Electronics in Detail
Do my tubes really need to be replaced?
With the great uTracer from Ronald Dekker, I acquired a great kit for a tube characteristic curve recorder.
After building the uTracer and adapting it to my needs, I now have a powerful tube characteristic curve recorder at my disposal.
Before an expensive tube replacement is necessary, I can inform you precisely about the condition of your tubes, and the remaining lifespan of the tubes can be optimally utilized.
The tube amp only sounds good, of course, when it's loud.
I can also retrofit a master volume control to very old amps, which does not have the disadvantages of the sometimes very poor solutions of the 80s.
The dynamics and the high-frequency content often suffered in the concepts of that time.
My modification doesn't have these disadvantages. The amp's character is retained even at significantly lower volumes.
The modification will be carried out in such a way that it can be completely removed again.
If desired, activation of the power amplifier control via foot switch can even be implemented.
My amp is too tame and lacks bite!
The behavior of the amp can be changed with minimal intervention.
We are not talking about the gain of the preamp stage here, but about the negative feedback of the power amp stage.
In the early days of guitar amplifier technology, negative feedback in the power amp stage was not used. This resulted in a harsh sound from the amplifiers. I personally much prefer this technology.
The disadvantage is that at higher volumes, clean tone was no longer possible, especially since the power amplifiers of that time still had relatively low power outputs.
By the 1960s, there was enough power available to afford feeding some of it back to reduce unwanted distortion. That was both good and bad.
This then led to the development of boost and fuzz pedals in the 60s to bring clean amps back to the 50s when needed, albeit with different means.
I have a simple modification for her that allows her to switch between these worlds.
