craincrizzy
New Member
Nm found the bad one. All I can say is wow! That TAD 12at7 in V6 made a world of difference. So glad I found this thread and I appreciate you guys that took the time to find these great setups.
ENGL (Powerball) Tubing/Mods Thread
- Thread starter Pedrojoca
- Start date
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- Tags
- tubes engl
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ah, nice to see another happy story
. Got a bit worried about your last post, though, you coudld have accidently misplaced a tube.vanhendrix
Well-Known Member
Guys, bad news. My amp shut down one of the Mesa 6L6s today after really not using them all that much. I have never ever had the monitoring system kick in with the stock tubes, so I'm starting to wonder if that "swap without bias" tip that the engl people gave me was a load of shit.
Stay tuned for updates
Stay tuned for updates
vanhendrix
Well-Known Member
mmm... research time.
Nevermind, after playing it a bunch more times nothing has gone wrong. Perhaps a fluke? I have never seen the monitor system shut a tube down though, it was weird.
Bodes
Well-Known Member
Sorry to re-bump an oldish thread but have been reading this thread in anticipation of buying my Powerball II.
Now I have the amp, I like it, but is missing that warmth. Could be the fact I have stupid EMG 81's in my guitar as well. Have some Ormsby pickups coming very soon and have decided to go for your jj 12ax7, TAD 12at7, jj 12ax7, jj 12ax7 set-up.
Once has arrived I will let you know my thoughts. Thanks for your testing of different tubes.
May go down the route of changing to the Mesa 6l6GC powertubes, but let's try the cheaper "MOD" first!
Now I have the amp, I like it, but is missing that warmth. Could be the fact I have stupid EMG 81's in my guitar as well. Have some Ormsby pickups coming very soon and have decided to go for your jj 12ax7, TAD 12at7, jj 12ax7, jj 12ax7 set-up.
Once has arrived I will let you know my thoughts. Thanks for your testing of different tubes.
May go down the route of changing to the Mesa 6l6GC powertubes, but let's try the cheaper "MOD" first!
don't worry about the bump mate, I think these "specific product" threads are OK with it
Do it, if you're looking for a more organic sound, this is the way to go!
Bodes
Well-Known Member
Tubes came in the mail today, put them in, and HOLY MOTHER OF CHRIST... So much smoother and can run that gain up til 1:30 before it gets crackly. This only at "annoy neighbours slightly" volume.
Need to play around with it some more to get some ideal setting but I had many more sounds that I could actually dial, instead of that one "good" sound on each channel!
Thicker strings will be put on my guitar (currently using 10-46, wimpy, I know ) to make the low end come out a little more.
*tips hat to the CTFD mod*
Thanks Pedrojoca and vanhendrix!
Need to play around with it some more to get some ideal setting but I had many more sounds that I could actually dial, instead of that one "good" sound on each channel!
Thicker strings will be put on my guitar (currently using 10-46, wimpy, I know ) to make the low end come out a little more.
*tips hat to the CTFD mod*
Thanks Pedrojoca and vanhendrix!
ihunda
Well-Known Member
By mods I wasn't expecting just changing tubes...
Any schematic mods anyone knows off?
Any schematic mods anyone knows off?
sorry, i don't know any. we felt the need to call these mods because of the impact they have on the overall tone of the amp. Even the "light" mod, just changing up preamp tubes with combinations we thoroughly tested makes for a positiva change
Bodes, you're welcome
it makes me happy to know that more people are trying this.
Nonservium
ss.org Irregular
Just wanted to say thanks, there's some good info in this thread.
I picked up a 12at7 and put it in V6 but didn't see much of a difference so I'm gonna hunt down a few more tubes and play around. You guys rule for doing all this legwork!
I picked up a 12at7 and put it in V6 but didn't see much of a difference so I'm gonna hunt down a few more tubes and play around. You guys rule for doing all this legwork!
Nonservium
ss.org Irregular
Not that I could tell right off the bat. I'm gonna A/B it tonight and make sure.
Nonservium
ss.org Irregular
This is what I had in here previously ^ but I went back and re-read a PM from vanhendrix and:
I was not sure I liked this change...upon cranking the mid's much more than I was used to and killing the presence altogether all I can say is WOW. The EQ seems to have to be quite different for the 12AT7 in V6 than the stock set up but damn, the sound really is much more organic
. I would also caution anyone trying this in a lower tuning or drop tuning to turn the Depth/Punch down and color to taste. I'm liking that fizz being gone..
Last edited:
vanhendrix
Well-Known Member
This is what I had in here previously ^ but I went back and re-read a PM from vanhendrix and:
I was not sure I liked this change...upon cranking the mid's much more than I was used to and killing the presence altogether all I can say is WOW. The EQ seems to have to be quite different for the 12AT7 in V6 than the stock set up but damn, the sound really is much more organic
Another satisfied customer of the CTFD mod. Tell your friends!
Also, here's some food for thought:
Today I was dicking around with my amps and I realized that there was something that I hadn't tried yet......running the effects loop send of my powerball into the effects loop return of my Marshall JVM. Effectively creating a powerball with EL34s. I don't know what I was really hoping for but it basically ended up sounding exactly the same. Worse, if anything. I know this isn't exactly a scientific experiment but for anyone thinking of doing some mega surgery to their powerball to run 34s.....maybe think again?
BrianC85
Member
I have got to say that the CTFD mod is amazing. Such a simple change has caused me to love this amp that much more. I never had much of a problem with the amp before hand as I had most of the fizz dialed out. But afterwards; All I can say is wow! Completely opened up the amp to what I was wanting and didnt even know. I also had to adjust the Depth Punch significantly but it feels like it breathes more now than ever.
No other changes other than putting a JJ12AT7 in V6. Couldnt ask for a cheaper/easier mod.
No other changes other than putting a JJ12AT7 in V6. Couldnt ask for a cheaper/easier mod.
vanhendrix
Well-Known Member
Well guys, I was finally able to get the band back together so I brought my PB down as well as my JVM. This is the first time I've been able to play with anyone in a while, so the problem hadn't even become apparent yet.
Anyways, as soon as we power on, right away I notice that the powerball is fucking QUIET. Like 10 watts, max. I have absolutely no idea what's going on, but with the volumes wide open, it's still being blown away by my friend's 5153 MINI. Obviously I hadn't noticed this back at home because I never bothered to play at earplug-level, although I did have an inkling that the JVM was much louder. Luckily I also had that Marshall with me, but this is seriously concerning.
I tried swapping the power tubes back to the engl ones (my GOD do they sound bad), but it didn't fix the volume. I also tried swapping my V5 around, but that did nothing. I am seriously at a loss as to what's causing the problem. (Yes, I checked the loop). Anyone else come across something like this?
Edit: Well now I know what the phase inverter tube does....everything is fixed. False alarm, everybody calm down. It was interesting to A/B the stock tubes though. It was like putting a bee hive in the goddamn amp. CTFD mod FTW.
Anyways, as soon as we power on, right away I notice that the powerball is fucking QUIET. Like 10 watts, max. I have absolutely no idea what's going on, but with the volumes wide open, it's still being blown away by my friend's 5153 MINI. Obviously I hadn't noticed this back at home because I never bothered to play at earplug-level, although I did have an inkling that the JVM was much louder. Luckily I also had that Marshall with me, but this is seriously concerning.
I tried swapping the power tubes back to the engl ones (my GOD do they sound bad), but it didn't fix the volume. I also tried swapping my V5 around, but that did nothing. I am seriously at a loss as to what's causing the problem. (Yes, I checked the loop). Anyone else come across something like this?
Edit: Well now I know what the phase inverter tube does....everything is fixed. False alarm, everybody calm down. It was interesting to A/B the stock tubes though. It was like putting a bee hive in the goddamn amp. CTFD mod FTW.
The story solved itself
. What did you have on the PI slot? On the CTFD we left that one as it was. By the way, were there any side effects to the volume loss? I wouldn't mine putting the PB down to bedroom levels someday.
vanhendrix
Well-Known Member
The story solved itself
By the way, were there any side effects to the volume loss? I wouldn't mine putting the PB down to bedroom levels someday.
Well I tried swapping the V1-V4s, V5 and V6, then finally V8. I was just shooting in the dark because my other theory was that the bias had drifted SO cold that the amp was hardly outputing anything anymore. Thank god that wasn't the problem. Right now I'm back to running the Mesa AT7 in the V6 with stock preamp tubes otherwise. And of course the Mesa power tubes.
As for any side effects, honestly I don't see any. I have NO IDEA what went wrong in the tube that this could happen, but as I said, I didn't even notice that I had a problem until I tried to jam with it. Funny you should ask about that because the other guitar player actually said "dude, you just created the best bedroom amp of all time". No thanks!
Edit again: After typing that I went and fished the blown tube out of my garbage. It might be handy do have something that's a dead easy swap to knock the volume of a 100 watt amp down to reasonable levels. Hell, I'd probably buy one of these if they were for sale....
Well I tried swapping the V1-V4s, V5 and V6, then finally V8. I was just shooting in the dark because my other theory was that the bias had drifted SO cold that the amp was hardly outputing anything anymore. Thank god that wasn't the problem. Right now I'm back to running the Mesa AT7 in the V6 with stock preamp tubes otherwise. And of course the Mesa power tubes.
As for any side effects, honestly I don't see any. I have NO IDEA what went wrong in the tube that this could happen, but as I said, I didn't even notice that I had a problem until I tried to jam with it. Funny you should ask about that because the other guitar player actually said "dude, you just created the best bedroom amp of all time". No thanks!
Edit again: After typing that I went and fished the blown tube out of my garbage. It might be handy do have something that's a dead easy swap to knock the volume of a 100 watt amp down to reasonable levels. Hell, I'd probably buy one of these if they were for sale....
but what tube was it?
