swapping out ecc82 for ecc83

[babs]

hey guys
this is a question for the tech genius in soft
i just recently got my self a Blackstar series one 100 head (which i am loving loving loving )
which comes stock with 3 x ecc83,1 x ecc82 and 4 x el34
all tubes are by tube amp doctor(TAD)
now my question is ..... as you can see that the preamp tube section has an outstanding tube which is the ecc82..... will i be able to swap it for ecc83
reason being that if i do buy them on- line i can order them in quartets
and maybe to see if there is any change to the gain.....most prob an increase in gain...
all advise will be very much appreciated
cheers

 

[penta-tonic]

dont fix it if it aint broke, but that said, rather than changing type of tubes u can change make? mullards sovtek jj ehx?

 

[Dongara]

hey guys
this is a question for the tech genius in soft
i just recently got my self a Blackstar series one 100 head (which i am loving loving loving )
which comes stock with 3 x ecc83,1 x ecc82 and 4 x el34
all tubes are by tube amp doctor(TAD)
now my question is ..... as you can see that the preamp tube section has an outstanding tube which is the ecc82..... will i be able to swap it for ecc83
reason being that if i do buy them on- line i can order them in quartets
and maybe to see if there is any change to the gain.....most prob an increase in gain...
all advise will be very much appreciated
cheers

ECC83 (12AX7) has a gain of 100, ECC82 (12AY7) has a gain of approx 70 and ECC81 (12AT7) has a gain of approx 60. On paper, changing from one type of tube to another will reduce the gain, but there are other problems as the bias resistor and current load are different between the tubes, so this is not recommended.

A 5751 is a military spec version of the ECC83 with a gain of about 70, so changing the ECC83's over one at a time will allow you to get the amp running at just the gain level you like. They are made by SOVTEK, but are also available as NOS (RCA, Sylvania, Philips etc). There is no need to get matched tubes as this only matters with power tubes.

Hope this helps.

cheers,

mark.

 

[babs]

hey thanks guys
you see tat was my concern as well... as i was doing my own research and i come across articles that mentioned abt the bias resistor and the change in load affecting the amps performance....... some articles mentioned abt changing from 83 to 82 to get more headroom out for the amp.....
well guess i will try other brands of the same models to see if there is a sweet spot i can hit......

 

[Dongara]

JJ's are good for headroom, Sovtek LPS as well. Normal Sovteck or EH tubes are good for early break up.

 

[glblues]

in addition, JJs are also known for a round warm sound which is something that you may or may not like. sometimes i did find it a little too dark for my tastes especially when using p90s or humbuckers.
maybe throw in some tung sols to the mix for a little brightness.

 

[Ized]

I second tung sols. that being said, dont expect tubes to make much of a difference if you dont like the basic tone of the amp....

 

[babs]

hey ized
the rave reviews on tung sol online has also assured me that i can't go wrong with thier tubes ... but i guess i have to really try them out just to see if i really like them ..... as tone really depends on individual preference

and again i love the tone that the amp...... it allows me to switch from the classic marshall tones to the mesa tones and the stock TAD tubes are really not bad..... actually pretty good i would say...... compared to marshall and mesa that comes stock with chinese tubes..... correct me if i am wrong

 

[Ized]

There's nothing wrong with Chinese tubes. What makes you think they'r bad?

JJ tubes and penta labs has gotten good reviews, and the tubes are from China.

I prefer the sound of chinese tubes to the russian sovtek ones anytime..they'r rounder sounding, warmer and more musical imo.

 

[babs]

sorry if i wat i said came out the wrong way.... yes i agree that chinese tubes do sound nice too..... there is nothing wrong with them..... my point was that blackstar stock tubes are TAD.... and marshalls and mesa are chinese tubes .... basically thats it.... no intend to make any make of tube to sound bad or to say they are of low quality

on the other hand i just swapped the pre amp tubes......
i put in 2 different brands of tube in this order 1x jj ecc82 , 1x jj ecc 83 and 2x tung sol ecc83
after the warm up i found the sound was a bit more darker but highs a bit of sparkle to it too..... on the clean channel with the gain at 2pm and the volume knob on the guitar slightly rolled down the tone was much more articulate.... warm and very creamy cleans.... honestly i dont really noe how to explain it....the tone got me playing clean on the amp for the past 3 hrs.....hahaha

the gain channel on the other hand was much darker and puncher..... really had a nice growl to it ..... in total i just discover that dirty tone i have been looking for .... with even open chords sound very clear on high gain

the next step will be to swapp out the power amp tubes..... but for now i am just very happy wit the tone i have