Jackson reference 50! need help!

[rickydekker]

hey i just joined im a new member, i have ajackson reference 50 head that has 2 blown capacitors (22ouf35V AX) i believe... and a blown master volume on the distortion channell...

i opened it up, and the caps are leaking, and the volume looks fine? but needs replacing, theese are easy repairs obviously..

but i noticed somethin, it ha 2 12ax7 tubes, but it looks like theres room to put 2 more? i was thinking to get HIGH GAIN groove tubes, put four in there, and replace the el34's with higher gain tubes, for a really sweet sound.???

would this work? any help with this amp is appriciated, it sounded really good when i played it, but then it stopped working cause of the caps and everything, i want it to basically have more gain, with out serious mods

[zeegler]

Did you search online to see if you could find a manual? It sounds odd to me that you have 4 pre-amp tube sockets, but only 2 tubes. You should definitely put some in there. I'm afraid I don't know much about that particular amp, but perhaps the missing tubes is what caused the caps to fail in the first place. Like you said, replacing the caps and volume pot isn't a difficult job, but prehaps after doing that, you should have the amp checked over by a tech anyway, just so you know everything is okay before you crank that sucker up again. New power tubes is a good idea, but don't forget to bias after you swap them.

By the way, Groove Tubes are just relabelled Sovteks. IMO you'd be better off with JJ/Teslas.

[jgcable]

I bet they also made a reference 100 which had 2 more power tubes. I would also bet the space he is talking about is holes in the chassis but there are probably no sockets in them.

[zeegler]

I bet they also made a reference 100 which had 2 more power tubes. I would also bet the space he is talking about is holes in the chassis but there are probably no sockets in them.

Aha, you're probably dead on with that John.

[rickydekker]

yeah, i can tell it was designed for 2 tubes, but i can also tell if you put sockets in, and a couple caps and whatnot, you COULD have 4 power tubes.

and i tried going on jacksonguitars.com to find a "contact us" link... couldnt find one. and theres litterally NO info on theese rare amps. mine is #0159 out of 100 or something ever made...

so... if i put in, 4 super high gain tubes... do you think it would work? i can take pics if it would help, theres also some corrossion in areas

and i tried looking up STEVE M. MAURIELLO becasue he designed this amp, and it led me to this site

[jgcable]

Tons of work and not worth the effort. you will also most likely need to add a transformer and probably a ton of other components.
Its not anything I would want to put money into.... unless you are a builder with electronics experience.

[rickydekker]

i dont really have that much expierience... but its all there, i just pop off a little metal cover, and then get sockets, and it LOOKS Like it could be easy?

but then again i dont know much about modifying amlifiers

[jgcable]

i dont really have that much expierience... but its all there, i just pop off a little metal cover, and then get sockets, and it LOOKS Like it could be easy?

but then again i dont know much about modifying amlifiers

Lets try this again....
You can't just add a few sockets and plug power tubes in. Power tubes need plate voltage. your amp is designed for 2 tubes totalling 50 watts. If you want to add another 2 tubes you need to add an additional transformer or at least swap out the one you have to another. Then.. there is the issues with caps, resistors, and all the other components required. Maybe even another board. Then... you need to think about preamp tubes (which by the way.. are how you increase gain in a tube amp if you aren't using switching diodes between the gain stages)... then you need to think about current protection. Adding 2 more power tubes will increase your wattage from 50 to 100 but it won't increase the gain.
Here are the hard facts... you can't do it bro. Its not easy. Its a job for aa qualified amp builder.

[rickydekker]

well there goes every idea ive had in the past hour...

darn... so how can i get a bit more gain?

[VitaminG]

put a tubescreamer in front of it

[rickydekker]

right now, it has ruby tubes, are those good? i dont know much about tube brands

[jgcable]

Put an overdrive or preamp pedal in front of it.

[zeegler]

Adding two power tubes won't give you any extra gain (I know you mean distortion) anyway. If anything, it will give you a very slight volume increase. Going from 50 to 100 watts is a net increase of 3db. John's right, it's not just a simple mattrer of sticking 2 sockets and tubes in there, and it's certainly not something you would want to try without a fair amount of experience working on tube amps.

Now, the main thing is, if your amp blew 2 caps like that, the odds are, they blew for a reason. I can see 1 cap being bad, but 2 for no reason? It sounds like there are underlying issues, and as I said before, the best thing you can do at this point is take it to a qualified tech. If you just replace the caps, you run the risk of blowing them again, or blowing something more important/expensive like your power tranny.

As for the increase in gain you're looking for, either use an OD pedal in front of the amp, or you could look into having it modded, which will cost a fair amount more, but will be permanent.

[chrisolson]

That amp would do GREAT with an OD pedal in front of it. The 50 watter is plenty amp for damn near anyone. I miss mine - it was the first tube amp I ever had. I shudder to think what I did to that amp as I had NO idea what owning a tube amp was all about then...

[toejam]

That amp would do GREAT with an OD pedal in front of it. The 50 watter is plenty amp for damn near anyone. I miss mine - it was the first tube amp I ever had. I shudder to think what I did to that amp as I had NO idea what owning a tube amp was all about then...

He probably got the one you fucked up. :ROTF: