The Tube Thread

[DrakkarTyrannis]

meanwhile, i'm finally done with JJs. in the last 6 month i had 3 pairs of E34L dying, all in less than 6 weeks. the last pair died after 5 hours of playing - during the line check of our gig, and for the first time it also blew the main-fuse, and the tube-fuse exploded. damn, they sound cool, but reliability is really an issue with these bastards.

so, finally - i switched to SED 6550 winged Cs.

GOOOODDAAAAYYYYUMMM! i tried some different power-amp tubes, and while the change in the sound was noticable, i never thought that these tubes would change the sound THAT dramatically!

they almost give a new character to my amp, it has WAY more top end than ever before, which fits my amp as it is on the darker side of tone. the bass-response of the 6550s is nothing but amazing, i turned the bass-knob in the preamp ~20% back, and added more form the poweramp with the deep-knob. the poweramp settings (presence & deep) are muchmuch more usable than with the JJs. also it is tighter than ever before (which also results in a bit of a loss of the ÜBER-BASS the JJs delivered - but therefor i got the deep knob, you know? ).

if these really are as reliable as everyone is telling - damn, i found finally MY tubes.

I'm using Sovtek 6550s and I keep hearing the SED 6550s are where it's at. I'm seriously considering copping a quad of these to see if there's a difference. Right now the amp is a little too round in the lows and the top end could be a little better, not to mention since the mod the mids are really active, so I don't really need the mid spike the Sovteks supply. It seems the issues I have could all be fixed with the SEDs..so I'll see.

I just ordered some JJ 12DW7s for the V2 and V3 slots of my amp to tame it's now crazy high gain..so I'll be able to report how that goes in a couple of days

 

[zimbloth]

The SEDs are what have been in all the 2009 Diezel amps I've sold. They sound awesome! However anything is an improvement over the usual rubbish most amps come with stock.

I still prefer true KT88s though but 6550s are cool too. I use the JJ KT88s in my Fryettes/VHTs.

 

[DrakkarTyrannis]

UPDATE

So I got the JJ 12DW7s and I'm still feeling them out. They definately tame the amp but in a weird way. The gain is tamed, the volume seems to be tamed as well, and the amp is much darker and has a lot more bass now. And now there's a weird buzz, only there when I use the bridge pickup and when the NS-2 is off. The good thing is I can use a boost pedal in front without all the noise of before now and the gain is more flexible..although it feels weird having to turn the gain up high for metal now. I'm not really sure how I feel about the tubes. They have their good and bad points and it may just take a while for me to get used to them...I'll see.

 

[danenachtrieb]

amp: Crate Blue Voodoo 120

preamp tubes: JJ ECC83S

tubes: JJ E34L

just bought a retube kit from eurotubes and my amp sounds pretty damn good now

 

[DrakkarTyrannis]

REDO

So I switched the 12DW7 from the V3 slot and popped in the JJ that was there before, leaving only one 12DW7 which is in the V2 slot..magic...and end scene

 

[petereanima]

I'm using Sovtek 6550s and I keep hearing the SED 6550s are where it's at. I'm seriously considering copping a quad of these to see if there's a difference. Right now the amp is a little too round in the lows and the top end could be a little better, not to mention since the mod the mids are really active, so I don't really need the mid spike the Sovteks supply. It seems the issues I have could all be fixed with the SEDs..so I'll see.

yeah, it sounds like you should go on the hunt for a quad of the SEDs!

i meanwhile also re-eq-ed my amp several times, and have finally found my settings. damn, i love those tubes.

 

[DrakkarTyrannis]

I'm thinking of scooping up the SEDs..but FIRST....I'm gonna try a quad of KT90s in my amp. I just spoke to Jerry and he set my amp up so that it'll work with almost any power tube that will fit inside the amp. So with the exception of wide bottle tubes, everything else is a go. So I wanna throw in a quad of KT90s to hear what they sound like.

 

[pink freud]

Egnater Tourmaster 100

Power Section: 4 TAD 6L6GC-STRs

Preamp Section:
V1: Ruby 12AX7AC5 HG+ For better cleans, gives less "spank" than the stock GT ECC83S
V2-4: Sovtek 12AX7 WC I find it has tighter gain, and has more clarity than the GT ECC83S
V5-8: Stock GT ECC83S Mostly because they operate the function rather than the tone, and the reverb is fine. And I didn't want to spend that much more money...

 

[kmanick]

Mesa Mark Iva
Ruby winged C 6l6's on the outside JJ 6l6's on the inside
Dougstubes preamp cocktail mix up front.
tungsol in V1 ,
JJ higain in V2
Penta labs in V-3 (very cool tube for V3)
chinese 9th gen in V4
sovteck balnced in Phase converter.
I had this mix in my Mark III too and it works well in the mark amps.
I want to try some different types of 6L6's any suggestions?

 

[agriefobserved]

Uberschall with (GT)KT77s

 

[ChrisPcritter]

1981 JCM 800 GE 6550's (that came in it NOS) JJ high gain and standard balanced PI. Sounds amazing and quiet. Tried a high gain PI and didn't like it in this amp.

Rivera KHR with standard ECC83's and a set of the first KT77's that eurotubes got that are HOT. They did drift some in a couple hours use and I don't like them as well as the JJ E34L's that were in it. Gonna try 6L6's in it next.

 

[helly]

Peavey 5150EVH
V1 - Tung Sol 12ax7

The rest of the preamp is JJ ECC83.

Poweramp tubes are JJ 6L6.

Get a tech to bias it hotter and it absolutely screams. I've also heard 9th generation Shuguang 12ax7s are good for the rest of the preamp after the V1 but I have yet to try them.

 

[Necrophagist777]

JJ 6L6 and JJ 12AX7. Really takes out the harshness of the XXX.

 

[boltzthrower]

JJ, dont worry - you are not the first one having JJs dying and not the last one. FWIW: The Diezel guys told me at the fair, that they bought masses of JJs, and over 30% died already during testing, and even more within the first month at the customers, so it seems like that this is common...

I hear all this shit about how JJ's are so well built and Sovteks are crap. All's I know is I've had 4 different quads of Sovtek KT88's and I've never had one fail (knocks on wood). I had a quad of JJ KT88's and had a tube lose vacuum and go hyper thermal while I was biasing, gnarly smoke coming out(no, I was not running it hot.) It destroyed my bias probe and blew the fuse in my amp. The tube had like only a few hours use on it before it blew.

Alright, some opinions on different tubes I've tried. I play down tuned death metal through an ENGL 570 into a VHT 2/90/2 and I like a cool bias (55.5%, the sweet spot!)

I like the Sovtek KT88's better than anything. They're very tight, kinda bright, cold, and have the right amount of high-mid goin' on. The JJ's are warmer, looser, darker. One good thing, IMO, about the JJ's is the highs are nice, not as thin as with the Sovteks.

I've also tried EH 6550's. They sound like they're somewhere between the JJ's & Sovteks. A pretty good multi-purpose application tube sound I would say. One of them cracked and lost vacuum. I'm not sure how old it was though, they came in an amp I bought, the dude I bought it from said they were fairly new, but who knows.

I've also ran, in an ENGL SE E670, JJ 6L6gc's and SED winged C 6L6gc's. The difference between these tubes is much like the aforementioned difference between the Sovtek's & the JJ's. I didn't really test long enough to really go into detail, but I liked the Winged C's way better. Sounded pretty damn good I must say, but I still like KT88's better, they sound, umm, clearer(?) to me than 6L6gc's.

 

[DeathMetalDean]

.. all I know about my amp is that it's got 12ax7's in it xD (Fender Blues Junior)

 

[tacotiklah]

Peavey Windsor head - single channel

4 stock 12AX7s and 4 stock EL34s. I hate the lack of cleans at high volumes and the gain just isn't brutal enough. (hence me selling/partial trading it for a B-52 AT100 212)

I was on Eurotubes and for whatever reason they have NO tube sets for the Windsor. Any good tube recommendations for the Windsor and/or AT-100? I'm looking for cleans that remain so at higher volumes and 6505+ Arch Enemy (wages of sin album) type gain....


Edit: Ok so the windsor is sold and i'm the proud owner of a B-52 AT-212. I have only stock tubes in there right now. 512AX7s, 2 6l6s, 2 5881s, and 1 5AR4 recto tube.

 

[col]

Mako Mak2 White, =C= 6550's, preamp V1 NOS RFT V2-V5 JJ ecc83s
Peavey 6505 EHX 6L6GC's, preamp mix of Tungsol and chinese
Engl Powerball TAD 6L6, preamp mix of EHX and chinese

 

[stokedtoast]

We used an instrument cable plugging my peavey xxx into my vader cabinet ( short story short: crossfaded without a speaker cord makes one do stupid shit) I turned it up load and it made a loud noise then proceded to shut off. What am I to do? Well I went to the music store and replaced a 12ax7 just got home and put it in.. and nothing.

Btw: this won't even turn on. I picked up a new speaker cord, got my power cord all in... but it won't light up or anything.

What do I do? Is this an easy fix? Could I take it to a shop and get it fixed immediately? I need my amp asap because my band begins writing next week.

 

[Ketzer]

if it's not even turning on, I'd say it's the fuse. That's about the only component between the Power mains and the power light.

 

[petereanima]

We used an instrument cable plugging my peavey xxx into my vader cabinet ( short story short: crossfaded without a speaker cord makes one do stupid shit) I turned it up load and it made a loud noise then proceded to shut off. What am I to do? Well I went to the music store and replaced a 12ax7 just got home and put it in.. and nothing.

Btw: this won't even turn on. I picked up a new speaker cord, got my power cord all in... but it won't light up or anything.

What do I do? Is this an easy fix? Could I take it to a shop and get it fixed immediately? I need my amp asap because my band begins writing next week.

the 12AX7 is a preamp tube, this wont affect if your amp turns on or not usually.

with using an instrument cable, and now your amp not turning on, you blew of course the main fuse, replace that (its usually under the plug for the power cable), try switching on, if it turns on and again shuts down immedaitely, theres more to it.

if you are lucky, you "only" blew the power tubes, which then need to be replaced. if you are not so lucky, you blew the output transformer as well, this only a tech can fix, and it will be expensive!