Tube question / guitar tone (the amp is part of the problem)

[colin]

That's likely true, but you never know. What would you like to get if you did replace the Tele?

[ChetMagongalo]

you know i'm thinking if you don't like the sound of your amp it's probably not the tubes. I feel like it shouldn't make too big of a difference.
What you described is pretty much how I feel about all teles haha

[AxAxSxS]

you know i'm thinking if you don't like the sound of your amp it's probably not the tubes. I feel like it shouldn't make too big of a difference.
What you described is pretty much how I feel about all teles haha

Yep

[sylnau]

That's likely true, but you never know. What would you like to get if you did replace the Tele?

I really like Koll Guitars... especially the Duo Glide, but never tried one.
And 3k on a guitar is a lot for me.

[rfurtkamp]

Yea, you're describing the Tele bridge pickup: thin and treble-heavy.

There's a reason the country guys chase compressors and lots of EQ to make it less nasty but it's still, well, a Tele.

Irony is I love Jaguar icepick...but Tele...hide me.

[rustywire]

you know i'm thinking if you don't like the sound of your amp it's probably not the tubes. I feel like it shouldn't make too big of a difference.
What you described is pretty much how I feel about all teles haha

Some tubes change EVERYTHING in some amp circuits. (Champ, Bassman, Plexi) And others have minimal impact (most Mesas, especially Dual/Triple Rec)
You gotta trial & error them, that's the only way of really knowing if it makes a difference to your ears.

I think I dislike everything about Teles other than the headstock.
They're too heavy due to the goofy single cut non-ergonomic body, but cosmetics aside...way too bright which is unforgivable since I prefer bright amps.
Most of the (enthusiast) players really seem to grate my nerves, as well...

But I'll happily take a Telecaster Bass any day

[skullservant]

Syl- When I built up the Telecaster I use now I absolutely hated the bridge pickup as well. You might want to look into some sort of telecaster sized humbucker for the bridge. I put a Dimarzio rail pickup into my Telecaster last week and it was a night and day difference. More output, no ice-pick highs, more full/well rounded sound, and plenty of low end to go around too!

[Jeff-7]

^ Was popping back in to suggest a bucker but skully beat me to it.

[univalve]

My teles do sound fatter than any strat. Just saying

[sylnau]

Syl- When I built up the Telecaster I use now I absolutely hated the bridge pickup as well. You might want to look into some sort of telecaster sized humbucker for the bridge. I put a Dimarzio rail pickup into my Telecaster last week and it was a night and day difference. More output, no ice-pick highs, more full/well rounded sound, and plenty of low end to go around too!

The Lollar Special T should sound fat.

[symbolique]

I've a Bogner Duende combo 112. It came with cheap chinese unnamed tubes. I eventually swapped them all out for JJ's. Difference, yes. Major, no. My Jazzmaster sounds good on A with neck (Curtis Novak JM) but not so good on B, and vice versa my Bridge (P90 Curtis Novak) sounds not so good on A but much nicer on A & the dual mode. Great amp, loud and versatile and the tremolo is a godlike pulse. Switching out PU's sounds right.

[Hyphen Nation]

If you really want to go all tube/tone quest, what about getting that Univalve that is in B/S/T and swapping out tubes to get a sense of what you are after? You can hot swap the Power tube and the two pre-amp tubes. The "roll" channel cuts one of the pre-amp tubes out. What's nice, is that it let's you really hear the difference between say a 6550, an El34 and a 6L6. Pre-Amp tubes really change based on manufacturer…this is a slippery slope, but if you can find an old stereo place or a music shop with a bin of used tubes, you can totally score a range of tubes to try out for almost no money. I have a small shoe box full of vintage tubes that probably didn't cost me more than $30…the pre-amp tubes are a different story…a NOS high gain pre-amp tube is worth it's weight in gold, and typically won't burn out.

[skullservant]

Syl- When I built up the Telecaster I use now I absolutely hated the bridge pickup as well. You might want to look into some sort of telecaster sized humbucker for the bridge. I put a Dimarzio rail pickup into my Telecaster last week and it was a night and day difference. More output, no ice-pick highs, more full/well rounded sound, and plenty of low end to go around too!

The Lollar Special T should sound fat.

Yeah, understandable for the amount that they cost and the higher output that they have, they SHOULD sound fat. But they're still designed like a Tele bridge pickup It's really the downfall of that style of pickup. It doesn't seem like unless you change the style, whether it be to a Tele bridge P90, or a Telecaster humbucker, or just a different style of winding in general other than overwinding a traditional Tele pickup that the quirks and ice-picky sounds dissipate.

I too tried a Telecaster pickup wound in a traditional style like the Lollar that was wound to about 8k or a little hotter than yours and I found the same problem! So you aren't alone man

[sylnau]

Anybody could tell me if the wiring looks OK?
Pot are 250k.

tn.jpg (41.08 KiB) Viewed 717 times

[skullservant]

Yeah dude. The wiring looks fine. What are the potentiometer values? You kind of have a good thing going with individual volume and tone knobs for each pickup, because you can swap out the bridge pickup's volume/tone knobs for lower values without affecting the neck pickup. If they are 1M pots for the bridge, try to go down to 500k. If they are 500k, try going down to 250k!