fun with rectifier tube swapping!

[dubkitty]

i was futzing around with the Princeton Reverb and Hammond head the other day and noticed that the Yellowjacket solid-state rectifier i was putting in the PR was rated as a replacement for both 5AR4 and 5Y3 rectifier tubes, which piqued my curiosity as to whether the tubes are interchangeable as well. my 5AR4 is a NOS Matsushita which is way better quality than the used 5Y3 i had in the Hammond so i wanted to use it if possible. turns out that they have the same pinout and will work, but the 5AR4 is approximately half the output of the 5Y3. so i put the 5AR4 in the Hammond and it's 100% better now. there's actually a semblance of clean headroom with the channel volume low and master volume way up, and when the balance is reversed it's nasty enough to pass for an angry Dumble. the Princeton is also way better with the4 solid-state rectifier; the reissues are notorious for being loud as fuck and rather dirty for a non-tweed Fender, but now it's more polite and controllable while still being astonishingly loud for a 15-watt amp. rectifiers really affect the sound of amps, and i almost never see this discussed. there's a range of other values between the two tubes, but i like where everything is at now. so if you have an amp with a tube rectifier that isn't making you happy this is another approach to fixing the sound.

n.b. if your amp has adjustable bias you'll probably need to at least check it for best results, and watch out you don't blow your head off if you double your plate voltage by changing to a 5Y3. i suspect that the mysterious "WHOOPASS" knob on the back panel of the Hammond is a bias control because it takes the amp from mild to DESTROY ALL MONSTERS.

additional note: i got the Matsushita tube because various Googled links showed that Japanese rectifier tubes are of equivalent quality to US/UK/EU tubes but approximately 50% of the cost.