valve junior mod

[echuta13]

So I guess my big question is, am I simply barking up the wrong tree? Should I just be happy with having a quiet amp that sounds great in my house, and either be happy enough with a different one that's loud enough at practices and gigs but doesn't sound great, or consider buying a new tube amp some day that suits those needs? I've also considered other ways to get a tube-amp sound into the crate, like getting a cheap preamp like the ART Tube MP Studio Mic Preamp or the expensive Weber Mass Pedal or something else. Then I think I'm barking up the wrong tree again and that there’s a reason why people have higher watt tube amps for gigs and that I’m just trying to turn an apple into an orange using pieced together equipment and spending about as much as a new tube amp anyway. Another option would be some sort of tube amp emulator, but the tone I look for is much cleaner than those seem to go for, and now that I’ve tasted evj bliss, I might not be happy with an emulator. If anyone has any insights into getting the valve junior to small club levels (with a band) or otherwise, I'd be grateful.

Thanks,
Eben

I think there's some more you can do to get a little more clean out of it. Try pulling a leg of C3 (second triode cathode bypass cap) up. This should cut some of the preamp gain, and introduce a little negative feedback into the circuit. You will still have plenty of gain, but it should move it up a bit more on the dial.

99db if pretty efficient for a speaker, but Eminence has speakers that are rated at 102 & 103db which is a pretty big difference from 99!

You could always mod the amp for a bigger octal tube as well. Going to a 6L6 should give you a bit more headroom.

[ess0506]

I may try that c3 thing - does that alter the tone too? I'm happy with the tone now, although can always appreciate improvement, but I don't know enough about this to know what to anticipate (e.g., negative feedback?). Changing to a 6L6 may be more than I am capable of. If it matters, I did do the bitmo tweaky mod, although I'm not sure what it did exactly, but I think one change may have increased preamp gain.

[echuta13]

The cap you would be pulling happens to boost all frequencies, so the tone should not change much. If the cap was only boosting a portion of the range (such as only the treble), it would affect the tone quite a bit more.