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NOTE: This is a first look, first impression review. There is hopefully MUCH more to come in the following days and weeks. I am NOT being paid for this. I can keep them and pay for them or I can send them back, my choice. That was the deal I made with them.
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Wow, I'm actually quite surprised by the initial runs with these Retrovalves. I put one blue one (which is supposed to have below average gain attributed it...so I suppose a "Clean tube"...in V1 and one amber one (average gain) in V2 in my Jet City JCA22H. The two slots cover the crunch channel on the amp, with V3 and V4 being the distortion channel and V5 being the PI.
So the first thing I do is play for about 30 minutes with my guitar straight into the amp and no effects added, with brand new Tunsgol 12AX7's in V1 thru V5. I'm playing stuff that I always play on the crunch channel only and getting a good feel for the volume versus velocity, intonation, how well the notes separate, which strings are singing out when I chord. I set the crunch channel on 4 and the crunch's master volume on the same, which is comfortable for the room and not pushing the amp in any way. I shut it all down, let it cool for 20 minutes then swapped out V1 and V2 for the blue and amber, as stated above. I warmed the amp up in standby for 5 minutes, watching the RV's (Retrovalves) come to life in back. The blue one glows blue through the plastic cover and the amber one is amber in color. I hit a tentative G chord and my eyebrows went up immediately. I had gained about 15-20db in volume (just a guess) just by swapping out the tubes and the chord was crisp and clear. I went through a series of chords and a few routines just to get a feel for it all and I was pretty satisfied. There's good note separation at the gain level I was playing at, the gain had gone up just a little along with the volume, and the gain seemed to break nicely as I added velocity. More velocity correctly added more gain/distortion and volume. The sustain was good but 'maybe' just a little less than the Tungsols. That was my initial impression but I haven't yet tested that out. I sometimes like a little honk in my high pitched chords and my midrange today reflects that - dropping into D's I got a little more honk out of it than I would have with the Tungsols, that much is certain. I have NOT yet touched a single knob. I haven't raised the volume or gain or moved the EQ. I'm not hearing any muddiness, no buzzing, the strings sing out...there needs to be some EQ cutting for sure but so too with the Tungsols, and the clarity is excellent. My first impression at this point is that if I had to play this setup with these settings for the rest of my days, I could definitely do worse. (More Below)
I'll be adding more information as I explore this configuration more and even more information when I move into the distortion channel and then finally one in each channel. I wish that Mayor Doug had sent me a red one since I know a lot of you appreciate max gain. More coming, and if I acquire the ability to make a decent recording, I'll definitely get some audio or video up!
(One final thought ...the music seems to have more body to it, as if there's just a touch of delay added or there's some EQ-ing going on inside the RV's...or something. For the volume and gain it's sitting at, it's punching better than the Tungsols. It's beefy. Interesting. -Rod-
*************************
Wow, I'm actually quite surprised by the initial runs with these Retrovalves. I put one blue one (which is supposed to have below average gain attributed it...so I suppose a "Clean tube"...in V1 and one amber one (average gain) in V2 in my Jet City JCA22H. The two slots cover the crunch channel on the amp, with V3 and V4 being the distortion channel and V5 being the PI.
So the first thing I do is play for about 30 minutes with my guitar straight into the amp and no effects added, with brand new Tunsgol 12AX7's in V1 thru V5. I'm playing stuff that I always play on the crunch channel only and getting a good feel for the volume versus velocity, intonation, how well the notes separate, which strings are singing out when I chord. I set the crunch channel on 4 and the crunch's master volume on the same, which is comfortable for the room and not pushing the amp in any way. I shut it all down, let it cool for 20 minutes then swapped out V1 and V2 for the blue and amber, as stated above. I warmed the amp up in standby for 5 minutes, watching the RV's (Retrovalves) come to life in back. The blue one glows blue through the plastic cover and the amber one is amber in color. I hit a tentative G chord and my eyebrows went up immediately. I had gained about 15-20db in volume (just a guess) just by swapping out the tubes and the chord was crisp and clear. I went through a series of chords and a few routines just to get a feel for it all and I was pretty satisfied. There's good note separation at the gain level I was playing at, the gain had gone up just a little along with the volume, and the gain seemed to break nicely as I added velocity. More velocity correctly added more gain/distortion and volume. The sustain was good but 'maybe' just a little less than the Tungsols. That was my initial impression but I haven't yet tested that out. I sometimes like a little honk in my high pitched chords and my midrange today reflects that - dropping into D's I got a little more honk out of it than I would have with the Tungsols, that much is certain. I have NOT yet touched a single knob. I haven't raised the volume or gain or moved the EQ. I'm not hearing any muddiness, no buzzing, the strings sing out...there needs to be some EQ cutting for sure but so too with the Tungsols, and the clarity is excellent. My first impression at this point is that if I had to play this setup with these settings for the rest of my days, I could definitely do worse. (More Below)
I'll be adding more information as I explore this configuration more and even more information when I move into the distortion channel and then finally one in each channel. I wish that Mayor Doug had sent me a red one since I know a lot of you appreciate max gain. More coming, and if I acquire the ability to make a decent recording, I'll definitely get some audio or video up!
(One final thought ...the music seems to have more body to it, as if there's just a touch of delay added or there's some EQ-ing going on inside the RV's...or something. For the volume and gain it's sitting at, it's punching better than the Tungsols. It's beefy. Interesting. -Rod-
like to hear comparision video would be cool.
CHRIST
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