I mostly post on the amp building section of the forum but this is a better spot for this particular story. This is not a '57 corvette in a barn for $200 story, but probably as close as my son will ever get.
He's 19 and has been on the hunt for a tube combo with spring reverb for a while. Nothing particular, just looking. Since I'm already working on a project for him and he knows how long it takes me to get anything built, he's been checking out Facebook marketplace, Craigslist, used at GC, etc., for something he can afford. So he texts me a couple of days ago, the boy is deathly allergic to speaking on the phone, and asks if $350 dollars is a fair price for a Princeton Reverb Reissue that's not working. I text back, "probably, it depends". So he wants me to go look at it and I can't get free. I ask him if the amp cabinet looks good in the photos and he says it does, so I tell him, go ahead, roll the dice, and buy it.
So a couple hours later he's bought the thing for $200 dollars! Here is the deal. An old man, "like you dad", meets him in the local Lowe's Food parking lot with said amp and needs help setting it out of the car. Old man, says amp plays, but doesn't sound right. He thinks it "needs a tube" and since he bought it cheap at an estate sale, he'll sell it to my enthusiastic son for $200 dollars, slightly more than he paid for it. He likes my boy, probably because he doesn't know how bad he was at loading the dishwasher or keeping his room clean when he lived at home.
My son says the amp plays pretty well, but has no life and can't be forced to break up at all. He says you can dime it, and it plays clean. I tell him to drop it off at the house and I'll look at it.
So last night I play the thing. He's right, it get's loud but stays clean and it sounds about as lifeless as a beached jellyfish. So I decide to pull the works and get voltages. The amp is pristine, not one tear on the Tolex, certainly a bedroom or studio dweller in it's previous life. It still has the Fender feature card tucked under the handle like it's just been unboxed, I kid you not. So I start pulling tubes so I don't bust them when I set out the guts. First tube is a JJ, 12AY7!
So I pull the rest of the preamp tubes and they are the original Groove Tube trash, all with the correct values, two 12AX7s and one 12AT7. So I pop them back in and I happen to have a EH 7025 within arms reach to put in V1. I fire it up, and gentleman, the amp is fixed. A previous owner, obviously not Old Man, neutered the amp for some personal reason.
So I call my son, I like to make him practice speaking every once in a while, and tell him to come get the amp. He comes over and I explain what was wrong and we start talking about gain and the 12Ax7 family of tubes. To my amazement, he is actually paying attention. The back cover is still off so I decide we should roll some tubes and see which sounds best, kind of a father-son bonding experience. We try a JJ ECC803S, JJ ECC83S, JJ 5751, NOS GE 12AT7, the afore mentioned EH 7025, and a tube simply marked China 12AX7.
I think the 5751 is the hands down winner. He likes the unbranded Chinese tube. This tube is in my stash because he bought a budget mic preamp about a year ago and said the reviews said the preamp was good, the tube was not, so I swapped it out for him with some NOS 12AX7 I had.
I have to admit, to my "old man" ears, the Chinese tube isn't at the bottom of the pack. It's his amp, and so I'm willing to part with the now priceless Chinese tube just to make him happy. That's the kind of dad I am.
I'm still waiting to for my own $200, '57 corvette moment. It better hurry up, I'm not getting any younger.
He's 19 and has been on the hunt for a tube combo with spring reverb for a while. Nothing particular, just looking. Since I'm already working on a project for him and he knows how long it takes me to get anything built, he's been checking out Facebook marketplace, Craigslist, used at GC, etc., for something he can afford. So he texts me a couple of days ago, the boy is deathly allergic to speaking on the phone, and asks if $350 dollars is a fair price for a Princeton Reverb Reissue that's not working. I text back, "probably, it depends". So he wants me to go look at it and I can't get free. I ask him if the amp cabinet looks good in the photos and he says it does, so I tell him, go ahead, roll the dice, and buy it.
So a couple hours later he's bought the thing for $200 dollars! Here is the deal. An old man, "like you dad", meets him in the local Lowe's Food parking lot with said amp and needs help setting it out of the car. Old man, says amp plays, but doesn't sound right. He thinks it "needs a tube" and since he bought it cheap at an estate sale, he'll sell it to my enthusiastic son for $200 dollars, slightly more than he paid for it. He likes my boy, probably because he doesn't know how bad he was at loading the dishwasher or keeping his room clean when he lived at home.
My son says the amp plays pretty well, but has no life and can't be forced to break up at all. He says you can dime it, and it plays clean. I tell him to drop it off at the house and I'll look at it.
So last night I play the thing. He's right, it get's loud but stays clean and it sounds about as lifeless as a beached jellyfish. So I decide to pull the works and get voltages. The amp is pristine, not one tear on the Tolex, certainly a bedroom or studio dweller in it's previous life. It still has the Fender feature card tucked under the handle like it's just been unboxed, I kid you not. So I start pulling tubes so I don't bust them when I set out the guts. First tube is a JJ, 12AY7!
So I pull the rest of the preamp tubes and they are the original Groove Tube trash, all with the correct values, two 12AX7s and one 12AT7. So I pop them back in and I happen to have a EH 7025 within arms reach to put in V1. I fire it up, and gentleman, the amp is fixed. A previous owner, obviously not Old Man, neutered the amp for some personal reason.
So I call my son, I like to make him practice speaking every once in a while, and tell him to come get the amp. He comes over and I explain what was wrong and we start talking about gain and the 12Ax7 family of tubes. To my amazement, he is actually paying attention. The back cover is still off so I decide we should roll some tubes and see which sounds best, kind of a father-son bonding experience. We try a JJ ECC803S, JJ ECC83S, JJ 5751, NOS GE 12AT7, the afore mentioned EH 7025, and a tube simply marked China 12AX7.
I think the 5751 is the hands down winner. He likes the unbranded Chinese tube. This tube is in my stash because he bought a budget mic preamp about a year ago and said the reviews said the preamp was good, the tube was not, so I swapped it out for him with some NOS 12AX7 I had.
I have to admit, to my "old man" ears, the Chinese tube isn't at the bottom of the pack. It's his amp, and so I'm willing to part with the now priceless Chinese tube just to make him happy. That's the kind of dad I am.
I'm still waiting to for my own $200, '57 corvette moment. It better hurry up, I'm not getting any younger.
Last edited:
