The Tube Thread

[guitarist10]

I just bought an ENGL E350 preamp with a Peavey Classic 50/50 power amp. I'm looking to get the best djent tone out of it. What should I use for tubes?

 

[monkeywrench]

5150 head ... Ruby 6L6GC-MSTR Mathched Quad... EH 12ax7 PI tube rest 12ax7 Rubys

 

[mayx]

Engl Invader 100

Poweramp
V1-V4: Tung Sols EL34B

Hi Gain Sounds
V5 (Input and 2.Stage): Genalex Gold Lion ECC83
V6 (Lead Driver and 3.Stage): Tung Sol ECC83 symmetrical
V7 (FX Buffer and P.A. Driver): TAD ECC83 (the one with the sharper Sound)
V8 (Phase Shift Converter): NOS JAN Philips ECC82

Clean/Lo-Mid Gain Sounds
V5 (Input and 2.Stage): Genalex Gold Lion ECC83
V6 (Lead Driver and 3.Stage): NOS JAN Philips ECC82
V7 (FX Buffer and P.A. Driver): TAD ECC83 (the one with the sharper Sound)
V8 (Phase Shift Converter): TAD ECC83 (the one with the warmer, rounder Sound)

 

[Seanthesheep]

hey guys what are the sonic signs of power tubes needing to be replaced?

 

[mcleanab]

I just bought an ENGL E350 preamp with a Peavey Classic 50/50 power amp. I'm looking to get the best djent tone out of it. What should I use for tubes?

Yeah, me too!

I'm thinking a Tung Sol and a Penta-C... or two Penta-C's...

I used the Pentas in my old ADA MP-1 and it opened it wide open... lots of growl, lots of space but heavy as hell. The JJ's are just too bitey in my opinion... the Tung Sols have a bit of bite as well in my experience, but this all, of course, depends on the amp/preamp you are using.

I can't wait to do some tube rolling in my BRAND NEW e530 when it gets here...

What comes in them stock? JJ's?

 

[VBCheeseGrater]

Blackstar HT20

V1 (cleans) - Groovetubes Gold Series 12AX7 - Glassy & warm, nice highs. Much better than stock

V2 (Dirty) - Groovetubes Gold Series 12AX7 - Glassy, round, tons of highs, more classic rock like, I went back to the stock Sovtek 12AX7 for a better metal tone,

 

[DMONSTER]

So a question, my 5150iii takes whats called 6L6WXT power tubes, so i was wondering when time comes to replace them, can i just get any 6L6's? or do they have to be the 6L6WXT's? cus i cant find them on doug's tubes site at all

 

[Ashofgod]

I have a dual rectifier. I use jjs 6l6s, jjs high gain pre amp section, and gz34s.
I must say the tone improvement is amazing. We play experimental/post metal.
My head is set at 11:00 on volume, and the tone is so much better than the mesa tubes.
But what other tubes can i use that will do better than the jjs without breaking the bank?
And what about jt88s without re biasing?
Any input is appreciated!

 

[Moe110]

Hey everyone, need some advice and any suggestions on this! I have the option to buy a Peavey classic 60 power amp, art power plant preamp and an Alesis midi verb 4 all in a rack case for $600!! My gear set up right now is a Kustom Quad 100HD (head & cab) and a Boss GT-100. The Kustom Head has had a send/return mod installed but for some reason the guys who installed it bypassed all the heads components, NONE OF THE KNOBS WORK! So my question is....Is this gear worth the $600, Are there better options for the price? and Would it work nicely with the GT-100? Cheers any feedback would be awesome!!

 

[sstepho]

Hey i wanna replace all the tubes in my amp.
So how many tubes do i need? :\ 8? and then more for the preamp? i dont even know

 

[Gothic Headhunter]

Amp: Randall rt50h
Preamp: 12AX7
Power: EL34

It came with 6L6s, but I didn't really like the sound at all, so I put in some EL34s, and it sounds better. Not a massive improvement, but definitely noticeable. I've gotten a few good stoner/doom tones out of it, and one great clean tone. Overall, I'm satisfied.

 

[decoy205]

5150 Block letter

Purchase used with Rubys and a mix of crappy low end tubes in pre. Lots of gain but harsh highs and plenty of noise.

Andy Fuchs biased a quad of TAD 6l6's in the power section that brought the noise down quiet a bit.

The pre I changed to dougs tubes Rock package.

V1 Tung sol
V235 Penta
V4 sovtek LPS PI

Haven't recorded with it yet but cleans are much better and gain and eq are more useable.

 

[hugoazevedo]

This thread is a great idea, but unfortunately there isn't much participation, so far. There must be so many people out there in the same position as me trying to figure out where to turn in the sea of tubes that are available. Does anyone know of any other threads of this kind or some sort of database?

I'm in the process of finding out the best tube configuration for:

Framus Cobra
Engl Savage 120
Engl Powerball
Peavey 6505+
Marshall DSL50

I will post my findings when I have them!

Thanks!

 

[kreaturesleeper]

My 5150: EH12ax7 in V1-V4, and a Sovtek 12ax7LPS in the phase inverter slot. Running NOS Sylvania 6l6gc str387's in the power section.

 

[eklundh]

ENGL Blackmore... wanted a smoother, darker / warmer sounding amp...

V1: Tung-Sol 12ax7 Reissue - creates smooth distortion and sounds not as bright/harsh as people claim (at least in my amp)
V2: TT ECC83 - pretty warm tube, get's rid of some of the harshness of the ENGL, for V1 it's too dark + a bit too tame
V3: JJ ECC83s - nice mids, further decrease of the treblieness
V4(PI): Sovtek 12ax7LPS - seems to smooth out things even further

 

[will_shred]

My Egnater came with Ruby 6L6's, though eventually I'm thinking about swapping them for EL-34's. My thoughts are it would give the amp a bit more bite and clarity, so maybe I won't have to boost it to get it to sound amazing. Not that I mind boosting it, but taking away the tube screamer is just one less thing to carry when I gig.

thoughts?

 

[Pav]

hey guys what are the sonic signs of power tubes needing to be replaced?

Your amp will be noticeably quieter. You'll find yourself cranking outputs/masters much higher than usual to achieve the same volume. You're also likely to achieve less natural breakup than usual, as well more noise clouding your tone, depending on how far gone they are.

So a question, my 5150iii takes whats called 6L6WXT power tubes, so i was wondering when time comes to replace them, can i just get any 6L6's? or do they have to be the 6L6WXT's? cus i cant find them on doug's tubes site at all

They don't necessarily have to be WXT's. Any type of 6L6 will work, but be aware that different types of 6L6's have different quirks to them. A different type may not last as long or sound the same as another set of 6L6's. However, I've heard fairly consistently that 6L6WXT's aren't the greatest to begin with, so it may be worthwhile to try another type. Just make sure you buy a full, matched set of power tubes. Same type, same manufacturer. Mixing power tubes can be bad for your amp, but if you get a matched set, the worst you can count on is having to take your amp for re-biasing.

I have a dual rectifier. I use jjs 6l6s, jjs high gain pre amp section, and gz34s.
I must say the tone improvement is amazing. We play experimental/post metal.
My head is set at 11:00 on volume, and the tone is so much better than the mesa tubes.
But what other tubes can i use that will do better than the jjs without breaking the bank?
And what about jt88s without re biasing?
Any input is appreciated!

The fixed bias selector of Mesa amps makes them fairly inflexible for swapping tubes. If you're looking at something besides EL34's or 6L6's you could be faced with taking your amp somewhere for a mod, which would be quite costly. The best advice I can give you is to look around online for mod-free Mesa power tube kits. I know some sites offer sets of KT88's and the like specifically for Mesas that don't require any kind of mod or bias adjustment. They're more expensive but they're an immediate plug-and-play replacement.

Hey i wanna replace all the tubes in my amp.
So how many tubes do i need? :\ 8? and then more for the preamp? i dont even know

Depends on your amp. Look in the back. Power tubes will be big, right in front of you and easy to count. Preamp tubes are hidden so you'll have to count the cylindrical metal shields you see sticking out. Don't quote me on this, but as a general rule of thumb, amps have two tubes per section per 50W of power. So a 50W amp would most likely have two preamp tubes and two power tubes, while a 100W amp would have 4 of each. It depends on your amp though, just look in the back and count them.

My Egnater came with Ruby 6L6's, though eventually I'm thinking about swapping them for EL-34's. My thoughts are it would give the amp a bit more bite and clarity, so maybe I won't have to boost it to get it to sound amazing. Not that I mind boosting it, but taking away the tube screamer is just one less thing to carry when I gig.

thoughts?

In my experience, it won't make any difference. 6L6's are warmer and thicker, EL34's are brighter. Neither are going to immediately make so much of a difference that you no longer need a boost - the possible exception being if you swap out a stock set of tubes for something labeled "high gain tubes," but you could get sets of those in either 6L6 or EL34, it all depends on which tonal flavor you prefer for your amp. Even then I have yet to find any tubes out there that are THAT big of a gain boost.

 

[SP1N3SPL1TT3R]

I just swapped out my EL34s for some EHX 6AC7s. I highly recommend them if your EL34s to sound like 6L6s, or you 6L6s to sound a little more like EL34s.

 

[bifftannen]

Peavey 5150 combo
JJ 6L6's in power and JJ ECC83S's in pre. I'm using the high gain option from Eurotubes.

 

[Mongoose]

Jet City JCA100HDM with all JJ's (power and pre-amp) except for the V1 which is a Tung-Sol. Boosted with Boss Metal Zone in Front, and Dano Fish 'n Chips EQ pedal in FX loop. Here is a link to a sound demo -> Jet City JCA100HDM Metal Demo. - YouTube