Fender deluxe 65 RI waveforms.

[ziggy007]

G'day all.
Just 'trouble shooting' a Modded Ri. All good but seems to be running really hot. B+ spot on, and bias at -38v.
My question is does anyone have experience at what stage; ie volume pot setting , the waveform (scoped at the 6v6 plates) starts to distort? All pre amp waveforms seem fine.
This seems to happen at around 3-4 on both channels.
Cheers
Gavin

[Jazz P Bass]

It really does depend on the input signal amplitude & where the tone controls are set.

At any rate, 3-4 on the volume is about right for the output to start distorting.

[Chuck H]

What he said^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Most vintage amps, and the BFish designs are no exception, will actually start clipping at 3.5/4.5 volume setting with nominal tone settings IF you're using a humbucker with any meat on it at all. IMHE Fender type single coils are good to about 5ish, maybe a little less and parallel single coils will give a nice clean tone to 5/6. Pot taper not withstanding!!!

This is one of the reasons these amps are so popular. 5ish for a clean tone, with appropriate clean tone pickups allows for effective use of the bright switch or flipping the guitar to a hotter output for some dirt. Also, if you have a guitar with low output pickups, like some crummy, but popular vintage offerings from Kay, Tysco, Honer, Armstrong, etc. you can still get full output from the amp because of the range on the volume control.

Pretty much ideal. Pretty much spot on IF you're testing with humbuckers.

[Justin Thomas]

And for an AB165 or later Bassman, ~4 with single coils isn't out of the question...

For all the vintage Fenders I've owned and played, if they're un-modified, and stay "crystal clean" past 5, I call it broken. Yes, even a Twin Reverb should start audibly distorting by 5. But this is the reason I like non-channel-switching amps. Because that Gain channel just won't get clean. It's also why I prefer using several distortion pedals in combinations at LOW GAINS to do various colors. I think Marshalls have always had a cleaner "clean" sound than Fenders. That said, I think a lot of "high-gain" or "distorto-tron" amps sound not so good clean, but I definitely think they sound cleaner than a Fender. But then you're into the whole "ournbest clean is still quite distorted!" territory.

Justin

[ziggy007]

Thanks guys appreciate responses. Should have added it was using a Tele and or 50ma 1khz signal.

[Chuck H]

Thanks guys appreciate responses. Should have added it was using a Tele and or 50ma 1khz signal.

I would have expected a 50mV (assuming now because you indicated current rather than voltage) 1k signal to be clean to about 5/6. So maybe the amp IS tampered with. The Tele has a fairly hot (for a single coil) pickup in the bridge and that would probably distort the amp at about 4, ish?

[ziggy007]

Assumed right Chuck. Typo.
It's definitely Tampered with but I just couldn't believe a deluxe reverb could get so dirty.

[Chuck H]

Well,.. As long as you get a good clean tone at full volume and the dirt sounds good If you REALLY want to hear it stock take notes of the changes so you can change it back if you wanted to.