Winder Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 Just got a BC30 off of eBay. It appears to be virtually untouched and works for the most part. However, the reverb doesn't appear to work at all. It came with a footswitch, though I had to purchase a TRS cable. The LEDs light up one both switches when engaged. Anyway, I figure the most obvious culprit might be a bad tube in the reverb circuit. That said, there's no indication which tube is which on the chassis. I pulled them for a visual inspection and the "look" fine. Can someone tell me which tube is which please? Any other advice in terms of getting the reverb to work would be appreciated as well. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spaaarky21 Posted January 16, 2009 Share Posted January 16, 2009 Just got a BC30 off of eBay. It appears to be virtually untouched and works for the most part. However' date=' the reverb doesn't appear to work at all. It came with a footswitch, though I had to purchase a TRS cable. The LEDs light up one both switches when engaged. Anyway, I figure the most obvious culprit might be a bad tube in the reverb circuit. That said, there's no indication which tube is which on the chassis. I pulled them for a visual inspection and the "look" fine. Can someone tell me which tube is which please? Any other advice in terms of getting the reverb to work would be appreciated as well. Thanks![/quote'] I can't say which tube it is but have you tried the amp without the footswitch plugged in? Are you using a one or two button footswitch? Just earlier tonight I wrote something about how I was using a one button Fender footswitch before Epiphone started selling their two button footswitch for the BC30 and SoCal. The one button switched the channels just fine but the reverb didn't work at all. I should have read the manual and saved $30 on that Fender footswitch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeRom Posted January 17, 2009 Share Posted January 17, 2009 The reverb tubes are v3 and v5, counting from right to left as looking at the back of the amp. Have you tried using the reverb without having the footswitch plugged in (just a thought)? And make sure the wires to the reverb tank are connected securely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winder Posted January 17, 2009 Author Share Posted January 17, 2009 I can't say which tube it is but have you tried the amp without the footswitch plugged in? Are you using a one or two button footswitch? Just earlier tonight I wrote something about how I was using a one button Fender footswitch before Epiphone started selling their two button footswitch for the BC30 and SoCal. The one button switched the channels just fine but the reverb didn't work at all. I should have read the manual and saved $30 on that Fender footswitch. Well, it came with the two-button Epiphone foot switch but no cord. So I did try it without the foot switch but had no luck. Tried again today. I thought maybe it required the switch so I bought a TRS cable. Still doesn't work. Cranking the Reverb all the way up seems to increase the low level hum a bit but doesn't really change the overall tone much, if at all. Certainly nothing I'd consider a reverb effect. I did check the connections into the chassis and removed the tank to have a look at it. The connections there are solid - nothing obviously wrong. The tank is in a sort of padded nylon sleeve - only two screws but four holes. Don't know if that means anything (like the guy was fiddling with it?). Anyway, I guess I'll try some new tubes. This will be the last amp I buy from eBay. I have a busted 100W HiWatt, farty/motorboating '67 Traynor YBA-1, and now the BC30 - all from eBay ... all with glowing "got no issues" descriptions ... all faulty to one degree or another. Caveat emptor from now on. The amp is uber bright to my ears, but I guess that's normal. I'm used to vintage 100W Marshalls. Just trying to branch out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winder Posted January 17, 2009 Author Share Posted January 17, 2009 The reverb tubes are v3 and v5' date=' counting from right to left as looking at the back of the amp. Have you tried using the reverb without having the footswitch plugged in (just a thought)? And make sure the wires to the reverb tank are connected securely.[/quote'] Thanks! Yes. I've tried it both ways. I'll have a go at swapping those tubes out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winder Posted January 17, 2009 Author Share Posted January 17, 2009 Weh heh heeellll ... Turns out the reverb tank was improperly connected. The gozinta was connected to the gozouta and the gozouta was connected to the gozinta, so to speak. I thought it was odd that on my initial inspection of the amp it was missing two of four mounting screws for the reverb tank. I dunno. Either this kid had it services by a hack for a reverb problem or had pulled it himself and forgot how to connect it back up. What bothers me is there's no way the reverb was working when he shipped it so the "no issues" commentary was simply untrue. People. WTF? Anyway, the verb works now. I'm not used to all this uber clean-ness though. I'll need to learn some new stuff. I installed five Sylvania 12AX7WA in place of the EH tubes that came in the amp. Not sure I want to go with Mullards/Amperex/Telefunken here. I have a bunch of NOS Sylvania, GE, RCA, etc. Any recommendations on the best tubes for these things? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeRom Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 Good job! Don'tcha just love it when the fix turns out to be simple and inexpensive? KInda makes you wonder if the bonehead who had it before you mucked anything else up. I replaced my output tubes with a matched pair of Electro-Harmonix 6L6's from the tube depot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PapaMidnite Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 Winder check out BC mods on this site .It'll take care of that [uber]brightness your talking about . {that C5 C6 cap mod made the tone ballance PERFECT! Cheers Tremo! } Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winder Posted January 27, 2009 Author Share Posted January 27, 2009 Winder check out BC mods on this site .It'll take care of that [uber]brightness your talking about . {that C5 C6 cap mod made the tone ballance PERFECT! Cheers Tremo! } Thanks Papa. I've been fiddling with it, and can get some decent "Brown Sugar" tone with a lot of tweaking between the guitar vol/tone and the amp itself. Still to bright/brittle so I need to try the cap mods. I read another thread about "snotty" midrange. Not sure if it's the same as what I'm hearing, but there sort of a "blown speaker" quality to the distortion that I'm not liking. Not too used to smaller or combo amps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spaaarky21 Posted January 28, 2009 Share Posted January 28, 2009 Good job! Don'tcha just love it when the fix turns out to be simple and inexpensive? KInda makes you wonder if the bonehead who had it before you mucked anything else up. I replaced my output tubes with a matched pair of Electro-Harmonix 6L6's from the tube depot. Well, how were the EHX tubes? I put some Sovtek 6L6WXT+'s in my. Online comparisons (http://thetubestore.com/6l6templeton.html) suggest they are some of the best 6L6's out there. I don't have much to compare them to but they sound a lot better than the stock Sovtek 5881's that came in the amp. JJ 6L6GC's also seem to get quite a few recommendations but they weren't in stock when my amp started squealing and buzzing. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeRom Posted January 29, 2009 Share Posted January 29, 2009 The EHX's weren't my first choice but the Sovtek's we out of stock at the time. Oh well. These are fine and I can't say that they made an improvement in tone becasue I already like the sound but they are much much quiter than the stock tubes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenrirlupus Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 Weh heh heeellll ... Turns out the reverb tank was improperly connected. The gozinta was connected to the gozouta and the gozouta was connected to the gozinta' date=' so to speak. I thought it was odd that on my initial inspection of the amp it was missing two of four mounting screws for the reverb tank. I dunno. Either this kid had it services by a hack for a reverb problem or had pulled it himself and forgot how to connect it back up. What bothers me is there's no way the reverb was working when he shipped it so the "no issues" commentary was simply untrue. People. WTF? Anyway, the verb works now. I'm not used to all this uber clean-ness though. I'll need to learn some new stuff. I installed five Sylvania 12AX7WA in place of the EH tubes that came in the amp. Not sure I want to go with Mullards/Amperex/Telefunken here. I have a bunch of NOS Sylvania, GE, RCA, etc. Any recommendations on the best tubes for these things?[/quote'] you should email him about that and that you fixed the problem... he might not have sold it if he knew, and you can put a nice "no, i'm not giving it back" cherry on top. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiggy Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 Thanks Papa. I've been fiddling with it' date=' and can get some decent "Brown Sugar" tone with a lot of tweaking between the guitar vol/tone and the amp itself. Still to bright/brittle so I need to try the cap mods. I read another thread about "snotty" midrange. Not sure if it's the same as what I'm hearing, but there sort of a "blown speaker" quality to the distortion that I'm not liking. Not too used to smaller or combo amps.[/quote'] Is this icy picky brightness something which afflicts earlier production of the BC30 as I really can't find anything in the tone of mine (purchased new Aug 08) which would fit that especially after dumping the power vales and the rectifier valve for decent vintage ones (1959 RCA Blackplate 6L6's and a 61 Mullard GZ34). Tone is warm and fat with enough top end to cut through when you need it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sounds Expensive Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 I bought mine in early 2007 and it definitely has the ice pick sound on the the over drive channel. I also find the clean channel to be a tad dull sounding, like there's a blanket over it. I've already changed the tubes. Any thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.