[Counterstriker]

I never knew how much tubes affect the tone you get until I retubed my blues master with Electro harmonix 12ax7, and I realized the EQ wasn't doing much, no matter what I have a really fat. bassy tone. Then I read that the tube is favored for hard rock.. After a while i eventually started liking the tube though, I had to put the bass at 0, and cut some bass and some treble with a boss EQ.

This is the tone I pulled off with the blues master with the EH tube, rather then the sovtek that's usually in it. http://soundcloud.com/dizzydoctrine/something-cover

I also got to thinking that possibly JK is using a EH 12ax7 with his.. or a tube similar ,the tone sounds very close..


But besides that.. I was wondering some good tubes to upgrade too, and the tone that some offer. I'm going for a cleaner sound, but that sounds nice with a little clipping as well!

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

[FretfulDave]

In my old Peavey Classic 30 I was hearing distortion all the time once the power tubes got hot. I calmed it down and got a lot of clean headroom and sparkly tone from using a 5751 preamp tube in V1, I think it is a Philips. Very nice tone for clean, clear, chimey and crisp, imo. Apparently Mr. Kimock thinks so also. I read about his tube selections in an article and decided to try it.

Dave

[strumminsix]

Boomy or bassy could be caused by a low bias or maybe not hitting the poweramp section as hot as you could.

Little side note: Find out what sides do what of your preamp tube. A 12dw7 works wonders in some amps if say the DRIVE channel is just too wild since the first side is a 12ax7 and the other a 12au7 (i think).

[drewfx]

Boomy or bassy could be caused by a low bias or maybe not hitting the poweramp section as hot as you could.

Little side note: Find out what sides do what of your preamp tube. A 12dw7 works wonders in some amps if say the DRIVE channel is just too wild since the first side is a 12ax7 and the other a 12au7 (i think).

Wow, a new tube type I wasn't familiar with I'll have to consider. Now where did I put my schematics?

[strumminsix]

Is this it? http://www.amptone.com/images/schem_crunch.gif
From: http://www.amptone.com/hkcrunchmaster.htm

Someone there said that were the same?!

I used the 12DW7 in a Fender Hotrod Dlx where the first side was the first gain stage in total but the 2nd side was the first gain stage of the overdrive channel. That lower value really helped tame it and make it more musical!!

[drewfx]

Not those, thanks, but I have schematics of my amps printed out somewhere.

I'm not much of a fan of modern preamp-distorting cascaded gain stages that get too dirty too quick, so I thought I'd see if half a low gain tube will work somewhere where a 12ay7 or 5751 wouldn't.

[milobender]

I like a 5751 in front too... GE, Phillips, RCA... 50s or 60s... it's worth the extra cash to me.

[Counterstriker]

Yep the blues master is the same as the crunch master. I'm actually looking for tubes for my Fender Super 60, which has 4 gain stages, and uses 2 12ax7's. Right now the amp is out getting modded for the tone stack to be closer to a twin. but once it comes back i'm gonna swap the tubes out. Maybe do some testing to see what sounds the best!

[tigerstrat]

Never had very good experiences with EH tubes. fwiw, I doubt JK uses them... by now, he probably has a tap on the Dead's supply of NOS Sylvania's. What say you, John?

[Counterstriker]

I do notice with the EH tube that the longer it stays on the easier it breaks up. usually my H&K settings are 2 clock gain and volume cranked and typical jerry EQ and i use my crown amp for volume. But with the EH i have to put the gain at about 10 ( and that's even pushing it a bit to hard..) I have to cut back the bass to 0 (usually have it on a tiny but) bring back the mids, put the treble on 100, and really cut the bass out with a boss EQ and even then it's kinda muddy with chords, but it still sounds sweet!

[jeffm725]

If you think the difference between a New EH and New Sovtek sounds good, you need to actually get some NOS RCA's or GE's and you'll really hear the difference.

TS, I have some NOS Sylvania's 12AX7's they tended to be more microphonic in my Boogie and My Twin than the GE's and RCA's.

However when it comes to NOS 6L6GC's NOTHING beats NOS Sylvania STR's

Counterstriker:
Contact Greg here:
http://www.hitestguitars.com/preamp-tubes.htm

Tell him what you are doing and using it for and what you "want" for sound. He will make the PERFECT recommendation and it is not always for the most expnsive tube. It is worth it, believe me. Also you will find that you will only need one or two NOS to make that super 60 sing, for the other stages any 12ax7 will do.

I just got 2 RCA long plates that I put in my Boogie and HOLY CRAP!