Just scored a 2553 Silver Jubilee!

[anitoli]

That's nice man. Those are the rare ones.

 

[growboxguy]

Cleaning her up! It seems to be running hot, the tubes are very red. It came with some old Groove Tubes in all positions, the power tubes look a little burnt. I am assuming it is biased hot. I will be taking it in for fresh tubes and a bias on Monday, any bias setting recommendations? Thanks!

 

[SurfGreenTele]

I love the feeling of cleaning up an old amp. Once that's done, it really feels like it's 'yours'.

 

[RickyLee]

Congrats.

Good call on taking that amp to a tech for valves. You DO NOT want to be running that with red plating power valves.'

Is your serial number a low one, like under 03100? There is some minor differences on the first early releases of the Silver Jubilee. My buddy has a 2550 model with a serial in the 200's. That amp has some major differences from my Silver 2555 with a 4000 serial number. The big one is his Clean channel is much louder than the Lead channel.

Also, you do not want to add a mod to footswitch the Rhythm Clip. There is a big volume difference/drop when engaging the Rhythm Clip diodes. Rhythm Clip is for Clean channel, though there is a very slight interaction or pulldown it causes on the Lead channel as well. All normal.

 

[anitoli]

Cleaning her up! It seems to be running hot, the tubes are very red. It came with some old Groove Tubes in all positions, the power tubes look a little burnt. I am assuming it is biased hot. I will be taking it in for fresh tubes and a bias on Monday, any bias setting recommendations? Thanks!

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Anything under 70% of the tubes maximum plate dissipation should suffice. For EL34 20 watts or less.

 

[growboxguy]

Congrats.

Good call on taking that amp to a tech for valves. You DO NOT want to be running that with red plating power valves.'

Is your serial number a low one, like under 03100? There is some minor differences on the first early releases of the Silver Jubilee. My buddy has a 2550 model with a serial in the 200's. That amp has some major differences from my Silver 2555 with a 4000 serial number. The big one is his Clean channel is much louder than the Lead channel.

Also, you do not want to add a mod to footswitch the Rhythm Clip. There is a big volume difference/drop when engaging the Rhythm Clip diodes. Rhythm Clip is for Clean channel, though there is a very slight interaction or pulldown it causes on the Lead channel as well. All normal.

Serial Number 2845, what does that mean? Thx for the hand...

 

[Joe L]

Cleaning her up! It seems to be running hot, the tubes are very red. It came with some old Groove Tubes in all positions, the power tubes look a little burnt. I am assuming it is biased hot. I will be taking it in for fresh tubes and a bias on Monday, any bias setting recommendations? Thanks!

Are they glowing red when in operate mode? Or are you talking about the GT paint turning a bit brown? Because they don't look physically like they have been overheating. I have a set of GT EL34s from that period with about a year of gigging at normal bias levels that are discolored about that much. Tomorrow I am going to put them in my 4212->2558 converstion which I did some tweaking to yesterday.

And I think you got a good price. Those price of those amps has gotten a bit crazy due to scarcity.

As far as the effects loop, it is a series loop without buffering. That means the cabling to the first device should be short, and have a high impeadance input. The return stage does not have a lot of headroom so levels need to be adjusted carefully if you want the amp to sound the same with and without anything in the loop. When I get time, I am going to try a couple of different buffered loop designs in mine to see how that works out.

A good equalizer in the loop really works well with that amp. I have a midi controlled one that I am going to incorporate into my rig along with possibly adding midi channel control (highlyliquid.com) to the amp.

Oh yeah, I need to finish the other 3 amps I'm building first .

..Joe L

 

[growboxguy]

I decided to go with a set of TAD EL34 power tubes, they arrive tomorrow!

 

[growboxguy]

Ok, its time to break out the big gun! Sounds great through the Orange 1x12 Vintage 30 but I have the feeling the old Jube will be coming into its own on the 1960AV 412... review to come!

 

[growboxguy]

Ready to jam! Can anybody guess what the black thing is at the bottom of the picture? lol

 

[anitoli]

Ready to jam! Can anybody guess what the black thing is at the bottom of the picture? lol

View attachment 18047

Dogs nose???

 

[RickyLee]

Looks like a mic, meaning you will be making some sound clips . . . .

 

[growboxguy]

Dogs nose???

Almost, that's my Dobies tail lol

 

[anitoli]

Ahhh, he likes Jubilee too.

 

[growboxguy]

Ahhh, he likes Jubilee too.

Well not so much. As loud as I have been running it the last couple nights she just runs and hangs in my bedroom, guess she isn't a fan of pinch harmonics and such lol

 

[growboxguy]

The 412 cab sounded so different, and better, than the single 12" Vintage 30 Orange that I decided to use it full time for practice. Party on Wayne!

 

[growboxguy]

Ok after some time with the Jubilee here are my thoughts.

1. Its bright! People say its a dark sounding amp, well its not, at least that's the case when using the metal pickups in my PRS CE22. Bright to the point I am considering swapping out to some not so hot pickups. I would never get lost in the mix with this head.

2. It sounds phenomenal. The midrange flat out shreds your face when using the full 50 watts.

3. It likes NOS preamp tubes. I added a black and grey plate and it really helped smooth the amp out, a touch anyway lol

4. I wish it had reverb. I have always liked Marshall spring reverb and I really am missing it on this amp. I am looking for recommendations for a reverb pedal please.

5. The lack of a separate gain is not an issue for me. I love the way the clean channel sounds with the gain settings I use on the lead channel. No, it wont work for a sparkling clean type sound but being that I play 90% of the time on the dirty I just don't care. Plus the music I play really likes the attack on the clean channel, its spunky.

6. 50 watt mode sounds better than 25 but you must keep the volume up. Seriously, this amp comes alive in 50 watt mode, it will melt the walls with that mighty midrange.

7. I haven't used the effects loop so don't have anything to say about that, yet.

8. It loves a 412 cabinet. It sounded great on the single vintage 12 but when I hooked it up to my 1960AV it really came alive.

9. This amp is close to the Appetite for Destruction tone. Not the same, but it has the essence, I would say a close cousin or even sibling of that amazing Destruction tone.

10. It is easy to play. I have read some people say this head makes your guitar harder to play but this is not the case. It makes the strings feel very light and responsive.

11. Great amp, its not going anywhere anytime soon.

That's my initial two cents, party on Garth!

 

[anitoli]

4. I wish it had reverb. I have always liked Marshall spring reverb and I really am missing it on this amp. I am looking for recommendations for a reverb pedal please.

I use this with my 6100 and it is the deal. Best outboard spring verb I ever heard.


Guyatone FR-3000V Tube Drive Reverb Unit