Replacement Tubes for Twin Reverb

[thehymns]

I've got a 65 reissue Twin Reverb and it's about time I toss some new tubes in there, and I was wondering what brands gets the best sound out of these amps. I used this amp in my "studio" so it needs to be very clean and clear. I use an Ibanez CS 9 Stereo Chorus, MXR Phase 90, Ibanez Tube Screamer, and the EH Russian Big Muff. I would use my MXR Distortion+, but it sounds horrible with the amp. I play an American Telecaster and a Rickenbacker 330. I've been listening to a lot of Teenage Fanclub lately, in particular their new album Man-Made and Songs for Northern Britain.

 

[Toki987]

I get tubes for my Fender from this guy. matched and marked on the boxes.

eurotubes.com

 

[Clive Hugh]

try antique audio, www.tubesandmore.com they have most tubes ever made and they also hace "new" old stock, which means they might have been manufactured in the 60's but are unused.

 

[thehymns]

I don't want to sound completely stupid, but do I need to change my preamps or power amps if I want to change the sound of the amp? I know I have to get it re-biased if I change the tubes, right? Also, I don't need the amp to be as loud as it is because I'm not currently gigging and it's mostly for studio use, so I can take some of the tubes out and reduce the overall wattage?

 

[Farview]

www.eurotubes.com

Call him up and tell him what you are trying to do, he will help you pick the tubes you want. The prices are good too. This guy is really helpful, he has my business for life.

 

[ggunn]

I don't want to sound completely stupid, but do I need to change my preamps or power amps if I want to change the sound of the amp? I know I have to get it re-biased if I change the tubes, right? Also, I don't need the amp to be as loud as it is because I'm not currently gigging and it's mostly for studio use, so I can take some of the tubes out and reduce the overall wattage?

You can run the amp with one pair of 6L6's instead of the normal two pairs, but you have to be sure that you remove the correct two tubes. That will reduce a Twin from about 90 watts to about 45.

When you change power tubes, you will need to have it rebiased, but not if you change preamp tubes. IMO, changing tubes will not dramatically change the sound of an amp other than changing the point where it starts to distort as you turn the volume up, unless the tubes you are removing have gone bad. Yes, I know, some will say that it makes a world of difference, but it really depends on how you define "dramatically". I have done a lot of tube swapping, and the diffs I have heard have been fairly subtle, though of course YMMV.

 

[thehymns]

I have done a lot of tube swapping, and the diffs I have heard have been fairly subtle, though of course YMMV.

When I owned a Peavey Triple XXX, changing to JJ tubes really cleaned up the sound and made it rich instead of brittle. I bought that amp when I was 15 and into punk rock, but that's a stage I quickly grew out of and had no reason for all that gain. The tubes are starting to go bad, fizzing and popping. I don't need a huge change in sound, but if I can get a slightly better sound I'll try it.

 

[DC-XPL]

I've heard good things about Bob at eurotubes. You can't really go wrong there, but if you want to go the NOS (new old stock) route, KCA tubes is outstanding. It might cost a bit more, but I think you'll hear a distinct difference between new production and old-stock tubes. Mike Kropotkin is a great resource and a highly respected authority on vintage tubes and tube amps. Helluva nice guy too....

http://www.kcanostubes.com/content/

 

[WERNER 1]

Bob at eurotubes is good, but he's going to only offer you JJ's since that's what he carries. JJ's are fine for some/most things, but there is such vast selections of good tubes out there I'd do some research first.

Another great supplier/guy is Doug from Doug's tubes - http://www.dougstubes.com/

He is another one who will sit down with you and come up with a good selection of tubes to reach the sound you are looking for.

My personal favorite for V1 (clean channel - depending on your amp) is a Tungsol. Some other known "good" tubes are EH's, JJ high gain's, EI's (Although not well suited for combos), and GT-M's (This is debatable, but I like em )

Rick

 

[Hi_Flyer]

I started to get into the NOS tube-swapping thing a while back, but I quickly got tired of it...

In my experience, YES- different tubes make a difference in tone, but not enough to justify some of the big bucks people spend on NOS tubes. I do think that some of those old tubes tend to last longer though. Keep in mind that different tubes sound "different", not necessarily "better".

The effect on tone depends on the position of the tube. In a Twin, I think you would expect to see the biggest difference in tone from the V1, V2 & V3 preamp tubes. If you use alot of reverb, whichever tube is the reverb driver will have a big effect on the sound of the reverb... The power tubes can also effect overall tone and can give you more or less clean headroom...

If you pull two output tubes then you have to be sure to cut the impedance to 1/2. Check the manual on that Twin reissue, it may tell you exactly how to do it. I've been running an Evil Twin on two output tubes for quite awhile...

As for tubes, I like JJs. They're kinda dark or "warm" sounding to me. Whomever you buy them from, just make sure they are tested. KCA Tubes is very reputable, I would recommend them. He specializes in NOS stuff, but he has the better new production stuff too...