Re: [Harp-L] My New Amp!

["Bob Maglinte" <bbqbob917@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "samblancato" <samblancato@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Harp-L" <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, October 07, 2004 5:44 PM
Subject: [Harp-L] My New Amp!


> Here's my issue with the Holland.  While it is indeed a lot louder than 
> the
> Fender and with way less feed-back, it really has a much cleaner tone. One
> of the things I like so much about the Fender is that the added dirt came
> with just a littlest bit of sustain and this little bit of sustain tends 
> to
> smooth out the edges on my playing. I don't want all you guys to think I'm 
> a
> crappy player or what ever; I'm a respectable player. But one thing about
> the Holland that I'm finding hard to get used to is this: When I start a
> note or phrase and then finish a note or phrase both the start and finish
> are rather abrupt.  I don't know what you call this quality but I don't 
> like
> it.  I understand that this has to do with the fact that more power is
> getting to the speakers and I also understand that I'm going to have to
> tighten up my timing a bit. A buddy of mine who is local has a Holland 
> 4x10
> and I've played it a lot with the same problem. I still like the amp a lot
> though.
>
> What I want to do is to explore the tonal range of the Holland via the 
> tubes
> and see if I can't get a more dirty voice like I like. I have 12AT7s and
> 12AY7s I can swap around with on the preamp side but this amp also has a
> tube rectifier and I know that I can swap Rectifier tubes without 
> rebiasing
> the amp.  I don't really know anything about tube rectifiers or the kind 
> of
> tubes that I can use. The guy who sold me the amp said changing with
> rectifier can have a profound impact on the sound of the amp but I don't
> know much about this end of the amp other than that tube rectifiers have
> something called "sag".  I sort of know what this is but not how to
> manipulate it. But I do have an idea that this sag is what is causing the
> abruptness I described above.  Then there are the two power tubes.  These
> are both Sovtek 5881 tubes.  I don't know what this means - I'm used to 
> 6L6
> and 6V6 tubes.  I do know that you can get different power tubes that have
> the same power ratings but sound different- kind of like the Groove tubes
> with the red, blue and black color ratings.

Hi Sam,
Swapping rectifier tubes without rebiasing doesn't make sense because it's a 
necessity to get optimum performance, and the only tubes that DON'T need to 
be rebiased are the preamp tubes, which are self biasing. Which rectifier 
tube is in the amp?? Also, how are your tone controls set? The Holland amps, 
like the Victoria Bassmans (tho a bit different) are based on the '59 
Bassman setup, and that setup usually uses a 5AR4/GZ34 rectifier tube. You 
may also want to totally roll off the treble to get more bite to the sound 
and mess with the bass, middle and presence settings. Back in the late 50's, 
5881's were considered a higher grade version of 6L6's, having more mids 
than 6L6's. I personally don't care for the Sovtek 5881's and a better 
choice would be either NOS Tung Sol or NOS Phillips 5881's, NOS GE 6L6GC's, 
or for newer production tubes SED 6L6's or JJ's of the same type. I'm not 
sure about this, but I think that much like the Victoria Bassmans, and the 
new Fender '59 Bassman LTD reissues, they have a bias adjustment pot and the 
bias could be set either too hot or too cool for the rectifier tube that's 
in there, and if the bias is not set correctly for the power tube and 
rectifier tube combination that's in the amp, you risk blowing power tubes 
out at a faster rate than normal.

Sincerely,
Barbeque Bob Maglinte
Boston, MA
http://www.barbequebob.com
MP3's: http://music.mp3lizard.com/barbequebob/