I got a tube dilemma right now. My amp, Fender Hot Rod DeVille 4X10, uses two 6L6s as the power tubes. Last night, during the first set, I was experiencing a lack of power and the clean sound was overdiving. After the set, I pulled the amp off the stand so I could look at the back of it which, involves a sort of major hassle in a tight space like it is at the Pub. One of the tubes was glowing purple; not good. I just kind of wiggled it a little and then, it started glowing orange; good. The problem re-occurred a couple of times but, not as bad as during the first set.
This morning, I took the back panel and fired up the amp, let it warm up good and the tube that was glowing purple before looked fine, the other tube wasn’t glowing at all; hmmmm….so, I wiggled that one around and it started working fine. The first one may have been glowing purple because the other one was loose, maybe. I played at different volumes for an hour or so then, put the amp on stand-by and, the second tube stopped glowing again…wiggled it and it’s back on. The whole thing could be that it’s just a loose tube but, my gut says no. Anyway, I have to make the decision to run up to Springfield to grab a set of 6L6s and, I need to do it in the next hour or so.
Speaking of Springfield, there is some interesting guitar history associated with the town. I’m not an authority by any means but, the thing is, when I talk to people who have been around the area for a long time, I get bits and pieces.
I found an interesting song on YouTube a while back by Thumbs Carllile called “Springfield Guitar Social”. I don’t know much about the record but, I do know that all of the guys he mentions on it like, Grady Martin, Jimmy Bryant, Billy Byrd, Speedy West, Hank Garland and Thumbs himself made regular appearances on the Ozarks Jubilee TV show that emanated from Springfield in 50’s and early 60s. A couple of others, Les Paul and Chet Atkins, had regular jobs on the radio at KWTO in Springfield before the Jubilee ever came along.
It’s a fun record, check it out.
As always, when nobody is looking, press pause on the music player located in the side bar before playing the YouTube.
Now, if you don’t know about Thumbs Carllile, here’s a video that demonstrates his technique of playing the guitar in his lap. The description at YT said this was Thumbs warming up on “Cotton Eyed Joe”. He goes in to some chord subs at the end that are real neat. It will give you a general idea.
A phenomenal player. One guy who raved a lot about Thumbs was Danny Gatton. At one point, Danny and Thumbs were in Roger Miller’s band at the same time. That’s a lot of guitar for one room. By the way, you can find all of the Thumbs Carllile at the official site, click here.
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Tags: Danny Gatton, Guitar, guitar history, Springfield, Thumbs Carllile
Pat Darnell and Friends wrote,
You’re forgiven for having purple tubes… just wait till you get older and they turn a darker shade of blue.
Link | September 6th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
J wrote,
Sounds like you need your valves dusted and cleaned. Or maybe you need a capjob?
(don’t read too much into those comments!)
Is biasing the same thing as matching?
http://www.watfordvalves.com/pdfs/guitarv10n3p120.pdf
Remember when the local drugstore had a tube tester and a case of replacement vacuum tubes for tvs and radios?
Link | September 6th, 2008 at 8:25 pm
Pat Darnell and Friends wrote,
?From J’s article… [and sorry to have been glib before]
Okay, J, that is very, very interesting, and very helpful. Question — what is the power source used at Gig-side. Most “things” that work in labs might not work if there is a surge in the power supply. Sudden drains also could exacerbate eloquent workings of “valves,” as talked about in J’s article. And I’m not just trying to overstate the obvious.
In computers past, surge from brown outs during t-storms destroyed some of our PC’s… seems that somehow we have overcome most of that worry with UPS– uninterrupted power supply — you know like the 110/220 supply that is supposed to be available at every wall plug?
I have checked wall plugs everywhere, and found continuity to be all over the scales. If it’s a new gig place that you have not played before, your power supply might go weak every time the cash register rings.. do you have a testing meter to see if your sources are up to specification for your hard playing amp?
And if there is a way to test your transformer, that might prove to be a faulty source too. Since it fired up correctly in the Winnebagochoocanoe, somewhat, I deduce the trouble is at the gig-source. Look around to see if they have lots of extension plugs in the place. Or a rooftop weed garden in the attic… these could create hot and cool spots supply-wise… no?
Link | September 7th, 2008 at 2:09 am
Pribek wrote,
…and, Cheech says “you ever had your woofers blown?”
I had the thing running fine here at the Winnebago so, I bagged it for Springfield today. Back of my mind, I was thinking that me tests here weren’t at gig volume so, just in case I stopped and borrowed Ryan’s Line6 for back up.
3/4 through the first set, power dropped and things started getting fuzzy. So, I finished the night with the Line6. Everything on the Line6 is a scooped mids type of thing that’s popular with the kids today so, it had me scrambling a bit. I think some people liked it better because it sounds more like what every other swinging Richard is doing. Oh well.
Anyway, it’s a bad tube and, I feel better about heading to town on Monday when I can take my time.
Biasing and matching are two different animals. With two different sets of matched tubes, the bias may have to be set differently.
I did find out that the tubes that come from the factory, which is what’s in there, aren’t really the correct tubes for the amp.
Sure glad I thought to take Ryan’s amp, saved my bacon.
Link | September 7th, 2008 at 2:29 am
Hank Garland wrote,
Great to see your site. Love the clip of Thumbs. Hank loved Thumbs alot.Billy Byrd was Hank’s best friend ever. Those were some very great guitarist. We miss them!
~ The Hank Garland Family
Link | September 10th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Pribek wrote,
Thanks so much! I got to say that Hank is one of my favorite guitarists, I wore out “Jazz Winds From A New Direction”.
Link | September 10th, 2008 at 12:55 pm