cabinet made by GBX, an obscure, long gone, Canadian guitar amplifier maker. The price was right; they were given to me.  Their former owner tells me they are ceramic Celestions. There's no label on them, so who knows?  They sound good.  They have an aluminum (aluminium for you Brits) dust cap with a small, round piece of black felt glued to the centre of the dust cap. They are ribbed on the outer edges only.

Back to the tubes-- the new (to this amp) tubes are such an obvious improvement I am now a believer in the importance of getting the right tubes for any particular amp, and for any particular instrument.  These ones work for harp.  My guitar player probably wouldn't like them.

I haven't touched the power tubes.  I need to install the bias kit I bought first. Eventually I will experiment there, too.  All in good time.

What have I learned?  Old, used tubes might have life in them yet.  With amp modifications-- you never really know till you try them, bearing in mind that the ultimate sound depends on so many variables-- your brand of harps, your acoustic tone, your microphone, your amp head, your speakers, your band members' amplification, the room you're playing in, and the number of warm bodies in the room, soaking up the sound.  The last three factors haven't been put to the test with my newly configured amp. I can't wait to play it at a gig.

Cheers,

wolf kristiansen


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