tube suggestions por favor

[alteredbeast]

ive had my amp for like 10 years now, its a Mesa Mark IV, its had mesa labeled tubes in it since ive gotten it, and within the next two months or so i wanted to get some new tubes, any suggestions? not looking for grandpas sound. i may just wind up going mesa labeled again unless theres some kind of other stuff goin on.

 

[Edgecrusher]

Re: tube suggestions por favor

Were you going to run a quad of 6L6's or were your going to run a pair of 6L6's with a pair of EL34's? I tried the mix for awhile but I keep coming back to just a quad of 6L6's the Winged C rock and are by far my favorite in the MKIV. The preamp if you got the coin spend it for nice preamp tubes. Though I dont recommend anything labled "JAN" these tubes are heavy duty and not designed for audio work. Most of them are bright and thin and only a shadow of what good NOS tubes are. Find a pair of Nice tubes 1 for V1 and one for I think its V4? Which ever tube controls the lead drive control. Right now I have Mullard CV4004's in V1 and V4 (I think it is) and the rest are 9th gen chinese. The EH's work ok and so do the Sovtek LPS. Didnt dig JJ's in the preamp at all just way too muddy for the boogie. The MKIV has been one of my test beds for tubes over the years so if you want to know about a specific tube your welcome to ask me as odds are ive tried it.

 

[alteredbeast]

Re: tube suggestions por favor

I appreciate it man, I def have put some thought into the 6L6/EL34 thing before, but im afraid i wont like it as much as quad 6L6. how much are the mullards for v1 and v4? Is that one of those tubes that arent made anymore? i know little about the differences in most brands. Also, have you ever had yours recapped yet? i havent, im guessing my amp is nearing 30 yrs old if i had to guess. I'm on the boogie forum sometimes, but usually i just ask questions here.

 

[Edgecrusher]

Re: tube suggestions por favor

Mine hasnt been recapped yet but doesnt sound like it needs it. I bought it brand new in 1994. The mullards when I bought them werent so pricey but that was 10 years ago since then the NOS crowd has caught onto them and now they sell for about 125-150 which is probably more than you want to throw down and I dont blame you. Cheaper alternatives but still really nice tubes are real Tesla ECC83's and RFT 12ax7's These right now can be had for 50 bucks. You would be solid to pick up one of these for V1 then just get 9th gen chinese (which are re-labeled by almost everyone groove tubes, ruby, jolida) for the rest of the slots.

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: tube suggestions por favor

go for boogies in the power section...mainly cos they are all tested to be within certain tolerances so you wont need to rebias.
For preamp tubes, its purely a matter of taste cos they dont need biasing. i quite liked EH in there when i had a booger cos they are high gain and low noise with a nice midrange snarl.

 

[alteredbeast]

Re: tube suggestions por favor

i quite liked EH in there when i had a booger cos they are high gain and low noise with a nice midrange snarl.

interesting. that sounds like it would sound nice.

 

[King IzzO)))]

Re: tube suggestions por favor

RFT, RCA, and ironically, the original Mesa branded Chinese are my favorites in my Mark III. I use a Raytheon long plate for the PI and a RCA 12AU7 cleartop for the verb.