Hoffman Amplifiers Tube Amplifier Forum
Amp Stuff => Tube Amp Building - Tweaks - Repairs => Topic started by: derekiseric on January 24, 2019, 09:34:35 am
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I just got finished rebuilding a Fender Handwired 64 Deluxe Reverb with a Hoffman board, MM OT, and a Weber 12A125A - and new tubes. The fender layout was very noisey, had harsh treble, and generally sounded a bit too sterile. I wanted to list out what I found and hopefully save somebody some money trying different things out if you’re curious.
The biggest change I found was the OT and the speaker. The MM OT softens up the upper treble more like a vintage Deluxe and the Weber speaker did the same. The MM let’s more bass through than the stock OT - maybe not more, but fuller bass. The Weber Speaker softens the bass and makes it sound a little more worn in. Both of these changes really helped the treble though. That’s where these two changes shine - they soften the harshness off the stock ceramic Jesen and Fender OT. - Heyboer or Classic Tone work just as well in the OT department. I’m not saying MM is the only choice. Just saying the stock OT is just ok and not fantastic.
Next I tried Caps - Jupiter Yellow, Jupiter Red, SoZo Blue, and Solo Yellow - the New Next Gen.
They’re all great caps - they just have a slightly different flavor.
The Jupiter Red caps I found to be harsh in the treble and raspy in the OD. Might sound great in a Supro Build. Not what I was looking for.
The Jupiter Yellow I found to have a warmer, tweed sound. Softer treble, lots of overtones in the Overdrive and overall pleasing to the ear. Great on a tweed build.
The Yellow Sozos are extremely similar to the Yellow Jupiter’s, not sure I can claim an audible difference. Definitely not against a drummer.
The SoZo Blue Caps Sound very much like the blue Fender caps in Blackface Amps. I did hear an audible difference between the Yellow and Blue Sozos. The blue are faster in response to pick attack, the yellow are slower, softer, more tweed. The Blue Sozos have a sparkle that I love in the blackface amps. I would also think they’d sound amazing in a Vox build. They have a lovely chime to the top end that’s not harsh or stiff.
The SoZo 250pf 1000v treble cap that just came out is different than a Silver Mica. The SoZo is softer in the treble, adds more gain to the highs. I think it would be great in a tweed but I felt it muddied things up in the upper treble on the AB763. I clipped them both in a tried them one right after another and recorded them to make sure I wasn’t crazy.
I used Tung Sol 6v6GT tubes, biased at 18mA with 411v on the plates. That’s where I felt the amp sounded best to my ears.
Anyway - the purpose of this post is to say what I tried and offer my opinionst to the forum memebers if anyone was curious because I got so lost in the internet looking up opinions on every little part that I just got them all to hear for myself. Hopefully I can save somebody some cash.
Hope this is helpful!