I have made this mistake several times. I purchase ceramic tube sockets for my amp – you know – “Fender” size. However the older tube amps have the hole cut smaller. They don’t fit.
As I debug a popping sound in my amp – I reach for a chopstick. Very useful for more than eating!
I was amazed at the tone my friend got with his very good Carr Amp. I loved the detailed midrange of the amp. Unfortunately I couldn’t connect my Bassman to his speaker easily, so I took a chance and purchased an Eminence speaker that someone from the forum was selling. On paper, the speaker response of the different models look very close. The main differences being the bass and midrange response.
The Legend speaker I got did remind me of the tone of the Wizard – much better midrange than what I am used to getting with my Celestion Greenbacks. It brought out the nice midrange of my guitar, without any of the harsher tones. Based on this, I wouldn’t hesitate to try a Wizard speaker, even though it’s a brighter speaker. So far I am sold on Eminence speakers…. Very good!
when your amp circuit board is conductive:
Here’s a simple tube article I wrote a while back that beginners might like.
Here are some great words from Kevin O’Connor – they really speak to me and the spirit of DIY:
from TUT5 preface:
http://londonpower.com/books/tut5.htm
“In the coincidence of two hobbies – playing an instrument and wielding a soldering iron – we can double our fun. We can expand our musical dexterity while learning new electronic tricks to make new sounds We remember the joy of discovering how to play out first chord, or sound a note cleanly, and we try to capture that feeling. Similarly, there was the sense of wonder in learning how some of the black magic of electronics works, and the specific voodoo of guitar amps became less mysterious.
There will always be people who think something they know is special and “just for them”. They will try to cloister their knowledge and obfuscate the truth, perpetuating myths that make it harder for the more communal-minded persons to move forward in their own paths.”
Whenever we can, we try to clear the path for others, as others have done for us. Through these writings, we hope to imbue a spirit of community amongst those within our hobby and industry. We can discover new methods together, to achieve our individual sounds, and to share and enlighten the world. We can all make a living while doing so, provided there is value in what we offer. Fortunately, like-minded people are in the majority.
I was reading the Gar book on amps and was reminded about the speaker protection resistor in my Traynor amp. It’s basically a 200 ohm, 20 watt resistor wired on the speaker output jack. One end is connected to the tip, the other to ground. In other words, a 200 ohm, 20 watt resistor from tip to ground.
This can help protect your amp if you forget to plug in the speaker at either end (amp or cab) and can help protect your output transformer. I should put this on some of my amps.
Are still online. Check out the Real McTube and others.