Sold out on the GE's. Just ordered a quad of Winged C's. Expensive, but seemed to have the best reputation of the new stuff. Should be here in a few days. Keeping the preamp tubes in now, but we shall see.
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2013 Ampeg V-4B 100W Reissue Pt2
- Thread starter Chef
- Start date
SirMjac28
Patiently Waiting For The Next British Invasion
Better not wait if you want them as Winged -C-'s are out of production and supplies are running low.
Always something to drain off your spending money.
But it's gonna take money
A whole lotta spending money
Its gonne take plenty of money
To do it right child.
Always something to drain off your spending money.
But it's gonna take money
A whole lotta spending money
Its gonne take plenty of money
To do it right child.
SirMjac28
Patiently Waiting For The Next British Invasion
They are still being produced under a new name SED(Svetlana Electronic Devices) Sevetlana over extended itself markenting in the US,and the market did not support the expansion and the US division went bankrupt. New Sensor bought the rights to the Svetlana name for use in North America, much to the distaste of the parent Svetlana. So now Svetlana can not market products under its name in the US, because it does not own them in the US. The name it uses is SED, Svetlana Electronic Devices. The products marketed in the us as Svetlana are NOT produced by SED, they are made my New Sensor in their Reflektor factory they are the same folks who make JJ's,Sovteks and EH tubes SED tubes are made in St Petersburg Russia so when you search for new production Winged C's look for the SED brand. I love that song beans no truer words spoken.
I may go ahead and order a set of the Winged-C's If they are as good as I hear. I just want to have a set of tubes on hand for when I need them. The TAD tubes look pretty good also.
I think I read the link where you got that from (tdpri?), and that was from 2012. Since then, SED quit making consumer audio tubes, and that's why the prices went way up. Personally, I would never in a million years pay GE prices for Russian tubes. I saw GE's cost like $250 for a matched quad, and that's almost what Winged C's cost now.
I think my experiences with swapping 6L6's in my B-15N and 73 Super Reverb kind of soured me on the importance of what kind of power tubes I use. At one time, I had a GE pair, an RCA gray plate pair, a Sovtek pair, and a JJ pair, and I couldn't tell a lick of difference when I swapped them out.
OTOH, I unfortunately had an accident two years ago with one of the the RCA's, but up until then, those tubes had lasted decades in my Super Reverb...since 1973. The GE pair I bought used, and they've lasted 6 years so far in my B-15N and still sound good. Before the V4B, the longest I ever had a JJ 6L6 set last is 3 months, and one set was microphonic out of the box. But I've got about 8 months with the V4B now, and they even survived a 3-ft drop onto a concrete floor, so maybe they're getting better overall.
I think my experiences with swapping 6L6's in my B-15N and 73 Super Reverb kind of soured me on the importance of what kind of power tubes I use. At one time, I had a GE pair, an RCA gray plate pair, a Sovtek pair, and a JJ pair, and I couldn't tell a lick of difference when I swapped them out.
OTOH, I unfortunately had an accident two years ago with one of the the RCA's, but up until then, those tubes had lasted decades in my Super Reverb...since 1973. The GE pair I bought used, and they've lasted 6 years so far in my B-15N and still sound good. Before the V4B, the longest I ever had a JJ 6L6 set last is 3 months, and one set was microphonic out of the box. But I've got about 8 months with the V4B now, and they even survived a 3-ft drop onto a concrete floor, so maybe they're getting better overall.
It is a complicated story from what I understand. There was a distributor in the UK that handled the tubes world wide except for North America which came under a different agreement. It is my understanding that Svetlana are out of the consumer tubes business as Jimmy said. They are a huge company and still make other types of tubes.
Some info here: http://music-electronics-forum.com/t32158/
This is the company: Invalid Link Removed -- google translate can help. The english version seems to be broken but it used to work. The web site is out of date and doesn't reflect the consumer changes.
The problem is, a lot of the web sites are out of date so there is a lot of conflicting information concerning these tubes out there.
SirMjac28
Patiently Waiting For The Next British Invasion
You're right Jimmy and Beans I stand corrected gentlemen I always thought tube sellers were saying that to drive the prices up and I agree I like GE tubes but only when I can get them cheap enough.
Can anyone give me a quick rundown of any issues that these reissues are having in the first run? How long have they even been out for? I'm having a lot of problems with my Mesa prodigy and although I love this amp my old V4BH is getting most of my bass playing now as every time I take the Prodigy out of the house I seemingly have problems with it.
I wanted something light and small but my old V4BH sounds killer so if these new ones sound better I'm in! I'd love to hear of any reliability issues as I really want to feel good taking this amp out if the house without a backup.
I wanted something light and small but my old V4BH sounds killer so if these new ones sound better I'm in! I'd love to hear of any reliability issues as I really want to feel good taking this amp out if the house without a backup.
If you like the V4-BH then you will really Like the V4-B Reissue. This thing has the best tone of any amp I've ever owned or played through. It is also very loud and punchy to only be 100 watts.
My V4Br has been perfectly reliable so far.
There have been a couple of recent problems with ones after shipping/receiving that are undiagnosed as far as I know - but overall it seems they have been a success as far as tone - power - and reliability.
I have no regrets letting my '72 go after purchasing the new one.
Well nevertheless for me, the Winged C's are on their way here, and come overwhelmingly more recommended than the JJ's. It's a great-sounding amp, aside from that weird tube. I'd like to find a couple old Sunn 215s to run it into, like the 68 I used to own.
Anyone recommend replacing the preamp tubes? My impulse is just to see how it goes.
Anyone recommend replacing the preamp tubes? My impulse is just to see how it goes.
Though a relatively short period of time, I've been gigging mine since the end of 2013 and have had zero problems.
SirMjac28
Patiently Waiting For The Next British Invasion
I would see how the Winged C's sound with the JJ pre and driver tubes I plan on changing mine to NOS Sylvania's if the JJ's fail.
After I dropped my V4B and broke the V1 pre tube, I did a little bit of experimenting with the V1 pre tube using a Ruby, a no-name NOS tube that I think is GE, and some NOS Raytheons from Japan. The NOS tubes made it a shade brighter but it wasn't an overwhelming difference. It was, however, enough to where I went to Sam Ash the next day and bought another JJ. To me, it just sounds right with the JJ. The Ruby sounded the same as the JJ, too, but I needed it in my Super Reverb.
I found the offending tube. It's the second from the right, and it's hanging there crooked. I thought it might be the socket, maybe, but my guess is that the base is warped and that's what's causing it to rattle. When I hold that tube still and hit a note or tap the amp, no rattle. Let go of the tube, rattle.
Tube bases can be re-glued to the glass if that is what the problem is. There are some guidelines in this TB Portaflex Wiki.
The procedure outlined is what I use on NOS tubes. I don't know if the glue on your tube is the same but it would be worth a try. I use a lot of solvent, enough to loosen the glue and then press the glass envelope into the base. I tie it down overnight to allow the glue to solidify. If that doesn't do it, use the Permatex high temp gasket silicone that is in the Wiki.
The procedure outlined is what I use on NOS tubes. I don't know if the glue on your tube is the same but it would be worth a try. I use a lot of solvent, enough to loosen the glue and then press the glass envelope into the base. I tie it down overnight to allow the glue to solidify. If that doesn't do it, use the Permatex high temp gasket silicone that is in the Wiki.
Well, there isn't any rattle when that tube is held still, so I know I've isolated the problem down to that one. I could try that, but I have a quad of Winged C's coming, so there's a good chance those are going right in. But even if I do that, I will try the procedure you've described, which is valuable information. Thank you for that.
