Members tommy_is_here Posted May 10, 2007 Members Share Posted May 10, 2007 Hi Everyone, As promised a week ago, I wanted to give a full review of my 4 month old Fender DRRI. When I bought it, I really liked it stock; I would rate it 8/10. The cleans were great. But some things were not so nice: * it did not take pedals very well. Even my keeley tubescreamers, especially in the reverb socket, sounded tinny * channel 2 was way too bright. But the tone was nice, and a light reverb from channel 2 set at 2-3 was great. So, I spent hours online researching and consulted with many of you. Here's what I decided to do: * buy a 12F150 Weber 8ohm lightly doped speaker (team Weber broke it in for me) * Get new JJ 6V6 matched tubes, + new JJ preamps as well - have them biased * Have the bright cap clipped on channel 2 * have my amp tech look at the guts for general inspection. Just got it back from my wonderful amp tech who implemented my mods. He did all of the above, biased the tubes, and tightened everything down. (apparently, the jacks were quite loose). Man, it feels like a new, improved amp! I would rate it now as 9.5/10. The clarity of notes and definition is sooo much more present. Plus, the thing takes my pedals, on either channel, so nicely now. The tubescreamers sound amazing. All of my guitars (es335 clone, casino, and LP clone) sound great through this little beast. Why not 10/10? Couple small points, which maybe some of you can comment on: 1) The speaker still sounds a little, uhm, for lack of a better word, boxy. I'm no expert, but perhaps this is what I've read so much about when you change a new speaker, it takes time to break it in. 2) Volume increase! With all the above changes, the amp is now slightly louder than it was before. This is not a good thing given I use this amp in my apartment for practice. I can still play quietly enough, but the volume is more sensitive than before. That's about it. I hope that number 1 will go away with time. And as for #2, I have a weber mini-mass - I'm gonna try it out now and see how it works with the volume issue. Thanks again everyone for your comments and thoughts! Cheers, Tom PS - I had put in the JJ powertubes myself, unbiased, before to see what that change alone did. For ANY DRRI owner, I would HIGHLY recommend you at least change your power tubes. The stock ones are awful, and you will really be able to tell the difference with a good set of matched power tubes. JJ 6V6 are great. PSS - The only thing I'm considering, for much later, is to get a good pair of NOS power tubes from yesteryear and see how different those are from the JJs. My amp tech suggested trying that next if I wanted to change again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blackba Posted May 10, 2007 Members Share Posted May 10, 2007 Very nice. I thought new tubes made a big difference in my DRRI. I went with GE pres and EH 6V6's. I have never really been a fan of JJ preamp tubes in most amps, but I didn't try them in the Fender DRRI. I thought about clipping the bright cap on the Vibrato channel, but if I did I would have probably made it footswitchable. Give that Weber 12F150 some time to break in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tommy_is_here Posted May 10, 2007 Author Members Share Posted May 10, 2007 Yes, I hear you about giving it some time to break in. However, I have a pretty big gig (well, I never really gig and I'll be playing in front of about 1000 people next Thursday), and I wish I could have this bad boy broken in more by then. If anyone has suggestions, I'm all ears! What's the big sonic difference between JJ preamps and EH preamps? Cheers,Tommy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tommy_is_here Posted May 10, 2007 Author Members Share Posted May 10, 2007 Actually, just spoke to Jay at Eurotubes: I'm gonna try out a new GZ34 for the rectifier tube, and the two other replacements: ECC81 Standard and ECC81 Balanced. That makes a full tube replacement set. Will report on if there's noticeable differences on top of what i have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tommy_is_here Posted May 11, 2007 Author Members Share Posted May 11, 2007 bumping 4 others Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rinkrat6821 Posted May 11, 2007 Members Share Posted May 11, 2007 Doesn't the DRRI come stocked with JJ 6v6 power tubes? If so then I guess the new ones are higher quality. What is the sound difference? Did the amp come stock with a Jensen speaker and if not what? Is the weber much warmer? Was there a bright switch on the amp and if so does having it off still create brightness on the vibrato channel? Sorry for all of the questions. They are probably quite annoying. haha. I have a TRRI and was just interested in your remodeling. I'd like to learn a little bit too.haha. How much did this all cost you if you don't mind me asking? Thanks for any help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tommy_is_here Posted May 11, 2007 Author Members Share Posted May 11, 2007 yes, the DRRI comes stock with a Jensen these days. Its not bad, but after using it for 4 months, I wanted to try something else. The stock power tubes, which I think are sovteks branded tubes, are utter garbage in my opinion. I don't know why Fender ships it out with this garbage. They don't ship with JJ 6V6. Costs: roughly US$200. The speaker was $100, the tubes were about US$25 for power amps, and US$25 for preamps. My ampt tech charged me US$50 for tune up and installs. The amp, with the bright switch cut, is still bright enough. Plug into channel 1 to see what it would sound like. Channel one does not have the bright switch wired on, so you'll get an idea of what it will sound like playing through channel 1. In terms of noticeable changes, again, I think the power tube change is huge and relatively easy and cheap. The speaker change can be huge too; you're going to have to do your own research tho. re. what to swap in as there are tons of options. It took me several hours of research and planning before I ultimately decided on the weber. I think changing the preamps is probably the most subtle part of the upgrade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rinkrat6821 Posted May 11, 2007 Members Share Posted May 11, 2007 yes, the DRRI comes stock with a Jensen these days. Its not bad, but after using it for 4 months, I wanted to try something else.The stock power tubes, which I think are sovteks branded tubes, are utter garbage in my opinion. I don't know why Fender ships it out with this garbage. They don't ship with JJ 6V6.Costs: roughly US$200. The speaker was $100, the tubes were about US$25 for power amps, and US$25 for preamps. My ampt tech charged me US$50 for tune up and installs.The amp, with the bright switch cut, is still bright enough. Plug into channel 1 to see what it would sound like. Channel one does not have the bright switch wired on, so you'll get an idea of what it will sound like playing through channel 1.In terms of noticeable changes, again, I think the power tube change is huge and relatively easy and cheap. The speaker change can be huge too; you're going to have to do your own research tho. re. what to swap in as there are tons of options. It took me several hours of research and planning before I ultimately decided on the weber. I think changing the preamps is probably the most subtle part of the upgrade. Thanks alot of the reply. My TRRI came with JJ 6v6s but I also heard that their were many different kinds of the 6v6 sorted by colors or something. I heard that some were not nearly as good as others so I didn't know if that was true or not. I've heard great things about weber speakers, and since this only ran you about 200, I am definitely going to research. Thats awesome that they broke in the speaker for you a bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Weathered Posted May 11, 2007 Members Share Posted May 11, 2007 Thanks alot of the reply. My TRRI came with JJ 6v6s but I also heard that their were many different kinds of the 6v6 sorted by colors or something. I heard that some were not nearly as good as others so I didn't know if that was true or not. I've heard great things about weber speakers, and since this only ran you about 200, I am definitely going to research. Thats awesome that they broke in the speaker for you a bit. A TRRI should ship with 6L6's, not 6V6's, I believe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tommy_is_here Posted May 12, 2007 Author Members Share Posted May 12, 2007 Thanks alot of the reply. My TRRI came with JJ 6v6s but I also heard that their were many different kinds of the 6v6 sorted by colors or something. I heard that some were not nearly as good as others so I didn't know if that was true or not. I've heard great things about weber speakers, and since this only ran you about 200, I am definitely going to research. Thats awesome that they broke in the speaker for you a bit. Yup, I would contact folks directly at Weber and places like Eurotubes for advice. Both these places are great and give good advice. Call up the eurotube guys who seem to know a tremendous amount about JJ tubes. Cheers,Tommy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rinkrat6821 Posted May 13, 2007 Members Share Posted May 13, 2007 Yup, I would contact folks directly at Weber and places like Eurotubes for advice. Both these places are great and give good advice. Call up the eurotube guys who seem to know a tremendous amount about JJ tubes.Cheers,Tommy I will definitely..Thanks alot. And ya , from the message above, The TRRI does have 6l6s in it. my badd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members the russ Posted May 13, 2007 Members Share Posted May 13, 2007 Call up the eurotube guys who seem to know a tremendous amount about JJ tubes.Cheers,Tommy i'd hope so. their entire business is selling only JJ brand tubes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.