Dowi wrote:
The fact that i mainly use overdrives with low gain and high volume to push the amplifier doesn't help at all.
Ah, that's what I run as well...a little drive on the pedals, slamming into the amps front end with strong volume, so I can bathe in those bugle boys, and RCA black plates. Might help to run the amp cleaner, and let the pedals do the heavy lifting...but damn those tubes sound sooooo good pushed past their comfort zone.
Its a VOX Tony Bruno 18W 1x12. Two 12ax7's for preamp, and two 6V6's for power amp. Cathode biased.
Both of these instances happened at medium-loud bedroom/house level...no change to the volume...but I'm just asking if turning up the volume a bit will heat my tubes to that yummy spot faster.
I can totally relate to this thread. I hate it when I'm playing and everything just sounds like ass, when it all sounded great the day before. Sometimes it's with pedals, sometimes with the amp's core tones, but yeah it's really frustrating. I also get way more motivated to continue playing and practicing when my tone is sounding great, but when it's dull and lifeless I'm kinda like, "man, screw this". The flubby "speaker covered with a blanket" sound really bugs me. I got a buffer pedal recently, which really helps. I should probably get new tubes soon, though.
Another variable is ambient temperature. Especially with certain germanium transistors & capacitor types.
FME old tubes take longer to heat up, especially Mullard & Philips. They seem to sound best/last longest if you give them at least 20min to settle in before passing signal.
I have achieved highly consistent results for someone with a vintage tube amp/analog pedal setup. Took a while to get there, minimizing variables.
I typically have my amp on an hour or more before playing, works out very well for me. 230v 60cs is where I like it. In addition to the tubes, I like the amp transformers & guts to heat up before playing a single note, so everything is settled into a stable operating temperature range. This also goes for the circuitry in my pedals with tubes &/or internal transformers. Once everything is warmed up and *elastic* do I achieve optimal results & behavior. I have a ritual...and it helps me preserve life of premium gear. Because part of the analog magic is its finite nature. I like to make it count, even for practice
I wonder if auditory adaptation and ear fatigue have anything to do with this effect. Maybe your brain started to downplay some unpleasant frequencies after a couple hours of play, but you noticed them when you come to it fresh.
Bartimaeus wrote:I wonder if auditory adaptation and ear fatigue have anything to do with this effect. Maybe your brain started to downplay some unpleasant frequencies after a couple hours of play, but you noticed them when you come to it fresh.
It does for me. I find everything sounds the best if I go into playing with a few min of quiet beforehand so my ears can relax. But if I'm exhausted then it's better to lay down for a while before playing...even listening to noisy music.
Dowi wrote:
The fact that i mainly use overdrives with low gain and high volume to push the amplifier doesn't help at all.
Ah, that's what I run as well...a little drive on the pedals, slamming into the amps front end with strong volume, so I can bathe in those bugle boys, and RCA black plates. Might help to run the amp cleaner, and let the pedals do the heavy lifting...but damn those tubes sound sooooo good pushed past their comfort zone.
Its a VOX Tony Bruno 18W 1x12. Two 12ax7's for preamp, and two 6V6's for power amp. Cathode biased.
Both of these instances happened at medium-loud bedroom/house level...no change to the volume...but I'm just asking if turning up the volume a bit will heat my tubes to that yummy spot faster.
To me it happens also at rehearsal room volumes, but it really depends on the type of amplifier. My Yamaha T-100 warms up in 5 minutes, same the Sovtek Mig 100 i had for a few months. MAybe my old Marshall took a bit longer but honestly it was so much time ago that i don't even remember if i had more than 3 pedals at the time.
Anyway i totally agree with you with the tubes pushed to their nasty side, even with the huge headroom of the HIwatt, if you work on the pre you get a really hard attack and a gorgeous low end that i have never achieved with any pedal, so i prefer just to destroy the listener's ears BUT with my best sound than having a tone that doesn't satisfy me.
