Best tubes for Marshall plexi???

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I need to buy new tubes for my 50w 1987X plexi RI and had a couple of questions:

1. what are the best power tubes? and does anyone have experience with Chinese Shuguang tubes?

2. what are the best tubes for each pre-amp position?

3. has anyone tried a 5751 tube (or any other) as a replacement for a 12AX7 in the first position? note that this is done to reduce the amp's gain and that I want to give it a shot b/c my amp gets to full gain pretty early - say w/ vol. b/w 2 and 3 (esp. with my LP, single coil guitars are OK) and I wish I had better control and could clean up the gain without affecting the overall volume level.

Any feedback is appreciated...thanks

[mrid]

Re: Best tubes for Marshall plexi???

For power tubes, I like JJ's, winged =C= Svetlanas, and EHx 6CA7's. The Shuguangs are apparently pretty good as well, as I believe that's what Ruby rebadges. For pres, my absolute favorite is the 9th gen Chinese stuff.

[No effects]

Re: Best tubes for Marshall plexi???

Are these the Chinese ones you are referring to? Thanks

http://store.yahoo.com/thetubestore/chinese12ax7.html

[mrid]

Re: Best tubes for Marshall plexi???

Are these the Chinese ones you are referring to? Thanks

http://store.yahoo.com/thetubestore/chinese12ax7.html

I believe so, but I would ask if it's the 9th generation Shuguang before purchase. These are THE TUBES to buy, IMO, if you want good cleans and even better tones in the gain department. If you wanted strictly cleans, I would recommend the following: Sovtek LPS, JJ ECC83/82

[jeremy]

Re: Best tubes for Marshall plexi???

the best?? get some mullards my friend, a couple ecc83's and a good pair of el34's. the sound that defined marshall!!

as far as the amp breaking up to early, try a 12at7 in either v1 or v3 (first gain stage or phase inverter) changing v3 will hit your power section with a little less juice, while v1 will lower the preamps gain .
i use a 5751 in v1 of one of my amps and it sounds great, it does lower the gain a little but gives it a more growly tone as well. i think mine is an old jan tube

[No effects]

Re: Best tubes for Marshall plexi???

Thanks guys, the price of the Shuguangs "sounds" better to me, but that's another story. As far as "clean" tone, that one is very subjective indeed and I'll have experiment. I favor an AC/DC type of tone, which in my opinion is very clean for rock, but yet again, Angus does get a fair amount of sustain from his rig and can easily go into controlled feedback (I like this a lot). I think the next step will be to try the 12AT7/5751 tubes and see what happens to gain, etc, and probably get some Shuguangs in the power section.

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Best tubes for Marshall plexi???

My favorite current tube is also the Shuguang chinese pres. GT sells them as the 12AX7C. I like it because it has gain, but isn't muddy. The bottom end is tighter, than even the GT mullard copy. Plexi reissues sound best to me with Svetlana EL-34's. I'd setup your amp with those types of tubes, and you'll be very happy with the sound.

[jeremy]

Re: Best tubes for Marshall plexi???

for power tubes, if you dont want nos, id go for either the svetlanas or gt e34l's. i like the chinese 12ax7's and 6l6's but i havent tried the el34's.

[No effects]

Re: Best tubes for Marshall plexi???

My amp was made in 1997 and I bought just over a month ago. It actually has 2 Svetlana EL-34s (still in there now, the amp is in mint condition) and in the pre, 2 Sovtek 12AX7WAs and one Phillips 12AX7A, all which I took out due to unusual hiss and crackling (still don't know which one's not behaving). I replaced the pres with 3 Chinese 12AX7As, which I had kept from my old Peavey Classic 30 (luck of the draw, I guess - found out last night that this is what they were and they seem to be working well, but still lots of gain). I'll probably get a set a JJ's for the power section, compare them to the Svetlana's and keep one set for back-up. And since I've got plenty of pres, I'll try some combinations of 12AT7s in v1 and v3 to try to tame this beast a little bit. P.S. NOS tubes are a lot more expensive, aren't they!?

[B2D]

Re: Best tubes for Marshall plexi???

When i had my Marshall I used EH preamp tubes and JJ Power tubes. Sounded great! Now with my boogie i just use Boogie tubes, but the amp is loaded with EL34sfor the power section. :P