Tube Questions

Everybody's first choice is "New Old Stock" American/British/Contintenal made tubes, but their availability is spotty, prices are usually high, and some sold as NOS aren't actually "N" - that is, they were pulled from some old device and so are used (and possibly perfectly fine).

My current favorites for new 12AX7s are the Made in Russia "Tung-Sol" - I'm not aware of any real connection to the originals (that were made in New Jersey?), except for the recycled brand name, but they seem consistently stable and good sounding to me.

Depending on the circuitry in the amp, you may or may not see a big difference by using fancy preamp tubes (provided the tubes you use are in good working order, of course). On the Marshall I mentioned, it's harder for me to hear a difference than it is on a Fender amp that I have. I guess other circuit components play a more dominant role in the Marshall.
 
So i emailed dougstubes and got this back:

I recommend the RUBY EL34BHT's, and for the 4 x 12AX7's, doa Tung-Sol in V1, the Penta Labs in V2 and V3, and an EH in V4.

Does that sound good? I didn't actually know you used differant tubes in difrerant positions, i thought all 4 had to be the same!

Also no ones recomended that i change out the power tubes, what kind of effect could i expect to see from doing this?
 
The Rubys are the power tubes (EL34), if they're bad, you have volume swells, mushy response, general badness. You'll need to bias when they're installed.

The preamp picks seem reasonable.
 
just a question,

why did you choose to buy this particular amp if you didn't find a sound you really liked out of it?

I don't know anything about that particular amp but like all amps there are great tube amps and terrible ones. There are some that are great for metal and some that are better for rock.

I would never buy an amp with out trying it out (with my own guitar) first and finding a tone i love.

You're problem could be tubes for sure.. but maybe the amp just isn't the right one for you.

something to consider.
 
The preamp tubes generally do different things, sometimes not directly related to the sound (like phase inversion), and it can be a waste to use a really nice sounding tube in a position like that -- that may explain the recommendation of different ones.

Your problem could be either the preamp or the power tubes, or conceivably both - but if it's not both you don't need to replace both (but if it's one of the power tubes, you probably want to replace both of them if there are two). How much is shipping, and what's your budget? If shipping is low and your budget is low, then maybe just go for two Tung Sol 12AX7s and try them in different positions to see if it solves your problem, and if not, then order more.

If shipping is high and budget's not much of a consideration, then why not just order them all :) - I'm lazy and that's generally the approach I take. I have a little cabinet where I store tubes that I think are still good, and it gets fuller and fuller as time goes on.

If you do replace the power tubes (I've used Ruby EL34s and thought they were fine), ermghoti's right that the best practice is to get a re-bias job done. This would be especially true if you were switching from one tube type (e.g. 6550) to another (e.g. EL34). I have to confess that I've never had it done with my Marshall, but I've never noticed a problem (even though my first tube swap was just that: 6550->EL34, iirc (but it's been over 20 years and so maybe it was all EL34s, or maybe I did get a bias job done, but I don't think so), and I've done many more EL34 swaps since then) -- I'm probably just lucky.
 
I went ahead and ordered the pre tubes and not the powers as i heard i'd have to re-bias and cant be bothered with that, hopefully this will solve the problem.

I do like the tone of the amp there just isnt enough usable gain, i could solve this with the tubescreamer i have if it wasn't for the feedback making any high gain setting unusable.
 
eeb said:
just a question,

why did you choose to buy this particular amp if you didn't find a sound you really liked out of it?

I don't know anything about that particular amp but like all amps there are great tube amps and terrible ones. There are some that are great for metal and some that are better for rock.

I would never buy an amp with out trying it out (with my own guitar) first and finding a tone i love.

You're problem could be tubes for sure.. but maybe the amp just isn't the right one for you.

something to consider.
Click to expand...

I needed an amp asap, this one has excellent reviews for my application, i got it for a steal on ebay.
 
Or try eurotubes.com. I have ordered several sets of tubes from these guys, they sell JJ tubes. I sometimes play in a metal band, and these tubes sounded great in my boogie amps. If your low end sounds flubby you will want to replace the power tubes as well. That poor bass response is a sign that they are getting week. Hi gain amps chew through tubes a lot faster, and i typically replace mine once a year or year and a half. Depends on how much you play though, and how hi you push the volume.
 
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