12AX7 tubes for my Roadster head???

[RoadKinger483]

Im doing a complete retube on my Roadster head pretty soon and was wondering what kind of preamp tubes you fellow roadster owners are running in your amp right now. Im going with a Tung-Sol for the V1 position as I've read really good things about it in this postion here on the forum. Iwas thinking of just going with Electro Harmonix all the way across the rest of the preamp section but curiosity is getting to me as to maybe some kind of combination sounding better or different in a good way. Looking for a well balanced, low noise, work horse tube. Thanx

 

[c.t.d-nicke]

Nothing hysterical;

I've got a TungSol in V1 and JJ's (eurotube HG kit) in the rest. Nothing too fancy but works great, at least for me.
The TS is the only tube left from a rectifier pre amp kit from Doug (which worked great by the way)
The"Mesa Russian-2" is EH, so if you, like I, have a pile laying around drop them in!

The Roadster (aka. one of the best darn amps in the world) is considered "dark" and EH is described as bright which perhaps makes this a good choice?!

I'm going to experiment with both the old Doug-kit and the Russ-2 (EH) as soon as I got energy to do so. I tend to prioritize playing.

nicke

 

[domct203]

I'm running all NOS/VOS except for the PI (V6) which is a Sovtek 12AX7-LPS.

The Tung Sol RI is a great choice for V1. The EH is a good sounding tube but doesn't handle the Cathode Follower positions (V3 & V5) well (read here: http://www.forum.grailtone.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=25102&start=19 )

I would leave the JJ's in V3, & V5, Put the Tung-Sol in V1, and the EH in V2, V4 & V6, if that is what you have for tubes to work with. Then pick up a couple of Shuguang or Penta chinese 12AX7's to experiment with, along with your original JJ's. Try them in different spots to see what effect they have on the pre-amp.

Dom

 

[fluff191]

I'm running all NOS/VOS except for the PI (V6) which is a Sovtek 12AX7-LPS.

+1 8)

 

[LithiumZero]

+10000000 on the Tung-Sol in V1. I had them in V1 and V2 but it was a bit harsh so I just changed V2 to a high gain JJECC83S. V3 is a Penta, V4 is a Tung-Sol, V5 is a C9 and V6 is a Sovtek LPS. It's basically Doug's Tubes tone kit. Changing V2 to the JJ was exactly what I needed. I had the best tone last night at rehearsal! 4 channels of awesome!

 

[espboogie123]

Right now i'm running pure spax7s with winged c 6l6s. Sounds pretty killer. Don't put EH's in 3/5, put chinese tubes. Tungsol is a general for v1 spots and penta/shuguang for other spots. I've had good use with the sovtek lps in phase inverter in most amps.

 

[RoadKinger483]

thanx...so ok, I'm thinking Tung-Sol in V1, JJecc83 in V2 and maybe in V4 and regular russian tubes for the rest. How do you guys think this would sound. The only reason im being so back and forth and asking so many questions is that its gonna take almost $300 to retube the entire amp. Im going with SED Winged C 6L6's for power and EHX rectifiers. by the way....my clean channel is breaking up the gain below noon and a stratocaster guitar and sounds lose at the bottom end. my stock mesa 6L6's are all glowing blue when i take the amp off standby. Are the tubes causig this to happen or would it be a preamp thing???

 

[LithiumZero]

I would stay away from the JJ in V4 as it will darken the already dark channels 3 & 4. Also don't use Russian tubes in V3 or V5. They will fail in no time. Use a Chinese tube in both of those positions per Mesa's recommendation. The Winged C's sound great but TAD6L6's sound just as good (better in my opinion) and are MUCH cheaper. I would also suggest using JJ GZ34 rectifier tubes. All the smooth sustain and warmth of rectifier tubes, but with none of the flubbiness of the 5U4 rectifier tube. They run fine in the amp and won't cause any trouble. Eurotubes recommends running a 4amp slow-blo fuse rather than the 3 amp that comes stock in the amp when running the GZ34 in place of the 5U4. I haven't had any problem with mine.

 

[talltxguy]

Hmm, I was reading on some other posts that both halves of V4 were for reverb (send & return). How would using a JJ darken the tone in the reverb slot? Or perhaps the info I read in some other posts about V4 was wrong? :?

Also, I read that both halves of V5 were for effects loop send & return. If you have the effects loop switched off, can you put a cheap tube in this slot and not mess with your tone?

 

[LithiumZero]

ooops! My bad. That would be the reverb. V3 & V5 are cathode follower positions and will eat russian tubes fast.

 

[RoadKinger483]

hmmm....good info,ok so what could i go with in V3, V4, and V5??? im thinking russian in V4 and maybe standard 12ax7C preamps from groove tube for V3 and V5. what tube do you guys reccomend for a phase inverter or V6???

 

[LithiumZero]

As long as they are chinese in V3 and V5 your all set. C9's are great in those positions. I have a Tung-Sol in V4 but don't really notice much tone difference between tubes in that position. A balanced Sovtek 12ax7LPS is great in V6

 

[espboogie123]

Eurotubes recommends running a 4amp slow-blo fuse rather than the 3 amp that comes stock in the amp when running the GZ34 in place of the 5U4. I haven't had any problem with mine.

Our amps use 4 amp slow blo rather than 3 amp. I would stick to the mesa 5u4s. They last quite a long time and do not increase voltage like the gz34s do.

thanx...so ok, I'm thinking Tung-Sol in V1, JJecc83 in V2 and maybe in V4 and regular russian tubes for the rest. How do you guys think this would sound. The only reason im being so back and forth and asking so many questions is that its gonna take almost $300 to retube the entire amp. Im going with SED Winged C 6L6's for power and EHX rectifiers. by the way....my clean channel is breaking up the gain below noon and a stratocaster guitar and sounds lose at the bottom end. my stock mesa 6L6's are all glowing blue when i take the amp off standby. Are the tubes causig this to happen or would it be a preamp thing???

My buddies roadster combo breaks up in his clean but he has a random mixture of tubes. My clean stays nice and pimpin clean. I have a spare tungsol 12ax7, EH 12ax7, GT 12ax7 and a JAN/Philips 12ax7wa if you wanna check them out. I've never tried the JAN tube in my roadster. It did wonders in my JSX I had. I also have a set of winged c el34s but they are my backup to my winged 6l6s.

 

[konstantine RK]

SPAX-7 in V1, Penta in V2, Spax7 in V3, shuguang in V4 and a regular old 12Ax7 in V5 (I forgot!)

THATS for my Roadking.

 

[RoadKinger483]

well I fired up the amp today and I replaced V5 with a groove tube 12ax7c and the fx loop still does the volume increase, although before I connected the actual effects to the loop i just plugged a regular instrument patch cable and tried it like that. I actually couldn't really notice an increase in volume; I thought there was but I think it was my brain playing tricks on me. So, i went ahead and connected my nova delay and fulltone choralflange the loop with a pair of Monster Studio Pro 1000 cables (these are not cheap cables little over a $100 a piece) and fired it up and sure enough there is a volume increase. although, it seems more like a presence effect is going on. the amp will sound clearer and more defined with of course a volume bump. could it be the cables or the length of them. They are 12ft. cables.

 

[screamingdaisy]

well I fired up the amp today and I replaced V5 with a groove tube 12ax7c and the fx loop still does the volume increase, although before I connected the actual effects to the loop i just plugged a regular instrument patch cable and tried it like that. I actually couldn't really notice an increase in volume; I thought there was but I think it was my brain playing tricks on me. So, i went ahead and connected my nova delay and fulltone choralflange the loop with a pair of Monster Studio Pro 1000 cables (these are not cheap cables little over a $100 a piece) and fired it up and sure enough there is a volume increase. although, it seems more like a presence effect is going on. the amp will sound clearer and more defined with of course a volume bump. could it be the cables or the length of them. They are 12ft. cables.

It may be one of the pedals that's causing the volume boost.

 

[LithiumZero]

Eurotubes recommends running a 4amp slow-blo fuse rather than the 3 amp that comes stock in the amp when running the GZ34 in place of the 5U4. I haven't had any problem with mine.

Our amps use 4 amp slow blo rather than 3 amp. I would stick to the mesa 5u4s. They last quite a long time and do not increase voltage like the gz34s do.

It does raise the voltage but not even as high as running in Diode so it's safe for the amp. I have run the GZ34's for over a year now with zero issues. I get the warm sound and nice feel of a tube rectifier but the GZ34 doesn't mush out like the stock 5U4. It's a very common "mod" and I've never read of anyone having an issue because of it.

 

[RoadKinger483]

ok, new developments....i switched the bypass mode on the choralflange from buffered to true bypass and got a ridiculous volume increase. so, I left the unit like that and lowered the volume on it ll the way. It turns out that it seems to act as a clean boost when run in the fx loop. I lowered it all the way and I still get what seems to be a volume increase when I engage the loop but the amp just sounds clearer and cleaner when I do, if that makes any sense. I think an increase is still present but less noticeable. However, I have been at this for most of the day so I could be just hearing things. Gonna take a break and come back to it. Thanx for the suggestions. Do you guys still think it might be the cables???

 

[LithiumZero]

I had a choralflange that did the same thing. I now have a GFS chorus in the loop and it still brings up the volume.

 

[RoadKinger483]

Interesting....im gonna try and remove it from the equation and see what happens. As far as tubes are concerned, I decided on SED 6L6's for power and EHX 5U4's for rectifiers but preamps is a different ory. Im gonna go with a Tung-Sol in V1 for sure and a chinese tube in V3 and V5 but I found a tube over at tubestore.com that appears to be promissing. Its a Preffered Series 7025 12ax7. Sounds like it would be great for V1, V2, or V4. I don't want to reduce the gain capabilities of the amp I just want more depth and clearer overall tone. Do any of you guys have experience with these tubes. Here's the link if you guys want to check them out and a review chart as well. Let me know your alls thoughts.

http://thetubestore.com/preferred7025.html

http://thetubestore.com/12ax7review.html