best pre amp tubes for Roadking

[konstantine RK]

ok after all this complaining on my part I found my problem V5 pre amp tube was bad... switched that out and I got my tone back

Now I want to have a set of pre amp tubes for the head... What are the best pre amp tubes to put into a Roadking?

Does one have to order Mesa tubes?? How about JJ's or Sovtec?

thanks


Kon

 

[ltd2recto]

IMO you won't achieve the greatest tone by using 5 of the same tubes in your preamp. As a very knowledgable guy on here whos' name I forgot said of the preamp slots: V1-treble V2-mids V3-bass. I've experminted with 5 or 6 different tube models tried in every slot & found this to be a good way to look at it.

That being said. If your amp came with the cheap Sovtek preamp tubes, they are terrible & anything would be an upgrade IMO. That tube wasn't used by mesa because they sound good but because they were very resistant to microphonics. Less tube warranty work.

If you dont want to spend time experimenting check out dougstubes.com preamp combo for the rectifier amps. He doesnt have a kit for the roadking but if you email him he will set you up with a combo set for a good price. I believe the roadking has 6 preamp tubes. My single rectifier has 5. Not sure what the difference is.

 

[mrd]

Try and get your hands on some nice NOS tubes. Mullards, etc. Barring that, just experiment. There are lots of different brands out there, some will sound good in certain positions, others not so much. It depends on how fussy you want to be. You could likely spend and entire weekend just fiddling with pre-amp tubes on the RK, since there are so many channels and modes. What might sound stellar on one mode might only be mediocre on another.

What I will say though, is that it's a good idea to have your highest quality tube in V1, as this is the tube that everything else will work from. So if this tube sucks, it doesn't matter if everything else is good, cuz the tone is already ruined. Work from V1 and play around.

Use your ears!

 

[konstantine RK]

thanks MRD I will do that!

Looking for the UPS truck as we speak so I can get started!!