Heritage Softail":yhnw7866 said:
Hit up just42dave on here for a few various 12ax7 tubes at a good price.
They all sound a little different. You can find what your ear likes. It makes a big diff to go from a sizzling Chinese 12ax7 to a Jan Phillips. Some are more sawtooth and others smoother.
The best 30-50 bucks you will spend.
message Laura (tubequeen) on here or facebook and see if she has any RFT tubes. or get one on ebay from someone that tests and guaruntees them if she doesn't. use it in your main signal slot. jjecc83 is a good sounding tube. and the sovtek LPS is a great sounding tube for the PI slot, as well as a mullard cv4024.
find out what laura has and recommends. just42dave has some chinese 12ax7b and 12ax7c. i like the 12ax7b for hi gain.
it just depends how far down this rabbit hole you want to go, regarding tubes and tone.
as far as power tubes go, you said this is your first tube amp, so my advice would be to not really try to start splitting hairs regarding different power tube tones within the species (ie, a JJ 6l6 over a winged c). since your amp can run 6L6, el34, el84, or 6v6, i would just grab a decent matched set of each (save for the 6v6). ruby 6L6gcmstr are great tubes and sound good when you push them. i like electro harmonix el34 or JJ el34. i can't recommend an el84 tube.
if this amp is a combo, you'll probaby want to stay with shorter plate preamp tubes, as combos can induce some vibration to all tubes, and longer plated tubes can go microphonic (squealy).
good luck man! thats a killer little powerhouse of an amp....i might look into one of those for myself! the power tube configuration kinda reminds me of my old boogie heartbreaker.
. Manufacturers usually do choose specific tubes for a reason.