Well I got my V3

[shishin]

I got it a couple days ago. I'm running it through my B-52 cab right now but I just bought the V3 cab off ebay and it should be getting here fairly soon. Any way, on to the questions.

1)Is it just me or does tube distortion suck balls? It's seems to crunchy and not flowing. If some of you who own this amp have any settings for me to try that would be very helpful.

2) Appearantly this is one of the amps ( this probably should have been question #1) that picks up radio signals. And I'm not too into Mexican pop, but that's just me. If I got this amp used off someone besides Carvin, do you think they would fix it? or do you know of any ways to fix it?

3)I'm new as far as tube amps go so I have no clue on this one. Should I be running the Bias el34's or the 6l6's? I have no I dea what the difference is and I don't want to fuck with it not knowing what I'm doing.

4) The back of it seemed pretty hot after only playing with it for a little while. Is that normal?

I'm sure I'll think of more questions later but this will be a good start. Thanks for any help you have to offer.

 

[bostjan]

1) Maybe bad tubes

2) Maybe bad tubes

3) Bias must match the tubes used. If 6L6's are in there, you better be sure it's biased for 6L6's, and ditto re: EL34's.

4) It'll get hot, yeah. Make sure it's not stifled under something.

To check the tubes, gently tap them one by one with an allen wrench (hex key) with the thing warmed up and ready to go. Listen for noises.

 

[shishin]

Alright thanks. It has a switch that says el34 bised or 6l6's so I wan't sure which is better. I'm not sure If the tubes are bad though. I'll check tomorrow. But the radio has happened to other people with V3's though. I've heard of it a couple times so I'm not ready to blame the tubes yet. Thanks though. I guess I'll check the tubes in the morning. How long roughly does it take for the tubes to warm up? And as fas as standby and power switches, which should be turned on first when turning it on, and which she be turned off first when turning the amp off?

 

[bostjan]

turn on power, then wait about twenty seconds before turning on high voltage/standby. turning on too fast might shorten tube life.

turning off, it doesn't much matter.

your amp shouldn't pick up radio stations, but it is bound to from time to time. if it's loud enough to really bother you, though, something is wrong.

tubes are like strings, they will wear out over time. to keep the amp sounding it's best, you will need to use tubes that are in good shape and have the propper bias. the wrong bias can cause some bad problems for you, so make sure you don't mess with it unless you know what you're doing.

 

[shishin]

Thanks. I'll keep that in mind. I'll have to test them and see if I need new ones.

 

[zimbloth]

1)Is it just me or does tube distortion suck balls?

It's just you. If this was the case you wouldn't like the tone of 99.9% of your favorite bands.

 

[shishin]

I wouldn't be too sure about that. The stuff I hear isn't just the amp. Theres alot of processing that goes on to enhance the tones. I listen to alot of weird stuff so alot of them don't use simply tube amps by themselves.

 

[Scott]

The v3s do pick up radio signals. There are also a couple of other issues with it, such as loop issues and shit. You have to send the amp back to carvin to get the mods done to it to fix the problems.

 

[shishin]

The v3s do pick up radio signals. There are also a couple of other issues with it, such as loop issues and shit. You have to send the amp back to carvin to get the mods done to it to fix the problems.

Ya. I think I'm going to drive up there soon so I'll bring it with me and make them fix it.

 

[darren]

You can't just say it's tube amps unless you've played a LOT of tube amps. Maybe the V3 is just a tube amp that you don't like. Maybe it just has poor-grade tubes in it. (I've read that Sovtek tubes can be cold and harsh sounding.) Maybe the tubes just need to be played in a bit more.

With regard to your other issues, you may want to send it back to Carvin for the radio frequency issue.

 

[Leon]

going into tube amp world is a big jump, so you'll want to do some reading and experimenting.

look at the tubes in the back, they should have markings on them. i'm not 100%, but they should either say 6L6 or EL34 on them. set the bias accordingly.

 

[zimbloth]

Not all 6L6 and EL34s have the same rating. They need to be biased for the exact rating of the tube, not just the tube type. There's no one size fits all for all EL34s for example.

Have it serviced, or get a different amp. But it's not because its a tube amp man. That's absurd.

 

[shishin]

oh I know. I was just kidding around a little. I've played a bunch of tube amps and I can never get the distortion quite how I like. I'm sure it can be done but it's going to take me a long time to get it right. As for the tubes in the back, it has a swtich to change which ones I'm using. Since I have no idea what the hell the difference is I'm just gonna leave it alone. I may take it in to get it serviced. How much would that cost?

 

[Scott]

Won't cost you anything if you bought it from them.

 

[shishin]

Won't cost you anything if you bought it from them.

eh. I bought it used at a local shop. But somebody bought it from them...

 

[Dylan7620]

going into tube amp world is a big jump, so you'll want to do some reading and experimenting.

+1

tube amps are a whole different beast my friend. to be quite honest, when i first got my mesa nomad i thought i got jipped! after using a metalzone for quite some time before that i was use to easily dialing in crazy amounts of gain that was uber forgiving of my playing and hid my real tone.

i had to almost re learn how to play again. you have to understand that the tone can change dramaticly with picking dynamics of a tube amp. make your fingers 'coax' the tones out of your amp.sometimes you have to learn how to play the amp as well as the guitar.

and yes, even though there is a bit of studio magic that goes into recordings but most of the time they had a very good tone to work with and then fine tuned the sound later on. you can't polish a turn into a diamond

 

[shishin]

+1

tube amps are a whole different beast my friend. to be quite honest, when i first got my mesa nomad i thought i got jipped! after using a metalzone for quite some time before that i was use to easily dialing in crazy amounts of gain that was uber forgiving of my playing and hid my real tone.

i had to almost re learn how to play again. you have to understand that the tone can change dramaticly with picking dynamics of a tube amp. make your fingers 'coax' the tones out of your amp.sometimes you have to learn how to play the amp as well as the guitar.

and yes, even though there is a bit of studio magic that goes into recordings but most of the time they had a very good tone to work with and then fine tuned the sound later on. you can't polish a turn into a diamond

Ya. I'm starting to get the feel of the amp a bit more. And with some help I recieved I'm getting it alot closer to the tones
I want.