Do you think the OT tap you use makes a difference in tone?

[daz]

I can't turn it up here but for a second or 2 at a time. I can play it a what i would call very very small gig volume but thats about it. Next time i do i'll see if it even gets warm. Now that i think about it I do recall using it at a band jam about 6 or 7 years ago tho so i guess it is ok. We get fairly loud. I'll be taking my modeling combo next time (end of october) as delay return so i will feel the PT and see after a bit. Worse case i use the modeler. But like i said i recall using it once before with the 6V6 configuration and no flames. So i'll just wait and see. Freakin thing sounds really good so i'd hate to have to put another PT in it for fear of tone changing for the worse. It's idling right now so i'll see if the PT gets warm at all.

[daz]

I let it idle for a bit and it didn't get warm at all. Played it at what i would call very loud TV volume for about 8-10 minutes and it got slightly, and i emphasize SLIGHTLY warm. So little actually that being a hot day here i wouldn't even have thought it had been used recently just by touch. So unless it goes from that to too hot to hold a finger on at about twice to 3 times as loud, i think it's good to go. I suppose had i played it a 1/2 hour or so it would have been warm enough to know it had been played, but it's definitely not gone be remotely close to not being able to hold a finger on it. Question is will it be after a nite of jamming with a fairly loud band. I don't think so. My marshal JCM 50w's would get that hot tho !

[Chuck H]

Well there have been occasions when you've played the snot out of it I'm sure. Just keep doing that and see to it you have a back up. The worst that can happen is you'll blow up the PT. You were lamenting about replacing it anyway. I have a hunch it's fine.

[daz]

Well there have been occasions when you've played the snot out of it I'm sure.

Not with the 6V6 setup, only that one time. Before that it had EL34's and different trannys and i don't even emember if i ever used it out. It's a long story but the timeline is this was my first build and it was a 18 watt, hence that PT. I never played it out like that because i didn't like it. Then i bought trannys and converted it to el34's and liked it for the most part but wanted a clean build so i began building other EL34 amps and the initial combo sat collecting dust till i decided to try 6V6s in it. i bought a new OT and used the 18 watt PT it initially had and used it out once. That was during the period you were trying to help me implement a loop in it. Gave up on that idea because i couldn't get the loop right and just kept using modelers till i recently pulled it out of the dust bin and started tweaking it again. With your help and some new caps and a few of my own tweaks it now sounds great.

Ya know what i love about it is that I have always felt the high end is the key to making a amp sound and feel great. And the problem is theres not enough control on most amps to do that to a great degree. With this amp i have a variable NFB that goes from 4 all the way to no NFB at all, a treble knob of course, a presence, and a switch to add or remove the resistance in series with the treble bleed cap on my gain knob. Each control radically changes the top in in very different regions and probably each with a very different Q. I can literally tailor the top in any way you can hear in your head and it's easy to dial it in perfectly for any guitar. I have never found that ability in any production amp, but for me at least it;s the key to getting the tone exactly as you want it. The only problem i can see that i am positive i will have is that as my ears change from minute to minute in a band context i will not be able to stop tweaking it because if it's not perfect i will know i can, as captain Picard would say, "make it so" !