Grainger Blues Twin

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john kelly
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Jul 25, 2007 9:41 am

Grainger Blues Twin

Postby john kelly » Mon Aug 27, 2007 8:21 pm

Hi folks, This is not quite acoustic guitar speak, but I had to share my good luck with those of you that are on the look out for a great all valve amp for less than £300 ( pre amp 12ax7 x5, Rectifier valve 5ar4 x1, Power valves 5881's (EL34's equiv) x2. The amp is marketed by Sound Control's exclusive name of 'grainger' under the model name 'blues twin' but having done my homework on this thing and eventually buying it as I discovered it is actually an Epiphone 'Blues Custom' , with identical livery and electrics and only came on the market last October. The amp is 30 watt class A/B and switchable between 15 and 30 watts. The cheapest I could get the Epiphone version was with GAK at £599, even there the Epiphone is mareketed as a great buy given the spec.
I have trowed through epiphone forums and got all info on the epi version, to compare against my grainger. Everything and I mean Everything is the same right down to the same blurb used by both Epiphone and Sound control to market amp. The amp is American designed and manufactured in China but I can assure you it is well worth the money. For the tech minded it is a cathode bias and does not require biasing after replacing power valves. I have had mine 5 weeks and decided to replace the valves which are Sovtek and electro Harmonix combination as the amp sounded rather bright. I did this on the advice of epihone anoraks whom had already tweaked theirs. The amp now sounds a creamy bluesy and the brightness has toned down. The speakers are Eminence 'lady lucks' 2 x 12 inch but are not quite broke in yet so I will wait with these. I have repalce with Tung sol 12ax7's, JJ (Tesla) Gz34 rectifier and tung Sol 5881's and took out all Sovteks due to the brightness as said. I am now enjoying the amp. I got all replacement valves on ebay and managed to sell my stock valves on ebay for roughly same price as new ones- so that hasn't really added to price. I am so chuffed on this , if anyone wants further details i can provide on forum. (I am going to put Mullards in it when I can get suitably priced ones.) :D :D :D :lol: :lol:

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