The Hot Rod Club(the unofficial, unofficial)

[Jakester93]

How do you check/change the bias?

[scoots]

actually there is no application form but there is a $300 entrance fee, if you send me a private message i'll give you the p.o. box number where you can send the money...

[scoots]

hey Jakester93, have you looked at the justin holton unofficial hot rod website? alot of info there.

[Jakester93]

I checked my power tubes. Switched them around, and it turns out that one of them is dead and the sockets are fine. This is a bummer, because I've been playing with 1 power tube since christmas.

scoots, I had seen the justin holton website before, but i never looked too deeply into it. There's alot of stuff on it, thanks for reminding me about it.

[scoots]

Jakester 93 that's cool though that it was only a bad power tube. i brought my deville down to where i got it yesterday and the guy e-mailed me today and said he resoldered the connections to the tube socket and i'm good to go. that rattling noise a couple of you guys are experiencing has still got me. loose cabinet screws? maybe a bad/microphonic pre tube? i tried an eh 12at7 one time and that thing made like a rattling noise(bad tube). maybe try picking up another pretube and switch that around to see if you can find a bad one. all of the preamp tubes i'm running now are from the 50's and 60's and there is a very noticable quality difference. if you can't find out what it is i'd bring it in before the warranty runs out. for the money paid for that thing, it shouldn't make any unwanted noises.

[Jakester93]

I found out what causes the rattling. Its simply because its a combo amp, and the tubes are right behind the speakers, causing the tubes to be jarred by sound waves.

check this out -
https://ssl.eurotubes.com/euro-i.htm?page=faq#13.

Eurotubes sells JJ 6L6GC tubes that are made to rattle less in combo amps. I ordered a pair today to replace mybroken tube and the stock 6L6B or whatever it is.

[scoots]

i read that eurotubes article. i guess i just learned something. do you have that "foam" or whatever it is covering your first two preamp tubes? i guess i've never had this problem. also let me know what you think of the jj's, i'm looking into power tubes now as well

[IdahoPicker]

So I've been a Hot Rod Deluxe owner for nearly ten years. I changed out the tubes with the "increased headroom package" through Eurotubes (V1, ECC81; V2, ECC832; V3, ECC83S). It sounds clean and smoother than the original GrooveTubes (although I'm becoming more partial to the early break-up lately). I've never had a problem of any kind with this amp until I put these new tubes in: the drive channel cuts volume and becomes noisy after some time heating up.

Is there a correlation here, or is there another component going out by coincidence? I should also note that the reverb never has any trouble, nor do the LED's flicker when this happens.

Thanks for your support

[scoots]

IdahoPicker i had a similar experience in the v2 as well and it turned out to be a bad tube. i find that kind of odd that eurotubes recommends a 12at7 in the front. i haven't heard good things about putting these tubes in the lineup for this kind of application. i also tried a 12at7 in the v1 as well and it just took too much "umph" away for my taste. my lineup right now is a 5751 in the v1, a 12au7 in the v2, and a 12ax7 in the v3. i don't know if the 12au7 is going to stay there, i'm going to try another 5751 here or go back to another (good) 12ax7. 5751, just try one in the front---i'm beggin' ya man!!!(plus i'm older than you, respect your elders kid) ...beggin'...(also keep in mind that these are just my preferences, nothing here to be etched in stone.)

[Fret Wilkes]

About 4 years ago after reading many great things about Eurotubes I re-tubed my HR Deluxe with all JJ tubes. I felt that the JJ preamp tubes took the life out of the amp. I went back to the GTs that were in there and it immediatley sounded better to me. I do use the JJ 6l6s though. I can't get the Bias any hotter than about 66ma though.

I also have a Blues Junior which I plan to load with JJ EL84s.

[IdahoPicker]

Originally Posted by scoots

IdahoPicker i had a similar experience in the v2 as well and it turned out to be a bad tube. i find that kind of odd that eurotubes recommends a 12at7 in the front. i haven't heard good things about putting these tubes in the lineup for this kind of application. i also tried a 12at7 in the v1 as well and it just took too much "umph" away for my taste. my lineup right now is a 5751 in the v1, a 12au7 in the v2, and a 12ax7 in the v3. i don't know if the 12au7 is going to stay there, i'm going to try another 5751 here or go back to another (good) 12ax7. 5751, just try one in the front---i'm beggin' ya man!!!(plus i'm older than you, respect your elders kid) ...beggin'...(also keep in mind that these are just my preferences, nothing here to be etched in stone.)

I'll give that a shot. In my experience, you elder folk seem to know a thing or too.. Thanks alot for the advice. By the way, any brands you recommend?

[echale iii]

Count me in--I'm the proud owner of a used Hot Rod Deville 4-10 that I traded for. Currently unmodded, but I'm considering ponying up for the Omega mods for mine... It'd be great it the Omega mods were available as a kit, I've extensively modded the preamp sections of several Crate V-series amps and those mods have been quite successful, so I think I could tackle my HRD....

[scoots]

IdahoPicker---"you elder folk"?, guess i had that coming...personally i like the older stock pre tubes, i find them to be more clear sounding. my v1 is a jan/ge 5751, but i think any 5751 you can find will get you in the ballpark. this thread tuckered me out, i think i need to nap now...

[IdahoPicker]

OK, after a few postings, I've finally gotten around to 'officially' joining the club. Here's the one that cost me my tube-virginity....

[Jakester93]

I'm really digging the new JJ 6L6GCs I put in. Maybe its only because I've never had the amp with two functional power tubes(lol), but I think they sound really great. Usually, I NEVER play clean, but I just played my tele for like 2 hours on the clean channel. It sounded fantastic!

[scoots]

good to hear that tube thing resolved Jakester93. another vote for jj power tubes huh?

[Jakester93]

Yes, but I have very little tube experience, so I don't know if my vote counts for much.

[scoots]

Jakester93, your vote counts...

[redddog]

Anyone here running the JJ 6V6s? I'm really considering this as this amp is bone rattling loud and I hear that this tube swap brings the amp down to 28-30 watts. That would be perfect I think.

I just don't want to sacrifice ALL the headroom.

Any experiences?

[degsycaster]

Do I qualify?



2008 Limited Edition surf green Hot Rod Deluxe (Celestion speaker, GT valves)

1997 (USA) Hot Rod Deluxe (Eminence speaker, Harma cryo valves)