Best products from r/ToobAmps

Thanks!

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I got the tolex from www.fabricempire.com. It's actually not Tolex but a thicker vinyl material. Very cool, but hard to get corners perfect so I put the corner brackets on. Before this amp I always use sbrush on Tolex adhesive. The white stuff that looks like Elmer's glue. But I hate that stuff. This time I tried this stuff and LOVE it. More expensive but so much cleaner, neater and less hassle.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B076575WYT/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I have my plates made by www.precisiondesignin.com

Sandy the woman who runs it is awesome. Her turnaround time is super fast and she is very easy to work with. Highly recommended!

My most used meter is this cheap $15 GE box. I have some nice ones, and if you're only going to have one get one that does >500V, but this one is compact and reads well enough that I tend to use it the most. I have a couple nice meters which also do caps, diodes, transistors, auto ranging, up to 1000V reads, etc. They're very handy.

Get some bias probes. The kind that plug into your meter are good and inexpensive, if you want to go spendy the eurotubes box that reads out plate voltage and current directly is a nice piece of gear. Get a soldering iron with adjustable range and replaceable tips. I had one of the cheaper weller irons, it eventually shorted the pot so it's on full all the time (something I could fix but haven't) so I used that as an excuse to get a nicer iron. If you plan to do any solid state something ESD safe if a good idea.

Just posted clip/description in comments. I will definitely read up on Merlin Blencowe, thanks for the heads up! I'd gotten started with a fantastic book with a great overview/insight on amps and circuits. It's the Guitar Amp Handbook by Dave Hunter and he does a great job with conveying his vast knowledge into easy to understand explanations. Link for those interested: http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Amplifier-Handbook-Understanding-Amplifiers/dp/087930863X

I went to a community college and studied Electrical Engineering Technology and learned enough to get me started on learning about amps. I also found a job in manufacturing which pays well but wish i had gone for regular EE because of the stability of those job and ease of finding new work.

This series of videos will unlock the mystery of tube based guitar amps. It's Uncle Doug and he's the best on youtube for this. He starts with the basics and explains it all so well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5SSKX74DKg

But they don't teach anything at all about Tube electronics anymore. You are still on your own to figure that stuff out. You could very easily learn about the basics of electronics online. after that buy this to get in depth. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0956154522/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

> Recently the speaker has become noticeably blown when I'm hitting lower notes so I figured it's time for an upgrade

> but I loved playing on my buddy's tube amp

> am getting ready to record an album

When recording you don't need to match the drummers volume.

One option is to replace the speaker and keep using the amp you know, and borrow your buddy's amp when recording and play through both with

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000Z36F06/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I read in Van Halen Rising that on their first arena tour, EVH was using a Variac and going through a set of power tubes every night. That was in the '70s when tubes were plentiful and cheap.

I've never compared Variac to a power soak/attenuator, but pretty sure the latter would save you on tubes.

The Dave Hunter book Guitar Amplifier Handbook.

I built the Princeton/Champ-inspired amp, he calls it the Two-Stroke, in the back of the book as a head and used the dual power tube configuration.

Weber sourced most of the kit I got from Dave at that point.
Last I saw he'd moved over to Victoria.

AX84.com is a great place to start reading.

You might want to look into the Weber and Ceriatone kits, too.

Good luck.

My recommendation would be to take it to get serviced by an amp tech at a local shop that works on amps (some just work on guitars). They will be able to look it over and see what is needed to make it fully playable. My guess is the pots are dirty and the amp needs to be cleaned up. When my power tubes were about dead the amp had a little crackle noise as well.

I play a Musicman 100RD head that I replaced the power tubes and had the pots cleaned up and it cost about $100.

The reverb was an issue with mine as well for what its worth. Mine was buzzing when it was turned up. I bought some Deoxit and sprayed the connections and the buzzing went away completely. If its the cable maybe they can replace it or repair it.

Personally, I am not saavy enough to feel comfortable doing repairs myself either. It was worth it to me to have an amp tech look it over and do the repairs. They will run you through what is needed and it can be educational. Hope this helps you! Its nice to see another Musicman player out there.

I've actually never used TAD tubes but I do know that Electro Harmonix surprisingly makes a good 6V6 (the 6V6GT).

Just grab one of these.

Kidding aside, the AC15, Hot Rod Deluxe 112, or Marshall DSL15 combo would all serve you well, you're just going to have to play each and figure out which sounds the way you like.

Edit: deluxe, not deville

Are you properly grounding the amp and is your house properly grounded?

You can get something like this on amazon for pretty cheap to test your outlets.

I remember you. A man after my own heart. You can also use a cheap nibbler to make any cutouts you need. But I generally avoid them and use standup transformers and hard mounted power cords with strain relief.

I recommend getting a three prong to two prong adapter for your scope so It isnt grounded on the power input/chassis.

https://www.amazon.com/GE-Polarized-Grounding-Adapter-14404/dp/B00B7PK1TC

One channel to each grid. Nothing in the input jacks of amp, volumes turned down. The only dc offset you should see is whatever the fixed bias is set to. You could pull the power tubes and disconnect the fixed bias to be sure.

This is what you want to build to drain the caps. Order a set of heavy duty alligator test leads. and solder in a 5watt 10k resistor.

Electro-Harmonix has a headphone amp which might be right up your alley.

Another approach would be to mount light sockets in a chassis and use these. Get an LED dimmer, mount that in the chassis and you're done.