misterwhizzy
Well-known member
...and I went fooling around with swapping preamp tubes.
I keep talking about what I hear from different combinations, and I wanted to go back and verify that I was giving good advice and getting the best tone out of my gear. I also wanted to make sure the bit of noise I was hearing under fairly heavy gain was not due to any particular tube in the preamp.
I started with a Tung-Sol in V1 and a JJ ECC803S in V2, and I ended with the same combination. I put in a Mullard, a Sovtek LPS, and a couple different Tung-Sols in various combinations. I really thought the Mullard in V1 with the Sovtek in V2 would give an interesting tone, with the Mullard smoothing things out, and the LPS keeping things bright enough, but I didn't like it quite as much.
I don't have any more 12AU7's, or I'd play a little bit more with the PI. I've tried quite a few tubes in that position, including all the aforementioned tubes, and nothing works nearly as well as the 12AU7. I think I'll probably order a couple of those to mess around with, especially since NOS are pretty cheap, but it was not a part of tonight's experimentation.
In the end, Tung-Sol followed by long-plate JJ really just strikes my ears right, without too much high-end and plenty of that upper-middy crunch I like in the amp.
I hope someone cares.
I keep talking about what I hear from different combinations, and I wanted to go back and verify that I was giving good advice and getting the best tone out of my gear. I also wanted to make sure the bit of noise I was hearing under fairly heavy gain was not due to any particular tube in the preamp.
I started with a Tung-Sol in V1 and a JJ ECC803S in V2, and I ended with the same combination. I put in a Mullard, a Sovtek LPS, and a couple different Tung-Sols in various combinations. I really thought the Mullard in V1 with the Sovtek in V2 would give an interesting tone, with the Mullard smoothing things out, and the LPS keeping things bright enough, but I didn't like it quite as much.
I don't have any more 12AU7's, or I'd play a little bit more with the PI. I've tried quite a few tubes in that position, including all the aforementioned tubes, and nothing works nearly as well as the 12AU7. I think I'll probably order a couple of those to mess around with, especially since NOS are pretty cheap, but it was not a part of tonight's experimentation.
In the end, Tung-Sol followed by long-plate JJ really just strikes my ears right, without too much high-end and plenty of that upper-middy crunch I like in the amp.
I hope someone cares.
