looking like my TA-15 isn't broke

I dropped my TA-15 off in Austin instead of sending it to Petaluma. I grabbed a Deluxe Reverb Reissue from GC today so that I have something to tinker with until the TA-15 gets fixed (sound was going out at times). Well I wanted to try out the Deluxe on the Mesa 1X10 just to compare it to the TA-15. And wouldn't ya know it, the sound began going out at times and was scratchy. Running the Deluxe through its own internal speaker yielded no such problems. Looks like it's either the speaker cable or the 1X10 cab. I'm guessing the cable actually. lol I'll have to get another speaker cable and try some more experiments. But the good news is that I'm thinking my TA-15 is just fine! It did seem odd that an amp I babied would treat me like that!

The Deluxe Reverb was biased very very coldly at 10 ma. I threw in some JJ 6V6's (They sounded great in my Roadster!) and adjusted the bias until I found what I thought was the best tone, which was 25 ma, which helped some. I put some NOS preamp tubes in it as well, which helped some. Interesting enough, the best "mod" I did was run the Deluxe through my Mesa 1X10 cab, which is louder, fuller, and better sounding than the 1X12 Fender enclosure. Oh, I also put in my NOS RCA rectifier tube, which didn't seem to affect things at all.

I'm not quite sure why NOS tubes make more of a difference in the two Mesas that I've tried them in (TA-15 & Roadster). With all due respect to the Deluxe Reverb, I will not be keeping it. It's cleans cannot touch my TA-15 cleans. The TA-15 takes to my Keeley SD-1 much better than the DR does.

I am a bit disappointed with the DR as I thought it would actually make me rethink keeping my TA-15. I will admit that I'm quite biased toward the Mesa sound, be it cleans or dirt.

nvm I shouldn't post before 9AM

If I read it right he prefers the sound of the DRRI thru the 1x10.

Yeah, that DR sounded better through my former Express 1X10 cab!

More importantly, the TA is rocking hard! And the DR is back at GC. I was kind enough to return with a higher bias. 8)

talltxguy said:

The Deluxe Reverb was biased very very coldly at 10 ma. I threw in some JJ 6V6's (They sounded great in my Roadster!) and adjusted the bias until I found what I thought was the best tone, which was 25 ma, which helped some.

I am a bit disappointed with the DR as I thought it would actually make me rethink keeping my TA-15. I will admit that I'm quite biased toward the Mesa sound, be it cleans or dirt.

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I tried JJ's in my Deluxe reverb and found they killed the magic. I left them in for about 6 weeks and found I was using the DR less and less. Just changed back to the Tungsol RI 6V6 tubes and I love the amp again. I also found around 25 ma to give the best tone with all the tubes I have tried.

I love the DR and its reverb, but it could never be my only amp. A clean channel and dirt pedals don't work for me.