Questions about Tubes.

[Grandor]

I just got my Mark IV, and im going to get a backup set of tubes.

- I need 4 preamp 12ax7's and one phase inverter 12ax7.
- And 4 6L6's.


So should I get a matched quad of JJ ECC83S's (high gain) and 1 balanced PI for V5?
And a matched Quartet of JJ 6L6's for the power section?


Whats the difference between ECC83's and 12ax7's?

Any help appreciated, this is my first all-tube amp.

Grandor

 

[Edgecrusher]

Re: Questions about Tubes.

ECC83 and 12AX7 are just different names for the same tube... Yeah the JJ's will be fine in the preamp. Some people really like them they arent my favorite of the current made tubes... As for the power tubes the MkIV is a fixed bias amp... When you get your tubes if your getting them from a place that knows their stuff you can tell them you have a boogie and they will get you the right bias range... An alternative is to buy a set of tubes from Mesa themselves they only sell tubes within the right bias range for their amps so its a plug in and play deal. You can try different tubes with the MKIV it will accept a pair of EL34's in the outer two sockets... Right now my MKIV has in it a pair of 7581's (a high power nos 6l6 type tube from phillips) and a pair of Tung Sol 5881's in the center two sockets.

 

[Grandor]

Re: Questions about Tubes.

Cool. Thx for that mate.

So is it worth getting the hi-gain graded tubes?

 

[Edgecrusher]

Re: Questions about Tubes.

Cool. Thx for that mate.

So is it worth getting the hi-gain graded tubes?

I'm a bit of a tube snob so I tend to be biased twords them... But that being said my boogie sounds killer loaded with 9th generation chinese preamp tubes and a set up Mesa's 420 chinese 6l6's which neither are regarded as being the holy grail of tubes... I just like to split the fine hairs and tweak every last little bit of tone I can get. So I spend the extra coin on the NOS tubes. In short no they arent required but you would have to decide if the expense is worth it... most people will tell you its not.