Re: 12AX7 vs 12AT7 vs 12AU7
My experience:
Bassman 59' RI (Circa 1992)
Swapped 12AY7 (GT) tube into V1 (in place of the stock 12AX7).
With the 12AY7, the amp had more clean headroom (breakup was not as early as the 12AX7).
Basically, you could turn the volume knob to 3.5 - 4 with the 12AX7's and then start to breakup nicely.
With the 12AY7 you were at 4.5 before any breakup started to occur (so higher volume before breakup).
In theory (please correct me if I am wrong), the advantage of the 12AY7 is: you could gain more clean headroom on the amp -and- if volume wasn't an issue, more of the breakup would come while you were into power tube territory (rather than just preamp tube breakup). So I guess if you were wanting to get to the dirt in a lower volume situation (home, small gigs) then use the standard 12AX7 -but- if you are playing where higher volume is acceptable before you breakup, then the 12AY7 would work well. OR - if you want to get dirt from pedals, then the 12AY7 might be the better way to go. If that makes any sense?
Hope this helps anyone thinking about the swap.
My experience:
Bassman 59' RI (Circa 1992)
Swapped 12AY7 (GT) tube into V1 (in place of the stock 12AX7).
With the 12AY7, the amp had more clean headroom (breakup was not as early as the 12AX7).
Basically, you could turn the volume knob to 3.5 - 4 with the 12AX7's and then start to breakup nicely.
With the 12AY7 you were at 4.5 before any breakup started to occur (so higher volume before breakup).
In theory (please correct me if I am wrong), the advantage of the 12AY7 is: you could gain more clean headroom on the amp -and- if volume wasn't an issue, more of the breakup would come while you were into power tube territory (rather than just preamp tube breakup). So I guess if you were wanting to get to the dirt in a lower volume situation (home, small gigs) then use the standard 12AX7 -but- if you are playing where higher volume is acceptable before you breakup, then the 12AY7 would work well. OR - if you want to get dirt from pedals, then the 12AY7 might be the better way to go. If that makes any sense?
Hope this helps anyone thinking about the swap.
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