[Leon]

...at least i hope!

http://www.ptsaudio.com/

i finally buckled down and took my Sovtek Mig 100H to a professional amp repairman. i think i chatted with the guy for about an hour about tubes, Sovteks vs JJ's, Mesa's, 6L6's vs KT77's, KT90's, tube life, amp construction, cabinet + speaker choices, and a few other things i think. the guy was super knowledgeable, and said they offer a 90 day guarentee on their work, including tubes they stock repaired gear with, which are all JJ's.

plus, he pulled an anti-salesman move, which amazed me. his shop has a 200w 2x12 ext cab for sale, and he said that i can try it, but that i should keep looking for a suitable 4x12 (given that i told him i'm a 7 string guy). his advice was to get a solid 4x12 cab and fill it with some standard 12's for the top, and a pair of heavier 12's for the bottom.

i figure this repair plus the JJ's is going to run me maybe $300, but fat christ, i already love it with stock/worn-out Sovtek's and some fidgety electronics... i can't wait to hear this thing fixed with JJ's!

[The Dark Wolf]

Fat Christ?

That's a new one.

[Popsyche]

Great! Let's hear about it's triumphant return!

[Leon]

you prefer a buff christ?

[The Dark Wolf]

That picture kills me.

[metalfiend666]

Originally Posted by Leon

That looks like it should be a poster for a lost Arnie movie

[Leon]

got the call yesterday... it's fixed! however, no money to foot the $370 bill yet. hopefully my paycheck will come in tomorrow or Friday. even then, my current cabinet won't work. with the old Sovtek tubes, they checked the power rating. 92w. then they put fresh JJ's in.

120w

the Marsh(all) cab can only handle 140w, so, i don't want to play through it at all, at the risk of fucking it up before selling it. i'll have to take the amp to some music shops, and cream myself at their expense

Originally Posted by metalfiend666

That looks like it should be a poster for a lost Arnie movie

Arnie Christ > Raptor Jesus

[Drew]

Originally Posted by Leon

120w

the Marsh(all) cab can only handle 140w, so, i don't want to play through it at all, at the risk of fucking it up before selling it. i'll have to take the amp to some music shops, and cream myself at their expense

Leon, you're fine as long as you don't crank the thing. If you keep the poweramp under halfway or less, 140 watts should be adequate. It's just you'll run into problems if you're playing it cranked up for extended periods of time. I know, the first thing you want to do with a new tube amp is crank the fucker, but on the other side of the coin I used the 1x12 Black Shadow enclosure of a Mesa Rocket-44 cab with my TSL-100 head for a day or so before I got my Recto 2x12 cab, and I know for a fact that it wasn't rated for 120 watts.

[Leon]

must crank... must crank...

the thing would also rattle playing anything lower than an Eb (low B - cab rattle hell), even with the Master at about 6, and the Output (power amp) at 4-ish. ...with the old shitty tubes. the cab is fine with the Marshall head that matches it, but the Sovtek + RG7621 combo is just too much.

!

[Leon]

!

wow... just wow. the tubes still need breaking in, but holy crap. it's not a high gain amp at all, but has some nice crunch when pushed. the dynamics that i've put into my RG7621 with the wiring config really jump out through this thing. i can dial it hot and get a nice crunch, then switch to parallel mode on the bridge, back down the volume and tone, and get a sweeter clean tone than i've ever gotten from my Nomad, which has very sweet cleans itself.

i can't wait to get a decent cab. when i do, i'll feel better about pushing it harder. i want to crank it up, but moreso, i don't want to fuck my shit up and have to repair it again

any cab recommendations? off the top of my head, i'm thinking of a pair of V30 type 12's for the top row, and a pair of heavier speakers for the bottom, to carry the lower tones.