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I'm trying to figure out which preamp tubes to by for my ADA MP-1, and down the road I might change my Peavey Classic 60/60 to a different type of power tube, so I'm wondering what model and brand everyone else uses. I'm leaning towards the high gain JJ ECC83S for the MP-1. What type and brand do you use (pre and power)?

Call Bob at Eurotubes.

He'll talk your ear off but he will ask you a ton of questions about what sort of sound youo're looking to get and will give you more information about getting that sound than anyone else I've ever met.

Bob's a good dude....


Originally Posted by SkarekroughBob's a good dude....

1

I had my JCM 800 2210 retubed with all JJ tubes:

3 12AX7's graded for high gain
Regular 12AX7 is V4
Balanced 12AX7 in V5 (phase inverter)
4x EL34L

It really opened up the amp. Bob is a real smart dude, I emailed him a simple question and got an epic reply which really helped me out.

Bob is a really good guy, and knows a ton about tubes. Just be prepared to end up with JJ's no matter what.

I have a pair of the new GT 12AX7's waiting for my Marshall. A quot;Cquot; and a quot;Mquot;. The quot;Cquot; is the chinese high gain tube, and the quot;Mquot; is the Mullard reissue. As a general rule, I prefer NOS pre-amp tubes, but I'd like to find a sound from a production tube.

For power tubes, I like Svetlana and EH....although the new Groove Tubes have piqued my interest.


Originally Posted by Jeff_HBob is a really good guy, and knows a ton about tubes. Just be prepared to end up with JJ's no matter what.

Well, yeah. Bob's a JJ dealer so as a result it'd be kinda silly for him to send you anything else.

The good part about this is that he knows the tubes, JJ specifically, well enough to know how they will perform in different amps.

The downside is if you're really going for the NOS sound then Bob's ins't likely to set you up with anything that will be that.

Both sides have merits; my DRRI has NOS GE tubes and my Blues Jr has JJ's from Bob. It's about what sound you're going for.

As we like to say over at Ultimate-Guitar, I use transistor-tubes.

In all seriousness though, you can't really go wrong with JJs. They tend to be very true to the amp's tone and I really like them in the preamp (not so much for poweramp though).

I find the JJ ECC83 to be just okay. A lot of folks find them dark--I find them kind of generic but I feel that way about most JJ tubes I've tried. Of course, one man's quot;genericquot; is another man's quot;true to the amp's tonequot;. YMMV.
Among new production tubes, I prefer the 9th Gen Chinese, GT Mullard clones, and the new Tung Sol 12AX7s. Which one I'd use depends on the application.
As for 6L6s, a lot of that depends on what you're looking for. Scott F raves about the TAD short bottles. I've had very good results with NOS Philips but they cost 40% more than the TADs ($48 vs $35 for a duet), which aren't cheap as current production tubes go. OTOH, given the life span of NOS vs. current production tubes, the NOS tubes are probably cheaper in the long run. If your looking for tighter tone with lots of headroom, those tubes might not be your cup o' tea.
I've not tried the EH 6L6s but I'm a big fan of their EL34s and 6CA7s. They're quite reasonably priced and sound very good.

The last set of tubes that I bought was a duet of Sovtek 6L6s. They seem to work fine.


Originally Posted by alecleeAmong new production tubes, I prefer the 9th Gen Chinese, GT Mullard clones, and the new Tung Sol 12AX7s. Which one I'd use depends on the application.

Which one would you recommend for a medium/high gain rack preamp? I'm probably going to mod it so it's pretty much the same circuit as a JCM 800, so tubes that work well for those should work well for my preamp.

I sent an email to Eurotubes and Doug's Tubes, so I'll see what they say.

I use 2 regular JJ ecc83s for V1 and 2, and 3 high gain for 3-5, and a balanced JJ for V6. Gave me about 10% more gain, which was nice. I did notice that if i put one of the high gains in V1, i would get some feedback with the gain maxed.. which i didnt like.

JJ EL34's and EH 12AX7's, but I've never tried any other preamp tubes.

Doug got back to me within 5 minutes. He recommended the high gain JJ ECC83S's, and SED EL34's or Ruby EL34BSTR's. Does anyone here have any experience with either of the EL34s?


Originally Posted by n00bWhich one would you recommend for a medium/high gain rack preamp?

Depends. I like the 9th Gens for sparkley cleans and aggressive high gain. The GT-M's get the nod for warm cleans, edge-of-distortion tones, and crunch tones. I've only tried the Tung Sols in smooth high gain applications but I was very happy with 'em in that role.
In a JCM 800 arrangement, I'd go with the 9G in V1 and the GT-M in V2. The GT-M makes a huge difference in some positions and no difference in others.

Gt mullard in #1 and for fx loop to fatten things up and the highest gain Eh12ax7 tubes for #2, 3 and a Balanced EH for the phase invertor. I have tried em all as far as non NOS type tubes and these are my pics time after time as wella s my buddies. They like all EH and 1 Mullard in the FX loop as the Mullard GT is not very high output (98-105) as opposed to 110 for EH or JJ. I find JJ tubes to be a little honkey but 1 may be good in the mix. I like 2 GT 6CA7 tubes mixed with 2 EH 6ca7 tubes for the bomb halfway point between a 6L6 and EL34 for power tubes. I have a quad of EI 6CA7 tubes on the way. Definateley buy from Dougstubes.com He is very thorough, knowledgable and has other tubes besides JJ.

Ditto on what aleclee said.

Bogner Ecstasy. JJ EL-34's, GT12AX7C 9th Gen Shuguang pres. for gain channels, JJ ECC83 for clean channel, PI, and FX loop tubes.

Marshall Jubilee. JJ E-34L's, Tungsol pre's

Matchless Chieftain. Svetlana EL-34's, GT12AX7Mullard 1st pos. JJ's for the rest.

Fender Bassman LTD. GT6L6GE's, GT12AX7Mullard 1st pos. the rest are stock??

Vox Valvetronix head. Sovtek 12AX7LPS as a mini power section tube.

for the best tubes at the lowest prices. All the best brands.

I am using Groove Tubes in all my amps at the moment. Have used both Svetlana and Sovtek as well.

Svetlana EL34's and EH 12AX7's. My amp never sounded so good since putting those in there.

I'm still using NOS RCA 12AX7s I've had for many years....I also like the EH 12AX7s and the Jamp;J are pretty good also...

The Sovtek 12AX7 WA has always been a very good less gainey,reliable preamp tube also..

I use sovtec´s in all my marshall amps , works fine for me

Groove Tubes...I've found nothing better. JMO