An older country/southern rock player and amp tech I respected very very much played one of these DC30’s. About 25 years ago or so he told me in jest (and probably partly meant it) that the reason it’s called Matchless is because they run so hot you don’t need matches for it to catch on fire! 😂 Of course he remedied that. I don’t know a thing about fixing amps and knew even less then, so I don’t know how he did it. But watching you fix amps reminds of how I used to watch him repairing amps. Brings back great memories. Rest In Peace Jim Hurley.
I wholeheartedly agree with the concept of making electronics real-world usable. Heat is the enemy of all engineering and living where it’s brutally hot most of the time only exacerbates it. I’ve always made my amps easy to re-bias, partly for longevity, even more so for sound. It takes some effort and always involves some fundamental change. On my 1970 JMP, I mounted a twenty turn pot directly behind the channel II low sensitivity input jack, far enough back to still accept a plug but be tweakable if I’m patient. This pot operates in a limited range between two metal film values to give me just the range I really need. An indirect grid voltage measure point is a discrete chassis mount banana style jack but the reading needs translating so a new user might find it inadequate.
I have a Matchless, 3 years old, sounds great! But, you have me concerned about long term stability. One day when it needs a service I’m going to reference this video for the technician. Thank you!
Can’t speak to all models, but I have owned a Matchless Lightning combo from 1997 for about six years and I’ve not even had to change a tube yet. Amp is bulletproof. And that includes about two years of this time being left on (and operational on, not even stand by) in an un-vented iso box at max volume for 5+ hours twice a week for our church rehearsals and services
I played on of those when they first came out on the market. I was floored when the salesman told me the price. That was a LOT of money back in the 80's.
I have a "M" King Cobra ~As well as An SC Mini - Flawless in their operations. Reliable and sound great ! I wonder if this guy is somewhat jealous of the Matchless Hand built Construction and their Fine Reputation for making Great Tube Amplifiers ! Never anything wrong with my two Matchless Amplifiers. Psionic Appears to think. . he's the magician !
Never underestimate spark plugs, we had a sick engine on the dyno one time with eight fouled and rounded off 60K mile plugs just changing to fresh ones added 60hp.
I had a really nice DC30 that was built by Phil himself. Always had an issue. Went thru power tubes like socks. Had a really weird oscillation when you cranked the channel vol. Phil installed a ferrite bead at the input but it didn't completely get rid of the oscillations when cranked. Ended up selling it after 6-7 years of owning it. I absolutely loved the amp but I think thats maily because it cost me a ton when I ordered it. I now preffer the lightning circuit which I build myself with a pair of original matchless transformers. I did adjust the cathode bias resistor and ended up installing a switch for high and low bias. The lightning circuit is basically one side of the DC30.
I got a bugera bc 30 that attempts to clone these for a steal at a local guitar show. It works great so I haven't pulled the chassis out but I doubt it will be as cool on the inside of it as that is. LOUD. I learned I can use the effects loop send from one channel and insert it into the input of the opposing channel, but the whole effects loop is off until you plug a plain 1/4 in jack into the return of the effects loop you are using to activate the 'send' then you get both gain stages and both tone controls. Combined with a home made aby switch I can use the volume on the instrument and the different combination of channels to go from chime like cleans to sizzling screaming overdrive. A super cool amp to play as it is super reactive to the guitar and the player. While modeling amps arguably sound as good nothing FEELS like playing a tube amp that adapts to the raw basics of strings vibrating and exciting electrons. Nice work on your amps and video production. Thanks.
JJ added value temp reading labels interesting . Real 7189 may help . One watt carbon comp three thing come to mind . 1 good for over voltage spikes . 2 noise 3. drift .
That kind of component layout if planned and done well, gives much shorter signal path than when using one big turret board. Torturing output tubes by biasing them too hot is very often pretty useless. However some amps for some reason (perhaps because of OT saturation and power supply sag causing compression) sound good when punished with high voltage and output tube plate dissipation. I remember one early 70's crazy blue coloured Italian amp with cathode biased ECL82 output tubes and very small sized and cheap looking OT. The design was pretty similar to some ECL82 WEM Dominators. It had quite high plate voltage because they desperetely tried to pull 15 watt out of it because that was the number which was advertised. 😁 Cathode resistor of ECL82 pentodes was very low valued so those ECL82s run very hot. It had original Miniwatt ECL82 tubes installed which were top quality ones and had not failed despite of that torture but the emission was alredy poor. When I retubed it and changed some elyts, ECL82 pentode plates of fresh tubes were running about 30% too hot. However I tried how it sounds for a couple of minutes and the sound was amazingly good. Nice compression, nice distortion. I didn't of course want to damage that new matched pair of ECL82s so I rebiased it by changing the common cathode resistor to one with bigger value, bringing the plate dissipation to safe 85%. Tubes were now running at very safe dissipation but almost all the mojo of that sound was gone. I paralleled the cathode resistor to get the original value which run output tube plates 30% too hot and the mojo was back again. Well, finally after some testing I biased those ECL82 to 100% plate dissipation as a compromise between sound and reliability. New tubes were Philips Miniwatts as well so they could handle it without problems.
When I'm done with the bias changes both modes will be in the 12-13.5W idle range. Anything over 14W just shortens tube life with no "magic" imparted. Below 11W things get rapidly too sterile. If I knew the owner would only ever use 7189s with a fixed steady 120VAC mains supply I could push to 15W. But as this owner thought the amp was "OK" with that massive hum I don't think that scenario will be realistic.
I always guessed that the transformers Matchless uses were quite good. TDS Transformer Design and Supply I think they are called. I assumed they must be great because Badcat used them in their early days as well as Divided by 13 who still use them. I like all 3 of those amp companies and considered them among the very best sounds boutique amps that I've owned. I loved my Matchless Lightning that I regret selling. Had a Badcat Hotcat 30 that had an interesting unique sound. Built similar to a Matchless but a unique circuit with EL34's. I think I miss those two more than my Divided by 13 JRT 9/15 and LDW 17/39. So many great amps from when I use to buy and sell when prices were much more reasonable used. I miss those days. I had a 65 amps SOHO too that was kinda neat. A lot of deals used back then. So many amp companies back in the mid 2000's.
@@roberthurless3295 yes only in beginnings but all production amps used Wood transformers which are the TDS . Not sure why they were called Wood back then but same company. They used one other company along side the Wood/TDS transformers only in 97 . I read all this in a forum it came from Phil Jamison.
@@HiHello-ku1fl The family that owns TDS is called Wood. I bought a set of DC-30 iron to build my Ceriatone version of this amp from them. I am extremely pleased with that purchase.
Back in da day when burning out tubes was more popular then burning them in. Heard some great sounding DC-30's in the past. Also Matchless Chieftain's. {80's & 90's}. Not up to speed on any current models. The layout looks familiar though. Remember back when they were quite the rage but I was full of Marshalls and Fenders at the time. And a few Randalls like the "Commander Four" with 4x10's that was a solid state beast of a guitar amp. Even had some large solid state WEM power amps at the time. Back when solid state was pretty new. Randall rocked solid state before it was cool. And had a similar blistering gain sound to some of the Matchless/Marshall sounds of the time. Proper "master feedback" from my SG into that Randall reminds of that Matchless grind with it's sag/compression when pushed. Much different but just as satisfying as a Marshall.
Even if the amp never works again, there's a guy out there with a new DC30 whom would likely pay 2000 dollars for those toasted panels to give his new amp "patina".😆
10:24 - "This is changing spark plugs". Spark plugs that sadly here in the UK decent ones are getting very expensive and rare as rocking-horse poo. Hard to believe that we used to make some good ones here, once upon a time.
Sounds like my Bad Cat Black Cat, and you just made me feel the need to break out the multimeter and check the voltages in its half power setting, I'm guessing it will be the same as this amp.
The Matchless DC 30 is supposed to be a "boutique" alternative to a Vox AC30 - however, after having watched this video I'm actually not so sure anymore... what are in your view the best AC30 style amps (ideally heads) in terms of tone (close to the vintage Voxes) and build quality you can buy today?
What sort of HT (B+) voltage are we talking about? I am assuming the EL84's are biased red-hot. A design that means an amp has an appetite for even the best tubes must be 'unwelcome' to put it mildly.
love your videos. curious to know is this a raved about "Sampson era " amp and was there a change of parts or layout between the older matchless and post sampsonera
Lyle, if one was able to cool the output tubes such as using a fan, is running them 'hot' from a amperage point of view bad? Also, what's with the internal lamps?
@@zitherzon2121 Hand wired old-school point-to-point on terminal strips. Most hand wired amps use eyelet or turret boards -- what most are used to seeing.
Lyle - What are your thoughts on the AmpRX BrownBox (Tube Amplifier Input Voltage Attenuator)? I've heard a bunch of respectable & knowledgeable guitar amp guys recommend getting one of those to get optimal performance out of an amp to allow it to run as it was intended and also for tube and overall amp longevity.
I've been looking at taking the leap and getting a HC-30. Do you think there's anything out there that would do the job better? Div.13 RSA 31? Thanks, this video was great to find.
Cost of ownership is an interesting topic. What amps would you suggest have relatively low maintenance from the major manufacturers? How does a Deluxe reverb reissue compare to a JTM45 RI or an AC30c2 for example?
All three you list are pretty good, but all three will need some work aside from normal tube replacement. The Fender RI needs about $200-250 worth of reliability upgrades. The Vox and the Marshall maybe $80-150 worth, though it may not be needed for some few years. The most reliable amps remain pre-'80 Fenders and Traynors. But these need about $300-400 worth of service every 20 years. So if you get one and it hasn't had that service...
Watching your videos I have the feeling that all amps have serious design flaws and none are worth the money. What is your all time favourite or perhaps the best Tube amp ever?
That's not at all what I ever say. I point out the flaws but I also point out the fixes. This Matchless is six resistors away from being better than it ever has been. A Deluxe Reverb RI needs about $300 work of work to sound better and last decades longer. In between, a Marshall 1959 Superlead RI needs the heater circuit changed and the ground scheme improved to last longer and sound its best.
@@PsionicAudio Just to be clear, I think your videos are fantastic. Appreciate your rigour a lot. so, Matchless DC 30 plus some resistor revamp and you have perfection?
I read your reply to a comment about using 7189s. Out of curiosity, have you ever used Russian 6P14P-EVs, which are allegedly direct equivalents to the 7189s. I have a set of the 6P14P-EVs waiting to go into a yet to be completed DC-30 clone build, because I wanted something a bit more robust than the standard EL84s. I guess I'll find out. Hopefully they fare better than their current "military equipment".
After killing several sets of current production el84s, I switched to the 6P14P-EVs and and made same type of resistor swaps he mentioned. That has been working well for a few years.
Is there a modern amp company other than yours of course, that sells amps that are well made? Seems most big companies as just mas produced cheap pcbs with cheap components. And the boutique ones seem to make just bad choices in ther design.
I almost always look up the amps you work on so I can get and idea of what you are talking about. THEN I SAW THE PRICE of a used one. BUYER:Was that sex or are you just Phxxking with me? SELLER:No, we just screwing you HAHA!
It is really rather silly to me how they were using carbon comp resistors in a location that might have to dissipate a lot of heat. Why????? Screens don't even pass signal in amps like this. Any (probably nonexistent) tonal changes wouldn't even exist there.
Well, this DC-30 has the EF86 channel that current AC15s (HW or Custom) lack. The HW is way too stiff sounding in stock form. The Custom needs tweaks. Neither has iron as good as in the Matchless. Both can be made to sound as good, while still coming in at a lower price than the Matchless. But in stock form the Matchless sounds better (until the output tubes die).
Matchless amps are the easiest and fastest to work on (if you know a bit)A resistor is bad, you change that resistor. You don’t have to get under boards or unscrew things. You see the circuit right in front of you. Very easy to replace parts and fast. Of course you do need to know how to use a pick and maybe a little solder wick. Don’t need wick if you got skillz😎 you can change parts a hundred times without damaging the amp because the parts are strong. The clamp with the felt works great I’ve never seen one break a tube. I’ve never seen anyone replace grommets on a matchless. You’re reaching pretty hard.
Most do. But don't go changing things in a Matchless. Working on them requires a ton of soldering experience and very good technique. Easy to do more harm than good.
Just by looking at that, I wouldn't consider brands like Matchless, Bogner, Boogie etc. Too much can go wrong with an amp that's trying to be a "Swiss Army Knife". I think I'd rather have a "One Trick Pony".
Matchless amps are hand wired one trick ponies. Bogners and Boogies are for the most part (well built) PCB amps with channel switching…apples and oranges.
@@andrewandthecatfives I think the brands I mentioned are unnecessarily complicated. Not a fan of Half/Full power switching. Gimmicks like internal lights? One more thing to fail. They obviously have problems as shown in the video. Is wiring on terminal strips better than a turret board?
It all depends on who did the soldering and how the circuits are laid out. Lyle has designed what I think is a better engineered ef86 amp along the Matchless/Vox theme - but I have to wait until he gets them in production.
I caught the Matchless owner on Dave Friedman's "Tone-Talk" Y.T. Channel sometime last year and wasn't very impressed. His arrogance to intelligence/s*** in one sock ratio wasn't well balanced..
@@joepeezy4sheezy I saw it, not impressed by Morgan either the Saldano interview was pretty cool, one that I need to rewatch and take notes when I've got a much better handle on Marshall -ly type circuits.
I WILL NEVER EVER PUT A JJ TUBE IN MY AMPS EVER AGAIN..PURE JUNK..I BOUGHT A BRAND NEW SET AND ALL 4 OF THE POWER TUBES SHORTED AND ONE PREAMP TUBE AND IT TOOK OUT A SMALL PC...GOT THE INITIAL PROBLEM FIXED WHICH WAS CAUSED BY A JJ TUBE.....REPLACED EVERYTHING WITH MULLARD AND TUNGSOL...VIOLA NEVER LOOKED BACK..AND SOUND AMAZING!!
That’s not correct about the grommets. They are silicone and they do not break apart with time. I was also in a lose lose situation, if I changed resistor values then they are not the same as the “Magical Era” and if I made the amps the same then I should have changed parts values to appease guys making videos. So, you changed the tubes on a 14 year old amp. 👍
I've had many Matchlesses in with degraded grommets. These have not degraded. When did you change grommets? There is no magic to killing EL84s. I'm not just some "guy making videos."
Pay attention to “the guy making videos” Phil. You may learn something if you keep an open mind and stop being so precious about what you THINK you know. Cheers.
You could learn a few things from this "guy making videos," such as how to improve your products. Smarmy and hurt are not good reactions to constructive criticism.
I’ve had my eyes on Matchless amps for 20 years (aka the Phil Jamison era) in all that time I’ve never heard of a Matchless breaking down at a gig or being unreliable in any way. Quite the opposite, they’re famously resilient. If an annual tube swap is the price to pay for top tier sound, so be it. If you can’t afford that or simply don’t want to do it, there are tons of options out there today. Personally I think the guy knows what he’s doing and that’s why the waitlist is a year long to get one of these new. Matchless sound quality and customer service is legendary at this point. They could easily mass produce these for profit at the cost of quality, but they have chosen the opposite.
![Digital Circus Episode 4 [TRAILER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/abZtsmMUbJo/mqdefault.jpg)
An older country/southern rock player and amp tech I respected very very much played one of these DC30’s. About 25 years ago or so he told me in jest (and probably partly meant it) that the reason it’s called Matchless is because they run so hot you don’t need matches for it to catch on fire! 😂 Of course he remedied that. I don’t know a thing about fixing amps and knew even less then, so I don’t know how he did it. But watching you fix amps reminds of how I used to watch him repairing amps. Brings back great memories. Rest In Peace Jim Hurley.
Irish?
I don't think that is accurate.
Merch idea…Psionic Audio “It’s approaching farcical”
I wholeheartedly agree with the concept of making electronics real-world usable. Heat is the enemy of all engineering and living where it’s brutally hot most of the time only exacerbates it. I’ve always made my amps easy to re-bias, partly for longevity, even more so for sound. It takes some effort and always involves some fundamental change. On my 1970 JMP, I mounted a twenty turn pot directly behind the channel II low sensitivity input jack, far enough back to still accept a plug but be tweakable if I’m patient. This pot operates in a limited range between two metal film values to give me just the range I really need. An indirect grid voltage measure point is a discrete chassis mount banana style jack but the reading needs translating so a new user might find it inadequate.
I have a Matchless, 3 years old, sounds great! But, you have me concerned about long term stability. One day when it needs a service I’m going to reference this video for the technician. Thank you!
Can’t speak to all models, but I have owned a Matchless Lightning combo from 1997 for about six years and I’ve not even had to change a tube yet. Amp is bulletproof. And that includes about two years of this time being left on (and operational on, not even stand by) in an un-vented iso box at max volume for 5+ hours twice a week for our church rehearsals and services
I played on of those when they first came out on the market. I was floored when the salesman told me the price. That was a LOT of money back in the 80's.
If I’m not mistaken Matchless didn’t sell to the market until 1989-1990
I miss my HC 30. I ran it on a 4x10 cab with a Komet Concorde on a 4x12 in stereo. Man, what a great rig!
Design flaws aside, the inside of that amp is beautiful. Wow.
I have a "M" King Cobra ~As well as An SC Mini - Flawless in their operations. Reliable and sound great ! I wonder if this guy is somewhat jealous of the Matchless Hand built Construction and their Fine Reputation for making Great Tube Amplifiers ! Never anything wrong with my two Matchless Amplifiers. Psionic Appears to think. . he's the magician !
Never underestimate spark plugs, we had a sick engine on the dyno one time with eight fouled and rounded off 60K mile plugs just changing to fresh ones added 60hp.
my amp had the same problem. Badda bing, badda boom, done.
Good amps are like sports cars.
How fast do you want to go and how much do you want to spend.
Both require maintenance, some more than others
I can appreciate the time and thought that was taken into designing the layout of this amp. It's just beautiful.
Brian May has six AC 30's on stage, three as a backup, and they were needed all the time.
Even in 70's, when the tubes were better.
I thought Brian used nine AC 30’s
@@georgeprice4212 top 3 amps carry spare speakers only.. middle 3 amps are spares and the 3 bottom ones are the ones he uses wet/dry/wet setup
Do you know why Brian May carried so many back up amplifiers? Look it up
I had a really nice DC30 that was built by Phil himself. Always had an issue. Went thru power tubes like socks. Had a really weird oscillation when you cranked the channel vol. Phil installed a ferrite bead at the input but it didn't completely get rid of the oscillations when cranked. Ended up selling it after 6-7 years of owning it. I absolutely loved the amp but I think thats maily because it cost me a ton when I ordered it. I now preffer the lightning circuit which I build myself with a pair of original matchless transformers. I did adjust the cathode bias resistor and ended up installing a switch for high and low bias. The lightning circuit is basically one side of the DC30.
I got a bugera bc 30 that attempts to clone these for a steal at a local guitar show. It works great so I haven't pulled the chassis out but I doubt it will be as cool on the inside of it as that is. LOUD. I learned I can use the effects loop send from one channel and insert it into the input of the opposing channel, but the whole effects loop is off until you plug a plain 1/4 in jack into the return of the effects loop you are using to activate the 'send' then you get both gain stages and both tone controls. Combined with a home made aby switch I can use the volume on the instrument and the different combination of channels to go from chime like cleans to sizzling screaming overdrive. A super cool amp to play as it is super reactive to the guitar and the player. While modeling amps arguably sound as good nothing FEELS like playing a tube amp that adapts to the raw basics of strings vibrating and exciting electrons. Nice work on your amps and video production. Thanks.
JJ added value temp reading labels interesting . Real 7189 may help . One watt carbon comp three thing come to mind . 1 good for over voltage spikes . 2 noise 3. drift .
They sure are pretty, much prettier on the inside than some other amps!
That kind of component layout if planned and done well, gives much shorter signal path than when using one big turret board.
Torturing output tubes by biasing them too hot is very often pretty useless. However some amps for some reason (perhaps because of OT saturation and power supply sag causing compression) sound good when punished with high voltage and output tube plate dissipation. I remember one early 70's crazy blue coloured Italian amp with cathode biased ECL82 output tubes and very small sized and cheap looking OT. The design was pretty similar to some ECL82 WEM Dominators. It had quite high plate voltage because they desperetely tried to pull 15 watt out of it because that was the number which was advertised. 😁 Cathode resistor of ECL82 pentodes was very low valued so those ECL82s run very hot. It had original Miniwatt ECL82 tubes installed which were top quality ones and had not failed despite of that torture but the emission was alredy poor. When I retubed it and changed some elyts, ECL82 pentode plates of fresh tubes were running about 30% too hot. However I tried how it sounds for a couple of minutes and the sound was amazingly good. Nice compression, nice distortion. I didn't of course want to damage that new matched pair of ECL82s so I rebiased it by changing the common cathode resistor to one with bigger value, bringing the plate dissipation to safe 85%. Tubes were now running at very safe dissipation but almost all the mojo of that sound was gone. I paralleled the cathode resistor to get the original value which run output tube plates 30% too hot and the mojo was back again.
Well, finally after some testing I biased those ECL82 to 100% plate dissipation as a compromise between sound and reliability. New tubes were Philips Miniwatts as well so they could handle it without problems.
When I'm done with the bias changes both modes will be in the 12-13.5W idle range. Anything over 14W just shortens tube life with no "magic" imparted.
Below 11W things get rapidly too sterile.
If I knew the owner would only ever use 7189s with a fixed steady 120VAC mains supply I could push to 15W. But as this owner thought the amp was "OK" with that massive hum I don't think that scenario will be realistic.
That’s killer!!!!!!
I always guessed that the transformers Matchless uses were quite good. TDS Transformer Design and Supply I think they are called. I assumed they must be great because Badcat used them in their early days as well as Divided by 13 who still use them. I like all 3 of those amp companies and considered them among the very best sounds boutique amps that I've owned. I loved my Matchless Lightning that I regret selling. Had a Badcat Hotcat 30 that had an interesting unique sound. Built similar to a Matchless but a unique circuit with EL34's. I think I miss those two more than my Divided by 13 JRT 9/15 and LDW 17/39. So many great amps from when I use to buy and sell when prices were much more reasonable used. I miss those days. I had a 65 amps SOHO too that was kinda neat. A lot of deals used back then. So many amp companies back in the mid 2000's.
I thought that they used Mercury Magnetics. At least in the beginning.
@@roberthurless3295 yes only in beginnings but all production amps used Wood transformers which are the TDS . Not sure why they were called Wood back then but same company. They used one other company along side the Wood/TDS transformers only in 97 . I read all this in a forum it came from Phil Jamison.
@@HiHello-ku1fl The family that owns TDS is called Wood. I bought a set of DC-30 iron to build my Ceriatone version of this amp from them. I am extremely pleased with that purchase.
I also built a ceriatone dz30 with TDS transfos. TDS was a pleasure work with and still supplies matchless with trannies!
Didn’t matchless become bobcat?
Back in da day when burning out tubes was more popular then burning them in. Heard some great sounding DC-30's in the past. Also Matchless Chieftain's. {80's & 90's}. Not up to speed on any current models. The layout looks familiar though. Remember back when they were quite the rage but I was full of Marshalls and Fenders at the time. And a few Randalls like the "Commander Four" with 4x10's that was a solid state beast of a guitar amp. Even had some large solid state WEM power amps at the time. Back when solid state was pretty new. Randall rocked solid state before it was cool. And had a similar blistering gain sound to some of the Matchless/Marshall sounds of the time. Proper "master feedback" from my SG into that Randall reminds of that Matchless grind with it's sag/compression when pushed. Much different but just as satisfying as a Marshall.
"Matchless Chieftains. (70's & 80's)."
You heard Matchless amps 10-15 years before they existed?
@@PatatoKeftes LOL. I stand corrected. 89'. Got lost in time. Should have said 80's & 90's. I better edit that gaff.
@@PatatoKeftes you must be under 50 my friend lol 😆
Even if the amp never works again, there's a guy out there with a new DC30 whom would likely pay 2000 dollars for those toasted panels to give his new amp "patina".😆
Keen insights, not neato, not peachy, just keen .
10:24 - "This is changing spark plugs". Spark plugs that sadly here in the UK decent ones are getting very expensive and rare as rocking-horse poo. Hard to believe that we used to make some good ones here, once upon a time.
What do you think about the Bad Cat “PCB” player series amps?
I've got a boss katana
Customer drops off amp.
"Just needs a check over. Works fine"
I look at them
Then we laughed.
Oh how we laughed!!!!
Every 2nd job this happens.
Sounds like my Bad Cat Black Cat, and you just made me feel the need to break out the multimeter and check the voltages in its half power setting, I'm guessing it will be the same as this amp.
Point to point wired and they insulated all the pins. High cost of ownership indeed.
The Matchless DC 30 is supposed to be a "boutique" alternative to a Vox AC30 - however, after having watched this video I'm actually not so sure anymore... what are in your view the best AC30 style amps (ideally heads) in terms of tone (close to the vintage Voxes) and build quality you can buy today?
Some older amps had greater winding resistance, which allowed them to get away with 100ohm screen Rs (or none!).
Maybe they could get away with it with ‘60s Brimars. Most EL84s just die.
What sort of HT (B+) voltage are we talking about? I am assuming the EL84's are biased red-hot. A design that means an amp has an appetite for even the best tubes must be 'unwelcome' to put it mildly.
love your videos. curious to know is this a raved about "Sampson era " amp and was there a change of parts or layout between the older matchless and post sampsonera
i could never afford the matchless version so opted for the ceriatone dc30 clone,
I switched a Chieftan on one time and lightning bolts shot out of the back. Crazy
???
Lyle, if one was able to cool the output tubes such as using a fan, is running them 'hot' from a amperage point of view bad? Also, what's with the internal lamps?
Fans are no protection when the tubes are run past their maximum wattage. The bulbs are just to light up the control panel.
great job explaining what was wrong
That looks like a Hard Day's Work building that thing
@Psionic Audio: Do you design and make amps?
Nice that they used CC Briquettes were you are highly likely to start a BBQ.
Thoughts on diodes plus sag resistor in place of a rectifier tube?
He was a local guy from Mason City around here. before my time. What's with the light bulbs?
Front panel controls light up.
I have never seen amp guts that looked quite like those
Hand wired
@@zitherzon2121 Hand wired old-school point-to-point on terminal strips. Most hand wired amps use eyelet or turret boards -- what most are used to seeing.
it this amp really worth 4000$, and is there something that is very very similar to this or better???
Ah yes, good to have light bulbs inside my amp, to bake everything with IR
What's the light bulbs inside the chassis for?
To light up the front panel controls and logo.
@@PsionicAudio Thanks!
that's a sexy amp, once you'll finish your work on it ,it will be even sexier 😁
Lyle - What are your thoughts on the AmpRX BrownBox (Tube Amplifier Input Voltage Attenuator)? I've heard a bunch of respectable & knowledgeable guitar amp guys recommend getting one of those to get optimal performance out of an amp to allow it to run as it was intended and also for tube and overall amp longevity.
Fine but a little pricey. That's the trade-off for weight/size vs a Variac or UPC.
Hey, do you have any opinions on Bad Cat amps? Do they hold up well or have any major problems?
They're about the same as Matchless.
Who do you like more? Dr Z or Matchless?
Matchless
I've been looking at taking the leap and getting a HC-30. Do you think there's anything out there that would do the job better? Div.13 RSA 31? Thanks, this video was great to find.
I personally would not recommend either due to longevity/cost of repair issues. What is the “job” that needs doing for you?
No 👍
Cost of ownership is an interesting topic. What amps would you suggest have relatively low maintenance from the major manufacturers? How does a Deluxe reverb reissue compare to a JTM45 RI or an AC30c2 for example?
All three you list are pretty good, but all three will need some work aside from normal tube replacement. The Fender RI needs about $200-250 worth of reliability upgrades. The Vox and the Marshall maybe $80-150 worth, though it may not be needed for some few years.
The most reliable amps remain pre-'80 Fenders and Traynors. But these need about $300-400 worth of service every 20 years. So if you get one and it hasn't had that service...
Is your plan to change the screen grid resistor type to metal oxide, or just increase the resistance value and power rating?
MO or MF 2Ws incoming. Probably MO for the larger diameter leads. Will have the same structural support as the originals.
Watching your videos I have the feeling that all amps have serious design flaws and none are worth the money.
What is your all time favourite or perhaps the best Tube amp ever?
That's not at all what I ever say. I point out the flaws but I also point out the fixes. This Matchless is six resistors away from being better than it ever has been.
A Deluxe Reverb RI needs about $300 work of work to sound better and last decades longer.
In between, a Marshall 1959 Superlead RI needs the heater circuit changed and the ground scheme improved to last longer and sound its best.
@@PsionicAudio Just to be clear, I think your videos are fantastic. Appreciate your rigour a lot.
so, Matchless DC 30 plus some resistor revamp and you have perfection?
@@PsionicAudio What about eh Mesas?
@@GTS00000 Hobbyists.
Hiwatt.
Hello....how do I contact you I have a couple classic amps that could use the same Thanks
I read your reply to a comment about using 7189s. Out of curiosity, have you ever used Russian 6P14P-EVs, which are allegedly direct equivalents to the 7189s. I have a set of the 6P14P-EVs waiting to go into a yet to be completed DC-30 clone build, because I wanted something a bit more robust than the standard EL84s. I guess I'll find out. Hopefully they fare better than their current "military equipment".
After killing several sets of current production el84s, I switched to the 6P14P-EVs and and made same type of resistor swaps he mentioned. That has been working well for a few years.
I have an ac15 chinese with the stock el84, do you think its a good idea to upgrade to the 7189, does it change headroom, tone?
Why all of the light bulbs?
My thoughts exactly... Backlit knob labels?
@@Swodie_Jeetin I believe the Illuminate the matchless logo
Is there a modern amp company other than yours of course, that sells amps that are well made? Seems most big companies as just mas produced cheap pcbs with cheap components. And the boutique ones seem to make just bad choices in ther design.
Dr. Z
Suhr, Germino, Metropoulos, Friedman, Fuchs, Bartel...
Lots of good ones out there.
The non-reverb Dr Zs can be good if you tighten the hardware.
Ulbrick arena (2nd hand only from around Australia) stunning amps
@@PsionicAudio I heard Psionic Audio is making good amps!
I thought the Chieftain was run off EL34's .. this one has EL84's
I almost always look up the amps you work on so I can get and idea of what you are talking about. THEN I SAW THE PRICE of a used one. BUYER:Was that sex or are you just Phxxking with me? SELLER:No, we just screwing you HAHA!
Why the lights inside the amp?
Weird
The light up the faceplate and Matchless logo.
i love cherry farcicals
You’re obviously a great tech if you want to do voiceover you’d be rich
First!! Great channel!!
2nd & agreed
It is really rather silly to me how they were using carbon comp resistors in a location that might have to dissipate a lot of heat. Why????? Screens don't even pass signal in amps like this. Any (probably nonexistent) tonal changes wouldn't even exist there.
A true 5AR4 will give the amp less headroom? I never knew that. I should try that next time.
No. That it not what I said. A single 5R4/GZ34 in this amp gives more headroom than using two 5V4s.
@@PsionicAudio oh, bummer. I thought you meant that 5AR4's are different from GZ34's. I guess I can still try the other tubes.
The current AC15 to me sounds just as good as this Matchless. I'm curious if the cost Is equal To the reliability comparatively. What do you think?
Well, this DC-30 has the EF86 channel that current AC15s (HW or Custom) lack. The HW is way too stiff sounding in stock form. The Custom needs tweaks. Neither has iron as good as in the Matchless.
Both can be made to sound as good, while still coming in at a lower price than the Matchless. But in stock form the Matchless sounds better (until the output tubes die).
The dc30 is not a ac30 clone it has a different circuit and has much more mid range and full ness than the ac30. Both are great none the lss
Where did I say it was an AC30 clone?
@@PsionicAudio another commentor mentioned it.
At about 11:40 I noticed the chicken head knob is cracked...looks to me like this amp has not had much loving care in it's life.
I was thinking the same. Seems to have been used a little hard in its time.
One could also look at it as it's been through the wars and still works after all this time...
Matchless amps are the easiest and fastest to work on (if you know a bit)A resistor is bad, you change that resistor. You don’t have to get under boards or unscrew things. You see the circuit right in front of you. Very easy to replace parts and fast. Of course you do need to know how to use a pick and maybe a little solder wick. Don’t need wick if you got skillz😎 you can change parts a hundred times without damaging the amp because the parts are strong. The clamp with the felt works great I’ve never seen one break a tube. I’ve never seen anyone replace grommets on a matchless. You’re reaching pretty hard.
Over time everything disintegrates
Would this be a Mark Sampson era Matchless, or one after that?
The Amp He worked on in the video was made in the year 2000 or later, based on the A21355 Serial Number
I wonder if my Matchless 30/15 has the same screen grid resistor values on the EL84s?
Most do. But don't go changing things in a Matchless. Working on them requires a ton of soldering experience and very good technique. Easy to do more harm than good.
Just by looking at that, I wouldn't consider brands like Matchless, Bogner, Boogie etc. Too much can go wrong with an amp that's trying to be a "Swiss Army Knife". I think I'd rather have a "One Trick Pony".
Matchless amps are hand wired one trick ponies. Bogners and Boogies are for the most part (well built) PCB amps with channel switching…apples and oranges.
@@andrewandthecatfives I think the brands I mentioned are unnecessarily complicated. Not a fan of Half/Full power switching. Gimmicks like internal lights? One more thing to fail. They obviously have problems as shown in the video. Is wiring on terminal strips better than a turret board?
It all depends on who did the soldering and how the circuits are laid out. Lyle has designed what I think is a better engineered ef86 amp along the Matchless/Vox theme - but I have to wait until he gets them in production.
@@IL2TXGunslinger I'm curious to see his Fender Deluxe inspired amp. Should be interesting.
I caught the Matchless owner on Dave Friedman's "Tone-Talk" Y.T. Channel sometime last year and wasn't very impressed. His arrogance to intelligence/s*** in one sock ratio wasn't well balanced..
You should watch the one with Joe Morgan. He just plays video games while the guys talk. Seems like a prick. Makes the matchless guy seem like ghandi
@@joepeezy4sheezy I saw it, not impressed by Morgan either the Saldano interview was pretty cool, one that I need to rewatch and take notes when I've got a much better handle on Marshall -ly type circuits.
Friedman or Jamison?
I WILL NEVER EVER PUT A JJ TUBE IN MY AMPS EVER AGAIN..PURE JUNK..I BOUGHT A BRAND NEW SET AND ALL 4 OF THE POWER TUBES SHORTED AND ONE PREAMP TUBE AND IT TOOK OUT A SMALL PC...GOT THE INITIAL PROBLEM FIXED WHICH WAS CAUSED BY A JJ TUBE.....REPLACED EVERYTHING WITH MULLARD AND TUNGSOL...VIOLA NEVER LOOKED BACK..AND SOUND AMAZING!!
BS
That’s not correct about the grommets. They are silicone and they do not break apart with time. I was also in a lose lose situation, if I changed resistor values then they are not the same as the “Magical Era” and if I made the amps the same then I should have changed parts values to appease guys making videos. So, you changed the tubes on a 14 year old amp. 👍
I've had many Matchlesses in with degraded grommets. These have not degraded. When did you change grommets?
There is no magic to killing EL84s.
I'm not just some "guy making videos."
Pay attention to “the guy making videos” Phil. You may learn something if you keep an open mind and stop being so precious about what you THINK you know. Cheers.
You could learn a few things from this "guy making videos," such as how to improve your products. Smarmy and hurt are not good reactions to constructive criticism.
@@socallars3748 Yep. Not a good reaction and also not very professional.
I’ve had my eyes on Matchless amps for 20 years (aka the Phil Jamison era) in all that time I’ve never heard of a Matchless breaking down at a gig or being unreliable in any way. Quite the opposite, they’re famously resilient. If an annual tube swap is the price to pay for top tier sound, so be it. If you can’t afford that or simply don’t want to do it, there are tons of options out there today. Personally I think the guy knows what he’s doing and that’s why the waitlist is a year long to get one of these new. Matchless sound quality and customer service is legendary at this point. They could easily mass produce these for profit at the cost of quality, but they have chosen the opposite.