5e3 tweed deluxe clone. HELP?

[captdan61]

What I have is a tweed deluxe clone made by a company called revolver amps.It has a jensen c12n speaker. I believe the tubes in it are as follows. all are J.J's 1-12ay7,1-12ax7, 2-6v6gts, and a gz34. The amp has mercury magnetics transformers. and sound very nice. However being a gear whore and always in search of a even better tone.I started looking around.The first thing I found is that it should really have a 5y3 instead of the gz34. I have played clubs for years with this amp as is.(ok I have used 2 -12ax7's instead of the 12ay7 but other than that..) What would going to a 5y3 do to or for my amps tone? And if I retube with N.o.s tubes which ones years,brands ect for which tubes to achieve the best blues/roots rock tone? I use a Les Paul with P-90 and I hate ts9's I just want a great tone.I am no SRV wanna be. (he had a nice tone but he is dead and it was been done.lets move forward.no offense to all you SRV folks but I'd like to sound like me.)and any ideas on a better sounding speaker? regards.

[MWJB]

The 5Y3 will soften the amp's response & drop B+ voltage and power....the builders may have used a lower voltage Power Transformer (Mercury have options on this front) & the amp may well need rebiasing to run properly with a 5Y3. A 5V4 might be a better option as a drop in sub, the voltage drop is less extreme but will still sound a little different, *check with Revolver*, perhaps a SS rectifier might work too?

[captdan61]

The 5Y3 will soften the amp's response & drop B+ voltage and power....the builders may have used a lower voltage Power Transformer (Mercury have options on this front) & the amp may well need rebiasing to run properly with a 5Y3. A 5V4 might be a better option as a drop in sub, the voltage drop is less extreme but will still sound a little different, *check with Revolver*, perhaps a SS rectifier might work too?

Soften the amp's response? If I put in a 5y3 how would I know that the amp needed to be rebiased? How would changing this tube change the sound/feel of the amp? Please explain?

[MWJB]

First off fitting the 5Y3 will not damage the amp in any way...if you want to try it, then try it. If it still sounds good to you then you don't have a problem, if the amp is too mushy for gigging, put the GZ34 back in. That's pretty well all you need to know...& pretty much all I can tell you for sure, Revolver amps built your 5E3, they will know the specifics regarding bias & voltages better than I, or anyone else on this forum.

A NOS US 5Y3 will have a bigger voltage drop than the Russian Sovtek "5Y3" (which isn't really a 5Y3) but as your amp runs a GZ34 in its stock form, you can try either.

The 5Y3 will make the amp sag more, it will make the tone grindier, less clean, if the amp's volume drops below what is practical for you use on stage, then you might need to rebias with the 5Y3 OR simply refit the GZ34 (most times people prefer a tighter rectifier than a 5Y3 for playing out with a 5E3, Fender fitted the 5Y3 because it just about did the job & was cheap, not because there wasn't a superior alternative).