Members Mad Tele Posted March 13, 2013 Members Share Posted March 13, 2013 how can i fix this? My squier CVC sounds a lot better through my tweed deluxe than my 52RI and CIJ Teles. My theory is its the pickups, not brand but specs. The squier has Fralin Stock which are pretty low wind, 6.6K with A5 magnets and what sounds better is its brighter and more articulate than the other Teles. My 52RI has Fred Stuart Blackguards (that cost as much as the squier itself) which are 7.5K, A3 and sound dark and wooly. The CIJ has Rumpelstiltskin with 11.9K A3 and sound very compressed. Here is the kicker: the experts say low wound pickups do not sound brighter than overwound, or that its impossible to say that. But the other Tele that sounds good with my 5E3 is my MIM 60s with Novak pickups that are 5.9K, A5. so my theory is that low wound pickups sound best with my tweed deluxe. But the problem with that is my Gibson SG with mini-humbuckers (6.9K A5) sounds really good too. and my Tele that has an overwound Lollar p90 (9.5K, A5) in the bridge sounds really good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GilmourD Posted March 13, 2013 Members Share Posted March 13, 2013 What tubes do you have in it? If all the preamp tubes and PI are 12ax7s then that could be throwing the gain off hitting the power section and making it sound odd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GilmourD Posted March 13, 2013 Members Share Posted March 13, 2013 Forgot to say the low output Fralins might be helping compensate for the highest gain tubes, if that is the case. Didn't the originals come with 12ay7s? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mad Tele Posted March 13, 2013 Author Members Share Posted March 13, 2013 tubes arev1 12ax7v2 12ax7v3 6v6v4 6v6v5 5y3 the original circuit called for a 12ay7 in v1. when i changed tubes they didnt have a 12ay7 so i went with a 12ax7. which should just decrease the headroom. I have the original tubes maybe ill put them back in. But when i swapped tubes the amp became brighter. I put in Groove Tube EH made in Russia. the orignals were tung sol, a penta, NOS RCA 5y3, and some other I forget . but i put the preamps in my twin reverb. I swapped the at7 for the ay7 PI in my twin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GilmourD Posted March 13, 2013 Members Share Posted March 13, 2013 Beyond gain, there's also impedance differences. Pick up some AY7s at www.TheTubeStore.com and see if that helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members benzem Posted March 13, 2013 Members Share Posted March 13, 2013 No way. You must be MAD! (at least you're no longer ANGRY) hehe. Everyone knows you MUST spend at least 4k to get a proper Tele. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mad Tele Posted March 13, 2013 Author Members Share Posted March 13, 2013 ok i put the 12ay7 back in . big difference, now the amp is a lot brighter, so much that i can use the non-bright input and have the tone down to 10. Before i had to use the bright channel and have the tone on 12 and it was still too dark especially when using the in-series position (pseudo-humbucker) But the drawback is i have less breakup now. I wonder if using an NOS 12ax7 will give me the breakup and tone I want? the 12ay7 is electro harmonix MIR, same as the 12ax7 I was using. Only difference the 12ax7 was a rebranded Groove Tube. The 12ay7 has yellow lettering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GilmourD Posted March 13, 2013 Members Share Posted March 13, 2013 An NOS 12ax7 I still a 12ax7, just older. Try experimenting with the family there's even one that's half of one and half of another. I just can't remember what its designation is right now. Or maybe pick up a clean boost pedal to keep the good basic tone and then slam the input. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mad Tele Posted March 13, 2013 Author Members Share Posted March 13, 2013 GilmourD wrote: An NOS 12ax7 I still a 12ax7, just older. Try experimenting with the family there's even one that's half of one and half of another. I just can't remember what its designation is right now. Or maybe pick up a clean boost pedal to keep the good basic tone and then slam the input. what about a T? I have a 12at7, which is in between gain factors of X and Y. so id get more break up than the 12aY7 , but not as much as the 12aX7. is it ok to put a T where a Y is called for? should be I think.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GilmourD Posted March 13, 2013 Members Share Posted March 13, 2013 Technically yes, it won't break anything. Whether you'll like the results, though, is another matter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mad Tele Posted March 14, 2013 Author Members Share Posted March 14, 2013 ok so i swapped a bunch of tubes. The tung-sol are crap, dull, dark and lifeless I think they are bad, I dont know how many hours are on them im assuming they are bad because everyone raves about them. So i put in 2 EH russian which are brighter and are more alive. V2 has a new EH 12ax7, that is fine. v1 i tried a penta labs made in china 12ax7 and it sounded ok but then i put an old sovtek 12ax7 and it sounds better. the 12ay7 was the brightest but i lost a lot of break-up. It made the amp sound tame, and refined thats not what I want. I want that grungy Neil Young drive and thats waht the 12ax7 has. I think im gonna get some NOS for v1 and 2 and maybe some new Tung-sol RI for the power. The 5Y3 is RCA NOS and should be fine.whats great about this amp only having 5 tubes i can go NOS on all of them and not break the bank. I might put some 500K pots in my 52RI, I have 500K in my broadcaster which makes the neck pickup open up and sound brighter. I can actually use the tone pot on that one. i think I might just prefer A5 magnets as all those pickups sound fine with this amp, and all the A3 pickups sound dark. the A3s all sound better in my twin reverb which is bright city. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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