5150... help...!?

[Khriss Bliss]

First of all I got my Seymour Duncan Antiquity today, which feels good...
When I went to pick it up, there was a 5150 for sale so my friend in a band bought it. I think it was a bit fizzy but the tubes were still stock. so i thought i would do some research... then found out alot of folks install a bias mod ... to get rid of "class b/. , crossover distortion" so now that i know more, the decision on which tubes to recommend in which slot is getting complicated.
Lots of Jj recommendations but no one said why... Then in a blind sound test no one picked Jj but most picked Sovtek...

anybody know what 9 tubes get you what generally satisfying chunky sound? anybody tried diff preamps in the v1 thru v5 slot? and big questions: how necessary is it to get the bias mod? any general help is appreciated bcuz i tend to understand folks on this forum.

[Chickenwings]

Re: 5150... help...!?

ppl wpuld have suggested jjs cos they have a lot of headroom and are quite dark sounding. Lots of ppl like them beacuse they seem to knock off the top end - so if you found your amp fizzy it would make sense to suggest them. However - all that stuff is juts generalities until you try various tubes in your particular amp/guitar/speaker combination.
For a 5150 (which is i guess based on the hotrodded marshall sound) id suggest EH for the preamp - they are low noise/high gain - very evenly balanced eq and do a great heavy crunch sound. I think the Sovtek LPS is quite similar?
Im only basing this EH recommendation on my experience with marshalls tho! I do like jjs in the power section tho because of their prodigious bottom end.

[Edgecrusher]

Re: 5150... help...!?

Thing is your kinda shooting in the dark your gonna get a million recommendations but the only one you should listen to is your own ears and what works with your rig. So what you need to do is just put a fresh set of tubes the EH's and JJ's will work fine. Then from there adjust your tube needs accordingly. Dont be doing bias mods without even knowing what the amp really sounds like. Why spend the money to mod when stock might suit you just fine.

[Khriss Bliss]

Re: 5150... help...!?

thanks, ... i did six hours of inconclusive net research, but i understand the reasons for answers better from the users of this forum.

the funny thing is i hadnt seen my friend in 3 yrs but knew he needed a head. i texted him as soon as i saw it. I asked to test it, played 2 riffs then SUDDENLYwalked thru the door. He was on his way to pick it up anyways.

after he got there3 other guys had planned to buy it too while we guarded it Funny how a rare bargain can start to unite a segment of community. And itvwas USED GEAR DAY-so he paid $540- what a lucky duck!!

i guess what im saying is... has anybody heard of someone trying a Mullard, or Sylvania, or Phillips...I forget what year it is, but if its the original stockpickups that need replacing,

[Edgecrusher]

Re: 5150... help...!?

Yeah but what is he after tone wise? All you said was a "generally satisfying chunky sound" sorry dude but thats pretty vauge. If you can tell me right now the amp has X set of tubes and I want more or I need less Y or Z then I can help you out.

In my 5150 in the power section I tried Sovtek, Svetlanas, Sylvanias, JAN's,EH's in the preamp I had RCA's EH's 2 different types of Sovteks, Tungsrams and Chinese 9th gen tubes.

In the end I wound up liking the Svetlanas (not the current svetlanas these are the ones now branded winged C ) and in the preamp I had 3 Sovtek 12Ax7 LPS's and 2 RCA 5751's This set up was nice and clear the poweramp didnt break up very early I was able to drive the preamp hard without it turning to mush.

Sort of a disclaimer here too. If your thinking its gonna sound like EVH it will probably disappoint but if you let the amp do its own thing and you capitalize on its strengths its freaking killer. I liked the high gain lead sounds you got from it but was never satisfied with lower gain crunch sounds.

[glassman]

Re: 5150... help...!?

Adding adjustable bias: I've done a lot of these to 1st gen 5150s. It does add some versatility to the amp but isn't really necessary. The bias on these amps is really cool from the factory to give them more attack and headroom. They also have poor screen limiting which needs to be addressed if you want to up the bias current.

Power tubes: Pretty much any 6L6 will do and achieve the same results when set at the same current. Any difference in tone is a result of the differences in current draw and tranconductance between different tube brands. All this can be evened out with bias setting.

Preamp tubes: Purely personal preference and experimentation is merited. NOS tubes won't give you a lot of bang for your buck though. I'd stick with mixing and matching more economical, currently produced tubes. V1 might be an exception: it sets the basis for the amps overall tone and character. Any 12AX7 will maintain the saturated character of the amp that it is known for. Substituting a 12AY7 in V1 will bring the dynamics of the amp out and give it loads of attack. It will also bring out the midrange a little and give it a pronounced Marshall feel. Food for thought.