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i've replaced all of the tubes, and the speaker on my Gemini 1.
it makes no hums or noises whatsoever.
it's just that it has no real bottom end.
it's great if i'm using the treble boost and the reverb is cranked and the volumes are cranked and whatever...
but if you turn the treble boost off, you get insufficient treble.
the bass knob doesnt really do much...just changes the amount of muffled sound.
it's not really bass, it's muffle.
i brought my gemini to a jam w/ some friends. i had plenty of volume but the sound was weak. i was embarrassed.
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Hmm, that certainly doesn't sound like its working correctly. does it have the original speaker? you might check the speaker and make sure it is ok. you might have a damaged cone, or if its not the original and it could just be a crummy speaker.
alternately depending on which era gemini 1 you have it may have an external amp jack that you could plug into a mixer and hear what the preamp sounds like.
can you give us a sound sample?
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i've replaced the speaker with an eminence legend, i forget which one but it was recommended to me by fliptops. i'm sure it's good.
i dont know how i could post a sound sample.
mine is a 1966 and has no output jacks.
many of the vintage ampegs that i have owned sounded similar to this one. i've always assumed that they needed tubes when they sound clammy like that; but now i think it's just the way they sound.
i loved that cheap trebly tube sound as a kid but as an adult i'm hearing things differently.
i spent a ton of money on this one. it's beautiful.
but the cover is back on; and it's in the attic. it's one of those things i had to have because i wanted one as a kid; but it's not something i could ever actually use.
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That's somewhat unusual. If anything, I would expect people to find most Ampegs of that kind to be fairly bass/mid heavy, rather than having "no real bottom end."
I suppose everyone hears things differently, but really, I think it's more likely that it needs a tune up or something isn't quite right.
And worn out tubes that are still functioning tend to sound dull, not harsh.
Compared to most fender/vox/marshall amps, since the ampegs use a completely different tone stack, it's way more likely that someone would boost the treble pot past noon on an ampeg for clarity. Most ampegs with bass and treble at noon are almost truly flat in EQ. You basically can't even get a fender/marshall/vox Eq to be flat, even with the mid at max and the bass/treble near zero.
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Exactly. These amps were highly regarded by the jazz community, and you can bet it wasn't because they had a "cheap and trebley tube sound". Its because typically these amps are rich, deep, and articulate sounding.
I wonder if your filter caps are weak, or maybe the plate or cathode resistor on the phase inverter is way off spec... something goofy that would really cause the amp to sound wonky.
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that is just for the power supply. I don't imagine that is your problem... but it can't hurt. any amp that is from the 60s should have the filter caps replaced if you actually want to use it.
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ok so i've installed those caps, cut loose the death cap and installed a grounded cord. no problem.
which caps are the filter caps and where can i buy them?
and which are the best to buy?
thanks
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somehow i think i'm getting a better sound out of this thing now...could be the les paul that i just bought.
i suddenly can hear some low end.
the clean is so sparkly it's hard to believe it's coming from this old box.
