Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: steve on October 12, 2005, 02:02:26 PM
-
I will be replacing my preamp valves in my Trace Elliott Speed Twin soon, i just wondered if you guys had and recommendations.Its a warm high gain tone i aspire to.Thanks in advance.Steve
-
JJ Tesla tubes are supposed to be really nice. I have Sovtek 12AX7LPS tubes in my Soldano Supercharger and SP77...they're not the greatest tubes from what I hear but they give me the tone that I'm looking for so I've stuck with them. I have Electro Harmonix tubes in my Engl 520 and my little 15 watt Laney...they are really warm sounding. The clean sounds are superb. I've tried Engl tubes as well but didn't like them...
-
Siemens.
-
EHX all the way baby. just about cheapest out there, and the best sounding i've tried!!!
-
I'm not sure, all I know is that they're 12AX7s, but they don't seem to have anything on them, at least not in the Laney. But when it comes to replacing tubes I'll probably hit Watfordvalves.dom or maybe Matamp.
-
watford valves is brilliant for valves. i don't know, i'd probably go for sovtek or harma but that's purely reputation, i don't know what valves are in my lc30 at the moment :P
-
at the minute I have two stock Groove Tubes in V1+2, and a GE 5751 in the V3 slot. I'm gonna replace em soon, but dunno what with, I was thinkin about getting a whole retube kit, does anywhere sell whole kits?
-
Siemens.
did you know Siemens used slave labour from the Auschwitz camp in WWII? I'm not saying stop using them or anything like that...i just found out that at uni the other day and it blew me away.
disclaimer:im not inferring any kind of political comment here, just trying to show an interesting fact...
-
Yeah, scary stuff.
-
Groove Tubes, TAD and EH. I have Harma power tubes, but haven't tried their pre-amp tubes.
I also have a ton of Mullard, Brimar, Tung-Sol, GE, Mazda, Bugle Boy, RCA and other original valves. I looked out a few years ago and bought a job lot of pre-amp valves for a small amount. Some of them are good, but to be honest the new ones give almost the same sound now, and are probably more reliable. The Groove Tube 12AX7M is a great preamp tube.
-
Don't mention IBM then........
I like the Groove Tube Mullard clone, does it for me. Raytheons are good if you can get them, and the Chinese groove tube is pretty good.
-
I'm running 2 Sovtek 12AX7WC (supposedly good for high gain) and an ECC83M that was in the amp to start with.
I think that next time I'm going to change the preamp valves, I'll maybe go for something like the ECC83M vintage-y style.
-
Siemens.
did you know Siemens used slave labour from the Auschwitz camp in WWII? I'm not saying stop using them or anything like that...i just found out that at uni the other day and it blew me away.
disclaimer:im not inferring any kind of political comment here, just trying to show an interesting fact...
Then Phillips probably did too. In fact, every industry in Europe was confiscated by the Germans back then. And guess who invented Volkswagen.
-
i saw a picture of hitler next to a VW beetle t'other day. that thing must have been way ahead of it's time. it looked really weird...
-
volkswagen means peoples car, doesnt it?
I'm just doing a module on the holocaust at university at the minute, its all very interesting...but very hard to comprehend. I've studied it before, but i really still cannot get my head around it at all.
Incidentally, i dont think phillips were involved at Auschwitz; i have a list somewhere - there were only a few companies; Siemens and Farben chemicals being two of them.
-
Cool,cheers guys.Thanks for the replys.
-
I always get my valves from http://www.hotroxuk.com/.
They're based in Nottingham, and the stuff usually comes next day. They also do great deals on Electro Harmonix pedals. Cheaper than Watford Valves anyway.
-
volkswagen means peoples car, doesnt it?
I'm just doing a module on the holocaust at university at the minute, its all very interesting...but very hard to comprehend. I've studied it before, but i really still cannot get my head around it at all.
Incidentally, i dont think phillips were involved at Auschwitz; i have a list somewhere - there were only a few companies; Siemens and Farben chemicals being two of them.
Mercedes Benz proudly put their name to a van that piped it's exhuast fumes into the back. Guess who the passengers were?
-
hotrox are very good, and they do good deals on BKPs too!
-
I used to have Electro Harmonix in my 5150 but i wasnt so happy with them, i replaced the Preamp and poweramp valves with JJ 6L6's/ECC83 and i couldent be happier, much more responsive and a more lively tone, the poweramp valves looked a bit bigger than the EH ones i had in there too, the tech told me something about Russian valves not being as good as Ctech valves (or something along those lines) and that JJ's were about the best you could get without spending loads for NOS stuff.
-
In my JTM45 clone --> V1: Mullard ECC83
V2: Mullard ECC83
V3: Philips ECC83 ( driver )
In my Single-ended 6V6 BF amp --> V1: GE 12AY7
V2: Mullard ECC81
No ECC83s/12AX7s in that one!!
That's it!!
-
I just ordered a jj retube kit for my Traynor YCv40WR from Bob at www.eurotubes.com, his site seems really cool, hope it isn't just hype. I really like his band also, great clips, very much like the best 60s and 70s rock, as good as Janis Joplin's band with more updated sounds. I'll let you know how it sounds compared to the stock sovteks. $55 plus shipping, ships from Oregon. He personally picks out the tubes and actually seems to customize them for you, and I did get a personal email from him. Amp is already cool, but I am really excited about how it will sound after retubing. His site actually had 3 retubing packages for my specific amp and he looks like a serious tube pro. My wife heard me talking about it and now she wants to be retubed! Well, gotta go to help her out on that! :shock:
I am fiddling with Adobe Audition to do some mp3s for the group, but it is slow going due to a lack of free time. Cheers!
-
followup to my last post, the user reviews are a bit hard to find on Eurotubes, so here goes:
http://www.eurotubes.com/euro-t.htm
At least it is obvious he is not a corporate 'me-too' kinda site. with VH2s and jjs, this Traynor is gonna scream like porn starlet on payday
-
Interesting that people have compared NOS values to modern ones and say there's not much difference. I found NOS Mullards to be one for me. My Cornford Harlequin 6W came with Sovtek 12AX7s and a Sovtek EL84.
I tried Sovtek 12AX7Bs but couldn't tell the difference.
Electro Harmonix 12AX7EH sounded a bit thicker clean and a bit clearer.
As for the EL84, I put in a Mullard EL84 rated at 70% emissions. With this it sound more chunky. With the Sovtek EL84 it sounded as bit too smooth the old Mullard added more depth to it.
What hit the spot was the old Mullard EL84 and a pair of Blackburn Mullard ECC83s from 1962. The difference was like a filter bloking some of the frequencies had been removed. The amp sounded truly amazing. It sounded good before but with the Mullards it's hard to think how it could sound better. Every sound setting sounded fuller.
I tired a NOS foreign Mullard EL84 too but it didn't sound as good as the used Mullard. With it the sound was lacking something. Looking at the valves their internal construction was different. Perhaps the foreign Mullard had been made by someone else and badged Mullard? Perhaps you can't beat British Mullards?
Good thing about the Harlequin is it only needs 3 valves so it's cheap to play about. :)