Tube Amp's tubes

[silverfish]

Hi guys,

Can you share what power tubes and pre amp tubes you find works best for your tube amp (brands and type)? Any good article on this topic will be much appreciated.

thanks,

 

[Colarndo]

I used JJ Electronics 12AX7 tubes imported from http://www.eurotubes.com/
This year, I switched to ECC803 S Gold Pin tubes in my pre-amp section.
I used ECC83 S previously for around 2 years. I liked the sound so much that I "upgraded" to the more ex ECC 803 S Gold Pin tubes.

EBS Valvedrive's Svetlana 12AX7 stock tube was swapped for ECC803 S Gold Pin
M-Pulse 360 Mesa stock tubes went from ECC83 S to ECC803 Gold Pin.

 

[leecs]

Me using Svetlana 6L6 & 12AX7

 

[suckasucks]

whats the price like on those svets? and are they available locally?

 

[guitarnub]

im using Electroharmonix 12ax7 and 6l6gc, get em from Well's audio store at burlington square, less than $15 per piece if i recall correctly.

 

[Benster]

silverfish,

what amp are you using?

 

[Weiht]

Im using JJ el84 on me vox ac30cc, with tungsol 12ax7 n jan philips 12at7. Works nicely for me so far.

I also tried the sed c winged 6l6gc, made from the orignal svetlana factory. Its awesome i have to say!!! Also had ei 12ax7, which were v nice n sparkly. This was on my fender bassman amp... For PI tubes, i used the mullard 12at7, but cant tell the dif for this. Used it cuz i got it cheap, S$20

JJ r generally gd, wont go v wrong with it, altho its abit dark sounding. SED 6l6gc is a must try too!!!

 

[trianglebiscuit]

im using a mixture of sovtek, gold pin JJs and tungsols, as well as SED winged C 6L6s

 

[trianglebiscuit]

im using a mixture of sovtek, gold pin JJs and tungsols, as well as SED winged C 6L6s

 

[subversion]

if you are particular with amp's drive, the JJ/ Tesla pre-amp tubes are recommended 8)

 

[silverfish]

silverfish,

what amp are you using?
_________________
Benster

the pro jr u sold me last week : )

i am pretty happy with it as it is not as loud (hence neighbour friendy) as my previous amp.. I was thinking of swopping the ax7 with ay7 tubes to reduce the drive.. hhmm.. does it work that way?

 

[Benster]

yup, using a lower gain preamp tube for the driver slot will give you less drive and more clean headroom.

if that's what you're after, i suggest trying a 12AU7, its the lowest gain variant of the 12AX7 family.

in think you'll easily hear more difference in the clean tone with an AU than an AT or AY.

an EH one should be pretty good enough.

the pro jr is fixed bias, so no rebiasing is necessary.

 

[leecs]

whats the price like on those svets? and are they available locally?

There are shops in Burlington Square that sells Svetlanas. I don't know the price as Randolf re-tubed it for me.

 

[silverfish]

yup, using a lower gain preamp tube for the driver slot will give you less drive and more clean headroom.

if that's what you're after, i suggest trying a 12AU7, its the lowest gain variant of the 12AX7 family.in think you'll easily hear more difference in the clean tone with an AU than an AT or AY.

the pro jr is fixed bias, so no rebiasing is necessary.

thanks dude.. if I change the power tubes too, do i need to do any rebiasing?

 

[silverfish]

btw.. if you guys change the tubes on your own, are there any safety precaution to take?.. thanks.. i don want to be fried 8O

 

[subversion]

pre-amp tubes: no rebiasing needed.

power amp: yes- if you don't know how to, better not try...

 

[Benster]

tube amps in general don't have/need bias adjustments for preamp tubes, only the power tubes.

but the pro jr is fixed bias, which means u don't need to rebias it for the power tubes.
just make sure you use the same family of power tubes that the amp was designed for (EL84)

to change tubes in ur pro jr, just make sure the amp is off and they aren't hot, and just wiggle them out of/into their slots gently.

 

[Weiht]

Better u match them power tubes too. Hmm, i think fixed bias means, all the tube r biased the same, cuz there are some amps that u biased each tube at a time. I think u still need to bias the fixed biased amps

But there are some amps, like ac30 where is auto bias itself, so just make sure u match the tube.

Correct me if im wrong on the fixed biased thing

 

[guitarsan]

12AX7s - JJ, 5AR4 - Sovtek, EL34s - Svetlana

Recommended and retubed by Randolf. My amp now works and sounds like a charm! :wink:

 

[silverfish]

I got this from http://www.kcanostubes.com/content/newsletter_details.asp?ArticleID=2

just fyi..

When changing power amp tubes, whether to rebias or not depends on the type of amp you have. There are 3 general categories of amplifiers:

1) Self biasing which is also known as cathode biased. These amps do not require rebiasing in most cases. In rare cases, the cathode resistor will need to be changed to accommodate certain tubes.

Examples of self biasing amps include Vox AC15, Vox AC30, Matchless DC-30 and other Matchless EL84 amps, many Fender Tweed amps (from the '50s) such as the Deluxe and Tremolux, and ALL single ended amps (amps with a single power tube) such as the Champ or Vibro Champ.

2) Fixed bias with bias adjustment. These amps always require rebiasing. Examples are most Fender Silver Face, Black face and Reissue amps such as Deluxe Reverb, Pro (Reverb), Super Reverb, Twin Reverb and Vibrolux Reverb. Most Marshall amps also fall into this category.

3) Fixed bias without bias adjustment. These amps always require rebiasing but are more difficult to rebias than amps with built in bias adjustments. This process involves replacing an existing resistor in the amp with a new fixed resistor, or an adjustable resistor known as a potentiometer. In most cases, these amps should be biased by a qualified amp tech. Examples are Fender Princeton/Reverb, and most recent production Fender amps such as the Pro Junior.