Which new production 12ax7 tube for early van halen sound

[nitro]

Out of all the new production 12ax7 tubes which would be a good chose for early van halen sound(van halen 1 sound)

 

[headlessdeadguy]

 

[Motorpud]

 

[droptrd]

the tung sols are pretty bright. theyd be my guess.

 

[Audioholic]

you aren't going to get a VH sound from a certain pre amp tube alone by far. A tube can help shape your sound a tad, but not define it as in that solid of a direction.

a better question would be how would I make this amp more brite, more mellow with a tube etc.

 

[glpg80]

well, im going in.

......cheers to a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-dont topic if ive ever seen one

there is really no preamp tube that will cop that tone. there are alot of variables in how VH recorded his amplifier/got a line level signal with a home-made load line box and carbon comp resistors, the power amps he chose to run at those times which are somewhat rare in usable condition, the amplifier and its modifications (whole slew of shit sturring here), the signal chain, and the fact he used power tube distortion more than preamp tube distortion (more sturring), and then the variac which is improperly used (more sturring again), and the light dimmer he used in the house once.

the variables go on and on and on.

so to answer your question fully, i suggest you go over the the metroamp forum and pick some brains over there from guys who literally make it their daily duty to cop the VH tone front to back and they would give you some pointers and tricks as to what you are looking for.

instead of asking what tube you need, you need to understand the VH tone is not a tube - its a signal chain from string to post-mixed left and right channel studio recorded tone.

no one tube brand is going to help you here - its just not possible. variances from tube to tube in quality these days is so shotty, that even if there was a tube, your tone would change with each new set. its just not possible - therefore why its a loaded question and a huge can-o-worms for anyone who try's to answer it because i have not even touched on the arguments on a tonal platform that people have on the van halen "tone"

FWIW - the only advice i can give is that he used a marshall and not alot of gain - alot less than you think and alot less than anyone would perceive. what you hear is carbon comp resistor noise from a cheap and terrible designed load box he used for a line level signal back in the day IMHO.

i feel like i need to get my flame suite on now. i feel like EXPcustom: dirty, violated, and confused

 

[Capulin Overdrive]

holy shit!


i know what strings, pickups, guitars, nuts, pedals, amps, speakers, cabs, power tubes, etc. etc.



but i'll be God Damned if i know what preamp tube you gotta have?

 

[Meathead]

Seriously, I've found the Sovtek 12ax7wc preamp tubes get a cool vibe for that.

 

[Anonymous]

Grab yourself this rig and you won't be asking about preamp tubes anymore:

Brown to ze bone...

Steve

 

[Marshall Law]

just get eddies hands

 

[nitro]

Ive done my homework on van halen believe me,im just asking a question on new production 12ax7 tubes and which of the new production tubes would come close to that tone,ive been using N.O.S sylvania 12ax7 tubes for many years and they are getting hard to find and expensive so im looking for the less expensive new production tubes, thats all......

 

[Superunknown]

Chinese 9th or EH.....

 

[steve_k]

You need a matched and balanced set of those 12EVH7's, a quad of those Russian 5150's, a big fat doobie, an air guitar and Running with the Devil on you ipod. This is about as close as you will get.

 

[loudgtr]

You need a matched and balanced set of those 12EVH7's, a quad of those Russian 5150's, a big fat doobie, an air guitar and Running with the Devil on you ipod. This is about as close as you will get.

 

[headlessdeadguy]

You need a matched and balanced set of those 12EVH7's, a quad of those Russian 5150's, a big fat doobie, an air guitar and Running with the Devil on you ipod. This is about as close as you will get.