I was ready to sell my Fillmore 50. There were things it was good at that the DG was better at; there were other things it was good at that the HXDA did better (this is a personal taste thing, of course).
I had previously transformed it from ‘merely good’ to ‘excellent’ by removing the stock preamp tubes, and installing NOS military grade GEs. I left the stock Mesa-branded STR 440s installed, because the amp sounded so much better with the NOS preamp tubes I didn’t feel I needed to install new power tubes.
But as good as it was, I had trouble finding a sonic space for it at times — it’s hard to choose most amps over the PRS CAD amps.
However, the guys here, Bogner and others, convinced me to hang onto it, for the time being. I decided to make a last-ditch attempt at a rescue. If it didn’t change the character of the amp, I figured I’d keep it for a few weeks, and if I was still in the mood to sell, it’d go.
I had some spare Telefunken 6L6s. These are hand-selected modern tubes made by JJ, and then cryogenically treated. Telefunken’s brand was bought by a US based company that makes killer, high end microphones. They offer these tubes on their website for their products, but they’re also sold at Tube Depot.
Cryogenics is a method of stiffening metals that’s been proven and used in industry for many years, It’s not snake oil. It succeeds in giving metals greater strength, corrosion resistance, and improved electrical conductivity. Here’s some background on it (note that it was invented in 1966 in Detroit):
en.wikipedia.org
These are the only modern 6L6 tubes that don’t rattle in my Lone Star combo as a result of the increased stiffness of the metals inside the tube, and sound as good, maybe even better, than NOS 6L6s I’ve used. However, I now have a quad of NOS EL34s installed in the Lone Star, which improved its gain channel, so I had the Telefunkens stored in their boxes.
I had never tried them in the Fillmore. Today I installed them and gave them a whirl.
Gigantic improvement over the stock Chinese or Russian STR440s — a transformation greater than the NOS preamp tubes. Much more clarity, more definition throughout the frequency range, beautifully crisp highs, and lows so thundering I had to turn the bass down quite a bit, even on the 4x10 cab. The amp sounds better with every other cab I own now as well.
Honestly, it’s a bigger transformation than I got with them in the Lone Star, and I thought they made a big difference in that amp. The Fillmore is improved in every mode. Most importantly, now the amp no longer sounds like a poor man’s DG30, HXDA, or anything else. It’s got a different and unique vibe altogether.
It just goes to show, the guys here were right; don’t give up on an amp until you’ve exhausted every possibility. Thanks, guys!
I had previously transformed it from ‘merely good’ to ‘excellent’ by removing the stock preamp tubes, and installing NOS military grade GEs. I left the stock Mesa-branded STR 440s installed, because the amp sounded so much better with the NOS preamp tubes I didn’t feel I needed to install new power tubes.
But as good as it was, I had trouble finding a sonic space for it at times — it’s hard to choose most amps over the PRS CAD amps.
However, the guys here, Bogner and others, convinced me to hang onto it, for the time being. I decided to make a last-ditch attempt at a rescue. If it didn’t change the character of the amp, I figured I’d keep it for a few weeks, and if I was still in the mood to sell, it’d go.
I had some spare Telefunken 6L6s. These are hand-selected modern tubes made by JJ, and then cryogenically treated. Telefunken’s brand was bought by a US based company that makes killer, high end microphones. They offer these tubes on their website for their products, but they’re also sold at Tube Depot.
Cryogenics is a method of stiffening metals that’s been proven and used in industry for many years, It’s not snake oil. It succeeds in giving metals greater strength, corrosion resistance, and improved electrical conductivity. Here’s some background on it (note that it was invented in 1966 in Detroit):
Cryogenic treatment - Wikipedia
These are the only modern 6L6 tubes that don’t rattle in my Lone Star combo as a result of the increased stiffness of the metals inside the tube, and sound as good, maybe even better, than NOS 6L6s I’ve used. However, I now have a quad of NOS EL34s installed in the Lone Star, which improved its gain channel, so I had the Telefunkens stored in their boxes.
I had never tried them in the Fillmore. Today I installed them and gave them a whirl.
Gigantic improvement over the stock Chinese or Russian STR440s — a transformation greater than the NOS preamp tubes. Much more clarity, more definition throughout the frequency range, beautifully crisp highs, and lows so thundering I had to turn the bass down quite a bit, even on the 4x10 cab. The amp sounds better with every other cab I own now as well.
Honestly, it’s a bigger transformation than I got with them in the Lone Star, and I thought they made a big difference in that amp. The Fillmore is improved in every mode. Most importantly, now the amp no longer sounds like a poor man’s DG30, HXDA, or anything else. It’s got a different and unique vibe altogether.
It just goes to show, the guys here were right; don’t give up on an amp until you’ve exhausted every possibility. Thanks, guys!
