Pre-amp tubes in my amp: are they stock?

[Animal]

Well I was messin' round with my Laney AOR 50 tonight and I finally found a really good distortion tone. The bottem end still sounds a bit mushy though. The last time I checked the pre-amp tubes, they just said "ECC83" on them, no brand name or anything else written on. I've only had the amp for a few months after winning it off ebay. The seller had the power tubes recently replaced with Sovtek WXT's.

Could these be the original pre-amp tubes if no one has bothered to put in "brand name" aftermarket tubes in the amp during the course of it's 20+ year life?

Now I know that replacing pre-amp tubes isn't anywhere near as necessary as for power tubes but I would really like to tighten/clear up the distortion tone a bit. After all they could be REALLY old pre-tubes. I'm thinking of replacing them with Sovtek 12AX7LPS tubes. On ebay I've seen them being sold for $20 matched quads, far cheaper than it is here in Australia.

[Robert S.]

Re: Pre-amp tubes in my amp: are they stock?

Replace the preamp tubes, it can't hurt.

Don't spend a bunch of money on "matched" preamp tubes. I know some people like balanced inverters but preamp tubes don't need to be matched or balanced.

I really like my JJs but there are a few good tube brands around and I'm sure you'll get more suggestions.

[The Golden Boy]

Re: Pre-amp tubes in my amp: are they stock?

Now I know that replacing pre-amp tubes isn't anywhere near as necessary as for power tubes

Actually, I've found that changing your V1 preamp tube can make a whole world of changes above and beyond changing any or the rest of your tubes.

[Luke Duke]

Re: Pre-amp tubes in my amp: are they stock?

Like Robert I'm a JJ fan. I've got a matched phase inverter tube coming and two high gain 12ax7s, we'll see how they stack up against the GT's in it.

What type of power tubes does the amp have? EL34s? 6L6s?

If you've got the dough I'd suggest retubing the whole amp. Keep what's in it for back up. If you do this you'll get tubes that you choose for their tonal characteristics and you can find out what has an extended low end or if you should re-bias.

Luke

[Animal]

Re: Pre-amp tubes in my amp: are they stock?

It uses EL34 tubes.

[Pierre]

Re: Pre-amp tubes in my amp: are they stock?

I've been advised EH 12AX7LPS and Sovteks 6V6GT for this amp. I believe yours uses different power tubes? Well I hope this helps in case you need to change them. Based on reviews I read, they seem to be decent choices. Great wee amp isn't it? :-D

[Animal]

Re: Pre-amp tubes in my amp: are they stock?

I've been advised EH 12AX7LPS and Sovteks 6V6GT for this amp. I believe yours uses different power tubes? Well I hope this helps in case you need to change them. Based on reviews I read, they seem to be decent choices. Great wee amp isn't it? :-D

Electro Harmonix are basically Sovtek tubes arn't they?

I'm not too crash hot on the idea of changing tubes at the moment as they are fairly new and I don't want to have to re-bias to 6l6 (6V6?). I think I haven't heard the amps full EL-34 potential yet. I'm hoping to get a quad box soon to compensate for my 1x12 open back cabinets lack of bass.

Great wee amp? I wouldn't say that. It's a monster that can tear you face off if you put the master above 4!

I'm absolutely loving the clean tones that come out of this amp when it's on low sensitivity. The good thing is that you don't have the amp at loud volume to get a rich saturated clean.

Distortion on the other hand has me a bit left to be desired. I don't blame this entirely on the amp though. I can get those medium crunchy JCM-800 no problem. For metal distortion and shred leads I'm having a bit of difficulty. Perhaps it's my bright floyd-equipped alder guitar that contributes to it's very honky sound. I have a tubescreamer and a also GE-7 and after tweaking with these awhile through the AOR I'm still having trouble finding that crushing distortion and liquid like lead tone.

I was getting a very nice full sound last night with the master about 2.5 and on the AOR channel. It's was kind of loud but not massively. Like I said though, the bass is still a bit mushy.

I've tried cranking the master volumes past 5 and I don't think it's sounds much better. The midrange response seemed to be offensively loud and cutting. Maybe I don't like the sound of EL34's distorting?

I'm also wondering what the amp sounds like with a Mahogeny bodied guitar with a fixed bridge. I've been gassing for a Toni Iommi SG for some time. I have a feeling that a darker toned axe would make this amp shine.

Hmmm, the possibilities................

[Animal]

Re: Pre-amp tubes in my amp: are they stock?

Actually, I've found that changing your V1 preamp tube can make a whole world of changes above and beyond changing any or the rest of your tubes.

I've got a spare 12AX7 pre-amp lying around taken out from my H&K amp. I want to put it into the V1 position but I don't know which one is V1?

If I'm looking at my amp from the back whilst changing tubes, would it be the far left or far right socket?

[greendy123]

Re: Pre-amp tubes in my amp: are they stock?

It's the one farthest from the power tubes.

[Animal]

Re: Pre-amp tubes in my amp: are they stock?

It's the one farthest from the power tubes.

Cool, thanks.