It's been about 8 years since I was seriously in to playing guitar, both electric and acoustic. I was finally treated for ADHD a few months ago and my love for music has returned.

I thought that even though I loved music and playing guitar that it wasn't for me since I had such difficulty learning it. I could do a little soloing, play rhythm, and chords weren't too big of an issue. The problem was I couldn't progress no matter how much I tried, there was so much I couldn't grasp. So my Squier Telecaster (with upgrades a plenty), Takamine GS330, Peavey Bandit II, and broken B-52 AT212, all went unused for years save for a couple minutes here and there.

Fast forward to about 3 weeks ago when the desire to play again returned stronger than ever and I pulled everything out and started cleaning off the dust. In this last 3 weeks I've leaned new songs, scales, delved in to musical theory, and repaired my equipment. The Squier Tele was upgraded years ago with American wiring, switches, pots, a Little 59' bridge pickup, a Warmoth neck, and Grover locking tuners. I researched proper pickup set-up, including adjusting the poles for sting to string balance. I also added a switch for coil splitting the Little 59'.

I had installed Eurotube's full retube kit with 6L6GC power tubes in the B-52 after it was knocked over and a couple of the stock tubes broken. It still never sounded right and had gone unused, even back when I was playing the first time. After some research I found a burnt resistor and after replacement the amp sounded pretty good. I had biased the tubes back when I installed them but apparently did it incorrectly. I just biased it again today and the tubes were really underpowered, 23ma instead of the 45ma it sould have been. Now the tone is amazing and it sounds better than it ever did. The reverb tank was also busted and was replaced last week with nice MOD 2 spring long decay model.

All in all I have really enjoyed getting back in to playing and now that the ADHD is under control I've been able to accomplish so much in a short amount of time.

I just couldn't resist....

That made me laugh lol.

Congrats!

And when you get around to it, try a Tung-Sol 12AX7 reissue in your input stage. It's a lot more lively and clear than a JJ. You'll love it.

I second the Tung Sols in the B-52.

Clearer, more saturation, and less noise.



The only caveate, and it may just be my amp, I seem to burn through the preamp tubes pretty quick.....I haven't checked the heater voltage but I suspect its higher than the 12.6VDC...



 

I've heard that the Tung-sol's tend to be on the bright side, which is something I'm trying to avoid with this amp due to it already being fairly bright.  I'm actually thinking about changing the frequency of the RC high-pass filter on the tone stack, I'm looking for a little more warmth so  having the ability to attenuate the treble a little more would be nice. I've also toyed with the idea of adding a 2kR resistor and a 10k ohm pot in series with the cathode resistor on gain stage 2 to act as a VR.

A Mullard reissue is what I'd try, in that case. They're both made by New Sensor and sound similar, but the Mullard is a little darker sounding.

Also, what speakers are you running? That can make a big difference.

I'm running the stock B-52 speakers.

Well, I'm done messing with the amp, it now has the sound I wanted. I replaced the 4.7k cathode resistor on V2 (V1 is shared with the clean channel, which sounds awesome as is) with a 1.5k. It added some serious sizzle when the gain is cranked along with fattening up the tone nicely. It sounds fuller on all settings with an overall warmer tone.

Yeah, I figured that's what was in there. I did some Googling on them last night and a lot of people say that they're really bright speakers.

And congrats on your mods!

I tried plugging in the Texas Head that is in my Peavey Bandit 112 and it sounded entirely too dark. If this mod didn't work I was going to look in to new speakers.

I'm happy the mod worked as planned and that I have the sound I wanted. I know from reading online that this amp seems to be loved or hated with a passion.

Yeah, I used to have a pair of Texas Heats, and they're darker than dark. And actually, come to think of it, it might pair well with one of the stock B-52 speakers. Kinda like how a G12T-75 & a V30 go well together.

Very cool story.  Did the treatment for the ADHD give you over energy or what?  I sometimes wonder if I suffer from that.  I play guitar, and a little every day.  But I don't seem to progress as much as I should because I seem to just play stuff I already know over and over trying to improve how \well I play that.  

@Gone_Shootin

I plugged the Peavy (with Texas Heat) in with my B52 and it really balanced out nicely. I listened to a Texas Heat and Swamp Thang paired together and have decided that's what I'm going to end up doing.

@Jimmy

I'm on a really low dose of Adderall (15mg) and it has definitely leveled out my energy. I am able to give 110% when I practice and have started creating my own curriculum to work with. I am progressing at a phenomenal rate, especially when compared to the difficulties that I was experiencing before.