Dual Rectifier question

DudeWheresCorey · May 5, 2009

Just wanted to say that I am new to the boogie board, but not at all to mesa. I found this board last night and we super excited to join!

I have owned my Dual Rec for about 2 years now. I am running standard mesa el34's and power tubes.
I have groove tubs in the pre amp section only because I blew a pre amp tube and no shop in my area had mesa tubes in stock.

I would like to know what I can put in my pre amps to get the most gain. I have also been hearing about placing a diffirent 12ax7 in the V1. What exactly does this mean?

I hope I have said all this correctly :wink:

lyman · May 5, 2009

Hey man, welcome to the board!

V1 refers to the first preamp tube that the guitar signal hits as it travels through the preamp to wherever it's final destination in the kingdom of rawk may be. Some tube sellers set aside the 12ax7 tubes which test in the top whatever % for gain, and sell them as "high gain" tubes. Tubes vary quite a bit so some are just made hotter than others. Any reputable tube vendor should be able to hook you up with a higher gain 12ax7 tube if that's what you want.

Old BF Shred · May 5, 2009

Hey man, welcome to the board!

I'll second that!

Yea this is a cool place to share stories and ideas about our favorite amps and other things! 8)

If you want higher gain, you may want to try the new re-issue TungSol 12ax7. It is claimed to be a fairly high-gain tube with good clarity. I tried one in my Ace and found this to be true.
They are available at Guitar Center on-line, Musician Friend, and many local music stores.
Personally I like to use vintage tubes from the '60's (RCA, Telefunken, Amperex, etc.) but they can be pricey and hard to find, so you may wish to try one of the new production tubes....also Groove Tubes has different variations of 12ax7 and you may want to try one of the other ones they offer.
BTW, to find the V1 socket, it is usually closest to the input jack.
Good luck!