Yellow Jackets® is pleased to announce a new tube converter, its first new product introduction in years. This new device is a rectifier tube converter, the YJR, which converts your 5U4, 5AR4 or 5Y3 tube to a solid state rectifier. It is easy to install and requires no adjustments to your amplifier. The YJR improves your amplifier by giving you a tighter sound because it reduces the voltage sag in your amplifier’s power supply.
The YJR is made in a gold plated tube socket and uses premium components for optimal quality and sound. It is hand made in the USA as are all other well respected Yellow Jackets® tube converters that musicians love. Yellow Jackets® are known for their high quality and ability to change the tone of your amplifier without the need of a technician.
Yellow Jackets® have been manufacturing tube converters for over a decade.
The Orange AD30HTC 30W Amplifier is something to get excited about!
Orange Music Electronic Company is a British electric guitar and public address amplifier manufacturing company, famous for its distinctive bright orange Tolex-like covering on amplifier heads and speaker cabinets. Orange also manufactures amplifiers for bass guitar, speaker cabinets for instrument amplifiers and combination (combo) amplifiers.
Out of the box
The Orange AD30HTC amplifier gives you a very British sounding crunch tone. Being that is was made by the Brits, rightfully so. The mellow gain is perfect for rhythm guitar tones and riffs. For a 30 watt amp it is surprisingly loud and full. The AD30HTC breaks up nicely at higher volumes and is crisp at lower volumes. If you are a metal or hard rock guitarist, this is not the amp for you. However, if you are a rock guitarist looking for smooth crunch and fast attack, then this IS the amp for you. Once the tubes heat up, it’s a rocking little amp!
Specs
The AD30HTC all-tube guitar amp head offers 2 dual stage channels with completely separate signal paths for smooth channel switching. It’s like having 2 valve amps in 1. The Orange AD30HTC amp’s channel 1 has a thick, creamy, classic tone when pushed to higher volumes. Channel 2 has a tighter, springy and slightly faster character with more mids and a bit more gain.
Features
Channel 1 and 2 controls: gain/volume/bass/middle/treble
Tubes: Preamp – 4 X 12AX7, Output – 4 X EL84, Rectifier – 1 X GZ34
Speaker: 2×12
Dimensions: 21-3/4″W x 10″H x 9-1/2″D
Weight: 39-3/4lb.
The Low Down
The Orange AD30HTC is a great addition to any setup giving you that classic crunch and thick bright tone. If you are looking for the classic tone with a bit lower gain then, this is the amp for you. The AD30HTC has amazing channel switching with absolutely no lag time. The clean tone is beautiful and bright yet you can create that warm thick tone if desired. It’s a bit pricey for the average guitar player, but it has a very unique tone that you can’t get with other amplifier manufacturers. This baby sounds best with single coil pickups.
Pros: Great British tone, Lightweight, cool color.
Cons: Expensive being a specialty amp, not enough gain options.
Till next week thanks for reading and keep on shredding!
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Nick Arrietta is a staff writer at SMG. Nick is a professional Music teacher from California and has been playing the Guitar for 24 years. Along with teaching music he is a touring guitarist, studio musician and songwriter. Email: nick@sharemyguitar.com
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Guest post by Kurt Prange. Kurt is the Sales Engineer for Amplified Parts in Tempe, AZ. Kurt began playing guitar at the age of nine in Kalamazoo, MI. He is a guitar DIY’er and tube amp designer who enjoys helping other musicians along in the endless pursuit of tone.
A listener standing some distance from a sound source will perceive sound that is actually a combination of direct sound and indirect sound that has been reflected from the boundaries of the listening area. The reflections are referred to as reverberation. Reverb can enhance the perceived sound from a source by adding depth, color and liveliness.
Reverb can be thought of as being composed of two parts:
1) Early reflections – shape the listener’s conception of room size
2) Cluttered reflections – convey the liveliness of a room
Imagine you are inside a large hall and you clap your hands once. The length of time required for the arrival of the very first reflections is called the delay time (usually on the order of tens of milliseconds, e.g. 33 ms) and is related to the volume of the room (or distance of the reflective surfaces from the listener). The number and density of reflections increases rapidly with time and they become cluttered while simultaneously decreasing in level until they are no longer audible. The length of time required for a sound to decrease in level by 60 dB is called the decay time (usually on the order of a few seconds, e.g. 3 s) and is related to the acoustical properties of the reflective surfaces in the listening area. For example, poured concrete walls will reflect more (absorb less) acoustic energy than drywall.
Egnater’s amazingly versatile Tweaker Head and 112X Cabinet!
Egnater Custom Amplification was founded by Bruce Egnater over 30 years ago. Frustrated with existing amps that couldn’t match the tone of his favorite artists, Bruce enrolled at the University of Detroit Engineering School to further his education in electronics design. He opened his own repair shop specializing in amp mods in 1975. Word quickly spread as individual guitarists to top companies sought his talents. That talent exhibited itself a few years ago in compact form when Egnater released the Rebel 20, which sold approximately 10,000 units worldwide. With the goal of offering the same great quality in a compact design but at a more affordable price, Egnater recently introduced the Tweaker.
FRESH OUTTA THE BOX
The Tweaker stands just shy of two feet tall. Cute and kick ass at the same time. The amp and cab are stylishly constructed with black tolex wrapped birch, wicker faces, and scripted Egnater name plates. Amp controls include two heavy duty toggle switches for power and standby mode. Five mini “tweaker” switches toggle Modern/Vintage power amp voicing, AC/British/American tone voicing, Hot/Clean gain intensity, brightness, and Tight/Deep bass punch. Durable knobs controlling master volume, gain, and three bands of EQ turn smoothly with a touch of drag. The back of the amp includes a buffered effects loop and two speaker outputs (main and extension). An impedance switch offers 4, 8, and 16 ohms. Running the show behind the scenes are three 12AX7 preamp tubes and a pair of 6V6 power tubes. The cabinet, which houses one 12″ Celestion G12H-30, has two 16 ohm input jacks on the back.
Audio Electric Research (AER) is a German company that has strived for excellence in acoustic amplification since 1992. This ambition led to their 4th MIPA award for ‘Best Acoustic Amp’ in 2006. Never satisfied to rest on their laurels, AER continues their pursuits with the acoustiCube 3.
WHAT’S IN THE GIG BAG?
That’s right. A padded gig bag is included which is a great bonus. It fits the amp snugly and has straps as well as an opening to easily access the carrying handle on the amp itself. Pockets all around allow for convenient storage of accessories. When I first picked it up, I almost threw my back out. I wasn’t prepared for the weight this “cute little amp” contains. Its wide array of controls on the face plate as well as the multitude of options on the back reveals why.
To call this amp “feature-rich” is an understatement: Two input channels (each with 3-band EQ and switches for mute, pad, mode, and color), 100 internal 32-bit digital effects, connections for a dedicated tuner, headphones, subwoofer, active speaker, left and right line level signals, stereo record jack, master insert for effects, auxiliary in and return with level control, presence control, DI controls, notch filter, USB interface, external effects send and return with controls, mic input, and footswitch. PHEW! What can’t you do with this thing? By all appearances, the acoustiCube 3 covers every possible situation from gigging to practicing at home to recording.
Right off the bat, the Jet City JCA20H amp is dirty and breaks up nicely at high volumes. This amp sounds very similar to the Soldano custom amplifiers. The JCA 20H is super high gain and has that tube sound that you can’t get enough of. With the preamp knob turned down you can also get some nice clean tones as well. I was very surprised that this 20 watt amp was this loud. The JCA20H reminds me of a nice cross between a Marshall Super Lead and a Soldano Hot Rod 50.
The Verdict
The JCA20H is a beast of an amplifier! This 20 watt head kicks so much ass, I don’t know what to do with myself. The 100% tube tone of this amp is fresh and crisp. This is a must have amp if your looking for that boutique style sound at a price tag that wont break the bank. Initially, I tested the Jet City JCA20H amp direct without any effects. Then just for fun, I ran it next to my Marshall amp through an A/B switch. The JCA20H tone mixed with the Marshall and sounded like Angus Young and Randy Rhoads in a private Jam session. This is an amp that anybody would dig. It’s simply a monster. It’s easy to dial in and it spits fire right out of the box.
Pro’s: Great all tube tone, Screaming loud, Tube amp, Great price, High gain, Sleek look, Preamp knob.
Jet City Amplification is a new Amp line from the guys at Soldano Custom Amplification. They wanted to separate their super expensive amps and give the working guitarist an affordable amp. The Idea came from Owner Mike Soldano to create an affordable amp that still has that classic Soldano tone.
Till next week, thanks for reading and keep on shredding!
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Nick Arrietta is a staff writer at SMG. Nick is a professional Music teacher from California and has been playing the Guitar for 24 years. Along with teaching music he is a touring guitarist, studio musician and songwriter. Email: nick@sharemyguitar.com
Like this post? Then you won’t want to miss the other awesome posts we have planned. Subscribe to Share My Guitar and get new posts delivered daily…for FREE!
The chance to be a guitarist in a band is a dream for many people, both young and old. Guitarists, like any musician, want a place to play and the opportunity to join a band receiving good exposure and regular gigs. Playing in a band can be accomplished on a stage or in a studio, and they each have their advantages. Playing for a studio may make more sense for a guitarist with a family, and depending on the studio, some guitar gear will already be supplied. It is always good to have your own rig and preferred guitar accessories though, just in case.
The style of music played dictates to a large degree how much and what kind of gear the musician is going to need. The basics are a quality electric or acoustic guitar, guitar amp, picks, cables, electric tuners, and some rugged carrying cases to keep everything safe, at least for the guitar.
The definition of quality when it comes to purchasing a guitar to play on stage or in the studio is stringent. While the guitar you play does not have to be the nicest model made by your preferred brand, it should be versatile enough to adjust to a variety of sounds and styles of music, emitting proper volume and tone under the hands of a skilled guitarist.
BitMo is a boutique modification company providing DIY kits for those adventurous enough to get under the hood of their gear and tinker towards improved tones and features. BitMo was started by Bruce Hutcheon (aka BitMo Bruce) who first converted a tube phonograph amp into a guitar amp at the spunky age of 15. Fast forward to adulthood when Bruce, frustrated with his stock Epiphone Valve Junior, formulated a tone control mod that not only functioned better, but improved the amp’s sound. Today, BitMo Bruce offers various mods for amps including Epiphone and Blackheart, two amp attenuators, and a pedal mod for the Behringer VT999 Tube Monster. He sent over his Triple Bypass and Reverb mods for the Blackheart Little Giant BH5H.
DO I NEED A DEGREE IN ELECTRONICS?
Not at all, though it helps to have soldering skills. I’ve soldered my share of pickups and cables but am by no means an artiste when it comes to what can be delicate work. I fall into the category of amateur which, according to Bruce, describes his typical customer.
The kits arrived with a small handful of electronic components and a few pages of instructions per mod. Eager as I was to dig in, I was equally anxious about breaking open my amp and taking to it with potentially damaging hardware and limited experience. But the small number of parts and straightforward guides offered relief and gave me confidence that this was a hurdle I’d be able to manage successfully.
HEAT UP THE IRON!
With my tools at the ready (outlined in the instructions), I unscrewed the chassis from the cabinet and got to work. The instructions explained what I could expect when finished. Warnings prepared me for the task at hand. I confirmed each component with the check lists. And then, hands shaking just a bit as I voided the warranty on the amp and risked irreperable damage, I went at it step-by-step. The time and difficulty estimates are provided on the website: ‘Easy 1-2 hours’ for the Reverb and ‘Moderate 2-3 hours’ for the Triple Bypass. This is fairly accurate depending on your level of experience. The Reverb mod took me longer and I found it to be more ‘Moderate’ than ‘Easy’, but perfectly doable nonetheless. The work is pretty straightforward, but a good portion requires careful attention to detail, as many parts are small and delicate, and the soldering iron can cause damage if not careful (despite a specific warning, I melted part of the switch for the Triple Bypass Mod and had to make a run to Radio Shack for a new one).
DOES IT WORK?
Double checking my connections, I put the amp back together. Crossing my fingers with protective goggles on and fire extinguisher at the ready, I powered up my newly modded amp. The light came on – good sign. My guitar strums slowly came to life as the tubes warmed up. I checked for smoke. All good. IT WORKED!
YEAH, BUT HOW DOES IT SOUND?
In a nutshell, the sound is great. The first position of the Triple Bypass switch (“Blackface”) engages an enhancement of the stock sound bringing greater definition and presence.
The first audio clip is the stock sound before the modification:
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Next is a clip of the improved stock sound:
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The middle position (“British”) offers a tweed-like boost, increasing headroom and gain (volume adjusted lower to compensate):
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The final position (“Over the Top Boost”) injects a fat gain boost adding significant power to the output (volume adjusted lower to compensate):
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I had some doubts about the digital reverb which has its brains contained in a plastic shell roughly the size of a flattened box of matches. But to quote the text in Bruce’s instructions, “It sounds so realistic, I defy you to tell the difference without kicking it!” This is a tremendously welcome mod as even though the Blackheart’s sound is full and warm and inviting, it’s bone dry without it.
The audio examples below represent a fully dry signal:
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Next we have the reverb turned up halfway:
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Lastly check out the reverb at full:
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THE FINAL WRAP
These two kits are a great way to improve the features and sound of the Blackheart Little Giant BH5H and get into the guts to gain a better understanding of what’s behind the controls. Along those lines, I’d like to see a section in the instructions dedicated to explaining, in dummies terms, what the components actually do and how each step affects the final results. From the perspective of someone with average soldering and handyman skills, the mods are challenging and require patience and a steady hand, yet straightforward enough as not to be overwhelming. This project gave me the greatest satisfaction after powering up successfully. It’s not just about the end result – it’s about the journey that gets you there. Finally, though the instructions are easy to follow, I’d like to see a few more photos included to help confirm each step.
PROS: Perfect degree of difficulty for those with average soldering skills. Significant improvements to the amp. Great sense of accomplishment.
CONS: Instructions could use additional photos to accompany text. Explanation of what and how components and features are affected would be welcome. This doesn’t take away from the kit, but would give it added value.
Marshall Amplification is a British company famous for their guitar amplifiers – some of which go to eleven. For nearly 50 years, the trademark Marshall ‘crunch’ distortion continues to remain one of the most popular rock signature sounds.
Out of the box
My first impression was “IT’S A MARSHALL,” need I say more. With all Marshall amps, the first thing you need to know is that all Marshall amps need to be dialed in right in order to get the tones you are looking for. These are not just amps that you can turn a few knobs, turn the gain all the way up and hope for good tone. Marshall’s have very sensitive EQ’s and react noticeably different to the various guitar pickups and guitars out there. If you take the time to play around with them, you will find that all models of Marshall amps can rock the house!
After playing around with the Marshall MG250 DFX I found that you can get some amazing old school Marshall tones as well as nu-metal crunch. The MG250 DFX comes with onboard effects that are smooth and very usable. The MG250 DFX effects include chorus, chorus/delay, delay and flanger. reverb is on a separate pot for better fine tuning. The MG250 DFX has two channels, a clean and an overdrive channel. The clean channel has an excellent clear tone with the capability of reaching that classic Marshall crunch tone when the clean gain is cranked up to 10. The overdrive channel can range from dirty overdrive to nu-metal distortion. A great feature of the MG series is the FDD (Frequency Dependent Damping) system. This feature produces a brighter fuller tone much like a tube amplifier. The MG250 DFX is a solid state amplifier with all the goodies.
The Specs
The Marshall MG250 DFX is a 100 watt (2 x 50 watt) amplifier with two channels (separate EQ per channel). The MG250 DFX utilized a combination gain/volume pot on the clean channel as well as a bass, middle and treble pots. The overdrive channel utilizes a separate gain pot along with bass, contour, treble and volume pots. The contour pot acts like a separate EQ on its own changing the tone drastically from bright to scooped mids tone.
The MG250 DFX on-board effects include chorus/delay, chorus, delay and flanger with a separate effects volume pot and a separate reverb pot. The MG250 DFX has a master volume pot to balance out both clean and overdrive channels. The MG250 DFX contains a frequency dependent damping button as well as an emulated line out/ headphone jack on the front panel. The MG250 DFX also has an effects loop line in and line out on the backside of the amp. The MG250 DFX comes with 2-12” speakers specially voiced for this series as well as the MG Marshall footswitch. The MG250 DFX dimensions are as follows (671 x 489 x 275) (mm) and weighs 48.5 lbs.
The Low Down
The Marshall MG250 DFX guitar amplifier is a great buy for the money. When dialed in the MG250 DFX can deliver a wide variety of Marshall tones. Everything from classic style crunch to nu-metal distortion, and everything you could need for live performance or practice. The MG250 DFX is brutally loud and crisp sounding at high volumes. The on-board effects compliment both channels perfectly. The MG250 DFX is the perfect amp for anyone looking for monster tone but doesn’t want to lug around a half or full stack. Not all of us have roadies! All in all this is a great amplifier and I would recommend it to anyone on a budget, or not.
Pros: Great tone, on-board effects, effects loop, 2×12” speakers, loud punch, Can be picked up for a few hundred bucks.
Till next week, thanks for reading and keep on shredding!
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Nick Arrietta is a staff writer at SMG. Nick is a professional Music teacher from California and has been playing the Guitar for 24 years. Along with teaching music he is a touring guitarist, studio musician and songwriter. Email: nick@sharemyguitar.com
Like this post? Then you won’t want to miss the other awesome posts we have planned. Subscribe to Share My Guitar and get new posts delivered daily…for FREE!
Get ready guitar maniacs! The NAMM 2010 convention begins tomorrow in Anaheim, California. SMG will be there reporting on the sites, sounds and oh yes… the gear. You can follow us on Twitter where will be sending out a steady stream of live tweets straight from the source. Our Facebook page will also be regularly updated and you can even be one of the first to join the Share My Guitar Social Network for Guitarist, where you can expect to find plenty of buzz from NAMM.
