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I LOVE my 504 to death. I am finding that for some of the more psycobilly songs in our set [original music, old school punk/'77 style] I need more clean headroom. I am running my 504 with the master full up and the volumes at about 1/2 way up. I love the crunch, but I need more clean spank.



Yes, I do wear earplugs...



Thanks!

How old is your 504 (which preamp)? Do you have a 12AT7/ECC81 in the PI position?

Remember that 100 watts is only about 3db louder than 50 watts.

--mark

Hey,
It is a '73 that is absolutely pristine. I love the amp. I am not really looking for more volume, I am looking for more headroom and a slightly bigger sonic footprint. I have a thread up with my amp in the Hylight section
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=525

On some of our songs, I need more clarity out of my Gretsch Spectra Sonic. I am using the amp with the ECC81 in V4. When I first got it, an 81 and 83 were switched around and I was getting too much grind too early. Now it is much better, but my big splayed chords are still more broken up than I like. Maybe I will try turning my amp up more and pulling back on my guitar volume even more.

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michael.e wrote:It is a '73 that is absolutely pristine.

I am not really looking for more volume, I am looking for more headroom and a slightly bigger sonic footprint.

Maybe I will try turning my amp up more and pulling back on my guitar volume even more.

Nice amp! There are a number of solder joints that have been re-done... was it messed with, then restored at some point?

"Bigger sonic footprint" sounds like a DR103. At that volume (master full up, preamp halfway) you are probably starting to get a little bit of compression with the '504. A '103 will compress less. I like both my '504 and my '103, but the '103 just has more "girth" to it. Even if it's only 3dB louder, it's terrifying (reaching-for-the-earplugs loud) at full blast, whereas the '504 is almost tolerable.

I don't know if cranking the preamp and turning the guitar down will do what you want, but it's worth experimenting with. FWIW, I crank the channel volumes and roll down the guitar to clean it up, ala Townshend.

Thanks for the input and beta! I will give that tube swap a go. The amp was owned by a producer at Sentience Studio for many, many years. Any new work is a result of component maintenance only.