The Watering Hole

I picked up the tweaker Wednesday.  Unfortunately, I got home after Amy was in bed both nights since, so I haven't had a chance to turn it up past very quiet volume.  A quick run through at low volume looks promising.  

Give us your report amigo once you have run through it.

will do.  It will get at least some time this weekend.  I've got to get the Wizard back in one of the cabs so I can test it with Greenback, Wizard, V30 and Red Fang.

WOW!  

Let me get this out of the way.  Brief test, only with the V30 and Carvin.  I am not in love with the gainy side of the amp.  It might be great.  Might be very good.  I may well love it later, but for now, it's good not great.  Prefer doing gain stuff with the Rebel.  (One speaker, one guitar, stock tube disclosure applies).

Now for the cleans.  Boy oh boy.  Charger, you were right.  You want one of these.  Matt, don't bother waiting, just get one.  DBM, ditto.  I only had a few minutes tonight (while the wife was in the shower) to turn the master up and check out the cleans.  The vintage/modern switch is a nice feature, makes a difference, cool.  The Fender/Vox/Marshall switch... WOW. This is SO cool.  You can get all kinds of different but GREAT clean tones out of this thing.  I mean, going through the pickup options on the Carvin, I was getting ALL kinds of clean tones and they were all VERY VERY GOOD.  

I just can't wait to try this with the other guitars, my other speakers, etc.  When I started buying Line 6 stuff, it was to get all different kinds of great tones.  Tonight, I flipped a toggle and went from one great tone to another.  Great Fender like cleans.  Great Marshall like cleans.  Voxy cleans?  no problem.  I can't wait to spend some time going up the gain scale to see but Fender with the gain turned up some sounded VERY good and very Tweedy.  (Through a V30, boys!)  

I have to spend a lot more time with it.  I'll tell you that if the gain impresses me as much as the cleans, this would be a fabulous amp for $2,000.  I don't think the gain will be as versatile.  Egnaters tend to be smooth gain, not bright, crisp, crunchy.  So, I'm thinking pedals will be needed for the dirty to be as good as the clean.  But the cleans.....  glorious!  I AM IMPRESSED!

I think we may be on to something here!    

p.s.  $339 plus tax at GC... (told them about the 15% off at Music 123 and they matched).  

Congrats!

Glad to hear ya like it brother.

thanks guys.  Have either of you heard one?  

I had another session with it today.  This time with the Red Fang alnico.  Only tried the Bolt T and just explored clean tones.  I heard a whole bunch of great clean tones.  I mean all different flavors!  After 40 minutes of nothing but clean, and light breakup stuff, I turned the gain up and less than 2 minutes later my wife got home so I had to turn it off.  

The multitude of clean tones it made with the alnico Red Fang speaker were VERY impressive indeed.  

Clips...............................mean everything..............................hehehehehe

Agree on the fantastic clean tones.

After some V1 and V2 tube rolling - I really like the gain of the Tweaker.  In my case better than the Rebel.  I felt that the PI change had a noticeable effect on the tone.  Great amp.

I've never heard one in person, too new I guess. The local GC has loads of Eggy stuff on the floor but not this latest model. I'll be there this coming weekend though to look at delay pedals, will take a peak for the Tweak.

I recently sold my Rebel 30 because as Sheep suggested, using lower gain settings/channels plus lowered guitar volumes, etc, convinced me that is really the type sound I can handle, I'm simply NOT a sparkly clean type player. But fwiw, the cleans on the 30 were sweet. I tried numerours clean rhythm recordings with the 30 plus thick, saturated lines over those squeaky clean tones and it never worked for me. But over semi clean, slightly broken up sounds, oh yeah, much better combo of tones for my personal tastes. I bought a Laney GH100L (6L6) and its perfect for just that thing (not to mention some mondo gainy stuff as well- underrated amp)!

so Tobe, what did you roll into V1 and V2?   :)

I have a very small collection so I'm sure ther are better available...

V1:

Tried all the Sovteks that came with the amp.  I think one of them is bad or on the low end of acceptable?  Two were OK but uninspiring.  Somewhat harsh with my Burstbucker Pros.

A Chinese 12AX7, 2 JJ ECC83S, an ECC803S and the 4 old Groove Tubes 12ax7s I don't know the mfg origin of.  The 803s is nice for cleans and the Chinese tube is great to my ears for gain.  One of the old tubes is really flat and two are OK.  One is really sweet for clean and gain (not worn out?)!
The JJ ECC83 tubes I have are good, but nothing special.

I need more to play with...

V2:

Tried all the Sovteks and JJs.

I have settled (until my fickle ears change) on the best of the Groove Tubes in V1 (warm and good gain) and the JJ ecc803s in V2.  I think I ordered it with balanced triodes.  One of the other JJs works well in V2 also.

Also tried for grins a GT12AT7 - Yuck in both spots.  Cold and lifeless.

well, I've sorted out my issue with the gain.  I actually emailed them today and told them I had a bad tube.  The amp started fizzing when it got warm over the weekend, the started cutting out.  Tonight, I took the back cover off with the intent of finding the culprit.  After 2 minutes of playing it cut out almost completely.  I turned if off.  The first thing I did was wiggle all the 12ax7s to make sure they were seated well.  One of them wasn't.  It was slightly tilted.  I wiggled them all, pulled each one up a bit then pushed it down to make sure they were fully seated.  I even left the amp facing the wall, fully figuring I was going to be looking inside the back for the bad tube.  Turned it on.  There were those killer cleans...  Reached around and turned the gain up... and it sounded clearly better than before.  

10 minutes later, my wife was out of the shower and I had to turn it down.  In that 10 minutes I dialed up lots of nice fat juicy gain tones.  And the amp never fizzed, buzzed or cut out AT ALL.  

So unless it fizzes tomorrow, it appears that it was just a tube that had worked it's way lose in shipping.  So, now with stock tubes and all, I can report that the gain side of the amp is VERY versatile and very good as well.  I haven't had tons of time with the gain up, but I will.  Right now, I'm ecstatic about this amp for $339!  

Humorous note:  I sold two speakers, (not cabs, just speakers)  and two distortion pedals, and got enough for this amp and 3 sets of strings.

I love this amp!  The cleans are so good I play more cleans lately than ever just because they sound so good.  A few flavors of "push" at the end of the gain spectrum from pedals, and I can do about anything with it.  You clean to light OD guys need to just go buy one and be done with it.  The cleans are that good.  OD is always a taste thing.  The Tweaker is very good at that too though.  

DreamTheaterRules — May 12, 2010 After 2 minutes of playing it cut out almost completely.  

The amp simply going into "Howie Recording Mode™" on ya!  :D ;D

Well, I have to say I'm really loving this thing. The cleans are great! It is VERY versatile. I have yet to explore all of it's abilities because I've liked what I've heard so much that I haven't gotten to trying other guitars or speakers. So far, I've only tried it with my Carvin Bolt T (HSS) and Ibanez JS. I've only used the 1x12 Avatar openback with a V30, and an open back cab with a Emi Red Fang. I haven't tried my PRS, Strat, Wolfgang or the Private Jack, Wizard or Tonespotter.

I have two closed back 1x12 Avatars, and one open back. I'm thinking I'll put the Private Jack (greenback type) in one closed cab, and the V30 in the other, then the Wizard (G12H clone) in the open would be similar to the Tweaker cab. With those three plus the alnico Red Fang I should be able to get just about any tone I want between the different guitars and cabs.

Like my Rebel 20, the gain is very nice but leans towards the smoother side. So if you want the crunchy gain you need to kick it with a pedal. The OCD works VERY well with the Tweaker (no matter where you have the gain set). The Barber LTD v2 and MI Blues Pro are both excellent solo pedals. If I need to run it clean and get all the various gain from pedals so I can switch tones on the fly, all those work great plus the Barber Dirty Bomb will do high gain, and the BSIAB II does the high gain Marshall thing.

I have yet to swap a tube. If this thing get's even a little better with a Tong Sol in V1 I'll be ecstatic. Power tubes... I'll just keep watching and decide when to try something. Right now, I'm very happy with it as it is.

The thing that impresses me most about the amp is, that it is not just a hands down winner, but that it could be viewed as such by guys seeking so many different tones from each other. I'd think anyone from a clean country player all the way through classic rock player, should find whatever they need in this amp. And metal or high gain mesa type tone should only be a pedal away.

Just an update.  I bought some tubes but still haven't swapped them.  Wanted to make sure I'd tried everything stock before I did.  I have now tried this amp with the Strat, and Wolfgang, and with the Private Jack (greenback clone).  I have to get the Wizard (G12H clone) back in a cab to try soon since that is actually the speaker in the Tweaker cab so Bruce felt it was a good match for the amp.  

Still no disappointments with this amp.  It does LOTS of stuff and does most of it VERY well.  The tone stack switch is VERY cool.  I remember how excited I was when I first got my Line 6 Pod or Flextone.  ALL those tones in one box were so cool.  This is much better though because it has the variety and quality.  

I was all fired up to mod one Valve Junior and convert another to an 18 Watt plexi lite when I heard about this amp.  Since I got it, they have sat untouched while I played the Rebel and Tweaker.  This amp is a STEAL for the $339 I paid for it at GC!

You are tempting me Howie, however for a small amp like the tweaker, I would like a it to be a single 12 inch combo. I wonder if he is going to have one in the future.

Is it true you can swap out the 6V6 pwr tubes with a pair of EL34s and not even have to bias or mod (not that biasing would be a hassle, I remember it being a snap with the Rebel30)?? Shit, if that's true - just imagine a 15watt head through a 2x12 screaming out some EL34 brown sounds at a sane volume!! If that turns out to be the case, I'm definitely in.

DBM - The combo is available.

Kabala -  It is true.  The Tweaker is cathode biased so no adjustment available unless you change the cathode resistor (I believe.)  So, if you liked the el34s you could optimize the bias if you're handy with an iron.  I have put 6L6s in mine with no ill effects, but the 6V6 tubes sound so good I haven't felt any motivation to leave them in or buy el34s to try.  After you put up some clips I may get some though...   :)

I'm keepin' mine until it dies or I can't play any more.  It's a nice!!!

Wow, you can drop 6L6s or EL34s in it? Doesn't that pretty much double the wattage too? If so, friggin awesome. Time to go shopping.  8-)

Juan - I'm pretty sure it puts out 15 watts regardless of the tubes.  So the el34s or 6L6s run on the cool side.  Hopefully Howie will pop in.

catching up....

DBM, the combo is indeed out.  

D, you can drop in any 8 pin power tube.  6L6, EL34, 6V6, KT77, 5881, etc....

To answer Derek and Juan, cathode bias amps do not need to be rebiased when you swap tubes like this.  However, the bias is "fixed" so the voltage will not be ideal for the different tube styles.  That said, the consensus of the guys at TGP is that the output tubes do change the character to what you'd expect from each tube type, even without the ideal voltage.  So, the Marshall guys are loving the EL34s, the Fender guys are loving the 6L6's, etc.  Oh, and output power is determined not just by the type and amount of tubes, but the the transformer, so it does not put out more than 15 watts with the bigger tubes.  (someone asked me several years ago how the classic 30s many of us owned at the time, could put out 30 watts, and the classic 50 could put out 50 watts when both had the same 4xEL84 power tubes.  The answer is the transformer is bigger on the 50 so it puts out more watts with the exact same tube set).

The guys who really like to use all three tone stacks, seem to be staying with the 6V6's though, saying they give the best of all three, where the others all sound best in their typical mode.  EL34s do the best Marshall sound but the Vox and Fender positions aren't as good as with 6V6.  6L6 makes the best big Fender cleans, but the Marshall and Vox aren't quite as good, etc...      In fact, there are several guys who have bought two tweakers and set one up with 6L6's and leave it in the Fender tone stack mode, and the other with EL34's and leave it in the Marshall mode.   Also, the consensus seems to be that the 6V6's yield the best Vox tones, which is not necessarily what you'd expect, but most agree with that.  So, if you want a real Tweaker, stay with the 6V6's and use all three tone stacks for different tones, but it can easily specialize in which ever is your favorite as well.

As Tobe said, if one knew they were going to use one mode or more importantly, one power tube, you could replace the cathode resistor and give say an EL34 the extra volts it wants.  This would make it even better with EL34s but would mean you couldn't just randomly swap tubes, as you can now, because some can't handle that voltage.    But as I said, guys are saying you get the character of the tubes even without doing that.  

Thanks for all the info, Howie, good stuff. If I get one (on my way to check them out while GC has a pair of heads in stock), one of the first things I'm obviously gonna do is try it stock, then drop a pair of 34s in just for a goof - might sound great, might not be an improvement. Still, for cleaner stuff, the 6V6 would be the way to go anyway - but having that verstility (if desired) sure is a nice touch.

You're welcome.  I sure like mine and I haven't even tried swapping tube types yet. I got some "better" 6V6's and some pre tubes to try.  

And yes, there are guys who only have one who are swapping power tubes for different gigs, etc.  Easy to do.  Make sure you explore the "Vintage/Modern" switch, and the gain switch as well, when you check it out.  The V/M switch changes the voicing of all three tone stacks, and there is a clear difference in tone in turning the gain up vs. using the gain switch, so even more flexibility there.  (I find the gain switch adds sustain and fatness while turning the gain up and leaving the gain switch off sounds more "plexi-ish" and dynamic.  

Also, I've used mine mainly with a V30.  The preferred speaker (in the matching cab) is a G12H and I have a Wizard (G12H copy) but it's not in a cab right now.  I LOVE the clean tones, especially the fender and vox stacks, with the Emi Red Fang Alnico.  But many guys have settled on a Greenback as their all around favorite speaker.  I'll have to flip the Rebel and Tweaker positions so I can try the Tweaker with my Private Jack (Greenback copy that I preferred over my Celestion Greenback).  

My Egnater came with a matching tweed style chord.  ;)




Tweaker Clip / Download

Nice clip.  What do you think so far?  

Nice gain setting!   ;)     I know this goes against our nature, but check out the cleans too.  Pretty dang good IMO.  

Thanks! I like it so far, it has an angry sound to it, it's actually boo-teeky sounding. It does great stuff at normal volumes, that's the biggest plus. Don't mind the pic, the tone in the clip was nothing close to those settings. That was just a starter clip anyway (still stock tubes as well), hadn't owned the amp three hours when I did that - the clip tone needs more low end I think, had the bass knob too low (like 10:30)..it's a good start though. The cleans are sweet, but I knew they would be, we all did. ;-)  

On the gain, it covers a LOT of tonal ground. It can do a really tight punchy tone for rhythm work or can be nice and saggy for bluesy and rock leads with a few tweaks (but not quite enough gain for metal I don't think, but who cares, a boost pedal might get you there). It's also quiet compared to the Rebel 30 I briefly had, way less hiss, even with the gain full up. The build quality feels better all the way around. The 'hot' switch REALLY thickens it up. The above clip had the hot swich off.

It's a GREAT amp for the money and if you're a home studio recording type player, well, it's a steal IMO, you can't miss. Today is my "I don't have to run day" so I'm looking forward to having more time to play with it when I get home from work, might swap tubes, make another clip, whatever...

Nice tone, that amp has real potential. Tight sounding, a little grainy but I would turn off the presence for my taste (which is smoother rounder than that particular clip)(if it has a presence control). But that aside there was some nice stuff going on there tonewise.

What speaker were you using?

desertbluesman — Aug 05, 2010Nice tone, that amp has real potential. Tight sounding, a little grainy but I would turn off the presence for my taste (which is smoother rounder than that particular clip)(if it has a presence control).

Thanks DBM. I hope to knock out another clip today with just those thoughts in mind, I feel the same way about the tone. Should be easy to do actually, the main vibe is there, I just got carried away with the treble knob and not enough of the bass. The mids are at noon. The "bright" switch was also on. I really just needed a quickie starter clip to sample things. In the coming days I hope to advanced from here.

The speaker is an Eminence Small Block 25 - a 55watt clone of a G12M Heritage.

edit: fwiw, I also used the Charvel (alder) with a Super Distortion pup, kinda an aggressive tone to start with. The new Ibanez is basswood with a maple top, might try that, a more "rounded" guitar tone.

meh, just use the one below it  ;D

ironsheep — Aug 05, 2010meh, just use the one below it  ;D

LOL! Yes, but not for cleanish stuff! And not when I don't want a headache!  ;)

Holy cow, I didn't expect an amp that tiny to put out tone that huge. I'll definitely be getting one now.  :o

Arrgh! I swapped out the stock tubes with a pair of Ruby EL34s, fired it up and it sounded even better! Noodled around for a while and figured I'd make another quick clip. Fired up the PC and NO SOUND! WTF?! This is the second time thats happened - sound just vanished from one day to the next when not a single thing was touched or changed, pfft. Tried everything to fix it, nothing worked, got pissed, turned off the PC and went about my biz. Before I went to bed the idea hit me to try a system restore to the day before - bang, sound was back, lol.

describe "even better"       More Marshally?  Did you try the other stacks?  If so, how was it across the board?  

V1 preferences seem to be a Tong Sol #1 and JJ #2 although the guys who use a lot of gain prefer the JJ more often.  I have both and a balanced tube for the PI and I bought some JJ 6V6s which are not only good but supposedly built like "mini 6L6's"     I'll get some EL34s next, but I'm taking the swaps slow, trying different guitars and tone stacks, speakers and all to see what is gained or lost with each swap.  

Yeah, the only reason I did the swap so quickly was becasue of course I have a few spare EL34s for my Splawn handy, so it was a snap to throw in a pair in, no money needed just for a "test spin." ;-)

More Marshally is exactly what I meant! Seemed more juicy I suppose. Guess thats good to some, not so much to  others. I was kinda wrapped up in playing that I never touched the amp settings actually - maybe today since I gots my sound working again!

 

using mainly the Marshall stack?    I found some very interesting higher gain tones with the Fender stack which is not surprising, given that the Mesa's use a Fender style tone stack.  

I've given it a kick in the pants from the OCD or the Blues Pro when going for really high gain.  But my Barber Launch Pad (boost) works great with it at any gain setting, perking up the tone across the board.  

Another clip, not sure if I like it with the EL34s, sounds a little congested in the low end (?), but it is thicker, more growl as you'd expect, or maybe it's just more "rounded" as DBM put it. Makes for a nice bluesy lead tone I guess, if only I could play the blues.

Heh, anyway, tomorrow I'll put back the 6V6 tubes and start fooling around with the cleans which I'm sure in the long run will be the main draw to this amp for me.

Don't mind the playing, sounds rushed as I only had a few minutes to record before leaving.

Tweaker EL34 Clip / Download

Kabala — Aug 06, 2010Don't mind the playing, sounds rushed as I only had a few minutes to record before leaving

Still nice tones, nice and tight on the full chords. Nice lead line sounds. Altogether a nice sounding amp. Tempting, really tempting.