Amp tone changed itself overnight

[John_C]

MY ashdown fallen angel 60 watt all tube head seems to have changed overnight. It used to be very muddy on both channels, then a few days ago the clean channel suddenly brightened up and sounds fantastic. The drive channel is still very muddy sounding though. Does anyone have any idea what happened?

 

[spioraid]

Few questions, forgive me if they seem terribly basic to your eyes.

Were you keeping the amp plugged in overnight? Did you let the tubes cook a little bit longer that usual before playing? Are you using cheap-o cables?

You can also check for battery power on your active pups (should you have them).

 

[xmidihcx]

sometimes i could just be the weather. no joke.

 

[Notuern]

sometimes i could just be the weather. no joke.

+1

Even the air pressure affects the sound.

 

[John_C]

i leave it unplugged overnight, how long i leave the tubes doesn't seem to change it a whole lot, planet waves cables, new-ish batteries for my emgs.
It could just be the weather or something like that, but its odd that it's only affected one channel. I'm not exactly upset coz it sounds a hell of a lot better, but it'd be good to know whats gone on.

 

[stevehollx]

If the voltage of your power outlets varies from day to day, it can cause fluctuations in tone because the plate voltage is almost directly related to the voltage that comes off the wall into the power transfomer. You may want to measure the voltage on your wall outlet once in a while and see if it give you consistent voltage. If not, a power conditioner/voltage regulator would allow more consistent results.

Also, the bias of the tubes could have drifted, but you'd need to take bias measurements before & after the change to verify that.

I think there is also the chance that your ears may just be hearing things differently between days...

 

[stevehollx]

If the voltage of your power outlets varies from day to day, it can cause fluctuations in tone. You may want to measure the voltage on your wall outlet once in a while and see if it give you consistent voltage. If not, a power conditioner/voltage regulator would allow more consistent results.

Also, the bias of the tubes could have drifted, but you'd need to take bias measurements before & after the change to verify that.

I think there is also the chance that your ears may just be hearing things differently between days...

Just read your post that only one channel was effected. In that case the above would probably cause changed to both settings, although you'd maybe notice it more on one channel than the other.

If a single channel is sounding different from day to day, maybe you have a cold joint somewhere in that channel's circuit path causing a bright cap or something similar to that to not always function as designed. If you're comfortable inside a tube amp (unplugged tube amps store lethal voltages of DC), you could take a wooden chopstick (non-conductive) and poke some resistors/caps while you've got the amp on and plugged in, to see if you hear anything shorting/cracklng/changing.

There's always a potential that one of the tubes specific for that circuit is having some issues and is on its way out. You could swap preamp tubes and see if anything changes...

 

[colonel kurtz]

in all honesty, i think it would be most likely that your ears exhibited some sort of change overnight before your amp did

 

[John_C]

well my bass player commented instantly on how much better and brighter it sounded, so i'm pretty sure its not just me. I've been considering getting some new pre-amp tubes anyway so i'll see what that does to it. Thanks everyone for the advice

 

[kev]

lmao, I guess this is why PODs dont suck after all

 

[Metaltastic]

lmao, I guess this is why PODs dont suck after all

Nice try Kev

 

[Carcass29]

l

 

[Carcass29]

lmao, I guess this is why PODs dont suck after all

I totally agree...tube amps may become obsolete someday. With today's technology, digital modelers with some more advances may dominate guitar amplifiers. When you think about it, radio's used vacuum tubes back in the old days....now its chips and resistors. Vinyl was warmer and rich sounding...now we have mp3's and cds... I can totally see it happening.

 

[John_C]

idk tubes do have a certain something that nothing can quite replicate. The unpredicability and individuality of a tube circuit is part of what makes it so musical. Then again, all it takes is one to blow during something important to change your mind hehe

 

[kev]

Nice try Kev

Ta dude

 

[006]

When modelers stop being thin in a live situation, maybe tube amps will be become "obsolete", generally speaking. I've used my old PODxt Live as the live rig straight into the PA in my old band for the longest time and got compliments on my tone all the time...but we used programmed drums and samples from a laptop with a DJ (don't ask), so it wasn't with a real drumset that would be inherently natural sounding if you catch my drift. They won't disappear though, that is fo sho. Too many people are die-hard tube amp owners out there, you would have to pry their 6505 from their cold, dead fingers

ReValver is what is up right now. Can't wait until the technology gets it so ridiculously close that there is no argument anymore. I love tube amps, but I also love the convenience of software

~006

 

[Let it burn...]

have you been smoking dutch grass?

 

[006]

No? lol

 

[Let it burn...]

i was referring to the OP

 

[006]

Oh hahahahahahahah.