Recommend me some tubes! !!

[fatigueofheart]

yups...need to get my newly aquired amp retubed. it's a yamaha tc-50 and the tubes in it are the stock ones around 10+ year old. Amazingly they still sound good but after an hour my amp starts to turn into a humming machine. it runs on a pair of 6l6s and 7 12ax7s. I'm looking for more clean headroom to play with and silky smooth distortion. thanks! also can you guys post the sites of where to get them?

 

[Metalman_666]

Re: Recommend me some tubes! !!

I'm no tube expert... but I think you can find almost anything at TubeDepot.com.

 

[Curly]

Re: Recommend me some tubes! !!

you can find a list of vendors at Guitar Amp Bluepriinting

 

[Jonny R]

Re: Recommend me some tubes! !!

These ones are quite nice:

OK, I'm sorry, I'm going back to work...

 

[Curly]

Re: Recommend me some tubes! !!

These ones are quite nice.

so are these:

hmmm ... a buncha wise guys, eh

 

[fatigueofheart]

Re: Recommend me some tubes! !!

bumping for some serious answeers...btw...do i have to bias my amp?

 

[rspst14]

Re: Recommend me some tubes! !!

JJ tubes are my favorite, contact Bob at Eurotubes and he'll get you hooked up.

Ryan

 

[Undertone]

Re: Recommend me some tubes! !!

bumping for some serious answeers...btw...do i have to bias my amp?

I have the same amp. I went with the Electro-Harmonix 12AX7EH for the pre-amp (all 7 of them!) and the E-H 6L6EH for the power tubes. Good luck with that monster. It has great distortion.

 

[FretFire]

Re: Recommend me some tubes! !!

I second both the JJ tubes and Bob at http://www.eurotubes.com

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Recommend me some tubes! !!

I'd get Svetlana or JJ power tubes. For pre tubes, I'd get ones with a lot of tight focused gain like GT12AX7C's or M's, at least for the first few positions.
This will keep the gain channel from sounding gritty. I don't think I'd use JJ pre tubes, since they won't push your preamp hard enough. They're better for clean and high headroom amps.

 

[zak]

Re: Recommend me some tubes! !!

to answer your other question:
Your amp does not need to be biased when changing pre amp tubes (ie the 12ax7s), but will do when you change the 6l6s.
I would also check out the 'test reports' section at www.watfordvalves.com
They test and review all the various tubes available.
What tubes you buy depeneds to an extent on the tone you want. Some tubes are higher gain, others have more headroom, while some tubes are bright sounding and other smoother and darker.
For instance jj 12ax7s, to me at least, and warm but with an ultra smoothed off treble - i wouldnt use them with anything but a really bright amp.