MadAsAHatter
Well-known member
So I picked up a Line 6 DT25 and it arrived yesterday evening. First, I do have to say in the 10 min or so I was able to play it sounded fairly good. BUT here is where my regrets are creeping in. When getting a new used amp I generally take it to the shop for a look over, replace tubes if they’re worn, etc. Currently there are Mullard power tubes in it. In anticipating them needing replacement I started looking up what tubes sounded good in the amp. And this is where I stumbled into the proverbial can of worms…
I have not seen this mentioned anywhere else other than the Line 6 boards by a single Line 6 amp tech when people ask about which tubes. According to him, apparently if you do not exclusively use Electro-Harmonix medium tubes with specific tolerances as soon as you turn on the amp you’ll summon a high level demon from the 7th circle of hell. Said demon will then go forth and murder all your pets, rape your spouse, curse your descendants, diarrhea shit in the water supply, burn the local orphanage, add pineapple to every pizza in existence, anoint your most hated political figure as world leader, basically destroy the world as we know it, and finish it off by feasting on a peanut butter and your soul sandwich. All you can do after that is cry in pain and terror as you trek your way across danger ridden jungles and barren wasteland deserts battling hordes or rabid marmosets every step of the way for months on end until you make it to a Line 6 authorized service center to drop off the amp for repair. The tech will them perform ancient incantations to banish the demon back to the bowels of hell and restore order to the living world while bitching the whole time about another amp on their table that used the wrong tubes.
In all seriousness though… The only place I’ve seen specific brand and spec tubes (EHX – medium) being required was on the Line 6 boards by only this one Line 6 amp tech. His explanations of why this is necessary are rather vague of the digital and analog parts need to communicate properly or “bad stuff” will happen. Even as recently as last month this guy has given the same vague explanation of “bad things will happen, trust me”. You would think something this important that could cause catastrophic amp failure would be mentioned somewhere else, printed in big bold words at the top of the manual, and plastered all over the product pages. And is it really expected that tubes will be at the exact narrow specifications from batch to batch; let alone over the course of 10+ years. And if an amp can’t take the minor fluctuations of specs from different manufacturers what does that truly say about the amp. I get that part of the amp was designed by Reinhold Bogner and he has high expectations, but I never heard of one of his company’s amps melting down because you put in a pair of GT instead of EHX tubes.
All of that said, the amp does sound quite nice and currently has Mullard power tubes in it. Being used I’m assuming the Mullards weren’t installed yesterday and have been in use for a bit. So did I just buy a crap quality amp that I have to agonize over putting in very specific tubes so it doesn’t die? Or is all of this stuff from the Line 6 DT forum a bunch of hogwash trying to scare people who don’t know better into buying certain product?
I have not seen this mentioned anywhere else other than the Line 6 boards by a single Line 6 amp tech when people ask about which tubes. According to him, apparently if you do not exclusively use Electro-Harmonix medium tubes with specific tolerances as soon as you turn on the amp you’ll summon a high level demon from the 7th circle of hell. Said demon will then go forth and murder all your pets, rape your spouse, curse your descendants, diarrhea shit in the water supply, burn the local orphanage, add pineapple to every pizza in existence, anoint your most hated political figure as world leader, basically destroy the world as we know it, and finish it off by feasting on a peanut butter and your soul sandwich. All you can do after that is cry in pain and terror as you trek your way across danger ridden jungles and barren wasteland deserts battling hordes or rabid marmosets every step of the way for months on end until you make it to a Line 6 authorized service center to drop off the amp for repair. The tech will them perform ancient incantations to banish the demon back to the bowels of hell and restore order to the living world while bitching the whole time about another amp on their table that used the wrong tubes.
In all seriousness though… The only place I’ve seen specific brand and spec tubes (EHX – medium) being required was on the Line 6 boards by only this one Line 6 amp tech. His explanations of why this is necessary are rather vague of the digital and analog parts need to communicate properly or “bad stuff” will happen. Even as recently as last month this guy has given the same vague explanation of “bad things will happen, trust me”. You would think something this important that could cause catastrophic amp failure would be mentioned somewhere else, printed in big bold words at the top of the manual, and plastered all over the product pages. And is it really expected that tubes will be at the exact narrow specifications from batch to batch; let alone over the course of 10+ years. And if an amp can’t take the minor fluctuations of specs from different manufacturers what does that truly say about the amp. I get that part of the amp was designed by Reinhold Bogner and he has high expectations, but I never heard of one of his company’s amps melting down because you put in a pair of GT instead of EHX tubes.
All of that said, the amp does sound quite nice and currently has Mullard power tubes in it. Being used I’m assuming the Mullards weren’t installed yesterday and have been in use for a bit. So did I just buy a crap quality amp that I have to agonize over putting in very specific tubes so it doesn’t die? Or is all of this stuff from the Line 6 DT forum a bunch of hogwash trying to scare people who don’t know better into buying certain product?
