FYI, Ruby's are rebranded Shuguangs(Chinese). Doug's Tubes is a great store with good customer service and prices.
I'm pretty sure HTH doesn't have any issues with valve identification. :lol: What he was suggesting was that you consider doing a preamp valve swap and see how that works for you. A lot of our high-gainers(like your 333XL) are getting their sound from a clean and beefy power section and a heavily distorting preamp section. Changing power valves(in a high gainer) can be more subtle, like going from red to orange-red and preamp valves can be like going from red to blue. I've always had a more difficult time with preamp tubes myself, but once those are dialed in it's an easy selection for the power section.
That being said, I'm not so sure a Chinese V1 is going to be what you're after. I had a 333XL head and tried Chinese, JJs, Sovteks, some rebrands of them and I finally settled on a NOS RCA in V1 and JJs for the rest for those tones you mentioned.
Why don't you try a pair of KT88's?
Are they the lighty-uppy things in the back of the amp? :? :lol:
Roses are red, Violets are blue
I'm Schizophrenic, and so am I
Bad taste? - yes, but you gotta laugh otherwise you'd end up crying.
Broadly speaking, in metal amps I like 6550s, for rock EL34s and for cleans 6L6s. Nothing to stop the press about there, but it just works.
