Sean Rezel
New member
Victoria Regal 2 amplifier - killer vintage rock tones. http://www.vintageguitar.com/3745/victoria-regal-ii-amplifier/
Whatsapp: 81631321 if you are interested.
Swapping Tubes
For most players serious enough to invest in a hand-wired boutique amp with a “tweakable” design, instinct will demand they take advantage. Doing so with the Regal II reveals a pleasant surprise in that the tone of the amp does not significantly change, but headroom does! Swapping the stock 5881s for a pair of new-old-stock JAN Phillips 6L6s produced a noticeably greater clean headroom. A pair of EL34s added a bit of a British flair, but more importantly to us, low-end response was tightened at higher volume settings. With 6V6s, the amp again took another turn with lower headroom, more mids, and a bit more compression.
Trying the various (seemingly mismatched) combinations of 6L6, 5881, EL34, and 6V6s produced unique tones every time, though all shared a “layered” effect. To use a sci-fi analogy, it was like an episode of “Star Trek” where two characters are combined in a transporter incident. Or like playing through two amps at the same time, but instead of being beside each other, they somehow coexisted in the same spot. For example, with the 5881/EL34 paring, the tones became more complex, but to a certain degree they also lost some of their individual ability to bring forth a new tone. But that’s part of the uniqueness of the amp. How many amps can combine an EL34 with a 6V6?
Overall, the Victoria Regal II is impressive because it’s a tube-swapping tone-tweaker’s dream come true, and produces a fantastic mix of pre-CBS Fender tones.
Whatsapp: 81631321 if you are interested.
Swapping Tubes
For most players serious enough to invest in a hand-wired boutique amp with a “tweakable” design, instinct will demand they take advantage. Doing so with the Regal II reveals a pleasant surprise in that the tone of the amp does not significantly change, but headroom does! Swapping the stock 5881s for a pair of new-old-stock JAN Phillips 6L6s produced a noticeably greater clean headroom. A pair of EL34s added a bit of a British flair, but more importantly to us, low-end response was tightened at higher volume settings. With 6V6s, the amp again took another turn with lower headroom, more mids, and a bit more compression.
Trying the various (seemingly mismatched) combinations of 6L6, 5881, EL34, and 6V6s produced unique tones every time, though all shared a “layered” effect. To use a sci-fi analogy, it was like an episode of “Star Trek” where two characters are combined in a transporter incident. Or like playing through two amps at the same time, but instead of being beside each other, they somehow coexisted in the same spot. For example, with the 5881/EL34 paring, the tones became more complex, but to a certain degree they also lost some of their individual ability to bring forth a new tone. But that’s part of the uniqueness of the amp. How many amps can combine an EL34 with a 6V6?
Overall, the Victoria Regal II is impressive because it’s a tube-swapping tone-tweaker’s dream come true, and produces a fantastic mix of pre-CBS Fender tones.
