what's your oppinion about jim lill ? He shows that most of the hearable difference between amps come from the tone stack and cab

[Lowerleftcoast]

I couldn't help but notice some of the amps Jim Lill owns. Carr Slant 6V, Dr Z, and Fender Twin Reverb (for steel guitar). I can understand the Twin is a little heavy for carrying to every gig but why doesn't he take the lightest amp to every gig? After all they all sound the same... right? Do you believe he will pair down the herd to just one amp. Heck, why have one amp. He shows his tackle box will get *all* the tones with PA support. One and done... or none and done?

It seems his *experiments* try to show how parts can sound the same. I am more interested in how they sound different.

I had an expensive amp with tube and ss rectifier and the difference in playing feel and tone was almost none.

In the video a Mesa Lonestar was the test bed. The Lonestar does not actually have *tube rectification or SS rectification*. The switch changes from a 5U4 tube rectifier to the same 5U4 tube rectifier in parallel with a SS rectifier. Idk, the circuit you used to perform your test. Testing between a GZ34 and SS would sound very similar. Not much difference to my ear.

the part that shocked me the most was when he compared 6v6 and el84 and the tone was almost exactly the same.

Why would this be shocking? Tube designers try to make a better mousetrap. Either they aim for a lower distortion tube, lower cost tube, more durable tube, smaller tube, less power hungry tube, or whatever factor they think will fill a niche. The design always has distortion characteristics listed on the datasheet.
Now if Jim were trying to show the difference between 6V6 and EL84 tubes, his test would have been different. He is "just a performer and knows nothing about circuits", but he has found an Egnater that has a tube type switch. The Egnater has a pre PI MV. With all the knobs maxed the PI is distorting, but are the power tubes distorting? If they are, what percentage is preamp vs power tube distortion? What we are hearing?

do you think that his methology is dubious ?

Good question. I would say his methodology is not scientific.

 

[Phrygian77]

The Egnater has a pre PI MV. With all the knobs maxed the PI is distorting, but are the power tubes distorting? If they are, what percentage is preamp vs power tube distortion? What we are hearing?

You just reminded me that the 'watts' control on the mk2 Rebels drops the voltage to the PI, so that definitely shifts the overdrive from the output tubes to the PI.

 

[radiocaster]

I agree with him. The only annoying part is that he keeps saying "I'm just a performer, I don't know anything about circuits." By now he knows quite a lot.

And there were minute differences with the rectifier types, he just didn't dwell on them and consider them equivalent to the meaning of life like people on forums do.

There was another video by someone else who got very close to a Vox sound with just the same speakers in a different amp. I also think 90% of the tone is from the cab and speaker, given the amps settings are similar. Of course you are not going to sound like a Mesa Dual Rectifier with the gain cranked on a Champ with no pedals.

Also, that video has been posted in multiple threads with exactly the same content.

 

[1stpitch]

I don't read all of post or even watch the video yet, but didn't he do a video a couple years ago claiming that different cabinet sizes, shapes, and configurations had very little effect on tone? He even made a cabinet out of styrofoam insulation panels. Does the video in the OP not conflict with that previous video and the claims in it?

 

[Pete Farrington]

The Lonestar does not actually have *tube rectification or SS rectification*. The switch changes from a 5U4 tube rectifier to the same 5U4 tube rectifier in parallel with a SS rectifier.

In the latter mode, the 5UG may as well not be there, HT current will take the path of least ‘resistance’, via the solid state rectifier diodes.
This will be evidenced by the HT voltage at the rectifier output rising, especially at high power output.

 

[Lowerleftcoast]

the 5UG may as well not be there, HT current will take the path of least ‘resistance’, via the solid state rectifier diodes.
This will be evidenced by the HT voltage at the rectifier output rising, especially at high power output.

The point I was trying to make is this scientific methodology is not complete or adequate. Where is evidence of the 5U4 voltage drop 'resistance'? How many volts does the 5U4 in that Lonestar drop? What part of Jim's experiment shows the voltage drop?

I'm just a guy on TDPRI and I have no experience with the Mesa Lonestar. The video appears to show no audible change when it has less B+. I have no other evidence other than the video. Ime with other circuits, I usually notice a 44 - 50 volt drop, if not in volume alone.

I am reluctant to accept Jim's proof of his hypothesis that rectifier choice with the resultant change in B+ voltage has no effect on the sound of all amplifiers.

 

[old school fender]

I find most of his stuff either boring or tiring. I'm never sure if he's trying to prove a point or disprove a point. dispel a myth or create new ones.

I find his methods to be completely unreliable and totally un-scientific. There's plenty of software, as well as hardware to illustrate graphically the point he's trying to make, or not make (I'm never sure), such as spectrum analysers and measurement mics. Instead he always defaults back to "what do you think?" What's the point?