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Titan V12 owners!

#62
iplaybasstexas said:
It only needs about 15" of rack space (actual amp is 13", then 2" for knobs, switch,etc)
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Thanks - you the man iPB Tex! Turns out I'll have a 45 day wait so maybe customer service will eventually answer me.
Ampeg SVT said:
how much are they going for these days? Last time I checked it was around $1800.
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That's correct. And order wait time is (according to Mesa) "eight to ten weeks."
 
#63
May I join the "club"?

titanv12002.gif


The Warwicks really like it, but my old Diesel 2x15EV cab doesn't.... looks like I'm going to need a sturdier cabinet!
 
#64
Guys - this might be a stupid user trick, so I'll ask before I call cust. service.
I've had the amp about a week now, haven't used it with the band yet, but I seem to have an issue with the overdrive function; and it happens either with or without the footswitch attatched.
I SHOULD be able to plug into "A" and then switch to EITHER channel, and engage that channel's overdrive, correct? Seems like sometimes I'm able to confuse the amp, and when I switch it into overdrive, it goes silent in that channel. Can switch back to the non-OD channel and that other channel still works, can disengage overdrive and resume normal tones in the channel that had been silenced by the OD pull. IS there some proceedure, trick, something I'm not taking into account?
 
#66
mournblade said:
Make sure you have OD volume up, or it will silence the channel.
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Good safety tip there! I'll check (just to make sure I'm not really doing the stupid user trick) but I'm pretty sure I had some OD volume on it. Funny thing was I switched back and forth a few times and whammo, it came on in OD. I don't remember doing any particular thing to make that happen though. Does having the OD volume down "silence" or "kill" the channel or just the obvious - eg, no volume at 7:00 setting?
 
#67
I've noticed something with my Titan. I've noticed that it doesn't have it's full Thunderous sound right away. Usually the amp will get louder and better sounding over the period of about 15 minutes. Have you guys noticed that your Titan doesn't get it's full powerful until after it's warmed up for a bit. I'm wondering if something is wrong with mine or if it's supposed to be like that...I figured it could be the Tubes Warming. But they are only Pre-Amp Tubes. I don't think they should have that big of an affect on the output. Any input or help would be appreciated from fellow Titan Owners.
 
#68
Poon said:
I've noticed something with my Titan. I've noticed that it doesn't have it's full Thunderous sound right away. Usually the amp will get louder and better sounding over the period of about 15 minutes. Have you guys noticed that your Titan doesn't get it's full powerful until after it's warmed up for a bit. I'm wondering if something is wrong with mine or if it's supposed to be like that...I figured it could be the Tubes Warming. But they are only Pre-Amp Tubes. I don't think they should have that big of an affect on the output. Any input or help would be appreciated from fellow Titan Owners.
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That doesn't sound like it is behaving right to me. You are right about preamp tubes not needing the warm up time. I would have it checked out.
 
#70
Frankie Fender said:
That doesn't sound like it is behaving right to me. You are right about preamp tubes not needing the warm up time. I would have it checked out.
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But aren't those same preamp tubes being overdriven for the distortion? That would add volume / headroom, wouldn't it? I confess I know very little, but it seems somewhat plausible...

And sorry to break into the thread here... I AM looking at getting a V12 in the future, so this was research for me :)
 
#71
DeepCalls2Deep said:
But aren't those same preamp tubes being overdriven for the distortion? That would add volume / headroom, wouldn't it? I confess I know very little, but it seems somewhat plausible...

And sorry to break into the thread here... I AM looking at getting a V12 in the future, so this was research for me :)
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They would add a *little* volume gain but that is affecting the signal Pre- before the power section where the real power comes from. The preamp just *colors* the signal and any major volume will come from the power section which is Mosfet Solid State on the Titan (which should not require any warm up time by the nature of its construction). A good test would be to run another preamp into the effects return, which will bypass the Titan Preamp and maybe give you an indication of the source of the problem.

I agree that overdriving a preamp tube adds distortion, but not a big volume difference, which is what Poon is describing, This is enirely my opinion as a player/gearhead for many years and I am by no means an amplifier technician so I may not have a clue as to what I am talking about and may be proven wrong. YMMV

Good Luck with it Poon. :)
 
#72
yeah guys, i bought a Peavey VB-2 all tube the other day...The GC employee looked at me funny when i told him my other head was a Titan.. "why man!?"

Anyway, there's a complete difference between the two heads. The Titan is loud, articulate, somewhat thunder. The Peavey is basic, loud, somewhat un-eq-able, but thunderous.

I will say the Titan will still have gigs, and a place in my heart :)

the Titan is also much easier for quick playing or setup!

I'm very happy with my amps now. I have an all tube and then i also have the best tube-driven mosfet head money can buy! ;)
 
#73
iplaybasstexas said:
yeah guys, i bought a Peavey VB-2 all tube the other day...The GC employee looked at me funny when i told him my other head was a Titan.. "why man!?"

Anyway, there's a complete difference between the two heads. The Titan is loud, articulate, somewhat thunder. The Peavey is basic, loud, somewhat un-eq-able, but thunderous.

I will say the Titan will still have gigs, and a place in my heart :)

the Titan is also much easier for quick playing or setup!

I'm very happy with my amps now. I have an all tube and then i also have the best tube-driven mosfet head money can buy! ;)
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+1

I played through a Titan up in New Hampshire (long drive for a Mesa dealer) and was thoroughly impressed. Someday you will be mine.
 
#74
Here's a quote from the Manager and Tech at the Mesa Store. John has been nothing but awesome every time I've needed his assistance.

Hi Steve,
I think you may be having a preamp tube issue.. and the good news is we just started using a new 12ax7 part # 750150 which I think
sounds really good and will have more punch .. the Titan has 4 but you probally only need to change two of them.. When you take the lid off the
Titan with the controlls facing you it will be the two on the right.. Any more questions let me know.. John T. Mesa Hollywood
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I took two Tung-Sols I had laying around and mixed them up with some of the Mesa Tubes I have...and wham. Instantly better.

To my Understanding if you were looking at the Titan from the front.

V4 V2
V3 V1

V1 Corresponds to the Input Tube
V2 Corresponds to the Driver Tube
V3 & V4 are both the Overdrive Tubes

Jeff62 (prior Mesa Titan Owner) have had extensive discussions on Tube Swapping in the Titan. I'll share my results with anyone who wants to hear them.
 
#78
Let me first post up the original results that Jeff62 let me know about.

jeff62 said:
Tube swap results:

First, one thing I determined after speaking to Mesa was that the tube installation in my amp was not what it was "supposed" to be. How Mesa intended

V4 = Russian V2 = Chinese (driver)
V3 = Russian V1 = Chinese (input)
------------------
(front of amp)

I had a Russian in V1, and Chinese everywhere else. V3 & V4 are overdrive, in stages if I understood correctly.

First thing I did was swap everything to what Mesa expected for stock.
I didn't like this combo. Compared to my original configuration, I lost the warmness of my clean sound and the punch seemed to be not what it was either.
The overdrive channel changed as well, but I didn't spend alot of time comparing it at that point because I was so surprised at the difference in the clean channel.

Next, I tried the Mesa config (Chinese in v1/v2, Russian in v3/v4), but I used the Tung-Sol re-issues for Chinese and a Sovtek 12AX7-LPS for Russian. The Tung-Sols.. wow. Much more musical than the Mesa Chinese tubes. Punch and definition. The overdrive was warmer as compared to the Mesa Chinese tubes, but I was thinking it was a bit "tubby" on the bottom (where you hear that "bloom" on the low end). It wasn't bad, it was just different than what I was hearing originally with the characteristics of the Chinese tubes in those positions. So my next try was....

My orig config (Chinese in v2, v3, v4; Russian in v1) again using Tung-Sols for Chinese and the Sovtek LPS for the Russian. This is the combo I've decided to stick with for now. I've decided that the characteristics of a Russian tube in v1 provide just a bit of warmth playing clean... you might describe it a less hi-fi than the Tung-Sol. Not taking anything away from the Tung-Sols because they are perfectly capable in V1; it's just a preference Which leaves the other difference of using Tung-Sols in v3/v4.
I preferred the gritty overdrive characteristic that these had, as compared to the Russian (or Sovtek) which were a bit more bloomy on the low end.

BTW, I'm comparing the Tung-Sols to Chinese based on this review: http://thetubestore.com/12ax7review.html#ts12ax7

I may not be as adept as describing some of this compared to other folks on the boards, but this is what I was hearing. FWIW.

Jeff
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#79
So I call Mesa Boogie and ask them if my configuration is correct. I initially thought that I only had Chinese 12AX7's in there. So they responded with that's normal. It should be fine. But I asked them if they were sure all 4 were supposed to be Chinese? And they said yes. Later ever re-evaluating it, I had 3 Russians and 1 Chinese. I don't know how that happened? Anyway...

With Jeff's results in hand I decided I would take a stab at trying a few tubes of my own.

I bought a few Tung-Sol 12AX7's
I bought a Sovtek 12AX7-LPS
I bought a EH 12AX7


Poon said:
Hey Jeff,

You and I found identical results. I wanted to let you know that I bought 5 new tubes to try in various amps I own. I bought two Tung-Sol Reissues, 1 JJ Tesla ECC83S, 1 Sovtek LPS, and 1 Electro Harmonix 12AX7. It was definitely fun to hear the sonic differences in the Titan V12 and the Aguilar DB750. I'm actually going to start a thread at some point about my experiences tube swapping. I ended up settling on using the Mesa Stock Tubes in the Driver and Gain Tubes (Russian in the V1 & Chinese in the V2) and the Tung-Sol's in the Overdrive Positions (the two on the left). I liked the sound the most this way and it made the sound much more the way I wanted it to be. I agree with you that the Sovtek LPS gave it a warmer, but inherently more floppy sound to it. Not bad, just different. I like the sound of the tube, but I bet it would sound even better in something like a Demeter or SWR amp. The JJ's were great for the DB750 and I liked it so much in the V1 socket in the DB750, I never even tried it in the Mesa. The The EH tube was good too. It was sort of like splitting the difference between the Tung-Sol's and the Sovtek LPS. There was more warmth than the the Tung-Sol, but wasn't as warm as the Sovtek LPS. All three of these tubes were very musical.

-Steve


So I wanted to say thank you for all your help and guidance.
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With that said...

I ended up liking the Tung-Sol's so much in the Overdrive circuit. It had adds lot of warmth and musicality to the OD. Makes it grittier, but controllable at the same time.

I tried interchanging the 4 remaining tubes (2 good Mesa tubes & the Sovtek LPS & EH) and I liked the Other Stock Mesa Tubes the best. Chinese in the V2 and Russian in the V1.

Again...my ears could be different than yours. The amp is pretty responsive to tube swapping. Try it! Hope this helps and happy new year.
 
#80
I spent 6 hours yesterday recording through one of these Titan heads through an Eden 410 cab, and I've gotta say I'm mightily impressed! If only it didn't have a $5k price tag I'd seriously look into getting one.

On a different note, I was pleased to see my Markbass LMII could keep up volume-wise without any hassles at all. Indeed, it was actually louder :eek:
 

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