NTD: New Tubes Day

[FuseG4]

Picked up a "Baldwin Organs"-labeled Toshiba-made 12AX7, and a GE 12AT7 for the PI.

I decided that having a 12ax7 PI AND removing V1 in the DRRI was just too early breakup. Like, breaking up on 3 with paf-style buckers.

So I went back to the stock tube configuration today.

Now my tubes look like
V1 normal channel: unlabeled short plate (probably matsush1ta) Japanese 12AX7
V2 Vibrato Channel: Toshiba long plate 12ax7
V3 reverb driver: groove tubes 12AT7
V4 reverb return/vibrato 2nd gain stage: Raytheon short plate
V5 tremolo oscillator: EH 12AX7
V6 phase inverter: GE 12AT7

power tubes: new-production tung-sol 6v6
rectifier: sovtek 5AR4

so the result of this is the amp having really warmed up. The bass is a little rounder and the treble is softer. I can really make this amp sound smooth and jazzy now if I get the treble down to 3. With the stock tubes and speaker, I sometimes found the treble on 1 to be a little piercing.

So for anyone looking to darken a bright amp, shop for NOS tubes. it helps. You can still keep your amp bright, but ditch that piercing, grating sound.

I'm looking at doing the rectifier next. I'm not looking for tone changes, but I am looking for reliability. I run my amp on 7 or 8 a lot with my attenuator, and so I can't afford to have the rectifier go, now that I KNOW that I'm keeping this amp for a while.

1 NOS rectifier at $120= lets say 5 years of service
that's 6 years of one sovtek 5ar4 per year, but with people complaining that they've had new-testing sovteks take out fuses after 6 months to a year, I feel like I may as well spend a little extra money for real "peace of mind". Does that sound reasonable?

 

[CTN]

Re: NTD: New Tubes Day

nice.

I need one of these days

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: NTD: New Tubes Day

Sounds good. You probably don't need to replace the Sovtek AR4, since they last fine in my experience.

I'm a big fan of taking an amp, experimenting with tubes for awhile, then once it's dialed, leaving it alone and just playing it.

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: NTD: New Tubes Day

It was a good idea going back to 12at7 as the PI, fuse. Its the hardest working tube in the amp. Less gain, but can handle 10 times more voltage than the 12ax7. Reliability is always good.
Sounds like you have chosen the rest of your tubes painstakingly too.
Tung sol 6v6s are sweet. Have you tried using current production preamp tubes from JJ, EH and Tung-sol and seeing how they compare to your NOS ones? FWIW...if darkening your tone is one of your aims, jjs are hard to beat, but id be keen to hear how the matsus and rayhteons compare.

 

[FuseG4]

Re: NTD: New Tubes Day

It was a good idea going back to 12at7 as the PI, fuse. Its the hardest working tube in the amp. Less gain, but can handle 10 times more voltage than the 12ax7. Reliability is always good.
Sounds like you have chosen the rest of your tubes painstakingly too.
Tung sol 6v6s are sweet. Have you tried using current production preamp tubes from JJ, EH and Tung-sol and seeing how they compare to your NOS ones? FWIW...if darkening your tone is one of your aims, jjs are hard to beat, but id be keen to hear how the matsus and rayhteons compare.

so far Ive only tried EH and a few sovtek 12ax7s besides the stock groove tubes, which also seemed to be a different sovtek model (WA or WB I think).
I haven't used JJ's since I had the DSL a year ago. Every time i've thought about buying one, I just figured that NOS was only another $10, so why not? And with the extra ten dollars, I'm not only getting vintage construction and tone... I get a tube from someone who checks and grades everything, so I can be sure I'm getting something that "tests new" per the good old rigorous standards. There's no "get one from a good or bad batch" crap shoot.

JJ's are something I'd go for in a more modern channel switcher. I couldn't hear the NOS difference in the DSL, for instance. JJs make sense to me in amps that don't change a whole ton based on tube brand. The DRRI shows big differences.

 

[FuseG4]

Re: NTD: New Tubes Day

Sounds good. You probably don't need to replace the Sovtek AR4, since they last fine in my experience.

I'm a big fan of taking an amp, experimenting with tubes for awhile, then once it's dialed, leaving it alone and just playing it.

good news about the sovtek rectifier. I mean, old rectifiers are pricey SOBs.

And yeah, I feel like I'm at a point where I can just leave the amp alone and play for a few months. I've gotten the stuff sorted out that I wanted to mess with. Speakers and tubes, and my pedal situation is mostly right.