Pre-amp tubes with more grit.

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nitro

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I need some opinions,new production pre amp tubes for the van halen 1 sound(first album sound)which tubes to try,im using the jjecc83s tubes in my VHT Deliverance d60h head in all 4 gain stages,looking for more grit if you know what i mean...
 
The VH sound isn't too dirty, I would work on getting a balanced sound first. I haven't heard much good about JJ's preamp tubes, never used them myself though. I've used Ruby 12ax7's and those are warmer with less gain, Mullards have lots of presence, and Tung Sol's and EH 12ax7's are very clear with tons of gain. I would experiment with a different tube in V1 than the rest. Establishing a high gain V1 and then warming it up later will sound different than establishing a warmer V1 and turning up the gain later or adding some presence. Find out what tubes are doing what in the circuit first, that always helps.
 
Van halen 1(first album sound) is very dirty and edgy,it the mose aggressive van halen album,listen to it again.
 
yup! throw those JJ's in the trash, they are grit personified!


you're after clean crunch for EVH Uno.



Tung-sol in V1 and C9's in the rest.


what do you have for power tubes?


i put some Elmwood KT-88's in my D60 and it really Marshalled it up. these tubes are hard to find in the States, but are a Chinese KT-88. think maybe Groove Tubes has them but not sure what model?
 
I agree with Cap, Tung Sol in V1 and Chinese in the rest, if that still isn't gnarly enough go all Chinese I think 9th gen and up are the good ones right?
 
nitro":sc3l84wd said:
Van halen 1(first album sound) is very dirty and edgy,it the mose aggressive van halen album,listen to it again.
Click to expand...

Volume did that, not preamp gain. Listen again :lol: :LOL:
 
I concur with the diagnosis.
Major volume and crunch, the grit is from the power amp having a baby, not the pre.
Tung sol and the chinese!
:D
 
I have owned many marshall plexis and none of them had that type of distortion that Ed achieved on van halen 1,i cranked the shit out of those amps also using a variac and still did not achieve that type of distortion.
 
Ed is notorious for beating the living hell out of his strings.
His right-hand attack is possibly the biggest part of his sound.

The answer you seek may be as simple to describe and as difficult to achieve as hitting your strings with more ferocity.
 
Ed used to re-amp his Marshall, by loading it down with a dummy load and then feeding the signal into the front end of another Marshall. Essentially the first Marshall is used like a distortion box, and pumped into the next Marshall. So think of it simply as like you're cascading the gain of both amps. Not only do you get more gain from running it like that, but the tone will be more aggressive too.

That is what gets you that gainy and gritty/aggressive sound like Ed got on VH1. You probably won't get that same thing happening just by doing preamp tube swaps..
 
I would look into Chinese 9th Gen, and Sovtek LPS 12AX7's for what you're asking.
 
Try one of the JJ803s or The EH longplate Spirals in V1.

These tubes are physically very different with a much larger plate than other currently made tubes and may give more clear gain( but not higher gain) and more output in V1 which can be beefier when cascaded into other channels.

You probably need more BEEF not more grit as the VH sound is quite clear .
 
James Peters turned me on to the Sovtek 12AX7WC years ago (not the 'A' or the 'B')...it's Sovtek's even higher gain version of the Sovtek 12AX7WA/WB

I think they are great with gain, nobody seems to know about them. Even The Tube Store was harassing me when I went in to buy them. "Sovtek 12AX7WC??! ...are you sure you don't want to try the JJ's or the Tung Sol's?"
 
Randy Van Sykes":18csmj2k said:
James Peters turned me on to the Sovtek 12AX7WC years ago (not the 'A' or the 'B')...it's Sovtek's even higher gain version of the Sovtek 12AX7WA/WB

I think they are great with gain, nobody seems to know about them. Even The Tube Store was harassing me when I went in to buy them. "Sovtek 12AX7WC??! ...are you sure you don't want to try the JJ's or the Tung Sol's?"
Click to expand...

I have been using 2 Sovtek WC's on my dirt side with the 3 WA's for the last 8 months and absolutely love the WC's for the heavier stuff I mostly play... :thumbsup:
 
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