RIP Trio preamp ...

[playingdead]

If you haven't heard, Fender has bought Groove Tubes, and the Trio will no longer be made as well as their other amp products -- power amps, guitar amps, preamps, etc.

It's such a great preamp, it's really a shame. Their stuff is very high quality; I have a Soul-o 75 amp that is really amazing.

[bcresci]

Thanks, Vic - I guess I can now claim that I have a vintage GT Trio? I think I just saw it's value shoot up.

[jenkins]

im pissed i didn't buy one a few months ago.
I went the vintage route and im having serious reliablity problems. woudl have been way easier if I just bought a trio.

are they still available brand new? do u know till when?
when was the last production run?

that sucks. groove tubes made some great products, fender is stupid for not continuing the line.

[tigerstrat]

I went the vintage route and im having serious reliablity problems. woudl have been way easier if I just bought a trio.

Reliability issues with what?

[jenkins]

THe tone on my 65 twin reverb that has been mod'd to be a preamp is really dirty.
the stock tone of a twin preamp is dirty as hell.
the other problem ive been having is that the tone is just inconcistent. It will sound great and then i will turn it on again and it sounds like the knobs were all moved. the tone is just really incosistent.

To make a long story short i need a good amp tech to put some work into my vintage amp.

At this point with allt he money ive spent and still need to spend Im wishing I just bought a trio and got it done with.

Right now I am using a b.k. butler real tube II preamp as my pre instead of my vintage twin preamp. It sounds WAY, WAY better.Run into a mcintosh mc2120. It acutally has a great jerry tone and I am yet to get anyhtign jerry-esque out of my vintage preamp or amps . I also used a 68 dual showman reverb that I bought for $500 and foud much of the same problems. Sounded OK but the tone just wasn't clean enough or predictabe enough to actually use the amp.

If you aren't friends with an amp tech or at least know a good one and have some money; vintage amps are not the way to go. Im still in the proccss of tryng to find a good amp tech taht really knows what im talking about .

I sold the DSR. I am keeping the twin pre because I am confident that it will sound awesome when it is working right. When a vintage amp is working right, it can not be beat in tone, i dont care waht anyone says. the tone is thick,funky and downright beutiful.
The problem is most of the ivntage amps out there need a lot of work to get them into this condition.

My friend bought the reissue deluxe reverb a few months ago and the thing souds awesome. Not quite as good as a nice vintage but WAY, WAY better than 95% of vintage amps that I've ever played on.

ANyone know of good amp tech in New hampshire? I really want my twin to sound good

[strumminsix]

If you aren't friends with an amp tech or at least know a good one and have some money; vintage amps are not the way to go. Im still in the proccss of tryng to find a good amp tech taht really knows what im talking about .

I have to agre with ya there. Getting an amp to work is one thing which most techs can do. But getting your amp to both work and sound correct is different.

[playingdead]

Aztech in Watertown MA (Boston) has a good rep and have been working on vintage stuff for years and years, but they are pricey ... I sent you a PM as well.

[tigerstrat]

Servicing a vintage amp that's that outputting pre-amp only, you are generally talking about swapping out preamp tubes, which anyone can do.

If it sounds dirty all the time, I have to wonder if you are using a V2 that is particularly prone to early breakup (desirable to many guitarists obvs). My 68 DSR preamp sounds very clean up to about 6 on the Vol; I usually set to about 4.5 or 5, and set my power amp accordingly. Have you tried a GE JAN 5751 in V2? That should give you significantly bump in clean headroom. If that fails maybe try a 12au7...

Could also be related to your EQ settings or your speakers...

[strumminsix]

Like TS, my DSR is clean up to 4.5.
5 introduces some sweet very light OD.
6 gives it a fully saturated light OD.

[jenkins]

this problem definetly is not my speakers or EQ settings. THis happens through any speakers or power amp at any eq setting.

I feel like it isn't the tubes bc my problem isn't really that it is breaking up to early. It is that it breaks up at any volume setting, depending on which notes im hitting. If I hit a low end note, it will sound great. THe highs sound OK but the mid range sounds like absolut shit. The midrangs breaks up horribly no matter what setting or voulume im at.
The other problem is that when i put a distortion pedal in front of it it sounds like complete shit on any note. All horrible distortion.


I still think I should start by replacing the tubes.
IS the V2 the tube that determines where the amp breaks up?
Is it crrect to say that I dont have to worry about the V1 tube due to the fact taht I alwasy run it on the reverb channel?

Should I buy all new tubes?

WOudl the NOS tubes help improve my tone?

THanks a lot for the info guys.

[tigerstrat]

IS the V2 the tube that determines where the amp breaks up?
Is it crrect to say that I dont have to worry about the V1 tube due to the fact taht I alwasy run it on the reverb channel?

Should I buy all new tubes?

WOudl the NOS tubes help improve my tone?

THanks a lot for the info guys.

In a "Normal/Vibrato"-type Fender amp, V2 is the gain stage for your vibrato/reverb channel.

If you don't use Normal Ch at all you can go ahead and remove the V1 tube if you like. In fact, why not try this:
1. plug into your Normal ch... same horrible distortion or better?
2a.If it still sucks, its a different tube at issue or possibly a different component.
2b If it's better, take that tube from V1 and plug it into V2, and try your reverb channel. Better?