HT1-R Upgrade Speaker & Valves

[leddenton]

I bought my HT1-R from Ebay last year, and although I love the classic overdriven tones, I didnt feel it had enough treble with humbuckers (not tried single coils) and there was next to no head room when I wanted a cleaner sound.

Yesterday I changed out the stock valves for The Philips Jan Military ECC82/6189W & Harma ECC83 Retro. And changed the cheap looking standard speaker for the Weber British Blue pup Ceramic. (which weighs a tonne and has a massive magnet)

I have hardly broken in the speaker yet, but what a change, loads more volume, with massive punch and treble, the ISF & Reverb is much more sensitive, and the clean sound that is now available is huge compared to before.

Very pleased with the mods, I wonder now, what difference would power supply mods make?

[Classicplayer]

I am thinking about doing a speaker swap also. Was the Blue Pup an easy swap and did if fit perfectly?
Do I have to solder any connections, or is just plug in type? The other speaker I've thought about is the Celestion Super Eight.

I've already swapped tubes for a set from the Tube Store. I cannot say that there was much of a change when I made the swap, but another speaker type might be worth it.

Classicplayer

[leddenton]

Hi Classicplayer,

Yes the blue pup was a straight swap, took like ten mintues to swap over. Just remove and refix the 8 or so nuts, there was not even any glue gun which I thought there would be. The leads were plug in type spade terminals.

Changing the speaker has got to be a good idea, the original looks really cheap, I have heard good things about the Celestion Super 8, but I think the blue pup is about twice the price here in the UK.

Let me know how you get on

[leddenton]

Details of tubes I used


http://www.watfordvalves.com/product_detail.asp?id=3005

[bluesoverdrive]

Which brand are the stock valves? And what about the speaker?

[leddenton]

Hi the speaker I put in was Weber British Blue pup Ceramic, the original is a very light weight blackstar branded, made in China speaker.

I cant remember what the original tubes I took out were, but I can check if you need to know