How To Easily Re-Tube Your Guitar Amp - Fender, Marshall, Vox, Orange, Matchless, etc...
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- čas přidán 26. 07. 2024
- Part of tube (valve) guitar amp maintenance is changing out / replacing the tubes (valves) when needed, but there is no need to take it to a guitar tech. Simple order a matched set of power tubes and a preamp tubes swap them in yourself. In this video I show how to swap out the tubes in a Fender Bassbreaker 15 tube amp. The process is more or less the same for any tube amp. Whether your amp is a Fender, Marshall, Vox, Mesa, Bogner, Orange, Bad Cat, Matchless, etc... It's pretty easy do do. The same process is for every tube amp that I know of, no matter what kind of tubes or valves your amp uses; 6L6, 6V6, EL34, EL84, KT88, 12AX7, 12AU7, ECC83, 12AT7, AU4, etc...
I also talk about a few misconceptions regarding tubes, like "Don't touch them with your fingers or they will explode!" Is that true? Watch to find out. - Hudba
Nice video! I got myself a Bugera v22 when the time comes I'll watch this video again haha
I was about to mention your Mars music cloth when you mentioned it! The last time we were in Houston we drove by it on the high way, that tells you how long it's been haha. We had one here in San Antonio as well.
I believe your Bassbreaker is cathode biased. If the amplifier is cathode biased the amp effectively self-biases. If it's fixed bias, the bias should be adjusted. Most, fixed bias amplifiers require biasing when the tubes are replaced. Some have external bias adjustments; this is nice when setting the bias. This is nice, because you can get seriously electrocuted when dealing with the amps innards.
Ha ha, I remember Mars music in Tampa FL, I loved there slogan "We love when you touch are stuff!"
This amp is one of the early ones that had a buzz/hiss/Loop issue. On the fixed version you will see the Send jack in the back is black vs. chrome looking. I have this amp and its amazing. No unwanted hiss or noise of any kind on any other the voice structures. Don't let this video shy you away from the Bassbreaker 15. It is a bummer he had an issue here, but like I said, that was resolved early and the fix can be done through Fender at a local retailer that services Fender amps. Cheers!
Great simple to understand video dig it
Nice demo, thanks. Hope you fixed the hiss!
I love the banging at the end to make it work, lol
I guess he's the drummer!
Very informative vid Kennis.
Youre welcome Kennis ,Keep up the good work.
I used to work for the Mars Music in Las Vegas for about a year.
Thanks Kennis. I’m new to tube amps and got a used excelsior which has the odd sound others say comes from the original Chinese tubes. Your video has me in the realm of doability. Good to know I shouldn’t fry myself... got to wait for amazon then I’m diving in...
Kennis Russell success! Thanks again.
I think all amps should have easily accessible test points and bias pot(s). So we don't have to take the amp out of its shell or cab to bias it.
John Simms Funny this guy never mentioned biasing.
@@sneifert1968 Probably because these amps are likely like most EL84 equipped amps, cathode biased. Just pop in a matched set of EL84 tubes and play.
The Bassbreaker 15 is cathode biased, you don’t need to adjust bias
If I'm not mistaken, and I could be, most amps below 30 watts don't need to be biased.
I was about to ask,, what about bias ... the part where you die if you don't pay attention
You will need to do a follow up of this video to let us know if other Bassbreaker 15 also have those noise and hum... or if it's only yours.
I own 3 of these great amps. BUT: You need to remove D12 and D13 zener diodes to prevent blowing tubes in the future. These diodes were added in parallel with the resistors and caps off of the cathodes to protect in the event of cap failure. It was a bad design as the zeners fail commonly. I had one that was 'leaky', it didn't measure dead short in reverse bias but was around 0.2v. I went through a set of tubes before finding the problem, and the amp sounded 'off' with new tubes. WORKS GREAT NOW.
Hey kennis! Do I need to rebias my amp if I put a matched set of tubes in it?
cool video! I've done tube replacements on a Vox AC15. I like to wear gloves because I pretend I'm a surgeon :P
lando27music Hahaha!!! I like my Wife.... I like to Pretend I'm a Porn Star until she SCREAMS WRONG!!!!!!! Lmmfao!!!!
I didn’t know Blake Shelton is on you tube
Hi Kennis, I realize this video is almost a year old, but did you ever fix the problem with the hiss sound in your Bassbreaker amp? I saw a video by Lee Anderton with Rob Chapman and they were reviewing that same amp when it came out and Chapman experienced the same problem. It seems to be an inherent flaw in the amp that Fender failed to resolve. What a shame. They finally get a great sounding gain channel on a tube amp, but then a hiss problem appears!
I just had my tube amp fail. A BassBreaker.
1. I used rubber gloves, the light surgical type. Why, it makes gripping the tubes much easier. I didn't have to rock them to get them out.
2. It is also better to take off the back bottom wood, you have better access to the tubes.
3. I bought the Balanced Pre-Amp tubes, there are three. Much better sound.
hello, i own a bassbreaker 30r, i was wondering if it would be possible to change the tube types from el-84 to 6l6 for example
I don't get the blown tube thing. I have several tube amps including a mid 60's Traynor Bassmaster head, I used for lead guitar in the 70's, with a 2x15" home made cabinet. It still works (don't have the cab anymore) I've have never had to replace tubes ...
By any chance was the hum caused by your overhead lighting or some other RF interference?
Great video, thanks. I acquired an early 80s Fender Concert amp with the original tubes. They all work but is there a reason to place them?
OK, thank you
I usually take random metal pieces and jam them in the tube outlet while it’s plugged in. I don’t know why I lost 1/2 my hair and my amp doesn’t work anymore though.
Great video, if I replace the power tubes in my amp, does it need to be re-biased or is it just the same as replacing pre-amp tubes? Cheers
TheMRCHEEFY should be rebiased or at least checked
The rectifier tube gz34 got five pins, but the insertion got 8 or 9 i dont know, how are you supposed to know the orientation, does it matter?
Hey Kennis :). Great video, have you been watching the GuitCon vids? Hope to see you there next year
Kennis Russell I hear you. There were a few other CZcamsrs I was hoping to see there that didn't go but I figured that it was just a matter of family commitment etc. I understand it would be costly as well. I think if you had shot Henning an email and said that you were interested they would have been delighted to have had you on board :)
Personally I would have liked to have seen yourself and Woodeso there
Kennis Russell I'll have to check it out, I was busy this week, I just started a luthier course. I was inspired to do it from watching you guys videos. I'm almost 40 but I've finally found something that I really enjoy doing. If it wasn't for channels like yours I probably would have never figured out what I wanted to do with my life, so thanks for that ;)
taking the tube covers off in the pitch black was a great idea
So, I cannot change just the damaged tube?
Kennis Russell, I was wondering. I was just watching your video and I never replaced my own tubes all the year I have been playing myself. I just bought a matched set. You were speaking of the current 58 on the tube. The total donk head on ebay will not answer me back about it. The tubes in my DSL100HR Marshall head all say 58 on the EL34's quad. The guy sent me a matched set that are all 32's. Does that make a difference and can I still use them as long as I re bias the amp? And does that change the bias specs any from what they should be?
skin oil is not good for the glass with the heat. it is ok as long as you wipe the tubes afterwards. The tube can't explode but the oil can cause heat buildup in that spot and it can crack and you loose vacuum. Also if you change brands like you did you should bias the tubes to get the best possible sound.
I dont know ,I think you can get some great airy tones from that GT tube
KENNIS RUSSELL, how do you bias the compression of the power tubes?
Lower watt tube amps such as the Bassbreaker 15 typically use cathode bias. Cathode bias are not manually adjustable, think 'self' biasing. So once you swap out the power amp tubes you are essentially done.
Did you check the grounds?
Laney Cub 12r. Any suggestions on something different to beef up the sound? Great vid
Thank you
Depends on what you mean by beef it up.
If yours was fitted with the Rocket 50 speaker, just about anything is better....
Whether the Rocket 50 or the later HH, a Jensen MOD 12-50 or MOD 12-70 is an inexpensive, fine sounding upgrade which will beef the lower end up.
Many other speakers are available of course. Most will improve the balance, bass and projection.
Replace V3 with a Sovtek 12AX7LPS. You could try a 12AT7 in V3, but watch for the onboard glass fuse blowing as the 12AT7 draws more current. The 12AT7 will break up later. The phase inverter works very hard. The 12AT7 can push more current. Its transconductance is much higher than a 12AX7 too. Subtly different sound when cranked.
Try a 5751 or 12AY7 in V1. JJ make a good 5751, EH 12AY7. Either of these will lower your front end gain slightly. They'll still go super crunchy if you wind the gain up, but they'll hold clean for longer, allowing more power valve saturation. This is to be considered a good thing.
For power valves, get a matched pair. A pair of Noval bias probes from Ebay and 3 halfway decent multimeters ( one per probe + 1 for measuring B+ ) and bias it to 70% on the hottest valve of the pair. The bias from the factory is often on the cold side and set so you don't burn out any replacements. This is not optimal. Use the Robrobinette or Weber bias calculator. Rob has an Android app available for this. The Laney only has a single bias adjuster, hence matching the pair.
For power valves, the Ruby valves used in production do the job, I suppose. Sovtek make a good EL84, as do JJ. Most other EL84 are either Shuguang rebadged, JJ rebadged or Sovtek rebadged anyway. Cheap Ruby are Shuguang.
You could ( and I recommend you do ) seek out a batch of NOS Russian 6P14P. These are the Russian equivalent of the EL84. They compress earlier, and break up later than the EL84 and lack the harsh zizzing top end of Shuguang. The ones with the -EV suffix are reckoned to be longer lasting. You'll need to play 'match the pairs' in the amp. Turn the bias down, insert valves, power up and match the current draw on your meters by substitution until you get a pair. Don't worry about a few mA here and there.
Start with the bias. Then V1 + V3 ( V2 is a cathode follower for the tone stack ), then the speaker, then the power valves ( and rebias )
Elektrotanya has the schematic which shows the bias trimpot and test point if you decide not to get the probes. Get the probes...
I have a question....does a tube amp absolutely require specific types of power tubes?? I have an amp that came with EL34 tubes...can I put 6L6's in it instead or will it damage the circuit?
Hi, I'm using Marshall JVM 410C It sounded good yesterday and now when I start it ( overdrive 1,overdrive 2 and grunch ) it sounds very weak. and in clean mode it is not heard at all.
Please advise me what is the possible problem.
Possibly a bad tube.
All tube amps have a little hiss and sometimes the 80 hurtz hum
Hmmm so much for bringing up biasing! This information is quite incomplete!
SIDEWAYS RAIN ...like watching paint dry...could have been done in 2 mins!
It's a cathode biased amp, no need to do this step
new to the tube world but o was looking at a amp that has el 84's can i just switch those to the el 34's without doing anything else? or are there other mods i would have to do? it might be a stupid question but you don't know what you don't know.y we ask questions.
No you can't just switch them
I take it these amps are cathode biased?
Self-biasing?
Does Kennis play tennis?
Your noise at the end is 60hz hum. Try getting a better grounded connection to a wall socket.
what about Biasing it Just put in power tubes so?
Singl3 ended?
@@kennisrussell why didn't you make that clear in the video, very misleading video.
Filter Caps. Probably need to change the power filter capacitors.
Great video!
But what about biasing?
Is there no need to do that?
Bassbreaker amps are self biasing or cathode based...no need to bias when changing tubes
80’s background porn music 😆
Of all the tube amp channels I cant get a responce to any technical questions.
But Id like to discuss again about tubes( preamp) and frequency range.
Anyway I bought used a crate tv 6210. It was terrible when I turned it on. The original owner who bought it used had it in the livingroom. He was retired for a while his wife died 2 years ago and he crossed dec 2017. His brother( 84 years old) had it on craigs list. He even held it for me a couple weeks. Anyway it had sovtec all the way. Im thinkin they are oroginal. It made noises , had a very gappy overdrive clippy and raspy tone.first thing was the reverb full up oscillate. It was built in runaway feedback at full up. Yea im laughin! But a few taps and wiggle it straightened up a little. DONT buy a tube amp that has the tube sockets mounted to any kind of PC board! Second,
I changed the power tubes from the6l6gc to a matched set of sov 34's that Ive had for 12 years. Instantly after 1 it was bam! Loud no problem. But the gain section was still not good. A friend brought over couple weeks later a ruby HG and two EH's so I changed the first three like that. Now its a tighter smoother gain and opened up the frequency responce a little. Its closer to a marshall now like I like.
Still I dislike the PC mounted tube sockets and dont recommend anyone to buy such a type. The heat destroys the pc components. Point to point or at least pc in a "can" is the long life investment.
It may need capacitors replaced.
Kennis - How's your diet going? I tried Juicing fast for 10 days & I lost 0lbs - yes, ZERO! So, I'm going to try a ketogenic diet, but man, I love pasta & rice. IDK?! Pray for me to have the strength to resist. God Bless ya, Brother!
Kennis Russell How do you do "intermittent fasting"? Just eat one meal a day?
Dennis? Or Kennis?
"When needed"----that's an important distinction, because it wouldn't make sense to change out all of the tubes wholesale (they all wear at different rates)
I just bought an awesome Swatch Watch from a pawn shop for $10 but it wasn't running so when I got home I put a new battery and it didn't work !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT has some cool bands that are in great condition so i can use them for my other Swatches so it wasn't a total waste.
nos tube sets :
1.vintage vibes: v1: 1956 mullard mc1 longplates v2: 1958 mullard f91 longplates v3: 1959 mullard f92 balanced/power tubes 1950's xf1 el34 matched quad .
@t marlin: v1: 1958 mullard longplates f91 7025 v2 mullard i61 1959-1964 v3 1964-1975 mullard i63 \ power tubes 1960's mullard xf2 el34
3. green marlin v1: 1964 mullard yellow print i62 v2 mullard i63 v3 mullard i63 /power tubes mullard xf2
4. ultimate warmth (bluesbreaker): v1: 1960's brimar 6057 yellow t v2 brimar 6057 v3 brimar cv4004/xf1
@t :v1 1960's mullard 10m goldpins v2 1959-1964 mullard i61 v3 i63
6.striped marlin(jtm): v1 i61 v2 i62 v3 i63
7. swordfish(jcm/jmp): v1 v2 v3 all i63
8. 1974x: v1 i61 v2 i63 v3 ge jan 12ax7wa
What about biases your tubes? Kind of a big deal.
Not with a cathode biased amp, but I think he just got lucky. He certainly should have mentioned it; he seems nice enough and he's trying to help; but he doesn't have much of an idea of what he's doing.
Big mistake trying to transport my old Fender Amp to my house it fell out of the truck I couldn't catch it in time to keep it from falling out of the back seat of the truck now it will not play with any of my Guitars when I'd plugged it into the amp this fender amp is really old I don't know how long my dad has owned it Now I have to pay to have someone repair my guitar and amp ARRGH!
What about the bias?????
Can’t bias this amp.
@@kennisrussell nice to know I passed up on that amp saw to many negative reviews and comments
@@kennisrussell would you happen to know how to bias an amp and is there a universal way of biasing or just each manufacturer has there own way it's all so confusing everyone has there own interpretation I got a deal on 2 amps fender DeVille and black star ht 40 the Bs sounds low volume even cranked up can you help thank you
Oh dear.
might have to get the amp/tubes biased
Dude, you need to reset the bias when you retube most amps. . . . Demo that !!
But you didn’t find out what was causing the hum.
ISP Decimator II G-String Pedal will kill all the hum.
uo
Please, don't listen to most of what he say's. Sure he's a nice enough young man, BUT he really does not know what he's doing!
It's the Capacitors that hold a lethal electric charge for months after unplugging any tube amp. If you happen to touch a wire with your hand or a screw driver that is connected to a Capacitor you absolutely can be hit with lethal voltage ...as in enough to stop your heart and kill you. Keep one hand in your pocket at all times when you are poking around inside a tube amp. This way that free hand shall not be touching the metal chassis and then allowing your body to be a conductor to ground and the electricity from the Capacitor or any other part inside a tube amp can not travel through your body and then to ground. You don't want to complete a circuit allowing electricity to flow into your body and then through your body seeking ground. Keep you free hand in your pocket. Use a wood stick to "poke" around. Don't use a screw driver! That is what professionals do, and these men have been living and working with tube amps a lot longer than this friendly and well meaning guy. They are still alive because the understand and obey safety rules regarding working inside tube amps.
Yes he's right that touching the glass of a tube amp will not damage it. Well, in his case even though he does not come out and say it directly, he may have broken the glass bottle of the tube by applying really excessive force. In fact I'm sure that he broke the tube when trying to remove it. Anyone who is "ham fist-ted" enough to apply enough force to fracture and break the glass bottle of a tube while attempting to replace it, is not a person to take advice from regarding tube amps.
You do understand that anyone can make a video, even people who have just a tiny weeny amount of knowledge more than you do. That does not mean they know what they are doing. So again please do not follow his advice. In fact forget you ever watched this video and seek out video's made by technicians who are paid to work on tube amps. Follow what they say. Also read several books about tube amps if you really want to learn about them.
-Peter
Instructions unclear. Couldn't find a "young man" in the video.
i was watching a video with Dave Meneketti (Y&T) old guitar tech,well a amp head fell about 6ft and still worked but they didn't know a tube was cracked and I guess it eventually caught fire and burned up not sure if it was sound check or the show the only reason I brought it up is i recently got videos on CZcams about the 03 club fire in RI
when GREAT WHITE was playing and 100 people died in less than 6 minutes.sad
i didnt hear it fart out
No idea how these guys manage to blow tubes so often, that amp looks like it's 6 months old.
Yeah changing tubes is easy, you're amp is buzzing because you have to bias the new tubes , that's the hard bit!
Hiss is normal.
0:22 BLASPHEMY! may the lard stroke ye daun!!
and it's pronounced "hale-oh-gen". there's no double-l like in "hall".
Hmmm>? bad cap. poor ground, cold solder joint, dude you scare me...stay out of that amp.
He knows next to nothing about electrical safety with amplifiers. Do not work on them unless trained and qualified; it is against the law for a reason.
No....... Just no............... On so many levels...... NO! .... Step away from the amp, keep your hands out of it, and take it to a competent amp tech...
or... don't get tube amplifiers and keep your life simple and hassle free. There are plenty of great SS and Digital amps out there nowadays.