Why you should always experiment with tubes

[James Rock]

So I bought a ceriatone stray cat a few weeks ago. I liked how it sounded at the store but the more I played it I wasn't gelling that well with it, it was super nice but I'm used to the compression I get from an ac30 and this didn't seem to deliver enough front end jangle and the gain channel was weirdly compressed once it distorted. I checked the tubes today and found the previous owner had put a cv4024 in v1 (input for gain and clean) with the rest of the tubes being new mullard or tad ,expensive ish stuff. So I put the cv4024 in v3 (level and EQ for gain channel) and put a no name vintage ecc83 (that I had in my other amp) in v1 and man it's a different amp. It's more ratty and less solid so for high gain tightness not as good but classic rock way better jangle on the clean channel and crunchy jangly on the gain until wound up and less of that dark compression. Haven't even touched the power section or changed the gain tube. I think the previous owner tried to clean it up with the cv4024 (which I believe is the same as 12at7?) but this just killed the gain staging making most of the gain come from the second cascaded stage. It's amazing how different it is and I only changed one tube and the position of another. Want to try it with an rca on the front end (my vintage tube is fairly noisy despite its great tone) and kt77s but now I'm way closer to the tone I expected.

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[James Rock]

Re: Why you should always experiment with tubes

So I bought a ceriatone stray cat a few weeks ago. I liked how it sounded at the store but the more I played it I wasn't gelling that well with it, it was super nice but I'm used to the compression I get from an ac30 and this didn't seem to deliver enough front end jangle and the gain channel was weirdly compressed once it distorted. I checked the tubes today and found the previous owner had put a cv4024 in v1 (input for gain and clean) with the rest of the tubes being new mullard or tad ,expensive ish stuff. So I put the cv4024 in v3 (level and EQ for gain channel) and put a no name vintage ecc83 (that I had in my other amp) in v1 and man it's a different amp. It's more ratty and less solid so for high gain tightness not as good but classic rock way better jangle on the clean channel and crunchy jangly on the gain until wound up and less of that dark compression. Haven't even touched the power section or changed the gain tube. I think the previous owner tried to clean it up with the cv4024 (which I believe is the same as 12at7?) but this just killed the gain staging making most of the gain come from the second cascaded stage. It's amazing how different it is and I only changed one tube and the position of another. Want to try it with an rca on the front end (my vintage tube is fairly noisy despite its great tone) and kt77s but now I'm way closer to the tone I expected.

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Also the clean channel was too quiet compared to gain now it's much closer and much beefier (a more powerful and more clipped signal driving the Pi)

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[JMP/HBE]

Re: Why you should always experiment with tubes

I have quite a NOS stash & lived/managed a 90 year old 3 story apt building for 13 years.
The wiring was the old [non modern] cartridge/screw-in fuses.
Some tubes i thought were microphonic and were making weird noises but i couldn't make myself throw them away maybe like 10 NOS Amperex & Mullards.
Well we moved into a new house with solid earth ground & modern wiring.
I ran across those 10 tube & tested them one at a time in my amp. They are all good, nothing wrong.
Im glad i didn't throw them away.
The issue was the old funky wiring.

 

[evan47]

Re: Why you should always experiment with tubes

I bought a Blackstar HT Dual valve overdrive pedal a month ago and, when I first tried it out fund it to sound a bit harsh and ratty with a slight warble to the initial attack of certain high notes under very heavy gain.
Rather than give up on it and return it to the seller I simply ordered a JJecc83s gold pin tube to see if there was any difference.
I immediately noticed an overall improvement in the sound of the HT Dual with it losing the warble, sounding generally less ratty and a good bit smoother than the original tube.

 

[James Rock]

Re: Why you should always experiment with tubes

I have quite a NOS stash & lived/managed a 90 year old 3 story apt building for 13 years.
The wiring was the old [non modern] cartridge/screw-in fuses.
Some tubes i thought were microphonic and were making weird noises but i couldn't make myself throw them away maybe like 10 NOS Amperex & Mullards.
Well we moved into a new house with solid earth ground & modern wiring.
I ran across those 10 tube & tested them one at a time in my amp. They are all good, nothing wrong.
Im glad i didn't throw them away.
The issue was the old funky wiring.

Yeah I wish I bought more old tubes when they weren't as sought after. I think in simpler circuits it can make a huge difference especially when there is only one preamp tube other then the phase splitter (like in non EQ amps).

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[JMP/HBE]

Re: Why you should always experiment with tubes



Lots of good tested tubes floating around on ebay lately.
I only by the ones that have test results.
Still old tubes can crap out but my money is on 60's Amperex & Mullards for old Marshalls.