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The THD web site says of the Yellow Jackets, “It’s like having a new amp…” and that’s an understatement! Pull your old tubes, pop in the converters, then plug in the EL-84’s and listen to your amp sing! Sometimes great things just come real easy! Read on…. |
If you follow this blog, you know that I just recently did a write-up of the THD Yellow Jackets. At the time though, they were just on order, and I hadn’t played with them yet. Well, they arrived today, and of course, I just couldn’t wait to get them installed. I opened up the packing box which revealed a little plastic box floating amidst a packing popcorn. I quickly pulled it out, opened up the box, and pulled out the instructions… er… what little of them there were. They basically just said, pull out your old tubes, plug in the converters, then plug in the EL-84 tubes that come with the converters. Turn your amp on, and play. That’s it. It took me all of three minutes to get the converters and new tubes installed.
In nervous anticipation, I plugged my Epi Explorer into my amp and switched it on, strummed a G chord on my clean channel and… No change. Just the same sweet sound produced by my pre-amp tubes. Then I switched to my drive channel and WAS TOTALLY BLOWN AWAY!!! You see, as much as I love my Hot Rod, the drive channel has been somewhat useless for me. Even with new 6L6GC tubes, the clipping was very rough and gritty. It was okay for some songs, but was just not pleasing to me, so I did the next best thing: I bought a couple of overdrive boxes to get that sweet pre-amp distortion.
But with the Yellow Jackets installed, I finally have a useable drive channel! The distortion is smooth, and it seems like the touch sensitivity has increased ten-fold! Not only that, it sounds like the converters introduce a little compression which really helps define the tone, and all this at bedroom levels!Mind you, installing the Yellow Jackets doesn’t reduce your volume (I think I might have mentioned that they do – my bad – they don’t). What they do is get the amp into breakup a lot earlier, so you can slather on the drive and distortion without having to shake the walls of your house! For home studio musicians, and most of us who play in small venues, being able to get great distortion tone at low volumes is akin to searching for the Holy Grail. I’ve tried all sorts of things from upping the input gain on my DAW to using modelers. In either case, the result is less than desirable. But with the Yellow Jackets, I’ve found the elusive grail, and I’m lovin’ it!
As I mentioned in the previous write-up, I ordered the Triode version of the Yellow Jackets. This essentially reduces my output to 5 Watts. Don’t be fooled – my amp’s still freakin’ loud. But what I’ve found in the last couple of hours playing with my three main electrics is that my amp is much more versatile. I can still crank up the volume, but I can get a lot more varied tones at lower volumes, and that is always a good thing.
By the way, you can’t buy the Yellow Jackets from THD directly, but you can get them for a great price at The Tube Store. I got mine for $99.95 (that includes two converters and two EL-84 tubes).
Guitar Gear 
This has been very helpful! I own a hot rod deluxe, and although i actually really like the drive channel ( did some modding ), i would really like to explore some more. With the YJ all i have to do is change the tubes, and when i want the old sound back, i plug the old tubes.
Now, how would you compare your old sound to the one with the YC. I know that the hot rod can sound a bit muddy with humbuckers, which annoys the crap out of me cause i really like Les Pauls. Did you notice a difference in that area?
I wouldn’t call it muddy, just lots of bass. When I play my Les Paul with the Hot Rod, I turn the Bass down to about 9am, push the Treble to 3pm and set the midrange to about 1pm. I also have the Presence at about 11am to sweeten up the mids and highs. Works quite well.
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I bought a pair of these and put them in a Pre CBS Bandmaster. My amp tech had just given it a clean bill of health and it was working perfect. I put in the yellow jackets and they fried my power transformer. Website said they are safe for all transformers, B.S. Would not waranty for the damage.
Damn! The only problem that I had was that I seemed to go through EL84’s pretty fast. But now I just use an attenuator.
Just put a set in a reissue Vibroverb that was totally unsuited for smaller venues and clubs due to its volume levels. What a tremendous improvement ! Not only lower volume with good breakup but the tone is still there as well.
Highly recommended based in early results…..they will tame and sweeten that blackface or silverface amp that is a tad too loud for small clubs, believe it.
Great to hear! As I’ve mentioned previously, as long as you don’t push them too hard, they’ll work great!
Ok so i was the first poster ( on the top ). In the meanwhile i got a pair for the Marshall JMP50w head. It reduced it to around18w-20w and i can tell you they work like a charm. The sound is great an manageable levels, and i can always just swap them for the EL34’s. Great
Can i do same thing on my blues deluxe reissue?
You should be able to use them with no problem. It has been seven years, and they’re apparently much better now than my originals, which would burn out the tubes pretty easily.