First Mesa. Tremoverb Combo.

[Deadpool_25]

Hi. First post here.

I just got my first Mesa, a Tremoverb combo. It's in oustanding shape; it looks almost new. One thing I didn't notice when I bought it was that it has EL-34s (Mesa logo). Traditionally (take that FWIW--I'm just barely breaking out of being a beginner), I like EL-34 amps. I like some Marshall tones and I liked the Peavey JSX combo a lot. I had the JSX for only a couple of days but had to return it due to some crazy hum...still may get it back if GC gets it fixed).

Anyway, I was thinking of running over to GC and grabbing some Mesa 6L6s just to get it back to a basic factory setup, but should I bother? Subtle difference, or big difference?

Any tips or thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[screamingdaisy]

The difference is subtle but noticable. The amp will feel different under your fingers and certain frequencies will pop more with one tube over the other.

IMO it's worth having both tube types, even if its just for experimenting with.

 

[Deadpool_25]

Cool, thanks. I picked up a couple pairs of Mesa Boogie tubes. I read they used JJ?

Also the amp crackles a little when I adjust the master volume. Just a little, but I assume that's not normal?

 

[lespaulguy32]

Cool, thanks. I picked up a couple pairs of Mesa Boogie tubes. I read they used JJ?

Also the amp crackles a little when I adjust the master volume. Just a little, but I assume that's not normal?

It's probably a leaky Master volume pot... easy fix...

 

[screamingdaisy]

Cool, thanks. I picked up a couple pairs of Mesa Boogie tubes. I read they used JJ?

Also the amp crackles a little when I adjust the master volume. Just a little, but I assume that's not normal?

The preamp tubes are currently JJ. The 6L6s are Chinese made tubes sourced through Ruby (Ruby 6L6GC) while the EL34s are Electro-Harmonix.

 

[stephen sawall]

Great amp .... congratulations.

The pot probably just needs to be cleaned. put the amp on stand-by or off & turn the knob (Master Volume) at the way up & down 10 or so times. That might help. But it should be cleaned .... a older amp like this it is a good idea to clean all of the pots & switches with the right kind of spray cleaner. Read about this so you do not use the wrong thing and cause damage.

 

[stephen sawall]

Great amp .... congratulations.

The pot probably just needs to be cleaned. Put the amp on stand-by or off & turn the knob (Master Volume) at the way up & down 10 or so times. That might help. But it should be cleaned .... a older amp like this it is a good idea to clean all of the pots & switches with the right kind of spray cleaner. Read about this so you do not use the wrong thing and cause damage.

 

[Deadpool_25]

Thanks all. Good info! Loving the Tremoverb so far.

 

[TremoJem]

FWIW, I have two Tremoverb combos and I use 6L6s in one and EL34s in the other for the very reason you were asking.

There is a noticeable difference, but not a massive one.

It will be noticed more if you set up the amp to take advantage of the tubes that are in it.

In my case I can do this and hear the difference in real time, because I have two of them and each one is set up differently, or were set up differently, at first, anyway.

I will say that having the extreme is not beneficial to me, and so therefore, I tend to gravitate to the mean of the two, or the average, which lends itself to having the less extreme differences.

I should probably record them and compare, but don't have time right now.

In a hi-level summary, unless you EQ to the extent that exaggerates each tube type there are only small differences that an audience would not notice and most discerning musicians would not notice either. Only you would feel the difference.

Go with what makes you happy.

For example, most people would say that a Mesa would never sound like a Eddie Van Halen Brown sound, and I agree.

But, I took both my Tremoverbs, one Marshall 4X12 filled with the G75s, a GMajor and my Jem and got scary, very scary close.

I don't play like Eddie, but love his Brown Sound. I was learning five or more songs of his just for fun and thought, hey why not try?

I will say that this required me to open up both amps to volumes I normally do not play at and for awhile got hooked on.

I have since stopped playing at those volumes and no longer play the tunes I learned, but to Mesa's credit the Tremoverb (as many have said) is capable of MANY great tones. You just have to work at it.

It took me weeks to get it and among MANY changes, included removing my tone pot and changing the pick up height and lastly changing the treble bleed circuit on my Jem, which I committed to anyway, so no biggy, although I am considering going back.

I never really liked the location of the controls on the Jem and so removing the tone pot and moving the volume pot to it's location was a no brainer. I wish I could get a custom Jem and move the five-way switch and pots further down and towards the back of the guitar, but I am now off topic.

So in closing...play with both tube types and play with all the controls and the inexhaustible configurations of tubes, power and rectifier settings, cabinet enclosures, FX, and guitars etc.