Outlier22
New Member
- Joined
- Mar 16, 2018
- Messages
- 331
So this isn't related to PRS amps per se but to tube amps in general. I hope that is okay.
I just bought a Fender Supersonic 22 combo used for a pretty good price but I found that once I was able to test it out at volume it gets dirty way earlier that I would expect. (on the clean channel) Seemingly much earlier than my Blues Jr. I didn't test out my strat, only my CE24. I know the 85/15 pickups are pretty hot but still, I'm talking about the amp breaking up at volume level 3 which I don't think is even loud enough to play with my band. The Blues jr can stay clean with volume level on 3 or 4 and master cranked up less than half way and be clean AND loud enough for our band (at least in our practice space). My DSL 15's clean channel has even more headroom. Now, I love the sound of my other amps as they start to break up, but I thought this was a bit "flubby". (not sure how else to describe it. It's not what I expected for "Fender Clean Sound") I was hoping to have a mostly clean sound at 3-4 volume and push the amp for breakup with my OD pedal(s).
...I did also crank the amp to 5 or a little over 5 and that completely changed the sound. Although still broken up, I found the amp had a really nice sounding break up at this volume. Possibly more of the frequency (bass maybe) was starting to compress at this volume. Or possibly the speaker was really moving at this volume. I thought, I can definitely live with this sound! Except that it was too loud for the band in our small practice space.
First does anyone have experience with this amp? (or with the Deluxe Reverb as the SS22 clean channel is more or less like a DR.) Is it supposed to get dirty so early? If so, maybe my answer is crank it up past 5 and to get an attenuator.
Doing some quick internet searches regarding tubes and biasing, I found from a few sources that if the tubes are biased to hot, you will have extra headroom and if they are biased too cold you will have less headroom. (I might have that backward). Being a used amp, I think it is very probable that the early break up issue could indicate that the power tubes need to be biased so i'm planning to bring it to my amp tech.
But my next question is, can you change power tube types or brands to alter the amount of headroom available? I want to get a handle on that before I bring it to my amp tech so I can let him know what kind of tubes I would like. No sense in paying for the service twice right? What tubes are recommended? (I think the amp uses 6v6's, but some supersonics may have come with 6l6's. so I'm not totally sure. Are these tubes interchangeable?
As far as pre-amp tubes go, I'll definitely change these while I'm at it. I think it comes with 3 12ax7's and 2 AT7's. I was thinking JJ tubes based on a youtube video comparison but any suggestions there? (it's hard to really tell listing to a youtube video) I have not really experimented with my other tube amps, so I could do that, but that's gonna be a lot of tubes to buy so hoping for some suggestions first.
I just bought a Fender Supersonic 22 combo used for a pretty good price but I found that once I was able to test it out at volume it gets dirty way earlier that I would expect. (on the clean channel) Seemingly much earlier than my Blues Jr. I didn't test out my strat, only my CE24. I know the 85/15 pickups are pretty hot but still, I'm talking about the amp breaking up at volume level 3 which I don't think is even loud enough to play with my band. The Blues jr can stay clean with volume level on 3 or 4 and master cranked up less than half way and be clean AND loud enough for our band (at least in our practice space). My DSL 15's clean channel has even more headroom. Now, I love the sound of my other amps as they start to break up, but I thought this was a bit "flubby". (not sure how else to describe it. It's not what I expected for "Fender Clean Sound") I was hoping to have a mostly clean sound at 3-4 volume and push the amp for breakup with my OD pedal(s).
...I did also crank the amp to 5 or a little over 5 and that completely changed the sound. Although still broken up, I found the amp had a really nice sounding break up at this volume. Possibly more of the frequency (bass maybe) was starting to compress at this volume. Or possibly the speaker was really moving at this volume. I thought, I can definitely live with this sound! Except that it was too loud for the band in our small practice space.
First does anyone have experience with this amp? (or with the Deluxe Reverb as the SS22 clean channel is more or less like a DR.) Is it supposed to get dirty so early? If so, maybe my answer is crank it up past 5 and to get an attenuator.
Doing some quick internet searches regarding tubes and biasing, I found from a few sources that if the tubes are biased to hot, you will have extra headroom and if they are biased too cold you will have less headroom. (I might have that backward). Being a used amp, I think it is very probable that the early break up issue could indicate that the power tubes need to be biased so i'm planning to bring it to my amp tech.
But my next question is, can you change power tube types or brands to alter the amount of headroom available? I want to get a handle on that before I bring it to my amp tech so I can let him know what kind of tubes I would like. No sense in paying for the service twice right? What tubes are recommended? (I think the amp uses 6v6's, but some supersonics may have come with 6l6's. so I'm not totally sure. Are these tubes interchangeable?
As far as pre-amp tubes go, I'll definitely change these while I'm at it. I think it comes with 3 12ax7's and 2 AT7's. I was thinking JJ tubes based on a youtube video comparison but any suggestions there? (it's hard to really tell listing to a youtube video) I have not really experimented with my other tube amps, so I could do that, but that's gonna be a lot of tubes to buy so hoping for some suggestions first.