Help with re-tubing Mesa Recto-verb S2.

[Addictedtokaos]

Hey all,
Im glad I found this forum as it looks to have tons of great info for Mesa amp owners.

I just bought my first Tube and Mesa amp this weekend used of a local guy. The amp sounds great and I love it. The only concern was yesterday while playing CH2 on Modern I started the to get a low hum even when the guitar volume was off. I was also getting some distortion above the normal gain sound and breaking up.

Im thinking a retube is in order and was just wondering if anyone could help me out in left-field over here!

The more reading I do the more Im confused. I understand the part that Mesa gets their tubes from a manufacturer and labels them as Mesa tubes. The company changes throughout the years.

I just get lost to what brand and model I should go with.

A local tube shop recommends 2 options.
JJ ECC83-S / 12AX7 and Electro-Harmonix 6L6GC
or a "premium" option of
TAD 7025-S / 12AX7 and TAD 6L6GC-STR

Are these good quality tubes? Is the premium option TADs really worth the price difference? $13 more for an 12AX7, $9 for the pair of 6L6s.

Are there other options better than these?

I just want a reliable tube with a good tone and good metal/gain sound.

Thanks!

 

[stephen sawall]

Welcome to the forum ....

I have no advise ..... all the tubes in my Tremoverb are more than 20 years old.

 

[Turumbar82]

I would maybe just look into changing the preamp tubes first if you want to save some money. The problem might with one of those tubes.

I had JJ's 12ax7's and EH 6l6's in my Single Rectifier head and they sounded very good.

 

[Addictedtokaos]

I tried the TAD 6L6s. Did not like them at all. They seem to make the recto distortion really Fizzy and the tone seemed very sterile to me. Supposedly the TADs are the Mesa STR-440s.

I then grabbed a set of the sovtek 6L6wxt+, equivalent to the mesa STR-430s (what originally was in my amp), And I have to say the are awesome, I love the overall tone and feel of the tubes.

I did replace the grove tubes with JJs in the preamp and like them. The grove tubes would break up at 9:00 where the JJs start to breakup around 11:30-12:00.

Ive read that the Winged Cs are supposed to be like the Sovtek 6L6s but on roids or something. I'll look into getting a set of those in a little while.

Thanks for all your help everyone!