Owning a tube amp. Advice?

[zRobertez]

I've just recently gotten a tube amp, my first tube amp. It's an Egnater Tweaker 40. So far, I really like it. I was just wondering if anyone had any advice for owning a tube amp. Not just "let it warm up in stand by for blah blah blah" or "always keep the head connected to a cabinet or else." I've found all that on the internet. I'm just asking for some advice that you've picked up from years of owning a tube amp that most people don't know or at least post on the internet.
And I have a couple more specific questions.

The only overdrive/distortion I've had since I got this amp is a Boss DS-1. I know but I've always kept it since it was my first pedal. When you crank the gain of the pedal to full and you're on a dirtier setting on the amp, the DS-1 sounds muddied up and awful (worse than normal) but fine with the cleaner settings. Is this similar for all dirt pedals and tube amps or what? I'm planning on getting a Black Arts Pharaoh fairly soon. Any advice?

And second, the amp sometimes sounds a little muddy or unclear on higher gain settings. You can clear it up while keeping the dirt after a while of knob turning and switch flipping but I was wondering if changing the tubes could help with this. I know 6L6s are usually lighter gain. Would suggest keeping the gain lower and stacking with a pedal or what? Or could a new brand of tubes brighten things up? I haven't had it more than a month so I can't say I'm going to change the tubes soon. Just asking for future reference.

Thanks for any help!

[Gone Fission]

Most high-gain amps sound like ass with distortion in front. Pedal guys who like distortion and fuzz pedals tend to prefer at least moderately clean amps, like Marshall Super Lead or less gain.

Metal dudes like overdrives with high gain amps, though. They tend to use the OD to push the drive channel, which is dialed back a bit so that the OD and drive get a pretty high combined gain and distortion but will generally sound tighter and cleaner than if it all came just from the drive channel.

[bigchiefbc]

I definitely agree that if you're going to be using a lot of distortion or fuzz from pedals, you're going to want your amp to be on the slightly cleaner side of things. Not CLEAN per se, but just with a bit of drive. Fission mentioned a Super Lead, that's what I'm running (well, the Bugera clone of it), and it really hits that nice middle ground where it's definitely not clean (it has a good amount of dirt on its own), but it's clean enough that it takes pedals great.

[MSUsousaphone]

Be even more careful than before about shady power outlets and running too many amps/equipment on the same powerstrip. A tube amp is WAY more finicky about sudden power outages than SS amps.

[madmax1012]

an overdrive or some sort would be good for ya. maybe get yourself a compressor of some sort. for higher gain stuff, the ISP Decimator will be your best friend. I've never played the Egnater 40, but I'm sure a 808 style overdrive would sound awesome.

[zRobertez]

A compressor is definitely on the list.

[madmax1012]

the decimator is technically a "noise suppression" pedal, but it's phenomenal.

[hbombgraphics]

A compressor is definitely on the list.

Look for a barge concepts RC-2 or 3
I have had almost every comp and it is the best I have played

[rfurtkamp]

If the tube amp has a user-replaceable fuse (especially on the ones where they're easily replaceable), check them when you buy the amp and when it comes in and out of service/loan to a friend/whatever.

Make SURE the fuse type matches (if it says slo-blow, you need slo-blow)...people, shops with idiots, etc. replace fuses stupidly and few people ever check it.

Sure, it may run for years on the wrong rating...but..well...one wrong power spike and goodbye expensive components.

Nobody ever warns you about fuses. ;0

[dubkitty]

supplement to above: buy replacement fuses and bring them with you when you go out to play somewhere. this is a good idea for SS amps as well. also, learn where ALL the fuses are; some amps have a sneaky hidden fuse in addition to the obvious one under the labelled "FUSE" cover. check your manual. an amp with a blown fuse is a doorstop/beer stand. while you're at it, get yourself a proper power conditioner, not just a cheapazoid power strip.

the better the quality of your tubes, the better your amp will sound. a good, reasonably priced NOS alternative to current production 6L6 tubes is the 1970s USA Sylvania 6L6; modern 6l6s sound decent but don't last as long as old-stock. the most important tubes for tone IMO are the preamp tubes. if you want NOS 12AX7s and want to spend stupid amounts of money on Telefunkens, Mullards, "bugle-boy" Amperex, etc. that option is available; educate yourself and take care of counterfeits, particularly of Telefunkens and Mullards which are incredibly dear. if you don't, orange label Amperex, Philips, US GE, and RCA are reasonably priced and destroy anything made today. also, see paragraph 1: carrying spare tubes is NEVER a bad idea, even if they're cheap Russian replacements. i have an aluminum case with dividers i use to carry cords, mics, and doo-dads which also carries all this kind of shit.

it's not necessarily the case that distortion into a high-gain amp/channel will always sound like ass, but it is necessary to match the gain levels carefully so you don't get weird tone cancellations happening in a similar way to when two distortion pedals are stacked. if you get two square waves happening with similar amplitudes all kinds of wack things start happening. this can be really cool--one of the bases of Bob Mould's sound with Husker Du was running multiple Distortion+es in series to produce this compressed effect--but if it's not what you're looking for it'll fuck you up. i think the basic concept is to not use a dirt box that's a similar gain to your amp setting. in my world that'd mean "don't use the Great Wall with the JCM 900 tone."

[D.o.S.]

The only overdrive/distortion I've had since I got this amp is a Boss DS-1. I know but I've always kept it since it was my first pedal. When you crank the gain of the pedal to full and you're on a dirtier setting on the amp, the DS-1 sounds muddied up and awful (worse than normal) but fine with the cleaner settings. Is this similar for all dirt pedals and tube amps or what? I'm planning on getting a Black Arts Pharaoh fairly soon. Any advice?

Turn the dist. knob on the DS-1 down, and the volume up. People buy tube amps for the tube coloration and distortion. Learn to love your volume knob & your attack/picking dynamics. There's a reason so many people use low-gain overdrives and boosts with tube heads--because they're fucking awesome.

That said, you can definitely use high gain pedals with tube amps, but running a hot gain circuit into an overloaded preamp generally sounds kind of meh. Of course, that depends on the preamp and the distortion and/or fuzz pedal. I've had a lot of success with my Big Muff-y clones and my tube head.

And second, the amp sometimes sounds a little muddy or unclear on higher gain settings. You can clear it up while keeping the dirt after a while of knob turning and switch flipping but I was wondering if changing the tubes could help with this. I know 6L6s are usually lighter gain. Would suggest keeping the gain lower and stacking with a pedal or what? Or could a new brand of tubes brighten things up? I haven't had it more than a month so I can't say I'm going to change the tubes soon. Just asking for future reference.

Thanks for any help!

There are some preamp tubes out there that'll give you a little more clean headroom. I'm not a big fan of tube rolling myself, so I can't get more specific than that I'm afraid.

[WayToHip]

In my limited experience, tube amps want to pushed to slight break up. After that, it's all in how you play that give the sound. Picking, guitar volume, and a pedal's gain structure all effect "tube saturation" or whatever.
With my 5 watt tube combo and a DS-1 plus a muff I can be doomy, and just fart out the whole thing. But when I roll back a bit on the guitar volume, shitty harshness is gone, and I'm in jazz territory. More volume, and there's character. I never played a SS amp that would be as dynamic as a tube amp. Maybe I'm using crappy amps, maybe I have no ear for good tone.

Also, now is a good time to get reacquainted with your equipment. Try EVERYTHING (you own) WITH YOUR NEW AMP. Never hurts to hear what old gear sounds like through new amps.

[zRobertez]

Also, now is a good time to get reacquainted with your equipment. Try EVERYTHING (you own) WITH YOUR NEW AMP. Never hurts to hear what old gear sounds like through new amps.

Yeah, that's why I have the DS-1 out in the first place. It sounded okay with my old amp, an SS, but with this, I can't really use it much.
But I've been experiment with guitar volume, amp gain, as much as I can think of. And thanks for all the info everybody!

Another question though. When you have the amp in standby, is it okay to unplug and switch guitars or change pedals, or should I turn the amp off first?

[new05002]

dont run into a large impedance than your output tap, if you need to run a mistmatch always into a smaller impedance load. Example, if you have an 8 ohm cab, dont run the 4 ohm tap on your amp into it, ideally the 8 ohm tap but if the 16 ohm tap is all you have that mismatch is not that bad

[Zander]

dont run into a large impedance than your output tap, if you need to run a mistmatch always into a smaller impedance load. Example, if you have an 8 ohm cab, dont run the 4 ohm tap on your amp into it, ideally the 8 ohm tap but if the 16 ohm tap is all you have that mismatch is not that bad