Cygnus X1 wrote:EWBrown wrote:I'd suggest, if you like that "fuzzy" sound, try a pin-compatible rectifier tube with higher forward voltage drop (or use a run down tired old rectifier on its last legs) Yellow_Light_Colorz_PDT_05
/ed B in NH
That is a viable option.
I use different recto's in my 67 Deluxe Reverb to get different sounds.
BUT...it was designed to use the GZ34. Which means it can safely go both ways, a little up, a little down. A 5Y3 will work, and it makes it distort warmly, but it turns to mud fast.
A 5U4GB also works, and makes it "brown", almost tweed sounding.
The GZ34 makes it bright and happy.
Just watch you current draws, and make sure you moniter the health of your power transformer when playing with recto options.
Don't ever put that 5U4GB back in to that amp.
Careful what you use in some Fender amps.
A 5U4G is a 3A rectifier tube and will put an hefty strain on the BFDR's "barely big enough as is" power transformer. Try a 5
V4G instead.
When SF Deluxe Reverbs switched to 5U4G rectifier tubes in the late '60's, they also put a beefier power transformer to supply the extra current to the 5V tap.
In turn, the new SF power supply also supplied more VDC to the plates to compensate for the bigger voltage drop of the 5U4G. So, if you were to try and run a 5AR4/GZ34 in a SFDR built for a 5U4G, you'll push the plate voltage beyond the limits of most NOS and current made 6V6GT's.
So, run of thumb...in BFDR's never use a 5U4G or a SS plug-in and never try and run 6L6's. In SFDR's, never use a 5AR4/GZ34 or SS plug-in
unless switching to 6L6's (the SF power tranny can handle 6L6's if the rectifier tube is switched to SS, removing the current draw of the rectifier filament).
Now, there are also WberVST copper caps, which are SS rectifiers which mimic tubes. Since they aren't real tubes, they have no current draw and they are available in any number (or custom user-defined) amounts of voltage drop and sag. For these, you only need to watch plate votlage (you still wouldn't want to use a WZ34 in a SFDR with 6V6GT's).