.50 caliber plus help please

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helmut

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Hi, I have had a .50 caliber + combo ( 6L6, GEQ, EV12L ) combo since ~2004 and love it. The user manual says you can get clean up to 5 or so on gain dial ( rhythm channel ) but i've never been able to get a properly clean tone at all even with standard tele single pickups ( vol on max always) and rhythm channel gain down to 1-2. I know about mid control, gain staging etc but can you get fender like cleans out of this boogie or is it more dirty ?.

Contacted boogie tech support ( great help ) and they said new pre valves ( particularly V4 and 5 - reverb ) were needed as it has been cutting out ( total volume loss now but extreme low volume before this ) after a few minutes after turn on for quite a few years now, even when i just go into fx loop return ( so V1 - 3 are out of chain ).

Do you think i should get a full new set of pre valves to try to help with clean sound ( in addition to V4 and 5 ) or is this just the nature of these pre-amps ?.
The user guide says you don't need to replace valve preamps unless noise or obvious problems but i've had dirty cleans at low gain levels since getting it, even before the cut out problem started.

The reverb has always been not so loud on full. Is the reverb quite low level on max on these amps ?

Any help much appreciated.

cheers
 
helmut said:
Hi, I have had a .50 caliber + combo ( 6L6, GEQ, EV12L ) combo since ~2004 and love it. The user manual says you can get clean up to 5 or so on gain dial ( rhythm channel ) but i've never been able to get a properly clean tone at all even with standard tele single pickups ( vol on max always) and rhythm channel gain down to 1-2. I know about mid control, gain staging etc but can you get fender like cleans out of this boogie or is it more dirty ?.

Contacted boogie tech support ( great help ) and they said new pre valves ( particularly V4 and 5 - reverb ) were needed as it has been cutting out ( total volume loss now but extreme low volume before this ) after a few minutes after turn on for quite a few years now, even when i just go into fx loop return ( so V1 - 3 are out of chain ).

Do you think i should get a full new set of pre valves to try to help with clean sound ( in addition to V4 and 5 ) or is this just the nature of these pre-amps ?.
The user guide says you don't need to replace valve preamps unless noise or obvious problems but i've had dirty cleans at low gain levels since getting it, even before the cut out problem started.

The reverb has always been not so loud on full. Is the reverb quite low level on max on these amps ?

Any help much appreciated.

cheers

Absolutely. Preamp tubes do indeed wear out, and sounds like you have more than 12 years on them, as you don't know how long there were in there when you bought the amp in 2004. That amp should have some really nice loud clean tones in it. I've never found the reverb to be lacking in any of my Boogies as well.

Al
 
Thanks for the help. Sounds like its worth trying a full new set.

Do i need to do anything for safety before changing preamp tubes like draining power capacitors ?

I would really like to get it to a local tech to service it but can't do now due to disability.

cheers
 
helmut said:
Thanks for the help. Sounds like its worth trying a full new set.

Do i need to do anything for safety before changing preamp tubes like draining power capacitors ?

I would really like to get it to a local tech to service it but can't do now due to disability.

cheers

No, as long as you're not pulling the chassis out you'll be fine. Just lay the amp down on it's front and work it that way. You might want to have a flashlight so you can better see the pin configuration. If memory serves, you will probably want to pull the power tubes out to get full access to the preamp tubes. Someone else might want to confirm that for me. That's what I do with both my Express and my DC2 combo. I seem to remember the Studio 50 is the same basic layout.

Al
 
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