new/different tubes: do not underestimate them!

[aussy]

Long story short:
bought an expensive amp
honey moon period=
four months later fall out of love and only
today I replaced v1 sovtek ax7 with NOS GE at7 (only cost me 10 bucks for two)
sounds 10 times better now
don't want to sell it anymore

lessons learned
1. replacing tubes can make as big of a difference as replacing rusty strings
2. NOS tubes are not hype, non cork sniffer ones can be found for super cheap
3. I hate 12ax7s, harsh fizzy shit


maybe late to be realizing #1, something so elementary, but honestly I've never changed out my tubes
I've only been using tube amps for the past 4 years of my guitar life? and I never kept an amp long enough to HAVE to replace the tubes
wish I experimented with my old Bassman now, used to hate the breakup

[Wizard]

The bassist in my band uses an old Bassman, he hated the breakup too, it broke up so early live. Than i made him replace the tubes. He loves it now. NOS tubes are not hype, they're truth. NOS Mullard EL34s, GE 6550's, Sylvania/GE/RCA 5881's. I haven't really gotten a chance to fuck with 12ax7's, but i generally only use NOS GE's. GE makes the best tubes.

as far as the new tube companies, JJ & Genalex are generally what i go for, there shit is decent. Just ordered a quad of NOS 70's Sylvania 5881's for my Twin reverb.. going in to cut guitars in the studio in a few days. Life will be good.

[comtrails70]

as far as the new tube companies, JJ & Genalex are generally what i go for, there shit is decent. Just ordered a quad of NOS 70's Sylvania 5881's for my Twin reverb.. going in to cut guitars in the studio in a few days. Life will be good.

are you going to bias the twin yourself?
do you have to bias the twin at all when switching to 5881's ?
i bet its gonna sound pretty baddasssss.

[retinal orbita]

Similar experience, got an amazing deal on a JCM900, liked it at first but came to really disliked how muddy it got with the preamp past 3. Amp tech reluctant to mod anything outright so I switched out the ECC83's in the preamp section for Sovtek 5751's and it sounds WAY better, not perfect but I'm really happy with it, nice breakup past 7 but not like, Kerry King esque chug...... can't afford a new head anytime soon as my wife and I are saving for a house so it'll do in a pinch.......

Still looking for someone qualified to maybe mod for a more "vintage" tone but haven't found anyone yet.......

[metalmariachi]

Yes new tubes or used tubes can make all the difference in the world.

I like Winged C 6L6gc for clean head room and TAD 6L6gcs for a more vintage RCA feel in Fenders.

For current production preamp tubes, JJ Ecc83/12AX7s have a nice Brit sound and the Sovtec 12AX7WB sounds fantastic in Fenders.

I use a lot of tubes picked up at hamfests etc. mainly pulls with lots of life in them.

MM