Woofy Amp Bummer

[DeadAirMD]

Hoping someone out there can lead me in the right direction, or any direction but the one I'm stuck with for that matter.

Problem amp is a 1st Gen. Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. A few months back I replace the about to explode 450/500v big boy capacitors. They were already erupting with gunk coming out the top and bottom of the caps. The amp sounded great after doing this, but unfortunately has drifted into the shit......big time.

I only use the Clean Channel and run a ton of effects through it. Everything clean sounds perfect, but as soon as I turn on any distortion/overdrive pedal, my amp sounds like it's squeezing out the sound. With distortion/overdrive, it always sounds like a cocked wah. Every single distortion/overdrive pedal sounds the exact same to each other. Every guitar single coil or humbucker, sounds the exact same. I replaced the speaker with an Eminence RW&B, didn't change anything. The EQ on the amp either makes the woofiness brighter or darker, but does nothing to change that single tone. I replaced all the tubes and I'm using (6L6, 12ay7, 12ax7, and 12at7). They did nothing.

I'm super bummed out because my amp sounds terrible and it's painful to listen to my recordings.

Here's some sound samples. All audio you hear is playing through the amp. Even with just the guitar, terrible. Please help

https://soundcloud.com/dead-air-electric%2Fsample-1

https://soundcloud.com/dead-air-electric%2Fsample-2

 

[pbrommer]

Hoping someone out there can lead me in the right direction, or any direction but the one I'm stuck with for that matter.

Problem amp is a 1st Gen. Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. A few months back I replace the about to explode 450/500v big boy capacitors. They were already erupting with gunk coming out the top and bottom of the caps. The amp sounded great after doing this, but unfortunately has drifted into the shit......big time.

I only use the Clean Channel and run a ton of effects through it. Everything clean sounds perfect, but as soon as I turn on any distortion/overdrive pedal, my amp sounds like it's squeezing out the sound. With distortion/overdrive, it always sounds like a cocked wah. Every single distortion/overdrive pedal sounds the exact same to each other. Every guitar single coil or humbucker, sounds the exact same. I replaced the speaker with an Eminence RW&B, didn't change anything. The EQ on the amp either makes the woofiness brighter or darker, but does nothing to change that single tone. I replaced all the tubes and I'm using (6L6, 12ay7, 12ax7, and 12at7). They did nothing.

I'm super bummed out because my amp sounds terrible and it's painful to listen to my recordings.

Here's some sound samples. All audio you hear is playing through the amp. Even with just the guitar, terrible. Please help

So, the aim to change the EQ, correct? Is there a particular sound you're aiming for to improve the sound?

I'm going to look at the schematic and see what might help the woofiness. My guess is we'll need to change the capacitors between stages and/or bypass capacitors

 

[music6000]

Sounds like the Amp needed to be Biased after the Caps were changed & it has had an ill effect on the Tubes???
HamishR would be the man to speak to!

 

[DeadAirMD]

Yeah, I'm wondering if I need to change out the rest of the caps? I'm not necessarily trying to nail a particular EQ for the amp, I want to correct the horrible sounding distortion. The amp never used to sound like this, so trying to figure out what is wrong.

I rebiased the amp using the Bias potentiometer, but that didn't have an effect on the crappy distortion tone. Wondering if components need to be replaced to correct this issue. I can do all the repairs, I just have zero experience diagnosing issues.

 

[pbrommer]

Yeah, I'm wondering if I need to change out the rest of the caps? I'm not necessarily trying to nail a particular EQ for the amp, I want to correct the horrible sounding distortion. The amp never used to sound like this, so trying to figure out what is wrong.

I rebiased the amp using the Bias potentiometer, but that didn't have an effect on the crappy distortion tone. Wondering if components need to be replaced to correct this issue. I can do all the repairs, I just have zero experience diagnosing issues

Yeah. Replacing one power supply cap shouldn't make it good then garbage. I'd finish the recapping in the power supply and see what happens.

Maybe that 12ay7 is funky. As in it might mess with the sound in the first preamp stages.

I looked at the schematic and there aren't many changes I can see in the clean channel. Maybe the first stage which shows a 47uF bypass capacitor on the cathode. Perhaps going to 22uF or 10uF might help - remove some of the bass that gets through with the 47uF bypass cap.

Hopefully we find a good solution!