The ShadowMusic Web Community

Pardon my ignorance, but was the EF86 valve in any of the amps that Hank used?

Many thanks,

Andy

Only a few, The Vox AC15 - Vox AC30-6 - Matchless DC30 - KCP - Pinnacle 30 .

It was the AC30-4 Dave. (The first AC30)

I have an original AC30/4, and yes it has an EF86.

Brian H.

rogera wrote:It was the AC30-4 Dave. (The first AC30)

I beg your pardon Roger, that's what I was supposed to have written as I have one - it's an age thing

Many thanks, Dave, all. The valve featured in the early pieces, including " Apache," I assume then.

Best,

Andy

Yes the early stuff is prominently influenced by the timbre of the EF86 valve. It gives a great tone at the high end when slightly 'distressed', without the horrible 'ice pick' treble.
You can get a very similar sound using a Vox AC30 Top Boost using the Brilliant channel with no treble or bass added, using the CUT to tame the highs. It isn't quite the same as the AC30/4 sound, but close enough.

That said, I have ben using my Mesa Boogies' lately, a DC-50 and a Mark 3, each of which give a quality Shadows tone, as well as Roy's latest acquisition, a Fender Twin which I tried last night at our gig with great success. My old Twin Reverb had JBL speakers and I struggled to get the Shads tone with that, but Roy's is fitted with Eminence speakers which are not as 'cutting' and I got a pretty close sound to what I was looking for. I used it on the 25 watt setting.

I rember attending a listening test with an AC30 which only had ECC83s in the preamp section, but also had an add-on EF86 preamp. Proper switching was used so that immediate comparison could be made with ECC83 or EF86 sound. There was no noticeable difference in sound between both...

Didier

Very interesting, Dave, Didier. My only experience with the valve is either the Heritage Vox as.

Andy

We have an AC15 ( with the EF86) that belongs to an old pal of mine, in fact I went with him to buy it in 1963 and when I play through this amp at the Hankies the hairs stand up on the back of my neck.