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Post by digiTED aka 'Ted' on Oct 5, 2013 9:55:10 GMT -7
Antidote incoming I just sold my Swart STR Trem; very, very cool amp but not a big-brass-ones chime machine. With my budget I was looking at used Marshall 1987x, Orange OR50, SRZ and Remedy. I thought the Antidote was out of reach. I guess not! Anyway, just a happy pre-NAD 'what's up' to my new amp section friends
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Post by doctorice on Oct 5, 2013 9:57:56 GMT -7
You are about to have a great amp. What speaker(s) are you going to use?
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Post by Jaguarguy (Mike) on Oct 5, 2013 10:02:35 GMT -7
Congrats! It's gonna be loud - and that's a good thing!
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Post by digiTED aka 'Ted' on Oct 5, 2013 10:51:50 GMT -7
Thanks guys
I've got a pair of Scumback 25w (M75 and H75) that will make their way into a 2x12 of some sort. Right now I'm imagining a Mather Bluesbreaker-esque setup made specifically to house the Antidote on its back.
In the very short term, I've got a Gold for my Z 1x10 (a greenback is currently in there with my Ghia) that should be interesting at least at home with the Unleash.
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Post by Jaguarguy (Mike) on Oct 5, 2013 10:54:23 GMT -7
Right now I've got mine paired with a stock Z-best - sweet sounds!
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Post by digiTED aka 'Ted' on Oct 5, 2013 11:14:21 GMT -7
Mike, does the Z-Best stock have and H30 and Greenback?
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Post by KeithA on Oct 5, 2013 11:44:12 GMT -7
Mike, does the Z-Best stock have and H30 and Greenback? No, H30 & Vintage 30, Keith
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Post by digiTED aka 'Ted' on Oct 5, 2013 12:14:32 GMT -7
Do you guys have any other speaker recs? How about v1 tubes? Thanks again; these questions are to ease the pain of patience
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Post by Jaguarguy (Mike) on Oct 5, 2013 12:33:31 GMT -7
I run The tubes Doc sent in it
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Post by mcdyasz on Oct 5, 2013 16:13:40 GMT -7
I run mine with Z 1x12 with Creamback- love it
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Post by Maddog on Oct 6, 2013 5:54:35 GMT -7
I too run The tubes Doc sent in it Thru Gold 12's.....KILLER!!!
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Post by mcdyasz on Oct 6, 2013 9:20:12 GMT -7
I had some "Made in China" KT66s that I got from Mike at KCA a few years ago (can't remember what amp I bought them for) and it sounded like microphonics were coming from the Gold Lions, so I swapped them. The Chinese KT66s sound at least as good as the Gold Lions I took out (microphonics also went away). I think they sound better and definitely no worse, but its very hard to say for sure without a side by side comparison. And if the Gold Lions, or one of them, were going bad then I don't know how a good pair would sound in comparison to the Chinese. I did not re-bias.
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Post by digiTED aka 'Ted' on Oct 6, 2013 10:32:27 GMT -7
mcdyas: do your Chinese KT66s have a label? I have two unused matched pr. of KT66 in the tube stash, Gold Lion (not NOS!) and Sino (?), leftover from when I had a Route 66. I should be set for bit I would think.
I'll see what the state of the glass is on this one when it arrives. I bought it from Guitar Center's online used listing. It's coming from MN. I asked what condition the glass was in and I got the hard sell on their $130 extended warranty...LOL The salesman say he would pack it himself and wrap each tube in bubble separately.
I'll be checking the bias, too. I read in a recent thread that 38mA is the Doc's rec via shunt. Anyone know what plate voltage tends to be with the 5AR4 in there? Curious about the Doc's preferred dissipation.
Somewhat OT: Sometimes Chinese or other cheap tubes sound better than "fancier" glass to me; I had a recent, mass-produced amp (forget which) that sounded best with a cheap Ruby 12AX7 in v1 as compared to a JJ, an NOS RCA, and NOS Telefunken. It was the brightest and crunchiest which suited that amp well.
Aside from durability differences, I'm open-minded with tube choice and really try to let me ear be the judge. I have yet to try a v1 in my Ghia that sounds better than a JJ, but then I hated JJ in v1 of my Monza (where a 50's NOS Bugle Boy was BY FAR the best to my ear).
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Post by mcdyasz on Oct 6, 2013 11:07:38 GMT -7
mcdyas: do your Chinese KT66s have a label? No, they came in white boxes and are only stsmped on the box "KT66" and "Made in China". Then Mike at KCA wrote somes specs on his label, that they both have matching current of 33.
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Post by digiTED aka 'Ted' on Oct 6, 2013 11:23:31 GMT -7
mcdyas: do your Chinese KT66s have a label? No, they came in white boxes and are only stsmped on the box "KT66" and "Made in China". Then Mike at KCA wrote somes specs on his label, that they both have matching current of 33. Nice; generic KT66 that sound good. I can dig!
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Post by mcdyasz on Oct 12, 2013 8:03:56 GMT -7
On speakers, I have a spare Vox 2x12 cab here so I loaded it with a Creamback/Greenback pair in series at 16 Ohm to check it out. The Greenback adds some sparkle and other good stuff to the Creamback- it works well with the Antidote.
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Post by digiTED aka 'Ted' on Oct 14, 2013 15:56:26 GMT -7
Arrived today according to UPS tracking; its gonna be a loud night
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Post by markT on Oct 14, 2013 20:19:04 GMT -7
Waiting on the gushing to begin. Big rockin' Antidote congrats!
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Sam
Full Member
Absolutely chuffed with the Antidote!
Posts: 167
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Post by Sam on Oct 19, 2013 14:00:34 GMT -7
Arrived today according to UPS tracking; its gonna be a loud night Thoughts so far?
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Post by digiTED aka 'Ted' on Oct 19, 2013 15:20:25 GMT -7
Hey guys It's been one of those weeks. I finally got some time to really tweak the knobs and explore the 'Dote a bit more today: ...I think the honeymoon's going to last quite a bit longer.... Today I had with me the goldie LP w/ Lollar P90s and a 1x12 open-back Mather with a Scumback J75 65w. I still haven't decided if I'm going for a 2x12 for the M55/M75 Scumback 20w sisters I recently picked up in trade, so the J75 is the only 12" I have with the power rating needed w/ the 'Dote. To my ear it's basically a Greenback with extended highs and lows; more like a ceramic Gold than a warmer H30 IMO. This is my first amp w/ the blended volume setup (though my old Carr Hammerhead's MV and Gain controls interacted very much the same way), but I'm finding some EQ/gain control not unlike the EF86 3 knob Zs. Since I owned both a Route 66 and Z28 for a while, this is familiar ground and I like it a lot. I'm finding myself setting the 4-band EQ for the guitar and speaker, then varying the high/normal volumes for OD. More 'normal' for thicker,darker grind, and more 'high' for chimey crunch. Is that how you guys use the preamp controls as well? The stock Gold Lion KT66s bring that magical vibe between 6L6 and EL34s: clear, glassy highs and serious lows but with more mids and upper-mids bite. I loved this about the Route 66 too, but the Antidote can produce quite a bit more chime without sacrificing that malted milkshake thickness (another reason big boy pants are needed LOL). This week I wrote Mike Z asking about rebiasing for EL34/KT77s since I LOVED the upper harmonic crunch with Gold Lion KT77s in my old Fargen Mini-Plex (really miss that one!). He said it would take a minor mod (a different value of bias dropping resistor to lower the neg. bias V for the EL34 family). Seems easy to make switchable, too. Though I may do it some day, my few hours today have pushed that idea further away. Gorgeous cleans are just a guitar volume rollback away with either the Tele or the P90 LP. The Lollars are a bit hotter than the buckers in my 335 ('57 classics I believe) so I have no doubt the 335 will react similarly well. That just how all three of them are with the Ghia too. Actually, every Z amp I've owned has been great in this regard. I ran a few pedals through as well. My super trusty OD, a Lumpy's custom with a Brilliance Boost pushing a Ge Jelly Roll-based JFET OD, just melted in. Using the "effects as sonic colors" idea, the OD was like doing a subtle color wash over a dried section of a watercolor. Another OD that played very well was the Skreddy Hybrid Driver. I could dial up some thick grit with more Normal volume then add some hot chime on top or vice versa. Marc Ahlfs (Skreddy) and Mike Z must have collaborated! The Maxon AD999 delay, Skreddy Echo, and Hartman Electric Mistress clone all sounded great no matter how much breakup was happening at the amp. The Supa-Trem2 sounded flaccid when set for the Ghia, but once I adjusted the clean boost and depth it was sounding really good. 95% Swart tube tremolo good. I'm very encouraged that the Dote is open, dynamic, and authoritative even with the volume controls down around 8:00-9:00. I was worried that 45 Z watts was just going to be way too much for my volume reality no matter what speaker config. I used. Glad that's not the case. Last night, I was playing quietly enough for my wife and toddler to be asleep in the next couple of rooms while I had 3D cleans happening in the living room. No sense of being stifled at all. As a home player 98% of the time, I have no need whatsoever for a 2x12, let alone a 4x12, but the 'Dote clearly brings the thump and I'm dying experience it with a closed-back multi-driver cab. I've been researching big cabs despite them being hilariously unnecessary for me LOL. I 'need' to demo the 'Dote with a Z-Best and talk with Dave from Forte as well; just for research of course I think the Antidote is just as amazing amp. It's really killed my GAS for the EL34-ish crunchy thing for a while I'm thinking. As much as I respect the Route 66 concept and miss my old Interstate, I'm realizing that I didn't know how much range you can get out of a KT66. The amp can conjure Vox-y chime, Plexi crunch, and early Fender-y cleans all with a few quick tweaks of the volume controls and EQ. It's quite a bit more versatile than I expected. Honestly I thought it was going to pretty much a JTM-45 with Dr. Z magic dust sprinkled on it. It definitely more than that! I think that's all of my thoughts at the moment. Thanks for reading through this!
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Post by ME on Oct 19, 2013 18:14:57 GMT -7
I agree with all your thoughts. Great amp with a wide variety of tones available. Like you I had a Route 66 and was afraid I'd miss it. While I may a bit, the 'dote has so much more to offer. This may not be the last amp I buy, but I believe it can do whatever I need.
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Post by digiTED aka 'Ted' on Oct 22, 2013 22:17:20 GMT -7
Was loving this setting tonight w/ the Tele. Chimey yet thick, perfect GV cleanup and was SUBLIME with the AD999 adding slap!
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Post by harry on Oct 23, 2013 8:31:27 GMT -7
Hard to shut that amp down, you just want to continue playing and playing and playing and playin... Awesome delay to boot!
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Post by digiTED aka 'Ted' on Oct 23, 2013 8:58:41 GMT -7
Hard to shut that amp down, you just want to continue playing and playing and playing and playin... Awesome delay to boot! So true! It's also an amp that inspires you to ditch OD pedals Lately my Naga Viper treble booster is enough to git'r dun
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Post by mcdyasz on Oct 23, 2013 9:37:45 GMT -7
speaking of pedals, my antidote loves the jetter gold standard
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Post by harry on Oct 23, 2013 15:38:06 GMT -7
I totally understand! Mine loves my Jetter Jetdrive and Red Square, great pedals!
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