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Genz-Benz Streamliner Part 5

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#864
I've got a problem with my 900. Played 1 gig with it, sounded great. I just pugged it in to mess with some settings and I have bad crackling. With the gain button in and volume up it crackles, with the gain volume down and the volume up it's a loud low hum.

I checked that the tubes were well seated, they are. I tried the power cable and speaker cable with my F1 and they're fine. Tried it with my Berg EX112ER and NV610 with the same results.

I assume I've got a wonky pre tube, but am open to suggestions before I take it over to my tech (with his large stock of tubes - no spares here)
 
#866
First suggestion is always call Genz. They aren't like other companies where you call and wait for a response. You'll be talking to someone when you call them, so do that first.
 
#867
Classic symptom of a defective tube. If your tech finds a bad tube, give Jeff a call at the shop and he'll get it taken care of for you.
 
#870
Typical tube tester won't find a noisy tube, some will detect gassy or really noisy ones but swapping is the best way.

You or your tech are welcome to PM me and I'll walk him through a few tests he can perform.
 
#871
hasbeen said:
^ exactly. When I was with Trace Elliot, we came out with our Studio 80/30 guitar amps. I was working/demoing it for a very well known guitarist for a very well known rock band. He played it and commented: "this is the best sounding amp I ever played". He then asked: "are they EL34's or 6L6's?". I said neither......tube pre with a SS output.

He quickly handed me back the guitar and said: "I don't want it". He had been playing this thing for well over an hour, waxing poetically about it....then, stone cold.
Click to expand...

Yes but there were Bass players like that at one time. I've not heard a Micro Amp that overdrives so gloriously as the Streamliner. The 9.0 actually overdrives pretty nicely but not like the Streamliner. The other Micro Brands I have tried when overdriven are slightly lacking in tonal quality.

If I were playing guitar I would want one. Screw a 150 pound tube rig when you can have this.

Nostatic I agree, 900 watts would be toooooooooo much for a guitar palyer. :D

Anyway I thought it needed saying. I will now go back into my shell. :smug:
 
#872
A lot of bad tubes out there right now. My friend the amp tech got a shipment a couple weeks ago and almost every tube was bad.

Tubes tested good but would crack and pop after turning on standby for a couple minutes then the problem would go away. Unfortunately for him, he can not let an amp go out the door with cracking and popping of any sort or he has to deal with it again.

These were power tubes BTW.

I wish I could get Genz Benz/Kaman interested in restarting the Blackburn Tech Tube Project. Those are some dang nice tubes. I have two of them. They started shipping production in early 09 and went bankrupt in late 09. :atoz:

IMO it is was the best 12ax7 ever built. A complete new design from the ground up, made by the original Mullard people in the original Mullard factory.

A Micro Laser Generated Cathode Ray Beam thinga majiggy.

They had an EL84, EL34, 6L6, and 6550 in the works.
 
#873
There seems to be a fair number of these 12ax7's showing up in new amps not working long or bad right away. Is it the rigors of shipping or bad quality control?
Aside from the issue of tone, what's the most durable/reliable
12ax7 to buy and keep in the gear bag?
 
#874
agedhorse said:
Typical tube tester won't find a noisy tube, some will detect gassy or really noisy ones but swapping is the best way.

You or your tech are welcome to PM me and I'll walk him through a few tests he can perform.
Click to expand...

Appreciate that - we'll do some swapping. He's an absolute monster old school (hate that term...) tube amp tech. As long as I don't ask him to look at that class D thingamabob in the back of the SL he'll be fine :D
 
#875
Red Planet said:
A lot of bad tubes out there right now. My friend the amp tech got a shipment a couple weeks ago and almost every tube was bad.
Click to expand...

FWIW I hear much the same from my tech. He'll go quite a while recommending one tube as being really good quality, then *poof* - suddenly he'll get a bunch that suck.
He'd been using Sovtek 12AX7s with good results... though lately he says they've become hit and miss too.
 
#876
Red Planet said:
I wish I could get Genz Benz/Kaman interested in restarting the Blackburn Tech Tube Project. Those are some dang nice tubes. I have two of them. They started shipping production in early 09 and went bankrupt in late 09. :atoz:

IMO it is was the best 12ax7 ever built. A complete new design from the ground up, made by the original Mullard people in the original Mullard factory.

A Micro Laser Generated Cathode Ray Beam thinga majiggy.
Click to expand...

What do these things look like fired up? A mad scientists lab or something?;)
 
#877
mntngrown said:
There seems to be a fair number of these 12ax7's showing up in new amps not working long or bad right away. Is it the rigors of shipping or bad quality control?
Aside from the issue of tone, what's the most durable/reliable
12ax7 to buy and keep in the gear bag?
Click to expand...

I always keep a few Sovtek 12AX7 tubes in my bag. The ones that I currently have are at least 12 years old (that'll tell you how long it has been since I have experienced a trube failure ... and I have always owned one or two amps or preamps that used 12AX7 tubes since the early/mid-1990s).
 
#880
Red Planet said:
I've not heard a Micro Amp that overdrives so gloriously as the Streamliner. ...
If I were playing guitar I would want one. Screw a 150 pound tube rig when you can have this.
Click to expand...

It sounds great, but it's still not quite the kind of power amp and speaker distortion that a guitarist would want I'm guessing. I haven't tried, so maybe I'm wrong.


Coelho said:
IMO these are a little overpriced...
Click to expand...
Are you talking about the Streamliner? Or the tubes?
 
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