TA-30 1x12 -- how to get it to sound like the clips??

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Pants?

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Hey guys -- I've had my TA-30 for over a year, and it's been an awesome live/studio workhorse amp. Sometimes (especially with my Strat in Top Boost mode) I'm able to get a great sound from it, just unbelievably dynamic. But lately I've been noticing 2 things that have started to really bother me:

1. My humbucker and P90 equipped guitars "feel" like a struggle to play on the AC-ish channel of the amp -- there seems to be not that much sustain.

2. Hi-1 (and 2, for that matter) is a mushy middy mess -- almost unusable; it just disappears in a live mix. Tweed is okay but brittle and harsh if you dial it in wrong.

Neither of these things seems to be the case in the Mesa clips and even the less professional demos I've seen (it's worth noting that the TA-30 head at my nearby Guitar Center sounds almost exactly like the clips through a Mini Recto 1x12 cab).

So I guess my question is how do I get my combo sounding like the "ideal" (or normal) TA-30?? Is it:

a) A speaker issue -- is the Black Shadow cramping the amp's style? Could it benefit from, say, a 75w Creamback? Or a V30 like the Mini Recto cab?
b) A tube issue -- could a preamp tube be wonky? Nothing's shorting out on a basic function level, mind you -- the tone just sounds pretty "dull" across the board. Has anyone had good luck retubing their TA-30? If so, what with?
c) Just my ears playing tricks on me?

Thanks so much in advance for any helpful pointers! So glad I found this board.
 
If your amp sounds quite different than it did when you first got it, probably the tubes. I am not sure how long EL84 tubes should last. If you are loosing top end, it may be power tube replacement time. Since the TA series amps are quite different than the Mark Series, not sure what to suggest about preamp tubes. You probably do not need to change any preamp tubes at this point in time.


I have found similar likes/dislikes with the MC90 black shadow speaker in my Mark IV. What may get you the tone you are looking for, if you can find the extension cab with a V30. The MC90 open back coupled with a closed back 1x12 V30 sounds really good. I am not Celestion speaker fan at all, so getting praise for the MC90 running parallel with the V30 sounding even good at best is a complement. The V30 brings out what the MC90 lacks, and the MC90 brings out what the V30 lacks. Either speaker by itself just gets into mud or flubby tones. However, driving both speakers just sounds really good even with a higher output settings. I have actually been enjoying the mix of the two.
 

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