NOS Tube Question

renegade5150

renegade5150

Member
I have been reading about RCA Blackplates and Greyplates. What's the difference? The reason I ask is that I have seen FASTREDPONYCAR's videos and I have seen that he had ruby ac7 and rca blackplates in the preamp of his egnater renegade, and I have a chance to get some greyplates locally[ loved his tone in his videos]. The guy selling the tubes also said "If I like RCA 12ax7 check out JAN/Phillips 5751" which he also has on hand. Oh yeah he also has E. German made RFT ECC83 tubes? I have no first hand experiance with any of these tubes so any info about what they can do for my amp will help me.Thanks in advance. :thumbsup:
 
Without sounding at all harsh or brash, what tubes sound like on one person's amp and that particular amp, have little bearing to how they'll sound in your amp with your playing... Sure, there are some similarities amp for amp, but unless the amps are the same, the circuits the same, the OTs the same and the powervalves the same, it's all a bit of grey area...

NOS tubes are pricey - typically. And believe it or not, some top end manufacturers of high-grade amps use Chinese - due to their availability, consistency, and gain structure. I'd say if you're interested in hearing these for yourself, you have to take the plunge and simply commit and buy them. But they're not voodoo...they won't make you a better player. And they may not even give you the tone of FRPC's playing and amps.

I've gone through a phase of high quality glass about 2 years ago - top notch stuff, expensive as hell, and really sure, some of it made some differences, but they were either too fragile or too inconsistent or just too damn expensive to continue to use. So it goes.

V.
 
Thanks Ventura. If this helps, I am running an Egnater Renegade and when I push the gain to around 2:30ish it gets noisey when playing at a live stage volume. I was wondering if some of these tubes would help in quiting the amp down when use higher gain?
 
They are all overpriced for guitar amps. Although, the Ei's did wake up a couple of amps. Its too damn brain-racking to fool with for me. I keep a big supply of Ruby HG+ and HG's, Sovtek LPS, Tung Sol's and I probably have more Chinese B's than Chin's in the Beijing directory.

Power tubes for sure aren't worth it. I keep a stock pile of SED Winged C's and a couple quads of Tung Sol's on hand all the time. I keep a quad of JJ's for testing amps, in case one blows up, I am not out a good tube.

Steve
 
Half the price of SED's since the price increase! They aren't bad, especially in Marshall circuits. Got plenty of bottom and are a little darker than SED's, but not as dark and mushy as JJ's. They hold together well and don't fall apart.

Steve
 
Ya, my experience with Tung Sols are that they're sleepers - DAMN fine in the EL34 department.

As for preamps, what are you currently running in the Renegade??

Check out www.thetubestore.com for decent, objecctive reviews of all the tubes available from this retailer. Jon, the main contact there, knows his glass as well. Check it out - the chart comparos are awesome - and very truthful - noise, microphonics, gain, etc.

Glass is a funny thing to handle - I've had lots go through my amps, and now, much like Steve, I kinda keep the staples handy (=C=, Tung Sol, Chinese/Shuguang, TADs, and a couple Gold Lions/Genalex). I'd check out the reviews and go from there - not sure how long you've been givin' it with your amp, but a new retube may be the answer...

Peace,
V.
 
I don't think all NOS glass is good. In the older circuits that they were made to use, sure, they're great. You're never pulling my Mullards/Amperex Bugle Boys/Telefunkens out of my Metro 1987x clone with the Mercury Radiospares trannies.

But newer designs, IMO, don't benefit much from power tubes, although NOS preamp tubes can improve them if the right ones are used.

It is a lot of trial and error, though, so don't think it's just "My buddy has this tube in his amp, so my amp ought to sound as good if I get that tube(s)."

I've been the victim of that thinking, didn't pan out. You definitely have to go through a few to find the ones that work best for each amp.

But you have to stop switching amps to find out, too...cough...err....Special K (and all you other amp head flippers)!! :LOL: :LOL:
 
Scumback Speakers":1xs3fltp said:
I don't think all NOS glass is good. In the older circuits that they were made to use, sure, they're great. You're never pulling my Mullards/Amperex Bugle Boys/Telefunkens out of my Metro 1987x clone with the Mercury Radiospares trannies.

But newer designs, IMO, don't benefit much from power tubes, although NOS preamp tubes can improve them if the right ones are used.

It is a lot of trial and error, though, so don't think it's just "My buddy has this tube in his amp, so my amp ought to sound as good if I get that tube(s)."

I've been the victim of that thinking, didn't pan out. You definitely have to go through a few to find the ones that work best for each amp.

But you have to stop switching amps to find out, too...cough...err....Special K (and all you other amp head flippers)!! :LOL: :LOL:
Click to expand...

Special K no flippy.......the good one's anyway :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: :LOL:

I just can't try anything out over here!
 
I'll have to check again to see what preamp tubes are in it. I had bought a whole bunch of tube and did some swaping and found a combo I liked but it's really noisey at a high gain setting now and I don't remember it being that noisey. I know their are some 9th gen chinnese, couple rubys, maybe a sovtec. I'll pull them out tonight and give a list of whats in each slot.
 
They are junk sovtek 12ax7wa
Put some good nos ei and mullard in that sucker like I did and all my bands still think the renegade sounds better than anything I have had in the last two years:(
 
I have a renegade too and I've tried swapping out various tubes in both the V1 and V3 sockets and my ears just can't seem to tell a huge difference. I've tried preferred series, JJ, Tung Sol and EH 12ax7s and they all sound pretty much the same to me.

Either my ears suck or there's just not a whole lot of vastly noticeable difference. NOS may be a different story though. The next thing I want to try are some KT88s and see(hear) what difference that makes. Just can't decide in what brand to go with....
 
Anolin":2kr2amjr said:
I have a renegade too and I've tried swapping out various tubes in both the V1 and V3 sockets and my ears just can't seem to tell a huge difference. I've tried preferred series, JJ, Tung Sol and EH 12ax7s and they all sound pretty much the same to me.

Either my ears suck or there's just not a whole lot of vastly noticeable difference. NOS may be a different story though. The next thing I want to try are some KT88s and see(hear) what difference that makes. Just can't decide in what brand to go with....
Click to expand...

Genalex/Gold Lion :yes: :thumbsup:

V.
 
:LOL: :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: This^^^^
I've had good and bad results with a bunch of stuff. I have a decent stash of NOS tubes, but I only hear subtle differences provided the tubes I was comparing were both good :LOL: :LOL:
I do like Amperex NOS stuff, they have been consistantly good pre-tubes for me
 
AmpliFIRE":1896nlxr said:
I've yet to hear an amp that a NOS RFT didn't sound great in...
Click to expand...

Counterpoint, I've yet to hear an amp with Chinese, TAD's, or Tung Sol's that didn't sound great (once they were matched to the respective amp). And these aren't near the price of NOS RFT's.

Just sayin'...
V.

Here's an excerpt from thetubestore.com on Tung Sol pre's... I'd have to concur :D

From our review of this tube: "There are only so many ways to describe tube tone and most have become cliches. The Tung Sol 12AX7 has the gain and drive of a Chinese 12AX7 and the pure tone of a Mullard or Brimar."

According to the manufacturer, this Tungsol 12AX7 is the Ultimate 12AX7. Big, warm, and musical. High Gain, ultra-low microphonics, and superb linearity with a dynamic 3-D sound.

One other note about the construction of these tubes is they have filaments that are almost completely encased in the plate structure. They don't "light up" brightly when working properly.
 
Ventura":3sbmb5fv said:
AmpliFIRE":3sbmb5fv said:
I've yet to hear an amp that a NOS RFT didn't sound great in...
Click to expand...

Counterpoint, I've yet to hear an amp with Chinese, TAD's, or Tung Sol's that didn't sound great (once they were matched to the respective amp). And these aren't near the price of NOS RFT's.

Just sayin'...
V.

Here's an excerpt from thetubestore.com on Tung Sol pre's... I'd have to concur :D

From our review of this tube: "There are only so many ways to describe tube tone and most have become cliches. The Tung Sol 12AX7 has the gain and drive of a Chinese 12AX7 and the pure tone of a Mullard or Brimar."

According to the manufacturer, this Tungsol 12AX7 is the Ultimate 12AX7. Big, warm, and musical. High Gain, ultra-low microphonics, and superb linearity with a dynamic 3-D sound.

One other note about the construction of these tubes is they have filaments that are almost completely encased in the plate structure. They don't "light up" brightly when working properly.
Click to expand...

Then you have hated alot of clips posted here, lots of guys sporting the chinese 12ax7s :yes:
 
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