First tube amp! Tremoverb! Cabinet question!

Hey guys, this is my first post here and I just wanted to say thanks for the awesome community and all of that. So here I go.

I just bought a used tremoverb head (I tried it before I bought it, don't get on my tail, hah.) The previous owner had it running at 50 watts by removing some of the tubes. It works fine, though, and I really enjoyed the sound when I tested it out there on his cabinet. Problem was, the cabinet wasn't his, so I bought the head without the cabinet.

He was playing it through an Orange 2x12, so I know I definitely can't afford that. So I'm on a tight budget for a 2x12 that would sound really great through this head. I don't know where to begin, though, and I don't know what kind of wattage or ohm...numbers the speakers would have to be so I wouldn't damage them somehow.

Bear in mind that I'm completely new to the subject of tube amps and cabs, so if it wouldn't be too much trouble, a crash course on the amp and the above question would really help me out a lot.

-Kai

What kind of budget are you looking at? You can't go wrong with a Mesa Recto 2X12 Cab.

Most I want to spend is like....... I guess around $300 plus shipping.

But in a while, I could try and scrape up around $400 + s&h.

kaafka said:

Most I want to spend is like....... I guess around $300 plus shipping.

But in a while, I could try and scrape up around $400 + s&h.

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The Avatar "Vintage" cabs seem to get high marks around here

http://www.avatarspeakers.com/

You could definately get a 112 in your price range. Course it would be better to probably scrape up for the 212. Least this way your head could fit on top of your cab and you could get max wattage out of your amp.

Haven't heard any reviews of the traditional or contemporary cabs

Yeah, I was looking at Avatar cabs, since others have recommended them to me in the past.

However, what should I be looking for, as far as the wattage and Ohm specifications of the speakers.. And also...what ARE they?

Don't go Avatar. Your cabinet is going to be one of the biggest tone shapers in your setup next to your amp and guitar. The Avatars are great cabinest but I have found they're not up for the task of the rectos low end. You can easily get a used Mesa Recto 2x12 cab between $300 and $400 and to me it would be better money spent. There are very few companies who can touch Mesa in terms of cabinet quality and sound... the ones that can are usually 3-400 more than Mesa's. I would search around on your local craigslist and see what you can find.


Outside of Mesa I recommend VHT, Orange, Bogner, Diezel.... basically all the high end guys but thats because they sound great. your best deal though will be a used Mesa cab.

kaafka said:

Yeah, I was looking at Avatar cabs, since others have recommended them to me in the past.

However, what should I be looking for, as far as the wattage and Ohm specifications of the speakers.. And also...what ARE they?

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As far as wattage that will all depend on the speakers. A VHT 2x12 cab will have two 50watt speakers for a total of 100watts for the cab. A Mesa Recto 2x12 will most likely have 2 vintage 30 speakers which are rated either at 60 or 70 watts a piece for a total of 120 or 140 watts.

As far as ohms, you can pretty much use almost any cab thats 4, 8 or 16 ohms as your Tremoverb (great amp BTW) has the jacks for those ohmages. Most cabs will be wired to 8 ohms though.

Upon checking out the back of my tremoverb head chassis, I've got a couple concerns.

First off, I tried removing one of the EL34 tubes in the back of the amp and have found that they are very hard to remove so I left them where they were originally.

Secondly, I checked my manual and have found that there are supposed to be TWO 5U4G tubes in the rectifier tube section. My amp only has one. Not only that, the tubes are so tall, I wouldn't have the foggiest idea of how to add a second or if I even NEED a second.

Mind you, my amp is running on two EL34 tubes as opposed to four...


Any thoughts?

in order to bring it down to 50 watts you have to remove 2 power tubes and a pre-amp tube, thats why theres only one there, there was also a great post with some youtube links about removing tubes which was really helpful (i am a new tube amo owner aswell ) around somewhere.

also i honestly would fork out for exactly the cabinet you want not can afford even if you have to wait. i hate having to deal with something sub-par till i can afford something else because its almost a step backwards. i even had to take a loan out for my dual rec (mind you in australia things are ridiculously over-priced and we get shafted by the currency rate)

Triple Cheeseburger said:

in order to bring it down to 50 watts you have to remove 2 power tubes and a pre-amp tube, .....

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I'm sure it was just a typo, but to clarify,

To bring the amp to 50 watts, remove one pair (2) of power tubes and one rectifier tube.

Dom

Hi guys, thanks again for your help.

I contacted the man who sold me the amp and he told me precisely the same thing that you did. I'm glad my suspicions were true, I was beginning to be worried about my new purchase not being all that it could be.

However, I was wondering if it's possible to change the rectifier tubes from 5U4G (the really large type) to 5U4GB, smaller rectifier tubes.

And what affects would this have on the amp?

i have 2 avatar cabs, a g212h and a a 4x12 all with v30s, i personally like the sound of the cabs, they are smaller than mesa cabs, and have a tighter sound, which depending on what you play, can balance out a recto nicely. but in all honesty the only other cab i have put my recto on is a mashall with greenbacks, this sounds good but not as good as the v30s

Don't skimp out on your cab. You have a great amp, and it needs a great set of speakers to compliment it. The speakers are so important!!!

I have a recto 2x12, with V-30s...and a recto 4x12 also with V-30s.
The V-30s are great speakers for a very wide range of music. Nothing beats a 4x12, absolutely nothing beats that thick sound you get from running a 4x12...but the recto 2x12 is a fantastic cab in its own right, just a tighter sound.

The bonus is if you buy a used cab, the speakers will be broken in already (not blown hopefully though :wink: ), so you can get to that beautiful tone a lot sooner.

So I bought my mesa 2x12 today.


...How do I hook it up?

man what did you get???
get some speaker cable and plug one end into the cab, and the other into the matching impeance on the amp. instrument cable shouldnt be used, just speaker cable.