Thunderbird Club

[Miles_ONeal]

Not sure if you meant to include something here, but although I see the difference with the regular jacks, the barrel jacks look pretty much the same between Pure Tone and others.

They at least implied that the differences in the barrel jacks were similar to those in the basic jacks.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

Looks better than what we had. We took a nice drive in the Beast along the river and found an "award winning" BBQ joint out side of town. I'm not sure what the award from for, but it wasn't for the taste of any of the food items. We got different things and none of it was any good. I was glad when we left they did ask how it was! If done right I don't need any sauce. Their sauce may have made it worse.....

Sorry to hear that. There is no excuse for bad bbq.

 

[JJR58]

Yeah that died in the water. Guess I was the only one not watching the Superb Owl

You weren’t the only one not watching.
Personally I couldn’t care less.
But I’m not a sports fan. So there’s that.

 

[dagrev]

Sorry to hear that. There is no excuse for bad bbq.

I kept mentioning it last evening and again this morning and Sandra jokingly said, "You gotta let it go." I told, "You can't let such things go. Bad BBQ is a crime against humanity."

The sad thing is most people don't seem to know the difference or care.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

@Chucky Stiletti …Quick revisit of this:



One thing about my AD200B MK III’s. The preamp uses 2 x 12AX7, and 1 x 12AT7 from the factory. My tech found in both cases, (I have two of these amps) that putting a 12BH7 in place of the 12AT7 helped the amp perform significantly better. Putting out 170 clean watts as opposed to 130 or so. I don’t know the exact reason other than he said it helped in the driver stage (I think).

Is it possible the tube in the 12AT7 (now a 12BH7) position is the phase splitter?

Best guess as to what the 2 12ax7’s purposes are?

Unfortunately I do not have any schematic for an AD200B.

Thanks for your time. Consider yourself lucky I don’t live too close by or I’d be all up in your shop asking way too many questions . Every time I have dropped or picked up an amp at my techs, I’m there at least an hour chatting and asking questions that have answers that, while he explains them well, I usually mostly forget by the time I get home. He’s about 1 1/2 -2 hours away from me in north San Rafael, so lucky for him too .

The first 12ax7 is the preamp, the second is the phase splitter. The 12at7 is a pair of cathode followers, one per side/pair of output tubes. Whereas the preamp tube provides voltage gain, these provide current gain, which helps the output tubes do their job better. Think of the grids of the output tubes as manual steering wheels on a big truck. More current is more muscle to turn the wheel.

 

[JJR58]

I kept mentioning it last evening and again this morning and Sandra jokingly said, "You gotta let it go." I told, "You can't let such things go. Bad BBQ is a crime against humanity."

The sad thing is most people don't seem to know the difference or care.

Rosa’s tri-tip is to die for.
Or anything her and Chuck put together for that matter.

 

[Ringhammer]

Bad BBQ is a crime against humanity."

When I was a kid, BBQ meant grilled with a bunch of sauce on “it”. Now, even though I’m a born and raised Northern Californian, I think I have a better appreciation for BBQ. And it rarely includes any sauce when I do it (so I guess that just means I’m grillin’) but my dad does a good job with some pre-prep and maybe some sauce when doing ribs or chicken.

 

[MCF]

Thats the first one I have seen that looks more like an actual Thunderbird. Not a fan of the look of the current version. You can get a nice Epi for the same price as this one.



Food looks awesome!

That’s the only one I’ve seen that looks close. Every other one I’ve seen have the D-rock look so a hard pass. I’m think a cease and desist letter was involved. The importer is based in the US so he probably decided the risk of litigation wasn’t worth it.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

You weren’t the only one not watching.
Personally I couldn’t care less.
But I’m not a sports fan. So there’s that.

I’m telling you, it’s the best time to go to your favorite restaurant (or whatever) that doesn't have big screen tvs for entertainment. Near ghost towns.

 

[Ringhammer]

The first 12ax7 is the preamp, the second is the phase splitter. The 12at7 is a pair of cathode followers, one per side/pair of output tubes. Whereas the preamp tube provides voltage gain, these provide current gain, which helps the output tubes do their job better. Think of the grids of the output tubes as manual steering wheels on a big truck. More current is more muscle to turn the wheel.

…and the first 12AX7 is likely to be closest to the input?

This is the best pic I have available, of my other AD200, which is already loaded with some great RCA 12AX7’s and a 12BH7, as well as some Phillips/Sylvania 6550’s. I’m not making any changes to this one. The farthest(tallest) is the 12BH7, the closest 12AX7 is on the same side of the amp as the input and gain knob. So my powers of deduction say the middle tube is the phase splitter(?).

 

[WillyW]

Here’s one good description.
Or at least the graphic tells part of the story.
View attachment 5348994

I bought a couple of those a few years back, my ears can’t hear a difference.

any jacks that I have needed to replace were not switchcraft jacks. They were no name generic metric jacks.

And switchcraft are half the price of the pure tone.

If price and availability were more in line with switchcraft I’d buy some more of them.

Some stock geetar wiring is smaller than 22gauge so more contact isn’t a factor.

 

[MCF]

They should have drafted Aaron Rodgers. They would have won a few rings.

Probably. Smith was ok, woulda coulda shoulda for the Niners.

 

[Ringhammer]

I use 10gauge speaker cables, which I know does not translate to a 10 gauge copper path from end to end, but it can’t hurt….

I also spend money on gear foolishly…

 

[Bent77]

You weren’t the only one not watching.
Personally I couldn’t care less.
But I’m not a sports fan. So there’s that.

I don’t mind me some sports. Except the NFL

others I will listen to audio. I don’t have time to watch

 

[Engle]

Frankly, I feel like this is very similar to the cable argument that's popped up over the ages. At the base level, the technology we use between pickup and amp is very simple. Added conductance can roll off highs, if you have long cable runs but I think it's pretty negligible when listening/playing in most situations. But with a cable, or a jack, it's not like going from copper phone lines to fiber optic. They've added a redundancy point, but I'm not seeing any measurable info on how two contacts is better than a solid single point. And, the connection is only as strong as the weakest link, so what jack is in the pedals, or in the amp input? I can understand an argument for a jack that grips a cable better, keeps it in place, but I don't see how that translates to "cleaner, stronger, and clearer" signal. Or an EQ shift.

Yeah, the marketing claims are similar to the "snake oil" cables. But they do seem like a good solid jack, and they aren't priced stupidly.

 

[Engle]

Yeah that died in the water. Guess I was the only one not watching the Superb Owl

No sportball for me. I was working on my basses!

 

[TBird1958]

No sportball for me. I was working on my basses!

Me neither, we had rehearsal... I played this.

 

[GonePlaid]

I live my life frequently with the philosophy that, although I may not have the details or data as to why, when something just makes sense, mechanically or logically, as to what makes it better, I go with it.

Is that some form of Occam's Razor?

Norelco.

 

[GonePlaid]

No sportball for me. I was working on my basses!

I had it on seeing as how there wasn't anything else worth a damn on TV, but it was mostly background noise while I did some "book l'arnin'"(in addition to online)research on vehicles to replace one that seems to've taken a major .
Incredibly exciting half-time show.
Not!

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

…and the first 12AX7 is likely to be closest to the input?

View attachment 5349614

This is the best pic I have available, of my other AD200, which is already loaded with some great RCA 12AX7’s and a 12BH7, as well as some Phillips/Sylvania 6550’s. I’m not making any changes to this one. The farthest(tallest) is the 12BH7, the closest 12AX7 is on the same side of the amp as the input and gain knob. So my powers of deduction say the middle tube is the phase splitter(?).

like Miles said 12AX7 doing the splitting, 12AT7 doing the driving…(mullard with equal “Gm”in the X7 location)

for the other amp, was the 12BH7 there originally? or was it placed there after the fact?…..something bogus there, phase splitter doesn’t usually get more power output unless it belonged there in the first place….common splitter buffer tube in early SVTs…