Fun with amps!

Mark Wein

Grand Poobah
Staff member
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Tonight one of my adult rock ensemble students brought his whole rig into class to give it a spin after the amp had been serviced by Kevin Nelson. He felt it was much improved than it had been pre-service although a quick comparison with my 1972 Deluxe kinda bummed him out. On a hunch I ran a speaker cable from his amp to the celestion greenback in my amp...a BIG improvement but man the reissue isn't nearly as good sounding as my amp. There are too many variables to directly compare the two amps since mine has been blown up and repaired many times in the last 40 or so years but any thought I had that a DRRI would be a decent substitution if I needed a replacement is gone.

I also finally had an opportunity to try the 440 through my Holland Lil Jimi..very nice as well although I had to play with the controls a bit to dial it in...the only drive pedal it liked was the Xotic RC Booster....

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Hmmmm. I wonder what, if anything is different between your holland and mine. Mines 35 vs your 50 but what else? I'd plug a multimeter into the bias point and make sure it's not running cold.
 
As I mentioned in another thread, I had a drri for a bit. It just seemed lifeless and dull and there wasn't much I could put in front of it to make it spring to life.

I met a guy recently who builds replica amps, and he had a blackface deluxe w/him that he let me try. Man was it nice. Full sounding and feeling, very responsive and dimensional (screwy description, but if you play an amp with that characteristic you know it). He copies everything right down to period correct resistors, caps, wire and parts/wire layout. I don't know exactly what the special sauce is, but the drri with its circuit board and modern parts ain't got it.
 
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What tubes were in the DRRI?

I've found a lot of times that the DRRIs seem to end up with a lot of Sovtek 12AX7A tubes in the pre and Sovtek in the power section, too, and they sound like absolute cardboard. I played a DRRI with just a swap to Svetlana (before they became SED/Winged-C when New Sensor took the Svetlana name) power tubes and it was instantly nicer.

Oddly, the EH 6V6, even though made in the same factory as Sovtek, is a nice tube. One thing New Sensor does right is actually differentiating their brands rather than just making one tube and rebranding it.

What tubes are in yours Mark?
 
When I had my DRRI I had a really well known amp tech retube it and it made a big difference. Clipping the bight cap and a new speaker are also almost required. They are overly bright out of the box.
 
When I had my DRRI I had a really well known amp tech retube it and it made a big difference. Clipping the bight cap and a new speaker are also almost required. They are overly bright out of the box.
Yeah, the reissues come with crap speakers. Dunno why. It's not like Weber doesn't make dead-on-balls repros of the originals.
 
Yeah, the reissues come with crap speakers. Dunno why. It's not like Weber doesn't make dead-on-balls repros of the originals.

I think that is one of the cost cutting spots. They slap in a generic low end Eminence relabled as a Fender Special Design.
 
Hmmmm. I wonder what, if anything is different between your holland and mine. Mines 35 vs your 50 but what else? I'd plug a multimeter into the bias point and make sure it's not running cold.
What should the bias run at for 6l6's? And if I were to convert it to 6v6's what tubes should I get and where is the bias?
 
There are bias points located on the chassis under the upper section on the back. I'd make sure it was around 36mA or a little hotter. I have JJ 6v6 in mine biased at 25mA. Maybe a facetime at some point if you want to check it.
 
There are bias points located on the chassis under the upper section on the back. I'd make sure it was around 36mA or a little hotter. I have JJ 6v6 in mine biased at 25mA. Maybe a facetime at some point if you want to check it.
The nice thing about the JJ 6V6 is that it can take a shitton of B+ voltage.
 
There are bias points located on the chassis under the upper section on the back. I'd make sure it was around 36mA or a little hotter. I have JJ 6v6 in mine biased at 25mA. Maybe a facetime at some point if you want to check it.
Let me know when you have a few minutes :)
 
Ok, I have to defend my DRRI just a bit. Although the material that comes with the amp says that the tubes may vary due to availability during manufacturing, mine came with Groove Tube 6L6 power tubes, and has a Jensen C12K speaker (although it's labeled "special designed). I can't tell what preamp tubes are installed, but what I wanted people to understand is that there is going to be some variation in the DRRI amps. Maybe one of the major knocks between the vintage and modern DR's is that the manufacturing of the current DRRI's seems to be driven by whatever they can find to put in it. Also, I've noticed that it has gotten even better as it has "burn in."
 
Mark, if I am ever in SoCal again (probably not since my son just moved to the Denver, Colorado area), I'd love to hear your vintage DR. I'm sure it's awesome.
 
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