I'm really excited - I've just won a Hughes & Kettner Cream Machine preamp off ebay for EUR 48,50 ($55).
It uses two 12AX7 tubes and has both a preamp and power amp stage to output a max of about 1W - fully enough to drive a 4 x 12 cab in a smallish room (that's only half as loud as a 10W amp). In addition to dry and wet outputs, there is an output which goes through an inbuilt cab emulator (H&K RedBox).
Mine is very similar but is not the US version (these pics are better than on my auction)
I'll be able to use it as a preamp to both my amp and to my PC - I can switch the output to line level.
I started with nothing - and I've still got most of it left.
Did you know that the word "gullible" is not in any dictionary?
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Congratulations: Have fun with your new toy. I'm sure you'll find many uses for it.
joe
Thanks, Joe, I just can't wait to get my paws on it.
I started with nothing - and I've still got most of it left.
Did you know that the word "gullible" is not in any dictionary?
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I just took a read through the manual, I like the number of outs and out options there are. A person could get pretty creative plugging it into multiple amps, power amps, mixer.
Could create a wall of sound.
have fun
joe
What I like are the emulator and the inbuilt power amp together with the output options of line or instrument.
I can create a sound on the cream machine, using the inbuilt power amp and simply decide on my output - line to a mixer, PA or PC and instrument to a power amp, without even having to change my sound settings.
I've read a couple of reports that the 12AX7 needs to be replaced with a 12AU7 to give a slghtly warmer sound, but I'll experiment first.
I'll see about a couple of sound samples, as well
I started with nothing - and I've still got most of it left.
Did you know that the word "gullible" is not in any dictionary?
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Normal guitar preamps use the 12AX7 tube as the main building block of the circuit. There are several other tubes that will plug into the socket with no circuit changes necessary. Each of them will change the gain and the tone of the preamp. All of these tubes are "dual triodes," two circuits packaged in one tube. Therefore replacing a single 12AX7 with one of the alternates will change the gain of two stages of the preamp.
Tube Gain
12AX7 = 100
5751 = 70
12AT7 = 60
12AZ7 = 60
6072/12AY7 = 44
5965/12AV7 = 27
12AU7/6189/5814 = 20
Joe
Joe,
thanks for the info. As soon as I have got a feel for the 12AX7s that are in, I'm going to get some of the others and try them out.
Waiting gets really tiresome, don't you think?
I started with nothing - and I've still got most of it left.
Did you know that the word "gullible" is not in any dictionary?
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Your Welcome.
Soon you'll be hooked on experimenting, just like I'am.
Joe
It arrived today! So I'm messing around with it big time, trying to see what effect sockets and switches have.
One thing for certain - there is a huge amount of distortion - probably too much for blues type of overdrive, so maybe a change to a 5751 or even 12au7 may make it a bit more subtle.
I started with nothing - and I've still got most of it left.
Did you know that the word "gullible" is not in any dictionary?
Greybeard's Pages
My Articles & Reviews on GN
