Murph Posted February 22, 2009 Share Posted February 22, 2009 I'm an American. I had a 4100 (JCM900) Marshall 1/2 stack, one of the early ones with EL34's, and a 1960A for about 10 years as my main amp. In America they run at 110/120 volts. I grew up with Fender Twins, Deluxe, Super Reverbs, Champs, and am now using a Mesa Blue Angel as my main gigging amp. I just wondered, how many of you have heard, in real life, or if there is any (and there must be) tonal differences in the SAME amps, with different voltage. You know? Does a Fender Twin sound different designed for your power? And how? Best of luck. Murph. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AXE® Posted February 22, 2009 Share Posted February 22, 2009 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murph Posted February 22, 2009 Author Share Posted February 22, 2009 Nice eyeball there, AXE. ? Murph. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sgTime Posted February 22, 2009 Share Posted February 22, 2009 Hmmmm..... Kinda looks like that one thing from the odyssey.... Goddamn greeks naming things in bizarre fashion... ****, what was it again... Wait, Cyclopes right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murph Posted February 22, 2009 Author Share Posted February 22, 2009 It's a forum about knowledge. I've been blessed to be apart of it. Sheeze. Murph. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichCI Posted February 22, 2009 Share Posted February 22, 2009 The British version sounds faintly like kippers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murph Posted February 23, 2009 Author Share Posted February 23, 2009 What's a kipper? Murph. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homz Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 What's a kipper? Murph. Murph don't go calling the royal family a bunch of sissies. That would be to much cliche' American, even for you. BTW you said when you gig in an earlier post on this thread. Where abouts? Chicago isn't that far from me and as long as it isn't country or rap I might bring the wife up for a weekend. There are some great blues bars in Chicago, as you know. To those who don't know, IMHO, the blues joints in Chicago blow away the Nashville or New Orleans scene. Note I said blues..... before you start yelling at me...if I had said jazz I would have said New Orleans, but that ain't my scene. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deepblue Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 Thats a good question. When I ordered my Ibanez TS808 from Analogman, there was an option to change it from the standard 9 volt to a 12 volt. I opted for the 12 and I was amazed how much more the sound came alive. Its like a Tube Screamer after 3 or 4 Red Bull. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flight959 Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 They wouldn't sound any different! IMO Here in the UK its up to 240V..doesnt mean its gonna use all that.. The amp will use Whatever power it needs to work, regardless of what the output is.. Flight959 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modoc_333 Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 it's possible for it to sound different but not likely. the truth is that while the voltages coming from the wall may vary, it is compensated for inside the amp. after you go through the power transformer and the rest of the power supply, the voltages have all been adjusted to the same value no matter which place your amp was designed for. the tubes get the same voltages, etc. so, it really shouldn't sound different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L5Larry Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 When Marshall amps started flooding into the US music stores in the early seventies, nobody could figure out why they didn't sound like the ones our British guitar heros were using. A few years later it was discovered that the American versions were fitted with different power tubes. The American distributor got the brilliant idea to install 6L6 power tubes in them since it was the US "equivilent" of the British EL34. I think they got this all worked out after sales in the US tanked. I think most of Europe is on 50 Hz power, instead of 60 Hz. I wonder what difference this might make in sound and performance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murph Posted February 23, 2009 Author Share Posted February 23, 2009 Interesting. It's gone from a difference, to no difference, to a huge difference. I'm thinking Guitarest has the facts. He's done it both ways, bringing an English amp here, and vice versa. Thanks. Murph. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guitar slinger Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 I'm by no means an expert. But I'm very curious about amps, tone and all that crap and I have read in several serious publishings that the output DOES change the tone. It's a consense that volts affect tone. Just think of the Variac device and how it can affect the tone of a normal Marshall SLP to the point of Eddie VH crappy brown sound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murph Posted February 24, 2009 Author Share Posted February 24, 2009 That's kind of my thoughts. Hell, people (me too) spend hours swapping tubes for a slight nuance, you know? You would think a TOTAL power difference would make a HUGE difference in the same amp. I prefer a non master volume amp, so the breakup has to come from the tubes, with a slight bump from the old green tubescreamer. Anyhow, thanks for the input. (sorry) Murph. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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