Tubes in my Mesa

MikeA

MikeA

New member
It's time. This is my first tube amp. It's been at least a year. I have never replaced tubes before, but I know enough of the basics as far as when, how to, and not to forget the biasing. I play a Single Rectifier with 2 6L6G's. I want the biasing to match so that I do not have to deal with it. I was going to just stick with Mesa's but apparently some are good, some are duds. I like the sound I was getting, but I may not know what I'm missing as far as new tubes go, so i need some ideas. I don't have the kind of money to be experimenting with all kinds of tubes.

I just like to rock it... I don't want more grit or anything. Think heavy and powerful but, clairity at the same time. I'm thinking $60 to be the max, I don't really know how much they run for a nice matched set. So far I've been told that Electro Harmonix makes a nice set. I've also heard that JJ's are nice but, tend to darken the tone a bit, I'm not so sure I want that. Any opinions will help. Thanks in advance. :)
 
Re: Tubes in my Mesa

Well, with a Mesa you don't have to worry about biasing as they are fixed bias, as long as you get the right type of tube (6L6, 12AX7, etc.) you're ok. I have a Mesa Rectoverb and have three 9th gen Shuguang pre tubes (V1-3), two JJs (V4 and P.I.), and 2 JJ power tubes and I think I've found my favorite combo so far.

After just a year I'd say you probably don't need to change preamp tubes unless you just want to. I'm going to recommend JJ power tubes, I love the pair I have in my amp. People talking about JJ tubes darkening the tone are usually referring to the preamp tubes, and even then that's not a problem if you go with their "high gain graded" tubes. Good luck :).
 
Re: Tubes in my Mesa

After a long tube search I ended right back at Mesa 430 or 454 tubes for 6l6 and the EL34 Svetlana Mesa tubes. The preamp tubes I like the most are Electroharmonix. I have tried countless tubes and even the JJ tubes. I think maybe 1 JJ Ecc83s is ok in the # 2 or #3 preamp position. I have 2 brand new JJ 6l6 power tubes rated for Mesa for sale if your interested.
 
Re: Tubes in my Mesa

i just got some JJ 6L6GC Valves(tubes for you yanks) for my Peavey 5150 2 days ago and its sounding sweeter than ever, a lot of people have recommended them to me and im impressed.
 
Re: Tubes in my Mesa

JJ 6L6GC's are great. I have a set in my Hot Rod Deluxe (not even close to high-gain, but still...). I recommend them fully. Bob at Eurotubes is a great guy too; he's really friendly to the customer and'll help you with what you need.
 
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