Arkham Sound Club

[75Ric]

FWIW, you might find these of value:

Here are two sites that talk NOS tubes that I've found to be useful references:

12AX7 Tubes in Stock

The ’12AX7′ Tube - Effectrode

 

[bdowd]

I owned an Arkham Bullet for a little while, and stupidly sold it! Anyone else who has used it and the oracle can you comment on tonal similarities??

 

[Jigmay]

I have the Arkham Abyss (discontinued). The previous owner had a volume control installed on the rear panel. This enables me to turn up the gain and get some distortion.

 

[Jigmay]

@xsogol In all my years here I’ve never seen a setup quite like that, what a beast! You inspired me to set up my rig, which is similar.
Bass> Arkham Abyss> Quilter BB800> Fearless F112> Bergantino AE112.

I have two stereo basses and another setup I’ll share later.

Now if I could find a gig that would handle this kind of power!

 

[XsoGol]

@xsogol In all my years here I’ve never seen a setup quite like that, what a beast! You inspired me to set up my rig, which is similar.
Bass> Arkham Abyss> Quilter BB800> Fearless F112> Bergantino AE112.

I have two stereo basses and another setup I’ll share later.

Now if I could find a gig that would handle this kind of power!

View attachment 4907312 View attachment 4907313

Glad to here my craziness inspired something!

Oh man @Jigmay, that is a mini-rig of doom if I've ever saw one! Hot! How does she sound?

 

[Smokey P]

Man! I think I’ve got a dusty volume pot on my Oracle! Any recommendations on how to clean it up? @Arkham Sound its very very slight but it crackles alittle when I move it around and for some reason only on my open D string it sounds a little staticky. Please advise y’all! I just very recently got a new case for it so shouldn’t be a problem in the future

 

[Stubb]

Just dropped in to restate how much I love my Oracle.

 

[XsoGol]

Just dropped in to restate how much I love my Oracle.

It is always worth mentioning. Just got mine yesterday and haven't had a chance to try it. Happy New Year all!!

 

[Smokey P]

Man! I think I’ve got a dusty volume pot on my Oracle! Any recommendations on how to clean it up? @Arkham Sound its very very slight but it crackles alittle when I move it around and for some reason only on my open D string it sounds a little staticky. Please advise y’all! I just very recently got a new case for it so shouldn’t be a problem in the future

A follow up! The issue seems to be in the bass somewhere but I also am pretty sensitive to buzzes. Might need a new battery or cable, either way the Oracle isn’t the culprit (tho I did work alittle crackle annd dust out of my volume pot). The battery is only a month old but I tend to burn thru them quick and have been playing electric a lot lately. Micah of Arkham was of course kind and helpful in a pm while I was troubleshooting! Happy new year to all!

also there’s been some changes to my rig, I’ve never had a pedalboard, and it’s looking like I will be going ampless on some gigs coming up! Recently I’ve been using the monitor sound more and more to keep my backline volume down, think I’ll just do away with it for gigs with a good FOH.

 

[rickdog]

Have any of you experimented with tube rolling the 12AX7 in an Arkham? My Oracle came with a JJ, but I’m curious what difference various NOS tubes would make.

I'm curious about this too. Has anyone done any tube rolling? Did you notice much difference? What tube did you like? Why?

I'm thinking it's time for a new tube in my Zephyr - sometimes it gets a hissy, crackly noise (of the sort I've heard many times from tube amps), which stops if I unplug my cable from the input and plug it back in (it seems to be sensitive to vibration). And I'm going to be in the studio next month, so it's got to work perfectly.

 

[MarkA]

Have any of you experimented with tube rolling the 12AX7 in an Arkham? My Oracle came with a JJ, but I’m curious what difference various NOS tubes would make.

I'm curious about this too. Has anyone done any tube rolling? Did you notice much difference? What tube did you like? Why?

I'm thinking it's time for a new tube in my Zephyr - sometimes it gets a hissy, crackly noise (of the sort I've heard many times from tube amps), which stops if I unplug my cable from the input and plug it back in (it seems to be sensitive to vibration). And I'm going to be in the studio next month, so it's got to work perfectly.

I had one of the older Zephyrs (with two tubes, rather than one -- ECC82 output driver in V2), sold it, and now have one of the newer ones (with a single tube). I tried a few different tubes in the older one -- haven't, yet, with the newer one.

In the older Zephyr, as with the Demeter 201 I had at the time, I found that changing the tube in V1 had a significant though not an earth-shattering impact on the feel and the tone. (I found that V2 had a significant impact in the Demeter -- significantly less so, but still some, IMO, in the Arkham, though Micah had said I shouldn't notice much, if any.)

In V1, I tried a Yugoslavian EI ECC83 (lots of gain and a big, beautiful, gnarly sound, but a little uneven in its response) and an old Hammond (re-branded Sylvania) 12AX7. The Hammond didn't bristle the way the EI did, but its response was more even and it felt more lively and clear than a JJ short plate. I ended up liking the EI in the Demeter pre (with a JAN Phillips 12AT7 in v2 -- the Hammond and the EI together were fantastic in a Mesa Walkabout, btw).

That said, the Zephyr sounds pretty good with a plain, old JJ short plate in there. (I think that's what's in my current Zephyr -- I might try something else, soon -- regrettably, I don't have the Hammond or the EI anymore.)

I'd be curious to get the old and new Zephyrs side-by-side, to see if I can hear or feel a difference, but I don't think that's practical. Haven't done much with the new Zephyr, yet, but, for what it's worth, when my brother found out I didn't have the old one anymore, he was bummed -- it was one of the very few pieces of bass gear I've ever owned that he was at all jazzed about.

Here's the old Zephyr with the Hammond tube (excuse the clams):



And here's a track I found, from further back, playing the Zephyr, a Monique, and the Demeter 201, back to back (looping 8 bars of each, several times, in that order, and adding a layer each time -- no idea what the EQ settings were -- I might simply have left the knobs at noon for each pre):

 

[rickdog]

I found that changing the tube in V1 had a significant though not an earth-shattering impact on the feel and the tone.

Thanks. I have accumulated quite a few 12AX7/ECC83/7025s, I'll have to pull them out and try them. If it didn't make much difference, I'd probably just get a brand new JJ.

That said, the Zephyr sounds pretty good with a plain, old JJ short plate in there. (I think that's what's in my current Zephyr -- I might try something else, soon....)

I forget what's in mine, I didn't order anything special when I bought it, so it was whatever new production tube Micah had chosen as the flavor of the week. My Zephyr sounds great, except for that occasional crackling and hiss, which (based on my prior experience with tubes) sounds like a tube issue.

If you try "something else", let us know what you hear!

 

[scubaduba]

Anybody have an Oracle or Abyss they’d sell me? I miss my Oracle but sold it to keep funding my big tube preamp/DI shootout that’s a sticky in the Effect forum.

 

[Killens84]

Anybody have an Oracle or Abyss they’d sell me? I miss my Oracle but sold it to keep funding my big tube preamp/DI shootout that’s a sticky in the Effect forum.

I’d love to see your review on the Oracle that has the XLR

 

[scubaduba]

Yeah, I’d love to find an Oracle with XLR. Anybody have one?

 

[Killens84]

Yeah, I’d love to find an Oracle with XLR. Anybody have one?

I have one that’s a staple of my pedalboard. If it looks like I’m going to be out of pocket for a week or two at any point, I’ll be glad to send you mine for review.

 

[Stubb]

Yeah, I’d love to find an Oracle with XLR. Anybody have one?

I do, and I'm right down the road from you. We talked about it last summer but things got busy. I could find a week to float it to you between gigs. I'll be at Tripelroot in Zeeland this Friday night, but after that can probably live without it for a week if you want to borrow it.

 

[MarkA]

Thanks. I have accumulated quite a few 12AX7/ECC83/7025s, I'll have to pull them out and try them. If it didn't make much difference, I'd probably just get a brand new JJ.

I forget what's in mine, I didn't order anything special when I bought it, so it was whatever new production tube Micah had chosen as the flavor of the week. My Zephyr sounds great, except for that occasional crackling and hiss, which (based on my prior experience with tubes) sounds like a tube issue.

If you try "something else", let us know what you hear!

I've got a few, mostly nondescript 12AX7s (Tung Sol, Tube Amp Doctor, JJ, EHX). If I found something I liked in a particular pre, I usually left it in there -- on purpose, even -- when I sold it. Maybe there's something else nice stashed away -- will have to look.

I was trying to pick my words carefully, with "significant but not earth-shattering." In my old Zephyr (with the second, output driver tube) tube changes in V1 had clearly discernible impacts on the tone and feel (as was the case with the Walkabout and Demmie 201 I also had at the time) -- enough that I thought the $25 or so per tube I spent to try a couple of nice-but-not-too-fancy older tubes worthwhile -- but it's not finicky to the extent that you "need" the right tube for it to work well. I suspect that any halfway decent, new production tube will work well in there.

Anyway, if and when I try something out, I'll report back!

 

[rickdog]

I forget what's in mine, I didn't order anything special when I bought it, so it was whatever new production tube Micah had chosen as the flavor of the week. My Zephyr sounds great, except for that occasional crackling and hiss, which (based on my prior experience with tubes) sounds like a tube issue.

Weather this afternoon encouraged indoor activities, so I unracked my Zephyr, took the lid off, and pulled out the tube to see what it is - Sovtek 12AX7W. Put the tube back in, cabled the Zephyr to my mixer, got my trusty chopstick for tapping tubes and poking connections, and played through it waiting for that crackling to start up. Except it didn't. Maybe I just had a little corrosion on the tube pins? (Or maybe I need to check Preamp Out? I was using the DI Out.)

Got so distracted twisting knobs and listening to all the great sounds I could get that I never got around to trying any other tubes. I think the Sovtek will do just fine.

 

[Stubb]

I have been removing pedals from my board since I got the Oracle. I just want to play dry all the time. It's kind of astounding how thick and warm this thing is. And while it was really great with my 5 string Jazz with TI Flats, it's just plain perfection with my newish P-Bass with TI Flats. It's just that sound, classic, a little wool, thump, and low end for weeks.

Hard to imagine how it would sound better, but I suppose someday I'll try rolling through some tubes.