Resurrected Peavey Triumph 60

[nashvillebill]

I can definately confirm that turning the High down, or any other EQ, does not kill the volume on mine. Tried it today to be sure.

I also plugged mine into an external 4x12 cab. It sounded much better, tube rattle gone. And what I thought was a voice coil rub on the stock Scorpion speaker...was likely a really crappy connection where the quick-connect plugged into the speaker. (Maybe that's why the amp quit on my last gig?)

I am going to make mine into a head version, I believe, just gotta figure out how to best use some rubber isolation mounts to hold the chassis in before I start cutting wood. I think I'll use oak, not gonna cover it . Gotta figure out that new dovetail joint jig though.

[stoneattic]

If yours doesn't do that, it seems like I've got something weird going on with my tone stack then. I undid the jumper clip, but it didn't help.

Figuring that what ever is wrong is likely on the tone board I pulled it out and looked to see if maybe when I was reflowing anything I made an extra connection but I couldn't find anything that looked goofy. I guess I'll look over the rest of the boards even though it seems to me that it's not likely the PS, power or preamp boards. I'm going to look over the schematic and see if I can figure out what could cause the High EQ to act as a volume.

On yours, don't you think if it were the speaker connection at the last gig that it wouldn't have lost volume throughout the night like you said, but just quit entirely or became intermittent? Of course if you were losing the connection to the speaker you're lucky you didn't take out the output transformer.

[stoneattic]

Solved! I found a minute solder connection between one of the components legs (I don't remember which one) and of the the support legs of a pot. At first I thought nothing of it since the support leg solder point doesn't have any traces, but it eventually hit me that it was grounded when mounted in the chassis. I threw it back together for a quick test it is appears that the tone is back and High EQ is working as it should.

[Lostfollicles]

Well done! Stoneattic That was a good bit of fault finding!
I am still trying to get my Triumph 6o Combo to sound better on the crunch/ultra channels I've tried quite a few mods but I'm still not happy with the harsh sounding breakup/distortion!
Changing C20 & C13 to .01uF made quite a bit of difference to the bass responce on crunch/ultra but as I said before it's the horrible way in which this amp breaks up it's almost (transistor like clipping) which is crap for a valve amp that is built like a tank!!
There must be someone out there that has tweaked this beast into having a smoother sounding distortion!!
HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!
Anyone...........................???????????
Regards
Lostfollicles

[Lostfollicles]

Forgot to mention I've changed V2 to a 12AT7 which has reduced the gain to a more managable level but it's still sounds too harsh for my ears!

Help!! Anyone.......................??????
Regards
Lostfollicles

[nashvillebill]

You might try a 5751 in V2 instead of a 12AT7. It's got roughly the same gain as the 12AT7 but its impedance more closely matches the original 12AX7. Maybe with the cap changes you've tried, perhaps that would smooth it out for you.

Glad to hear you solved the tone problem, stoneattic!

[Lostfollicles]

Thank you nashvillebill

I will definately give a 5751 a try when I can source one in Spain!

Regards

Lostfollicles

[nashvillebill]

Another possibility, which I have not tried: Perhaps put a ECC 832 (I think it's a 12DW7, in the US nomenclature) in V1. This should have a lower mu of about 17 for one section, but a mu of 100 (like the original 12AX7) for the other. I think the pinouts would work nicely for this: it'd keep the first gain stage of the amp as-is, but reduce the gain in the Ultra/Crunch. You'd possibly want to go back to a 12AX7 for V2 then.

If these pinouts are backwards, JJ makes a ECC823 which has the A and B sections opposite!

[Lostfollicles]

Wow! Thanks again nashvillebill

That's definately one trick I've never heard of but whata great idea!

Thanks again bill

Regards

Lostfollicles

[stoneattic]

Still playing around with this guy. It seems that I've fixed the cutting out problem and corrected the mistake that was causing the extreme brightness and did the diode bypass and thick removal mod.

I tried using it at practice again but ended up going back to my DC-2 after a half dozen songs. It sounds fine alone, but when playing with the band it just doesn't have the "crunch" I want. It sounds too thin.

I had retubed it when troubleshooting putting in a pair of Sovtek 6L6WXT+s. I just checked the bias and got 22mA/448V and 25mA/448V. That seems REALLY low for a 6L6, but I hear Peavey is notorious for biasing low. Anyone know the spec for the Triumph?

[stoneattic]

I just put the RCA 6L6s that were in it when I picked it up and rechecked the bias and got 33mA/453 and 32mA/452. Wow, big difference!

That seems a lot more like what I've read a 6L6 should be biased at.

[stoneattic]

Well done! Stoneattic That was a good bit of fault finding!
I am still trying to get my Triumph 6o Combo to sound better on the crunch/ultra channels I've tried quite a few mods but I'm still not happy with the harsh sounding breakup/distortion!
Changing C20 & C13 to .01uF made quite a bit of difference to the bass responce on crunch/ultra but as I said before it's the horrible way in which this amp breaks up it's almost (transistor like clipping) which is crap for a valve amp that is built like a tank!!
There must be someone out there that has tweaked this beast into having a smoother sounding distortion!!
HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!
Anyone...........................???????????
Regards
Lostfollicles

You mention changing C20 and C13 to .01uF, but according to the schmatic, C20 is already .01uF, unless I'm missing something (always possible).

[Lostfollicles]

You mention changing C20 and C13 to .01uF, but according to the schmatic, C20 is already .01uF, unless I'm missing something (always possible).

Ooops! Sorry your wright but I did change C20 as well to a better quality .01uf which I think did improve the sound a bit!

Still not happy with this beast yet though!

Regards

Lostfollicles

[stoneattic]

Ooops! Sorry your wright but I did change C20 as well to a better quality .01uf which I think did improve the sound a bit!

Still not happy with this beast yet though!

Regards

Lostfollicles

Thanks for the clarification!

I'm still not happy with mine either, but then again, when is a guitarist ever satisfied with his tone?

I've got the clean channel where I'm happy with it but the Ultra and Crunch are too thin for my tastes. I ended up undoing the tone mod and like it better that way but still want to add some depth to the overdrive channels.

I'm not unhappy with overdrive/distortion for single note stuff, but chords are a bit "fizzy" as others have noted. The voicing of the Ultra/Crunch is my main complaint right now.

My main gigging amp is a Mesa Studio Caliber (DC-2) and I like that clean channel on that but think the lead channel is a bit too dark. I can get the Triumph's clean to sound almost exactly like the Mesa's clean. Now I'm trying to get the Triumph's Ultra/Crunch close to the Mesa's lead, but with less "darkness".

[Lostfollicles]

Hi Stoneattic

I must admit I joined this forum in the vain hope that someone had done all the hard work or at least new what they were doing ( Especially as this beast has been around for such a long time) so as to save me buying the wrong components and wasting time and money!

Ain't life a beach!!

Looks like we T60 owners will just have to keep snipping/soldering/trying/crying!

Hmmm there's a song there somewhere!! lol

Regards

Lostfollicles