your final tube arrangement?
David, i got a little lost when it came to your final tube line up. Mark's amp had V1 - 12AT7, V2 - 12AY7, V 3 - 12AU7. I followed yours to V3 - 12AU7, and I thought V1 - AT7, but am unsure about V2. That was a great segment and may save some guys a lot of time and money in the search of that elusive tone. Do you use mag elements for the most part? I just could not get what I wanted with a mag and Harp King and ended up with 151 crystal - should I be looking at it from another angle? Just dropped another $185.00 for replacement crystal today.
Are you not going to the line up that Mark has for a specific reason, perhaps to keep the amp "juiced" a little more at the V2. I'm trying to understand whether the % of power should gradually be reduced as you move to the power tubes like (Marks's arrangement), or if that doesn't really matter. Good God, what a treasure of info!!
When we did our last recording I used my bassman and a single 12 in a Sammy Smith custom amp made for Dicky James. When it was mixed it was so interesting to hear all the variations present from micing the two amps. I didn't have a clue that this is what was commonly done and your info confirmed what I thought about that set up - thank you!
Yes, it's your choice. I liked the sound of the AX, so I kept it. Glad you got some nice result using two amps... a student is recording this morning and we'll do the same.
My amp has...
V1 = 12AY7
V2 = 12AX7
V3 = 12AU7
Rectifier = 5U4
Glad you like the footage... we've got more to come! To be honest, when you turn an amp up really loud, like we're doing for the stage, any mic sounds pretty good. At mid to lower volumes I like the CR or CM. I believe the HarpKIng was set up for using a crystal... so you're doing the right thing.