BJFE / BearFoot fx Guitar Effects Community

It is the Carmen Ghia 1x12 with Celestion Blue. SO 2 x el84 and a 5y3 rectifier. I have had it a year and I just cant seem to bond with the amp. I have even put NOS tubes in and it is just missing something for me.

I did run the DRD at 12 volts today and lowered the Drive and I am liking it much better.

thesjkexperience wrote:It is the Carmen Ghia 1x12 with Celestion Blue. SO 2 x el84 and a 5y3 rectifier. I have had it a year and I just cant seem to bond with the amp. I have even put NOS tubes in and it is just missing something for me.

I did run the DRD at 12 volts today and lowered the Drive and I am liking it much better.

Hi!

Have you tried to plug into a Ceramic speaker instead?
Maybe you get to much treble with Celestion Blue...

Danny Boy

thesjkexperience wrote:It is the Carmen Ghia 1x12 with Celestion Blue. SO 2 x el84 and a 5y3 rectifier. I have had it a year and I just cant seem to bond with the amp. I have even put NOS tubes in and it is just missing something for me.

I did run the DRD at 12 volts today and lowered the Drive and I am liking it much better.

.... I only ask because I checked out a Ceriatone clone recently(4xEL84, 18/36 watts).... It had orange caps, a variable line out jack, tube rectifier, full tone stack, point to point wired, etc. I think he said the resistors and capacitors were rated at 1 watt. ... Anyway, the cranked amp sounded really good by itself. However, when I plugged the EGDM into the equation(while the amp builder was 2 rooms away), he came in the room and commented on how the harmonics sounded killer.... I never told him it was the EGDM. Anyway, I left thinking that the EGDM really enhanced the amp and not vice versa.

What type of amp are you using, since you're getting rid of the Dr Z? An amp with 6L6's??

I don't have any ceramic speakers at the moment. I did put a 5U4GB rectifier tube in my Swart (instead of a 5V4GYB) and put in JJ 6V6 (half way between a real 6V6 and 6L6) to firm things up as much as I can. I don't really like the amp with a 5AR4 and the 5881's I have. I wish Swart would use a larger box for their amps so they would get more lower resonance.

I am looking at a Tungsten Amps Crema Wheat that has a 5e3 feel but far more headroom at 21 Watts, so it should take pedals better. It will also take 6L6 tubes which may work better in a Deluxe size box. They also make a 25 Watt, Neil Young, style amp in the Cortez which is a 6L6 5e3 with a big ceramic speaker. I need to write Tungsten and see which would be the better fit. I am limited to amp size as I have metal rods in my back and I don't want anything over 40 pounds.

The DRD is a box that gets better and better as the volume goes up! Now that I have had it a few days I am getting better at dialing it in and Bjorn's recommendation of 12 volts was a good one. I did notice that as you dropped the voltage you get a lower resonance which was what I was going for originally, but a tighter sound actually works better with my squishy amps.

My current amps are a Victoria 20112 with Celestion Blue (it is a Tweed Deluxe 5e3 with 6V6 and 5y3. I also have a Swart AST PRO that I can run 6v6 or 6L6, and any rectifier tube.