tubes

[jai]

i've heard of this before and experienced it myself, it's the 3-D effect one can hear off a mono 4x12 cabinet with fresh tubes in the amp; now my question is this: is it necessary to replace all the tubes to achieve this or is it concentrated more in the preamp tubes or the power tubes?

[Bloodsong]

think of the preamp tubes as your tweaking eq, and the power tubes as your overall volume/punch/openess...

[lonewolf]

Hey John.

The 3d effect is probably the bass response of your cab as you raise the volume...more of a surround effect. The power tubes will have more effect on the sound as you raise the volume because they go further into saturation. This is why I like 20w-50w amps...you can drive the power tubes a lot harder into saturation without bleeding ears or a power soak.

The preamp tubes affect the tone a lot more, but the power tubes round out the overall sound. You don't need to change the preamp tubes nearly as often as the power tubes, so chances are you will get a bigger impact by just changing the power tubes.

On the power side, some brands distort better, some are "rounder", some are cleaner, etc. I would think that the cleaner variety power tube would tend to give you a more uncompressed open sound. You might even call it 3d.

[BloodyFingers]

Are there any mods for a 5 watt tube amp ?

[lonewolf]

Are there any mods for a 5 watt tube amp ?

I can't imagine any mods you could do to the power section that would make any difference, but you could try changing all the coupling caps to Orange Drops. In addition, if the amp is flubby sounding, you could change those coupling caps to the next lower capacitor value (or 2) to tighten up the high pass filter between stages. By the same token, if its too bright with very little bottom, you could change the coupling cap values to the next higher value (or 2).

[jai]

thanks for the input guys. well, if i'm gonna be focusing on the 6L6's can you tell me your opinions on what brands you like best...brand new or used... bias more, less or right on?

[Bloodsong]

i like Tungsol and Ruby pre, and Ruby power tubes. they're all open sounding and a little brighter than alot of other tubes, which i like. (i like Chinese tubes better than Russian sonically) i love my Mesa and 5150, and they're both set biased at a "cooler" rate. if you bias too hot, you'll kill the life of the tube quicker and risk blowing it up with/and/or the grid and the transformer...

[lonewolf]

thanks for the input guys. well, if i'm gonna be focusing on the 6L6's can you tell me your opinions on what brands you like best...brand new or used... bias more, less or right on?

I wouldn't buy used power tubes. Good preamp tubes--maybe, if you know where they have been and they are top-shelf.

You might want to try this matched quad of generic Chinese 6l6GC for $35:

http://www.tubesandmore.com/scripts/fox ... L6GC--CHIN

That's assuming you need 4. If you need a matched pair for a 50W, thats in the pull down menu too for $17.50. Of course, if you bought a matched quad for a 50W, you wouldn't need to bias the 2nd pair after the 1st pair wore out.

[jai]

thanks for the good advice guys!

[jai]

i tried the $35 chinese tubes and i dont care for the sound. seems a bit too harsh and middy, also had rising and lowering volume issues.
i'm going to check into tung-sol and ruby

[Bloodsong]

i always thought Ruby's were the creamiest sounding tubes for the $$$. they work well for me; nice high end without being shrill... nice smooth but evident high mids as well... marry nice with high gain of a Mesa... JJs are way too flat and muddy... Tungsols are nice too, but are a little too high gain for anything past the first two input stages for me...

[lonewolf]

Hey John,

Sorry those tubes didn't work out. Tubesandmore.com has the Ruby's for $54 per matched quad.

http://www.tubesandmore.com/scripts/fox ... 6GC-M--STR

Maybe they'll take the generics back for credit if you get the Rubys there?

[jai]

hey jeff,
thanks for the advice, i really appreciate it!

[orangekick]

My favorite 6L6s are SED. They used to be Svetlana. They just sound great to me. I've used them in every Mesa that I have owned.