Changing valves: questions from a beginner...

[Antag]

Thanks everyone, I've ordered some things from Watford Valves but it looks like they're closed until 23rd so I'll have to wait a week or so.

I'll report back once I've tried them! :)

[asianaxeman]

Thanks everyone, I've ordered some things from Watford Valves but it looks like they're closed until 23rd so I'll have to wait a week or so.

I'll report back once I've tried them! :)

You're nuts mate for even thinking about doing this yourself, you could actually kill yourself doing it or you will seriously hurt your wallet if you mess it up. I had my engl screamer power tubes changed by an awesome tech called phil Gower in Birmingham- you can contact him through birmingham PMT guitar store- he changed the ENGL tubes and rebiased/ full setup for a very reasonable fee- changed them for electorharmonix tubes which I think you might be looking for- nicer more warm tone, sounds less harsh in the mids and highs compared to the ENGL valves. When my fireball's due a change, there's only one tech I'm going back to- the guy fixes vintage stuff to modern stuff for loads of touring bands, you should see his workshop, loads of boutique amps, like a sweet shop! you got to be real careful with engl amps cos since synergy the previous distributor messed up things there's minimal uk tech support from engl. Before I knew about Phil, I had to send away my engl screamer for repair through soundcontol and it took em friggin 8 months to get it back from the engl tech and it came back in a state, so much so, they had to get me a new one!

[Antag]

You're nuts mate for even thinking about doing this yourself, you could actually kill yourself doing it or you will seriously hurt your wallet if you mess it up.

I'm not going near the power tubes - only the preamp tubes.  If/when I want the power tubes changes I will undoubtedly take it to a tech... :)

[Antag]

OK, the definition of frustration: having successfully installed 6 new valves, but it's after 22:00 & both my children are asleep  :(

I am soooo tempted to just say "f___ it", power the thing on & make some METAL right now :twisted: :lol:

[Dmoney]

... I had to send away my engl screamer for repair through soundcontol and it took em friggin 8 months to get it back from the engl tech and it came back in a state, so much so, they had to get me a new one!

I had a similar problem once but not with Soundcontrol. I was without an amp for almost a year.

I got the Weber Bias Rite, 4 head job. I've used it a bunch of times, so it's probably paid for itself in tech fee's by now. It's handy to have on the road too. Knowing which bits can kill you at the same time as making it as easy as possible for yourself to do the job is key. There are some techniques I would definitely not be comfortable using to measure Bias.

I was prompted to learn how to maintain my amps at a basic level after I had a problem with an amp (blown fuses and power tubes after an incident when lending this amp to another band) and I wanted it looked over by a tech and took it down denmark street (not our JPF) and I was told it would cost me a non refundable deposit of £20 just to get a quote for whatever work needed doing. So I walked out and fixed the amp myself.  new tubes, new fuses, bias, cleaned it out, even did some gain/tone stack mods. worked fine!

[Antag]

Finally had a chance to play.  Wow.

Not an earth-shattering transformation, but an all-round improvement.  It's still recognizably an Engl Savage, with all the great things I love about this amp

Ch1 (the clean channel) is much warmer (I don't feel like it needs the chorus pedal on anymore).

Ch3 is noticeably thicker & much more useable.

Ch4, seems to be fatter, thicker, warmer, with a sweeter top end yet clearer all at the same time.  It's really hard to describe, but as soon as I played it I thought "YEAH!" :twisted:

Neither Ch3 or 4 have lost ANY gain.  None at all.

The only adjustment I've had to make was to Ch2 (crunch) - it had lost quite a bit of gain & on my existing settings just sounded like a brighter clean channel with no breakup.  I needed the gain up about 1½ notches to get it back to where it was.  However it does seem to have gained some dynamic range - I'm sure I can make it go cleaner than before by picking softly & dirtier/grittier by really hitting the strings.

Initial impressions are that it has been money well spent.  Happy Antag :D

[Antag]

Oh, nearly forgot.  FWIW the valves I changed:

v1: JAN Philips 5751 cryo
v2-4: JJ/Tesla ECC83S DR250
V5-6: JJ/Tesla ECC83S