What tubes make more of a differnece??

[Sleeping Martyr]

on tone: Power tubes or Preamp tubes?? I have a Mesa .50 caliber running 2 6L6's, four 12ax7's and 1 12at7. I'm a broke student and can't afford to totally retube everything at once so should I get a good set of power tubes (Currently all the tubes are Mesa's) or some good preamp tubes particularly in V1, V2 and V3????

 

[Kamanda~SD]

Re: What tubes make more of a differnece??

Depends. When your playing louder the power tubes will have more of an affect and will have that driving tube tone. At low levels the preamp tubes gain shines through more.

Overall the most changing to tone is your power tubes and your V1 preamp tube.

 

[Sleeping Martyr]

Re: What tubes make more of a differnece??

Thanks!!! I'll give it a shot!!

 

[Sludgenutz]

Re: What tubes make more of a differnece??

on tone: Power tubes or Preamp tubes?? I have a Mesa .50 caliber running 2 6L6's, four 12ax7's and 1 12at7. I'm a broke student and can't afford to totally retube everything at once so should I get a good set of power tubes (Currently all the tubes are Mesa's) or some good preamp tubes particularly in V1, V2 and V3????

I've bought a Mesa .50 Caliber + that should be at my doorstep this Friday.:banana: I am learning as much as I can.

You wont have to worry about the 12AT7, as this is a lower gain preamp tube for the reverb section. On the opposite end of the scale, people wanting to create cleaner tones from the "clean" channel will put a lower gain preamp tube in V1 position. With that in mind, a higher gain preamp tube in the V1 position may be more useful in the "dirty" channel, as BOTH channels run though the V1 position. I suppose it gets the signal on a nice path to "distortion", nice and early, just like a distortion pedal.

You can always ask here, if you haven't already! I will likely be asking more questions here, as soon as I get some time with my .50 Cal (must pray until then :fingersx: ).

http://forum.grailtone.com/index.php

 

[Stratcat]

Re: What tubes make more of a differnece??

The fact of the matter is, Tubes make very little difference in Tone. If you don't like the tone of your amp. Sell it, and try another one.:smokin:

 

[OlinMusic]

Re: What tubes make more of a differnece??

I agree

if you want some subtle changes in harmonics, complexity, or tone - tubes will do it

If you want a change in VOICING - tubes WILL NOT do it.

Pre's tend to have a heavy effect in modern amps, esp mesa which get distortion from their pre's. Some will give you more aggression, some will clear up the gain a bit - but for the most part what you see is what you get etc etc

 

[Sleeping Martyr]

Re: What tubes make more of a differnece??

I love the sound of my amp, I am just curious about swapping tubes to fine tune the sound a bit

 

[Dirtyking]

Re: What tubes make more of a differnece??

I've bought a Mesa .50 Caliber + that should be at my doorstep this Friday.:banana: I am learning as much as I can.

YOU MUST give us a review on that combo. I've been looking everywhere to plug into one of these. I see them going on Ebay for $400 which fits my budget. But I need to play one. But a review from a fellow forum bro would help.

 

[jerryjg]

Re: What tubes make more of a differnece??

I took out one power tube(6V6) and changed the preamp tube from a 12ax7 to a 12at7 in my homebrew, and the differnce was fundamental. Yes, experiment, but dont monkey with the power tubes unless you know waht you arent doing! I took a mediocre amp and transformed it in to a virtual tweed Deluxe(minus some tone) just with a tube substitution!

 

[Farkus]

Re: What tubes make more of a differnece??

The fact of the matter is, Tubes make very little difference in Tone.

I think that depends on what you're playing through.

I can hear a pretty big difference when I change power or pre amp tubes in my Fender amps. I think that it is true that if you dislike the basic amp sound you'd be better off to find an amp that you like bettter, then tweak it.

I am not saying, as some will, that only NOS tubes have good sound. I'm just saying that when I change between NOS Phillips, EH and GT (sovtek) 6L6's (as I did a couple of months ago) I hear a definite difference.

Of course, YMMV

 

[Sludgenutz]

Re: What tubes make more of a differnece??

YOU MUST give us a review on that combo. I've been looking everywhere to plug into one of these. I see them going on Ebay for $400 which fits my budget. But I need to play one. But a review from a fellow forum bro would help.

My thread hijack un-intentional! Will PM the Dirty!

P.S. Sleeping Martyr: Love the screen name! CoC f'n smokes!:smokin:

 

[Sleeping Martyr]

Re: What tubes make more of a differnece??

Hell ****ing yeah, I love COC soo much!! Pep's part of the reason I got the .50 caliber in the first place:smokin:

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: What tubes make more of a differnece??

The fact of the matter is, Tubes make very little difference in Tone. If you don't like the tone of your amp. Sell it, and try another one.:smokin:

I can't even belive I am reading this...

 

[Sludgenutz]

Re: What tubes make more of a differnece??

Hey Sleeping, I got my .50 Cal + yesterday, and the tone was really muddy and awful when cranked, so I got a set of Chinese mfd. Mesa/Boogie STR-440 tubes (rated "yellow" group) for $45 including tax at Guitar Center. These really opened up the amp! I'm not saying that these tubes are the greatest...

...It is more a commentary how worn the Mesa/Boogie STR-425 (Russian military spec 5881) were in this amp. I could literally hear the amp "dry heaving" on low tones.

I am going to try to fine tune the tone with a few preamp tubes I have around, starting with the V1 position. Presently, these are all Sovtek 7025/12AX7WA, except for the reverb circuit. I have read these are rather midrange-y and not very focused.

The nice thing I have found is that this amp has plenty of crunch in the pre-amp section to allow a user to "go mellower" with the preamp tube(s)...without having to resort to the "hottest tubes on the shelf" mentality.

I have been strumming pieces of wood with metal bits and wires strung over them since 1979. I am not all that good, but I do know this amp nails Pepper Keenen's CoC tone.