Retro Valves? Anyone tried them??
- Thread starter BloodRose
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GuitarStv
Sock Market Trader
Re: Retro Valves? Anyone tried them??
Last night I figured I'd start out whole hog and put the yellow in V1, and a blue in V2 and V3 (the phase inverter). Our kid was asleep, so I didn't have the chance to crank the amp, and was just playing at 'loud conversation' levels . . . no power tube distortion.
There is noticeably less noise overall with the RVs. At very low volumes on the clean channel you can hear a little bit of hiss when the amp is on normally, and this is reduced to almost nothing now. The two blue and one yellow combo seems to have very slightly reduced the overall volume of the amp . . . I had to turn the knob up about one notch higher than usual to get the same clean volume. The clean channel, which is where I spend most of my time, sounds a little bit different EQ than normal . . . not necessarily better or worse, but different. After a little dicking around with amp settings it was possible to find some pretty decent clean sounds.
There's also a change in the feel of the amp when you play it. I'm not sure how to describe it. It feels tighter? Less squishy? Like there's a more direct response from what I play to what comes out of the amp. This change is kinda nice, and works for me.
The gain channel just sounds terrible. Normally I set it up for a very light bluesy overdrive . . . it gives soft, warm breakup when you pluck a single note hard. Chords are distorted, but you can still make out individual notes in them. In contrast, there's a raspy/buzzy thing going on that I don't like with these retrovalves that I can't seem to dial out. It gives a harder edged character to the distortion, and cranking up the preamp gain to 70's rock levels just seems to give more of it.
This isn't totally unexpected, I figured that these things would work best maybe in the phase inverter alone, or V2. Over the next few nights I'm going to be swapping tubes in and out of various positions to see what the effect is on noise and tone, but at the moment I wouldn't recommend popping a full set of RVs into your amp to replace the preamp tubes . . . unless you purely use pedals for your distorted sound, or dislike soft clipping.
EDIT - Just a note, because re-reading this it kinda came off worse sounding that it probably should have. They're certainly don't sound terrible. I just don't like they way they clip when you replace all your tubes with 'em. I'd use them in a pinch as a backup without hesitation.
Last night I figured I'd start out whole hog and put the yellow in V1, and a blue in V2 and V3 (the phase inverter). Our kid was asleep, so I didn't have the chance to crank the amp, and was just playing at 'loud conversation' levels . . . no power tube distortion.
There is noticeably less noise overall with the RVs. At very low volumes on the clean channel you can hear a little bit of hiss when the amp is on normally, and this is reduced to almost nothing now. The two blue and one yellow combo seems to have very slightly reduced the overall volume of the amp . . . I had to turn the knob up about one notch higher than usual to get the same clean volume. The clean channel, which is where I spend most of my time, sounds a little bit different EQ than normal . . . not necessarily better or worse, but different. After a little dicking around with amp settings it was possible to find some pretty decent clean sounds.
There's also a change in the feel of the amp when you play it. I'm not sure how to describe it. It feels tighter? Less squishy? Like there's a more direct response from what I play to what comes out of the amp. This change is kinda nice, and works for me.
The gain channel just sounds terrible. Normally I set it up for a very light bluesy overdrive . . . it gives soft, warm breakup when you pluck a single note hard. Chords are distorted, but you can still make out individual notes in them. In contrast, there's a raspy/buzzy thing going on that I don't like with these retrovalves that I can't seem to dial out. It gives a harder edged character to the distortion, and cranking up the preamp gain to 70's rock levels just seems to give more of it.
This isn't totally unexpected, I figured that these things would work best maybe in the phase inverter alone, or V2. Over the next few nights I'm going to be swapping tubes in and out of various positions to see what the effect is on noise and tone, but at the moment I wouldn't recommend popping a full set of RVs into your amp to replace the preamp tubes . . . unless you purely use pedals for your distorted sound, or dislike soft clipping.
EDIT - Just a note, because re-reading this it kinda came off worse sounding that it probably should have. They're certainly don't sound terrible. I just don't like they way they clip when you replace all your tubes with 'em. I'd use them in a pinch as a backup without hesitation.
Last edited:
Kamanda~SD
New member
Re: Retro Valves? Anyone tried them??
Why did anyone think these would sound good again?
Why did anyone think these would sound good again?
Re: Retro Valves? Anyone tried them??
Think... hope...whatever... I think it's called keeping an open mind... trying not to judge before trying... you know?
Curiosity plays a role in there too. At this price I'm more than happy to give them a try.
Think... hope...whatever... I think it's called keeping an open mind... trying not to judge before trying... you know?
Curiosity plays a role in there too. At this price I'm more than happy to give them a try.
dominus
King Midas to Cheap Guitars
Re: Retro Valves? Anyone tried them??
The thing is, everyone that's tried them and posted about them in this thread says that they sound good in their own way, some have said that it wasn't exactly what they were looking for. Hell, swapping real 12AX7s can do the same thing to an amp.
You also have to understand that people are trying *different* versions of the Retro Valves which have different purposes. GuitarStv used a blend of Blue (lower than standard gain) and Amber (standard gain). Securb and I tried the Red, which is higher than standard gain. It did what I wanted it to in the Valvestate. I have a Peavey tube preamp and a few other hybrid amps that I'm going to try it in, as I'm one of the guys that can always use more gain.
The thing is, everyone that's tried them and posted about them in this thread says that they sound good in their own way, some have said that it wasn't exactly what they were looking for. Hell, swapping real 12AX7s can do the same thing to an amp.
You also have to understand that people are trying *different* versions of the Retro Valves which have different purposes. GuitarStv used a blend of Blue (lower than standard gain) and Amber (standard gain). Securb and I tried the Red, which is higher than standard gain. It did what I wanted it to in the Valvestate. I have a Peavey tube preamp and a few other hybrid amps that I'm going to try it in, as I'm one of the guys that can always use more gain.
speed2dirt
Butterball
Re: Retro Valves? Anyone tried them??
I've been using RRVs for 6 months now and love them. Currently, I have them in a Soldano GTO pedal and an ENGL Tube Toner pedal. The RRVs change the character of the amp, and depending on what order you have them in, you can customize it. Both pedals are two tube pedals. I have a red in V1 to tighten things up and a blue to balance out the increased gain. It's a great tone for thrash. If I flip the order where the blue is in V1 and red is in V2, it makes it sag a bit more and is a killer hard rock & lead tone. To me, they are extremely versatile and can definitely take an amp you like, and make it exactly what you want. I've rolled them through a full amp too (Ampeg GVT52-112) and the results were similar. To me, think of RRVs as fine tuning an amp rather than dramatically altering it. The change in feel is most noticeable, in my opinion.
I've been using RRVs for 6 months now and love them. Currently, I have them in a Soldano GTO pedal and an ENGL Tube Toner pedal. The RRVs change the character of the amp, and depending on what order you have them in, you can customize it. Both pedals are two tube pedals. I have a red in V1 to tighten things up and a blue to balance out the increased gain. It's a great tone for thrash. If I flip the order where the blue is in V1 and red is in V2, it makes it sag a bit more and is a killer hard rock & lead tone. To me, they are extremely versatile and can definitely take an amp you like, and make it exactly what you want. I've rolled them through a full amp too (Ampeg GVT52-112) and the results were similar. To me, think of RRVs as fine tuning an amp rather than dramatically altering it. The change in feel is most noticeable, in my opinion.
GuitarStv
Sock Market Trader
Re: Retro Valves? Anyone tried them??
More playing around with these things. The way that they distort is not as smooth as regular vacuum tubes, it's rougher and rattier. They sound very nice clean, but even when clean if you're boosting them with a pedal the gritty characteristic seems to come back. They work great if you just get distortion from a pedal and use the amp clean.
For my uses, (due to the gritty character) I don't like them in V1 or V2 positions at all. Sticking one in the PI position however, slightly changes the feel of the amp to be a bit tighter and noticeably reduces hiss/noise. I kinda like them here, both the blue (seemingly more headroom) and the yellow (about as much headroom as the regular 12ax7) . . . with one caveat . . . which is that while they work very well at low to medium volumes, when you fully open the amp up to get some power tube distortion something sounds a bit off . . . and there's a touch of that grittiness that you hear with the RVs in the preamp tubes coming back.
Overall they're still kinda cool, I just don't like the gritty character for soul, blues, funk, or jazz. Will probably keep one in the PI while playing around the house, but swap it out when playing out.
More playing around with these things. The way that they distort is not as smooth as regular vacuum tubes, it's rougher and rattier. They sound very nice clean, but even when clean if you're boosting them with a pedal the gritty characteristic seems to come back. They work great if you just get distortion from a pedal and use the amp clean.
For my uses, (due to the gritty character) I don't like them in V1 or V2 positions at all. Sticking one in the PI position however, slightly changes the feel of the amp to be a bit tighter and noticeably reduces hiss/noise. I kinda like them here, both the blue (seemingly more headroom) and the yellow (about as much headroom as the regular 12ax7) . . . with one caveat . . . which is that while they work very well at low to medium volumes, when you fully open the amp up to get some power tube distortion something sounds a bit off . . . and there's a touch of that grittiness that you hear with the RVs in the preamp tubes coming back.
Overall they're still kinda cool, I just don't like the gritty character for soul, blues, funk, or jazz. Will probably keep one in the PI while playing around the house, but swap it out when playing out.
devastone
Well-known member
Re: Retro Valves? Anyone tried them??
Pretty much my experience with them in a Jet City 50W head, I didn't like them in V1 or V2, seemed to loose some sustain as well, but they worked fine in the V3 - V5(PI) positions.
Pretty much my experience with them in a Jet City 50W head, I didn't like them in V1 or V2, seemed to loose some sustain as well, but they worked fine in the V3 - V5(PI) positions.
Re: Retro Valves? Anyone tried them??
I just did some testing in my Blackheart killer ant (1W with 12ax7s as pre and power tubes).
I only tested with volume about 9o'clock (so basically a hint of break-up with my alt8 humbucker). I used my Dittox2 to provide the signal so everything was exactly the same except for either the pre or power tube that was swapped.
I really didn't notice much of a difference in feel and tone when I swapped 'em for the original 12ax7 (TungSol RI), except for a drop in volume with the blue, a bit louder with the yellow and more yet with the red one. MIght have been a bit more dirt with the red one but it's barely noticeable if it's there.
The differences were more appearant when I swapped v2 (power tube). More dirt with the yellow and red ones. Still the amp didn't differ much from its original state when it came to tone and feel.
I'll have to conduct more testing when I can crank it to get some real dirt going on but the kids were asleed and, even a 1W amp through a good 2x12 will be too much at this hour.
I just did some testing in my Blackheart killer ant (1W with 12ax7s as pre and power tubes).
I only tested with volume about 9o'clock (so basically a hint of break-up with my alt8 humbucker). I used my Dittox2 to provide the signal so everything was exactly the same except for either the pre or power tube that was swapped.
I really didn't notice much of a difference in feel and tone when I swapped 'em for the original 12ax7 (TungSol RI), except for a drop in volume with the blue, a bit louder with the yellow and more yet with the red one. MIght have been a bit more dirt with the red one but it's barely noticeable if it's there.
The differences were more appearant when I swapped v2 (power tube). More dirt with the yellow and red ones. Still the amp didn't differ much from its original state when it came to tone and feel.
I'll have to conduct more testing when I can crank it to get some real dirt going on but the kids were asleed and, even a 1W amp through a good 2x12 will be too much at this hour.
