7581A tubes!!!

Quencho092

New member
I got the NOS 7581A tubes in the mail on friday, and popped them into my bandmaster.....

Let me tell you that the tone difference between these and the mesa tubes that were already in there is HUGE!

The mesas would crap out at around 6 on the dial of the bandmaster, and they didnt break up nicely either.

With the 7581's in, the amp hardly distorts at 8, but 'glazes' and screams 'cleanly' when i dig in with my strat. The high end is especially nice, and when goosed by my TS9, it is the blues tone i've heard in my head for years but could never get. Now the amp could make amazing country tones with my bridge pickup, and the 'feel' is so nice that im almost convinced that it has reverb. It could also take a pounding on the bias, but i settled on 37ma at 450 volts.

These tubes are rumored to last decades, but as far as i know, the tone was well worth my money! Thanks to everyone here for the advice, i can finally sleep well! Oh, and by the way, i rebiased my deluxe reverb very carefully according to Lew's advice to listen first then check the meter so it doesnt go past 70%. The amp sounds 10 times better at higher volumes, and all that crossover distortion fizz on the treble end of my tone disappeared.
 
Re: 7581A tubes!!!

philips JAN, the dude from KCA nos tubes said that there wasnt much of a difference and to save my cash and go with the phillips.

They really sound great.
 
Re: 7581A tubes!!!

Ummm, yeah. They sound great and they do last a long time if you don't run them too hot. This is the only 6L6 tube I have been using for the last few years (in tweeds, BF, etc) and zero problems.
 
Re: 7581A tubes!!!

I just put a pair into Evan's new amp and I've still got some work to do to squeeze out some more headroom. Compared to the WingC's that I had in there at start up (never fire up an amp for the first time with $100 tubes), they have more headroom, but not as much as I was hoping for.

Now it's time to tweak. This amp has been a huge learning experience.
 
Re: 7581A tubes!!!

Scott_F said:
I just put a pair into Evan's new amp and I've still got some work to do to squeeze out some more headroom. Compared to the WingC's that I had in there at start up (never fire up an amp for the first time with $100 tubes), they have more headroom, but not as much as I was hoping for.

Now it's time to tweak. This amp has been a huge learning experience.
Don't forget the speaker in the whole 'clean headroom' equation. I have 7581's in my MkII and it has the big EV 12" speaker in. Yon want clean headroom that pairing is unbeatable. Now I think the EV is no longer made. Huge magnet, 200 watt capacity. If you could dig one of those up....
 
Re: 7581A tubes!!!

I have 7581A's, a 5AR4, and a Weber Cali 15" w/ paper dome in a 5E5A clone---clean, clean, clean...like Merle Travis clean.
 
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