Dramatic Difference After Retubing?

[Pink Unicorn Horsey]

I know this is subjective to a degree and depends on several factors (e.g., which tubes you're using, which tubes you're replacing, how familiar you are with the old amp sound), but I'm curious how dramatic the difference is once you've retubed your amp.

Would some of you relate your experiences, good or bad, with retubing? Was it an arduous process or a piece of cake? Did it inspire you to retube all of your amps? What was it like trying to find just the right tubes? Is the search still on? Have you given up?

Tell all...

- Keith

 

[jmh151]

Re: Dramatic Difference After Retubing?

I think anyone that buys a USED tube amp should immediately have it retubed and biased.

I got a used 1988 Marshall JCM800 100 watt combo (the 4211). The amp sounded nice in the store. After I brough it home, I opened it up, and the pre amp tubes were from different manufacturers, power tubes were old and cruddy. Tone controls didn't do much. Regardless it sounded great, though the clean channel left alot to be desired.

One day the amp just stopped working- no sound. All fuses were O.K., tubes looked O.K., so I took the amp in for servicing. They retubed and biased the entire amp, and who knows what else when they say they "service" the amp. The Tone Controls now sounded like active tone controls and worked.

Once I got it home it was killer, more than I could have ever expected, the clean channel was clear, when cranked it sounded like a Plexi, the overdrive channel was clearer, as if a BBE Sonic Maximizer was put through the loop. Its gain rivals the new JCM 2000 amps.

As far as finding the right tubes, I trusted that to The Music Zoo in NY that did the servicing. They put Sovtek preamp and EH power tubes in. Bob at Eurotubes has some suggestions about tubes, but in the end I just used whatever Music Zoo put in and I'm extremely happy.

I wouldn't retube a brand new amp, but definately have it done if you bought a used one as you don't know how old the tubes are.

 

[Pink Unicorn Horsey]

Re: Dramatic Difference After Retubing?

I wouldn't retube a brand new amp, but definately have it done if you bought a used one as you don't know how old the tubes are.

I hear so many people gripe about the stock tubes in brand new amps and glow over how much better their amp sounded once they "got rid of the crappy stock tubes" and put in something else. I guess that's part of my curiosity.

 

[PUCKBOY99]

Re: Dramatic Difference After Retubing?

I think anyone that buys a USED tube amp should immediately have it retubed and biased.

+1 & AMEN to that :bigthumb:

I worked out a trade with a fella that had a Fuchs ODS-20 but something was wrong with it....he wasn't sure what.

Had him send it to Fuchs for a checkup, as it was still under warranty to the original buyer.

Turns out a bad tube fried a resistor.....$25.00 fix.

While it was at Fuchs, I had him do the SLX upgrade & received the amp with fresh JJs all around.

It sounded fantastic!

But....I had some NOS tubes that I wanted to try so I took the JJs out & loaded it with NOS RCA 6V6GTAs, NOS Mullard ECC83s & a Mullard CV4024.

It then sounded AMAZING !!!!

Moral of the story: if it ain't broke, don't fix it........but sometimes it doesn't hurt to try. You might be surprised in the end

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Dramatic Difference After Retubing?

Most big amp companies use the best tubes they can get for the cheapest price, which are usually something like Sovtek's mid-line.

The only way you'll hear a difference is if you buy top quality tubes. When I buy a used amp, I automatically install JJ power tubes and whatever my 'flavor of the month' pre tubes are. The only time I don't is when the seller already did that right before he sold it.

If you own tube amps, you really should buy a Bias Tool, which is just a 2 sided socket that fits between your amp and a tube. Plug it's leads into multimeter, and set the bias in the proper range. The proper range is when the amp sounds it's healthiest, and the numbers on the mA meter are close to what they should be. 6L6's = 31-34 mA.......EL-34's = 34-40 mA.

 

[metallicaxlxl]

Re: Dramatic Difference After Retubing?

yup, so man people do talk about how much better it sounds. and how much you can USE tubes to get more of the sound you want. ive heard that some amps benefit less from them than others, but i think its always a very big difference. with tubes you can get many differences like brighter, warmer, more gain, less gain but more natural gain (blues type of gain). tube changes are rather easy. power tubes you just pull out, pre-amp you unhook a few things and than you pull it out.

ive actually broken a tube pulling it out, luckily it was already dead haha, they put it in there too tight at first so it was hard as hell to get out. it mightve also been weakened. it mightve already been slightly broken or something, but anyways, i got it out fine, got all the pieces of broken glass out, replaced it, but i didnt get any kind of tonal change because i replaced it with the exact same tube (free replacement because it came in with that tube broken) but it was easy enough to replace,

just dont use too much force than whats needed to replace them.

 

[jmh151]

Re: Dramatic Difference After Retubing?

I had a Marshall DSL401. I re-tubed it with JJ Tesla tubes throughout. It sounded better with the stock Marshall tubes. I subsequently traded it in towards the JCM800.

I also heard people gripe about the "stock crappy speaker" that came with the 401, which was a Celestion GT-100. At everyone's suggestion I upgraded it to a Celestion Vintage 30, and heard only a slight difference in that amp.

 

[Pink Unicorn Horsey]

Re: Dramatic Difference After Retubing?

Yeah, I hear people talk a lot about "crappy speakers," too. Yet another thing I'm reticent to change because it's tough to A/B.

 

[jmh151]

Re: Dramatic Difference After Retubing?

The one place I see Marshall cutting corners isn't with any electronics (including speakers) on their amps, but with using MDF particleboard on some of their tube amps and cabs. They should stick with laminated plywood on everything except the Valvestate or MG line.