Simply blown away....
Put about 2 hours on the Schechter Hellraiser tonight...
With the JJ EC833 tubes, the gain was really heavy, almost too much gain (with an EMG 81) and there was a harshness to the tone I had to keep EQ-ing out. When I put in the 7025's, the amp's character changed. gain, still at full, was softer and fuller, less harsh and with more clarity. I actually switched off the Tone Shift and Lead 1 and ran the amp in that condition. Wow!!! Harmonics are now effortless...it really did surprise me how smooth the low-noise 7025 TAD's are....
Then I plugged in the Squire Strat with the Gibson 57 Classics....I immediately had to raise the pickups!!!! The Strat doesn't drive the amp as hard as the EMG 81 in the Schechter, but the tone is really sweet and full, like a pot full of honey, Man....
I raised up the pickups in the Sqiuire as far as I could...checked for zero pull on the neck pickup and Man-O-Man does it ever have a sweet tone....I still have that pesky noise in the Squire, but casting that aside, the tone is just pure H to H Angus Young-ish....
