Noob question about preamp tubes and power amp tubes

[sean106ESP]

Hey guys, so I use my VH4S with Ruby BSTR's when ever I jam with my band it just sounds great. Since I am the only guitar player I use the cabs in the space on both sides and it is huge.

Now as some may now at home for recording I bought a Vh4 Mono with NOS Phillips tubes and biased at 49-50 as the owner told me. Now I use it to record and it sounds great, but more and more I wanna change it to sound like my Vh4S. I mean this thing is so hot that the gain always has to be turned down, channel 2 even at high gain sounds like channel 3 but with a little more umpth, and my cleans sounds a little dirtier than normal and you guys no me I am obssessed with my clean tones.

So noob time. As I have hear really the preamp kicks in first and gives you the true tone? Is that right? If so. Can you recommend me how many (I can't even see in there how many ) pre-amp tubes I would need and recommend what I should get. I probably will just get another set of Ruby BSTR's to go with them, but wondering if it really is the preamp tubes making it so hot and gainy or the bias. if it is the bias, should I just have it re-biased?

Thanks guys!!

We got our first show this week, (I leave for Costa Rica the next morning) so I will have some vids of how the Vh4S sounds live thru a rearloaded deetzul cab in a live situation. Should get a decent recording if my HDD Sony Camera sound comes out good as I am the only guitar player so only guitars you'll be hearing is me ) Yes I know to make sure I turn one sides volume all the way down so I don;t fry the amp.


Thanks again!!

 

[JohnRageOn]

The oumph you stated comes from the power tubes.
Also VH4 has more headroom compared to a VH4S. VH4S it's like having 2 VH4 at 50 watts.
The amount of gain is a different story and comes from the preamp tubes.

So you have to do a lot of experiments

PS. I envy you having a VH4 and VH4S

 

[MARK2C]

I think you may be dealing with the older and newer VH4 preamps.
The new ones are purely ridiculous in gain. Channel 2 and 3 are different to dial in than
my older VH4's. It feels to me like they both reach the previous versions gain at 1-2:00.
Regarding power tubes, I did not like the Ruby 34BSTR's at all they were too grainy at 30ma and too muddy at 35ma,
So a NOS quad of Svetlana's went in and it's tight as hell and smooth at 30ma. I tried a bunch of 6L6's and kept going back to
EL34's. I have a quad of Phillips 6L6GC's and used to use Phillips 7581A's. The 7581A's are a 35W version of the 6L6
and have nearly endless headroom. A bias of 52ma would be 75% max plate dissipation, so your amp is biased very close.
Even though you can use NOS tubes, the 6L6 family in the new VH4 may come off stiff or booming in the bottom end.
Personally, I have been using RFT's for years in the VH4's, but I have been totally happy with the stock Chinese the new one came with.
I found the JJ in the V1 too dark and replaced it with a very quiet Penta 12AX7 Chinese. For reference I used 7 RFT's, and mixed RCA's, Chinese, GT Mullards,
EH's and also tried RCA, Westinghouse and JAN 12AT7's in the phase inverter. After a week of dicking around, I went back to the Chinese and the Penta in the V1.
It kept the attack and gain where I wanted it. The biggest overall effect was from the EL34 power tubes and biasing them properly.

What are the first two digits of both your amps serial # ?

 

[sean106ESP]

I think you may be dealing with the older and newer VH4 preamps.
The new ones are purely ridiculous in gain. Channel 2 and 3 are different to dial in than
my older VH4's. It feels to me like they both reach the previous versions gain at 1-2:00.
Regarding power tubes, I did not like the Ruby 34BSTR's at all they were too grainy at 30ma and too muddy at 35ma,
So a NOS quad of Svetlana's went in and it's tight as hell and smooth at 30ma. I tried a bunch of 6L6's and kept going back to
EL34's. I have a quad of Phillips 6L6GC's and used to use Phillips 7581A's. The 7581A's are a 35W version of the 6L6
and have nearly endless headroom. A bias of 52ma would be 75% max plate dissipation, so your amp is biased very close.
Even though you can use NOS tubes, the 6L6 family in the new VH4 may come off stiff or booming in the bottom end.
Personally, I have been using RFT's for years in the VH4's, but I have been totally happy with the stock Chinese the new one came with.
I found the JJ in the V1 too dark and replaced it with a very quiet Penta 12AX7 Chinese. For reference I used 7 RFT's, and mixed RCA's, Chinese, GT Mullards,
EH's and also tried RCA, Westinghouse and JAN 12AT7's in the phase inverter. After a week of dicking around, I went back to the Chinese and the Penta in the V1.
It kept the attack and gain where I wanted it. The biggest overall effect was from the EL34 power tubes and biasing them properly.

What are the first two digits of both your amps serial # ?

Hey thanks for the Feedback guys. The VH4 Mono starts with 07 for the serial number with the "Stefan" signature after
yeah my VH4S I don’t have on hand as my vocalist has my other deetzul cab and head to our first show. But she sounds sick. Great cleans and sweet gain. My band is for sure not the brootalz LOL But I use the VH4 is for home and recording use. So that is why I asked. I think the VH4S is older though. I mean, I got it like in 06 maybe (dunno if u consider that old) but I just want my Vh4 mono to sound like my VH4S.......crystal cleans......... nice semi-dirty for channel two and the gain I just need for rhythm on channel 3. I started "solo" so channel 4 on the VH4S is great. But the VH4 mono I keep at home lately has been just lately kind of bugging me after a jam.............as it is too gainy.................so was not sure if it was the preamps, power tubes or bias was too much.

Thanks again guys!!