Tubes

Dave Sloven

Dave Sloven

Ambassador of DOOM!
Country flag
Post your experiences with various tubes - good, bad, or indifferent - here.

My Peavey 6534+ has had nearly four years out of its original tubes and at least one preamp tube and one power tube are sounding tired. Classic symptoms like a faint crackle (preamp) and needing to be warmed up for longer and longer (power amp) are apparent. So I ordered four preamp tubes (I figure at least two of my original Ruby and JJ preamp tubes will be okay) - three Tung Sol 12AX7 tubes and one Sovtek 12AX7 LPS tube - and a matched quad of the same tubes that the amp came with, Ruby EL34BHT tubes.

I will put the Tung Sols in first and see if I can eliminate the crackle. I will use the Sovtek as a phase inverter and see if I can have that installed with the power tubes and get them biased and set up properly before we record out first demo in June.

Ordered the power tubes from Cryoset in the USA because I couldn't find any here for under $200 a set and ordered the preamp tubes from AmpTubes in Queensland. Someone had quoted me locally $50 a tube so I went online to order them (note that these are Australian dollar amounts).

I will let you guys know how they turn out.
 
Great idea!!! I will start by saying, always give Electra-Harmonics (EH) a chance. They tend to get over-looked for Russian tubes (may of which are no longer made in Russia - I forget which popular one this is true of - May be Sovtek).

For Marshall JVM 2XX seeries, try this cocktail:
V1: EH 12ax7 (V1 is the one under the metal cover - others go left to right)
V2: EH 12ax7
V3/4: Shuguang 12ax7-B
V5: EH 12ax7
 
I was looking at other EL34 options, and then I read a heap of reviews of the ones I already have, and people are saying that they are comparable to Svetlana Winged =C= EL34s and that Diezel use them and Iommi prefers them and I am thinking how much I liked them when they were good so I was like 'why change?' and just ordered another set. They are hard to find here in Australia though so I ended up ordering a set of cyro-treated ones from Cryoset for $100 less than they would have cost to buy from the only Australian dealer I found. But now I wait and hope they arrive before we record on June 18 :unsure:

Sold my Dunlop Crybaby From Hell to pay for them as I am broke as a joke ...
 
Dave Sloven said:
I was looking at other EL34 options, and then I read a heap of reviews of the ones I already have, and people are saying that they are comparable to Svetlana Winged =C= EL34s and that Diezel use them and Iommi prefers them and I am thinking how much I liked them when they were good so I was like 'why change?' and just ordered another set. They are hard to find here in Australia though so I ended up ordering a set of cyro-treated ones from Cryoset for $100 less than they would have cost to buy from the only Australian dealer I found. But now I wait and hope they arrive before we record on June 18 :unsure:

Sold my Dunlop Crybaby From Hell to pay for them as I am broke as a joke ...
Click to expand...
If you need a quick ship, let me know.

The EH EL34s are GREAT in my marshall JVM. Better than the stock branded marshalls (I forget what they are really) or JJ Tubes. I do like JJs in other amps.
 
Peavey Triumph 120 cocktail:
The boys at the Tube depot helped me put this together. I spoke to Peavey cust. svc when dating the amp and ran this by them - they agreed it was a good mix. It sounded KILLER before the amp died:


JJ 6L6GC Power Vacuum JJ-6L6GC Matching
Tung-Sol 12AT7 / 6201 TS-12AT7
Sovtek 12AX7WB Preamp SO-12AX7WB
Mullard 12AX7 / ECC83 MU-12AX7
 
Peavey Classic 50
I have the following tube set in at present. It sounds much better than the stock mix. I got this from the Peavey Forum - it is a tried and true combo of tubes


TungSol 12AX7 ------> Position V1 Clean
JJ ECC803S Large Plate------> Position V2 Overdrive
Sovtek 12AX7LPS Large Plate Spiral Filament------> Position V3 Phase Inverter

Power Tubes:
Matched Quad Set JJ EL84's [Specify Early, Normal, or Late Breakup]
 
I replaced the stock Mesa EL84 power tubes in my Mesa TA-30 with Preferred Series 7189's from the Tube Store. The Mesa tubes were fine but I was looking for a fuller sound. Someone on another forum highly recommended the Preferred Series tubes. They did give me a fuller, warmer sound. I'm terrible at describing a tone but I do know I like these tubes over the stock Mess tubes. In the preamp section I've tried several different 12AX7's but none sound as good as the stock Mesa 12AX7's.
 
I blew a JJ 12AX7 in my old Classic 30, I didn't have the desire to fiddle with it or spend money so I traded it to someone for a Vintage 30 loaded 412 cab. He fixed it and sold it.

The Sovtek 12AX7LPS has a very good reputation as a phase inverter in 5150/6505 series amps so that was a no-brainer, the same with the Tung Sol as an input tube for metal applications. Figured I might as well put Tung Sols in the clean channel and effects loop spots too, and reuse the JJs and/or Rubys as cathode followers. I just need to work out which one of the original tubes was causing the crackle, but I suspect it was the input tube as I could hear it on both channels with or without anything in the loop.

Using the Ruby EL34BFT tubes in the power section is just common sense. I liked the tone until a month or two ago when they started to sound tired, and they have lasted a good while.
 
When I re-tubed my Traynor, I ended up at TheTubeStore. Like Weasel, I'd checked out Tube Depot. Don't remember why I ended up purchasing where I did. Both sites seem to be pretty good.
 
I'm not real picky about the brand name. Although I shy away from one well known brand (who will remain nameless) because way too many of their preamp tubes are micro-phonic. If I had to choose one brand over others I'd probably go with electro-harmonix; mainly because I've never got a micro-phonic preamp tube from them (maybe I've just been lucky). But, to be honest, I've pretty much decided to buy Chinese tubes (more tubes per dollar count) and just test them and match them myself. Whether I do it or not - lol...

Oh, my other grand-scheme idea is too just buy a bunch of bulk Russian preamp and output tubes and rewire my amps for the them. Again, see if that happens ;)

Could be me, but I think tubes are kind of like pickups, guitars, amps, cars, etc - once person luvs one particular brand/model and someone else barfs at the idea of using one of 'em let alone buying and owning it...
 
After rolling a lot of tubes I had settled on just putting JJ's in all my amps, in all positions. (Now, since both of my tube amps are Mesas, I will just buy the Mesa tubes, which is what I did with other Mesas I have owned in the past. I am pretty sure their preamp tubes are JJ, not as sure about the power tubes.) I just found the JJ's to be the most consistent from tube to tube and they are something I can easily buy at the local Sam Ash.
 
SirFlintstone said:
Although I shy away from one well known brand (who will remain nameless) because way too many of their preamp tubes are micro-phonic.
Click to expand...
I think it would be very valuable to most of us if you would would fully disclose the info. I really doubt you'll get sued. Then again, maybe the manufacturer will put a "Hit" on you... :run:

Personally, I've had terrible results with JJ 12AX7 preamp tubes in Marshall circuits like the Plexi and JCM800 styles. Noisy and microphonic. However, I'm fine with their EL84s. And, in their EL34 variants, they have an EL34-S which offers a more solid and tighter low end to the typical EL34.

EH tubes are very good in general, and have always been consistent and reliable. IMO, for the value, they're the best.
 
Received these in the mail today.

zmuTIH5.jpg


Power tubes have apparently boarded a plane from San Francisco to Melbourne, hopefully I will have them next week
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top