Suggest me new power tubes

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maddnotez

maddnotez

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I am pretty sure it is time for some new tubes and was looking for suggestions.

The only tubes I have tried in this amp are the JJ e34l. Im pretty sure they were matched and balanced. So I do not have alot of xp with other power tubes.

I swapped the shit out of my ax7's ended up with a Mesa in V1, Groove tube v2 JJ's for V3 and 4 I think and a chinese for the pi if that makes any difference.

I chose the JJ E34L blind from the description, more aggressive, better low end ect.

I like the most brutal tone possible.

What do you guys recommend?

PS I can not afford expensive NOS tubes. :)
 
I met a guy yesterday that now has me thinking about power tubes, too. I'm like you in that I've swapped out preamps to the point that I honestly can't tell you what's in there at the moment. Anyway, he mentioned that he got some that are sold as "soft breakup", supposedly meaning they break up at lower volumes. That might be something you can look for while shopping.
 
Everybody will tell you =C=, the best and most expensive one
Best price/quality ratio is the Chinese (Shuguang, Ruby, etc.)
Nice compromise is the Tungsol EL34B

We're talking EL34s of course... don't touch Chinese 6L6s !
 
JJ's suck IMHO of course. I have had good luck with the Svetlana's and of course the winged =C= is great but the price went through the roof. Mesa and Groove tubes and others do hardness/softness ratings. Just their thing but I always bias when changing tubes even if they are the same rating.

http://www.svetlana.com/ProductHighLight.aspx?ProId=46
 
I've been kind of sold on Winged C's I thought too, in my Cameron Marshall Jose mod, until they went off. I popped in some Mullard reissues and damn those are nice. Better bass too. Someone said that the Mullards are the best current production EL34's...I'm tending to believe it now. Let's see how they hold up.
 
In my Jubilee and the Cameron Marshalls I've had the winged C's are good..but equally good at least to my ears are RFT EL34s..you can find them on ebay for like 35 a pair? They're used but I've had mine for 2 years now, 1-2 gigs a month and practicing and they still sound good...
 
Is that for the VHT? Fryette designs with particular tubes in mind (often). I would email or PM him on the fryette forum and see what he says.
 
Mudder":3q7t4l0o said:
Is that for the VHT? Fryette designs with particular tubes in mind (often). I would email or PM him on the fryette forum and see what he says.
Click to expand...

Indeed. They recommend 4 different power tubes slot specific

El34B-STR
EL34 SED
EL34 Svetlana
EL34 EH

Oddly, when I inquired over there they said that is an old list and now they use Mullards.

IMO if its so important, then why the change. I seriously doubt the circuitry has changed.

So I'm taking that recommendation with a grain of salt (especially the mullards)
 
gold lions kt77 sister to el34 have been stable in some of my rigs. Offer a fuller spectrum, and less fissy fuzzy hair dryer blower shock sounds. Nothing worst than power tubes failing at a a gig in the middle of a set. been there .
 
pstar":14q6e2an said:
gold lions kt77 sister to el34 have been stable in some of my rigs. Offer a fuller spectrum, and less fissy fuzzy hair dryer blower shock sounds. Nothing worst than power tubes failing at a a gig in the middle of a set. been there .
Click to expand...

i bought a set of those for my tsl before i sold it and the bias was way off. i dunno what you have to do - just dial.them in to where they're supposed to be? or leave them where they are when you put them in?
 
9ball":2c7ea982 said:
pstar":2c7ea982 said:
gold lions kt77 sister to el34 have been stable in some of my rigs. Offer a fuller spectrum, and less fissy fuzzy hair dryer blower shock sounds. Nothing worst than power tubes failing at a a gig in the middle of a set. been there .
Click to expand...

i bought a set of those for my tsl before i sold it and the bias was way off. i dunno what you have to do - just dial.them in to where they're supposed to be? or leave them where they are when you put them in?
Click to expand...

I'm no tech but I'm pretty sure you should not leave the bias where it is. You should always set bias when you change power tubes. You can set a little cold or a little hot.

I think if you run hot you'll get a grittier sound maybe but the tubes die faster.

Clueless about running cold.
 
9ball":1de3e8zr said:
pstar":1de3e8zr said:
gold lions kt77 sister to el34 have been stable in some of my rigs. Offer a fuller spectrum, and less fissy fuzzy hair dryer blower shock sounds. Nothing worst than power tubes failing at a a gig in the middle of a set. been there .
Click to expand...

i bought a set of those for my tsl before i sold it and the bias was way off. i dunno what you have to do - just dial.them in to where they're supposed to be? or leave them where they are when you put them in?
Click to expand...


always bias when doing new power tubes !!! ALWAYS
 
pstar":2c9sm2d6 said:
9ball":2c9sm2d6 said:
pstar":2c9sm2d6 said:
gold lions kt77 sister to el34 have been stable in some of my rigs. Offer a fuller spectrum, and less fissy fuzzy hair dryer blower shock sounds. Nothing worst than power tubes failing at a a gig in the middle of a set. been there .
Click to expand...

i bought a set of those for my tsl before i sold it and the bias was way off. i dunno what you have to do - just dial.them in to where they're supposed to be? or leave them where they are when you put them in?
Click to expand...


always bias when doing new power tubes !!! ALWAYS
Click to expand...

yeah i know that - i'm saying the gold lion kt77's bias differently that el34's. did you just put yours in and have them end up in the same range as el34's? they're known to be way off
 
If Fryette changed what tubes they are using they had a reason. Different tubes sound & feel different - If you tell them what kind of music you usually play they might give you a recommendation based on that.
 
stephen sawall":2jos584g said:
If Fryette changed what tubes they are using they had a reason. Different tubes sound & feel different - If you tell them what kind of music you usually play they might give you a recommendation based on that.
Click to expand...

I would guess cost.

If you designed an amp years ago and chose a specific set like they did (4 sperate brands mind you) it just doesn't make sense that a quad of mullards would be better to me.

I've heard the mullard reissue are some of the best tubes right now so I could be completely wrong.

Now I recall your actually a member over there too \m/
 
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