Pre and power tubes for TM4212. Any recocomendations?

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AlienRocker

AlienRocker

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Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated....

I'm am in need of replacing my tubes....
As for Preamp tubes I was thinking Tungsol or Ruby.
As for power tubes, the same either Tungsol or Ruby
If I can, I may change the power tubes to KT88 instead of the 6L6GC if they can work.

Anyone out ther can offer their advice and experience?
Anyone tried KT88 for power tubes on their Tourmaster? Do they work in the Tourmaster TM4212 combo?
What brand tubes have been best for both Preamp and Power tubes?

My thanks in advance!
 
you can review my tourmaster tube cocktail journey from july 2010 to may or so of last year (until my amp died).
search.php?keywords=ruby&terms=all&author=yeti&fid[]=26&sc=1&sf=all&sk=t&sd=d&sr=posts&st=0&ch=300&t=0&submit=Search


quickly though (if you read any of my other posts, you'll see too):
chinese 12ax7b in v1/v2/v4
RFT in v3
JJ in v5 electo harmonix 12ax7 in v6
stock egnater groove tube in v7
and top it off with a sovtek LPS 12ax7 in v8PI slot.

for power, i got a 45$ set of matched Ruby 6l6 from GC, haven't tried anything other than 6l6 in mine (and the stock 5881s)... but i hear if you do bias for different tubes, ONLY use the power grid on full power on all channels and the master power too.

it took me literally hundreds of hours to arrive at that preamp cocktail. i sat with my chassis on my bench and my combo across the room on top of my rivera ported 2x12 cab. for hours every night after work just rolling tubes and tube combos and taking notes and being more nerdy about tubes than most people's wives would ever put up with!!!! my wife rules!!!

now that i have more RFT's though, when i get my TM back up and running (new power transformer), i plan on going RFT from v1-v4 and seeing what it sounds like.
i do like the bite of the 12ax7b silver dragons, so, it'll be interesting as the rfts seem to be a bit more compressed, darker, and thumpier, but clear enough, and not muddy like the current production tung sols, they sound ok, but are too muddy when you start adding gain over 1pm.

the JJ ecc83s in v5 REALLY makes an improvement in the contour sections of the overdrive channels.

the value of the ruby 6l6 quad from GC is unbeatable. https://www.guitarcenter.com/Ruby-6L6GCM ... e=4TEM8XOC

a quick tip on this amp, if i didnt mention to you already, the contour knob is virtually FULL of tones...one little tweak and you get some completely different vibe going on. also, don't overlook playing with lower gain and adjusting the resonance and presence controls to taste. i'm sure in a band situation, you['lll wanna back off the resonance, and add some mids, possibly cut the contour out altogether, but, even if not, the amp is FULL of mids with the right preamp tubes in it.
im so excited to hopefully be getting my new power transformer back soon....i'm giddy.
plus, i'm getting a new amp too in a few weeks (a bone stock, block letter 5150) and a lehle abx box so i can run both!
 
Best new manufacture 6L6's I have found are the Tube Amp Doctor little short bottles
Can't remember the exact designation 6L6GC maybe ???
I had them in my 65 Twin RI and they sounded awesome !!!
 
i like the feel of the ruby's for sure, over the GT 5881s. the amp does get mushy though, it seemed at least, with both types of tubes at higher volumes for longer periods of time when you could smell things were hot. i love that smell!
 
I HAVE PLENTY OF TUBES LEFT OVER FROM MY EGNATER TUBE ROLLING DAYS
TAD 6L6WGC AND SOME GRROVE TUBE EL34
AND THE 12AX7 YETI SPOKE OF:)
 
Thanks everyone for your advice ....
Yeti .... I did remember a while back we talked tubes and I read your hard work on finding your right tube mix.
I wanted to keep it a little simple though. I've read alot of good things in countless places about the new reissue Tungsols so I bought Tungsol for both pre and power sections and for now stuck with the 6L6 for power tubes. At some point I want to try KT88.
The amp had to go back to the shop after the local warranty shop did the transformer replacement. :-( .... there were alot of things missed the first time it went to the shop since they were more focused on the main issue: replacing the transformer and it distracted them on finding other problems I mentioned with the amp which when I got it back, still had alot of stuff wrong with it which they now did a better sweep of the amp and found the additional issues for example in the preamp sections of the amp. Hopefully now, I'll have an Egnater Tourmaster the way its supposed to sound and the real way it was meant to be sold even if it was a clearance item!
Hoping Nate will get back to me soon on my question regarding the footswitch. I would like to make a thinner and shorter one to fit in my pedal case with my pedals and hoping they can supply some info or schematics so I can make a smaller. thinner version for my application. :-)
Again, Thank you kindly all for your input!!!
 
yikes, what else was wrong with it?

you know, you could technically, buy an enclosure the size you want, drill it out for 6 switches(i think 6, right?), take the guts out of the old one, install into the retrofitted one, and use it that way. i've actually thought about doing the same thing!
 
Yes Yeti ... very true. I could do that if I had the original pedal. That part of the clearance deal from GC I completely dicided was acceptable ..... no casters and no footswitch. So I didn't get a footswitch with it. The casters I happen to find another GC who had extras and they were happy to provide them for me. The pedal I haven't been so lucky. So I don't have the footswitch which was okay with me because I was going midi at the time anyway and I rigged a cable using the pinout diagram, with a switcher to do that. I would purchase and wait for the footswitch but I want to build my own pedal instead of getting one since I need it to be smaller anyway. So hoping when the Egnater clan get back from NAMM and start going through their pile of emails, they'll hit me back with a diagram or solution. :-)
 
Sorry missed to answer the other part of your reply ... What else was wrong with it? 2 weeks after I got the amp, channel 1 volume seemed to decrease compared to channel 2 volume. Contour section of the amp for some reason was causing other knobs to work improperly due to bad quality soldering (according to what the repair tech said). For example: The treble knob on channel 4 for some reason didn't control the treble anymore. It controlled the volume on channel 4! I would turn up the treble and lose volume! WOW! LOL!
Let me first say, I love all of Bruce's amps through the years! They are geat and so well made before the TM line. However this time around, I had been sceptical about this prior to purchase a TM since the get go if not for an old friend I trust who happens to be a friend of Bruce now for many years as he used Egnater for many years on tour. Again, Let me first say that I love Bruce's stuff and I always wanted to own one. I missed getting a TOL and then his 4 channel preamp I totally loved when I tested it due to $. Back then though, most of this was manufactured here and not outsourced or not mass manufactured. That was my concern about the TM series. It was being mass-produced during a time when globally ROHS compliant solder was being introduced and not perfected yet. I finally got the $ together and I preferred to get an Egnater Handwired product or made in USA than mass production but the TM4212 met my exact needs. I took a chance feeling comfortable with my buddy's recommendation who has nothing but great things to say about Bruce and the Egnater clan.
I still say Egnater makes some of the best stuff out there!!! Hands down!! Everytime I have called, they treat me like if I was their #1 endorsed artist which of course I'm not. Not like other boutique companies who have such negative communication with you unless you are some bigshot famous artist.
My thoughts on his mass produced line though (IG: Tourmaster) if I would have been there during the decision making would have been, to hold off on mass production outside of the US for a while until ROHS compliance was more standard. Or have someone to visit onsite regularly for product inspection (i'm assuming maybe they didn't at a regular basis). PC boards are being used more and more in tube amps but its a scary thing as it increases the odds of defects in manufacturing. I realize the amp would be more expensive and production may be less but you know what, I personally wouldn't mind saving my pennies a little longer for a solid Egnater product! I did anyway. The last thing .... I hate giving negative thoughts about other companies but if you want my honest opinion, GC was not the right company to shake hands with for this venture. Really at this point, I don't think any of the large corporate music retail companies reach the bar due to what seems to be their motto of "just sell it and worry about the damage later" ... "we need the numbers for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th quarter!" (take your pick). I know that part from personal experience. I do understand that this means less availability to the masses and less profit and I suppose it was a decision the Egnater team had some sleepless nights over. However, in my opinion, I bet from all the complaints in the forums I've seen (not just here) on the soldering, bad transformers, amps just completely not working after a couple weeks in addition to the usual average rate of warranty repair, they probably haven't gotten much sleep now either. LOL! If I were on the deciding team at the time, I would have been one of the guys who would have said, "no, not a good venture at this time, maybe later." Bruce's stuff is too good to take a chance like that and produce needless negativity just for a little more profit. I like his company and his products (and respect his hard work) too much to let them take that risk.
Bruce .... You have a Lifetime Egnater enthusiast here! Please don't let the people you do business with cheapen your life's work! Its too good for that! :-)
If my opinions don't seem accurate because there is much I don't know, my apologies. I do hope these opinions are taken in the right light it was meant ..... as a compliment!
 
I got my amp back from the warranty shop in West Palm Bch. The amp shop and music Parlor! Bill the amp tech there knows his stuff and personally explained what was going on with the amp. Bill sat down with me when I went to pick it up and took the time to gothrough each channel with me to make sure everything was working right! He did a killer job with it and now its back to the quality it was made for!!! I bought the Tungsol tubes all around even for the power section! Its sounding great! :D
 
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