Tube reccomendations

[SwedeNuck]

I know this is a topic that will come up quite frequently so I might as well get my stab at it while everything's still fresh. It's come to that wonderful time of year when I need to think about changing the tubes in my 5150, they aren't going stale by any means I'd just rather get my mind made up now and have less worry when it needs to be done.

I know quite a few guys around here have experience with this amp and therefore will have some knowledge to share, I currently have Ruby 6L6GCMSTR's in it with Electro Harmonix 12AX7's in the Pre-amp. What brand and model tubes are you guys partial to in a 5150?

Also I'm a little curious as to getting a gain reduction tube in one or more of the pre-amp slots, and I need an educating into phase inverter tubes and such.

A little much in one thread, but oh well, I never get too much feedback anyways.

[Nigel Tufnel]

Re: Tube reccomendations

I think that if you would like to try something different from your current set up you should look into JJ or SED 6l6's and I would recommend JJ ecc83s' for the preamp. The JJ's in the preamp really tame some of the fizzyness in the top end that the 5150 has, I have a triple XXX that I retubed with JJ's in the preamp and it really made the top end alot sweeter. The JJ ecc83s is kind of dark compared to other current production tubes but if you get some that are graded for high gain they seem to have more presence without having that fuzzy treble goin on. The SED 6l6's seem to have a little more of a vintage vibe and JJ 6l6 is a bit more agressive with a fatter but still very tight bottom end. JJ also makes a tube that is supposedly good for lowering the gain in amps like the 5150, I think it's a 12dw7 or something like that. There's alot of good info at www.eurotubes.com concerning JJ's in the 5150, Bob has tinkered with them alot, he's got great prices on them too(he's the us distributor) and his service is great. www.dougstubes.com is a great place to buy from as well, if you contact him he could give you some good suggestions as well. I'm not sure if the 5150II is adjustable bias or not but if it's isn't like the original 5150's I highly recommend getting a bias mod done, those amps sound worlds better with tubes running warmer. Ok, that may have been a bit longwinded but I hope my late night rambling was of some use.

[SwedeNuck]

Re: Tube reccomendations

My 5150 II has an adjustable bias, but it has a very narrow sweep. I'm gonna save that little tid-bit for a later date when I send the thing off to trace at voodoo amp mods and treat my baby to a new lease on life.

And thanks for the reply man, plenty informative.

[Nigel Tufnel]

Re: Tube reccomendations

Yeah man those Voodoo modded 5150's have a rep for being pretty damn mean, I've never heard one in person but I've heard some good clips of them. I've heard great clips of the ones modded by www.fjamods.com too. You can't go wrong either way, a 5150 with right mods can really hold it's own with alot of high gain amps that cost a bunch more. A friend of mine has a block letter 5150 that I played before and after a bias mod was done and that alone made a huge difference, I'm sure after Trace puts his juju on it it would really kill.